What I Did Today Archive 2008

[helly]

sorry to hear about your accident allotmentlady, take it easy. Went shopping for a new fireplace today, also managed to scrounge from the shop a 5ft wooden container that the they was throwiing out, I told them it will be grate for growing my carrots in. Got a strange look from them but hey ,since starting gardening I've found that you scrounge anything that would be useful to us gardeners!!!

[hawthorns]

i have planted my 2 corgette seedlings into there own larger pots. sown 6 more tom thumb lettuces.

[Snadger]

Just in case anyone thinks this allotment lark is always an ejoyable bed full of roses, think again.
Been to the allotment today and had a sh*t of a day!
After being ecstatic about progress yesterday, today was a dead loss. I had a few highlights like buying six strawberry plants from Aldi cheaply and buying a bag of compost reasonably cheaply, but from there it went rapidly down hill!
Bought some glasing clips, and ess shaped bits to join glass as well as a new pack of nuts and bolts for my greenhouse project to find I won't have enough!
Took me ages to get all bolts in and tightened.
Sowed some parsnips on cloth, sweet peppers plus chillie peppers and also swedes in a tray.
Started to disassembel the rickety greenhouse to pillage the glass. The glass was puttied and siliconed in places and I broke quite a few sheets getting it out.
It now looks like I won't have enough glass and what I have is all different sizes. Even though I'm off work this week, I won't be going to the lottie tomorrow as I'll finish up smashing all the glass, so I think I'll just 'chill' and do something boriing like wash my fleet of old wrecks and do a bit much needed maintenance on them.
That way I should be able to go to allotment on Saturday refreshed and raring to go!

[Eyren]

Made a start on clearing last year's brassica bed yesterday, removing old plants and taking up the ground cover sheet. Forked up a few clumps of grass that had grown up through tears in the ground sheet, and contemplated digging around the edges where more grass had encroached. Then it started to rain. And hail. And rain even harder

By this time I was down in the high street, cowering under my brolly and thinking of getting a bus home, but then it stopped and the sun came out with every appearance of wanting to stay. So I went back to the lottie and spent a very pleasant hour, partly cutting down the old raspberry canes but mostly sitting in the sun and chatting to my neighbours

[heebiejeebie]

Yesterday I went to the garden centre and spent vouchers (leaving prezzie from old job) on potting compost, general purpose compost, growbags and a few mini plants and broad bean seeds (Sutton, Longpod) just because I liked the look of them. And a big pink trug. There are more vouchers and more growbags to be bought but there's a limit to what I can get in my car!

I met up with allotment-mate and we discussed growing plans and jobs needing done. So my old bath is going to be the carrot & salad onion bed. Glad I was too lazy to organise a skip when I got a new bath! Her old kitchen sink will be the herb bed.

Today I sowed...
3 kinds of cauliflower
2 kinds of cabbage
swede
calabrese
3 kinds of lettuce
2 kinds of tomato
chili pepper
3x courgette
3x winter squash
florence fennel
basil
parsley
16x pea (meteor) in peat pots

I'm going to try successional sowings of lots of different things this year to avoid last year's problem of having 20 cabbages of one variety all ready at the same time. So I have sown the brassicas, lettuces and fennel in modules. 5 modules each with 2 seeds in to be thinned to one per module.

And for the garden: I planted 5 dahlia tubers in separate pots, 6 montbretia in one pot because it looks good in a clump, 10 trailing begonias for baskets.

Spent a good hour blogging and logging what I've sown on excel because I'm a geek.

[veg4681]

Broccoli & Parsnips Notes

Friday today, yesterday transplanted the 5 Feb sown Broccoli (Autumn Spear) from the awfully crowded fruit punnet to the raised bed although that's not their final place so planted them close together, about 2-3 inches spacing (not that I'm recommending this to anyone but I have space shortage in my garden). I will test the broccoli's limits when I may transplant or thin them out again to see if that will have any impact on growth or even the final crop. There's always the broccoli shop affordability to fall back on, not exactly the end of humanity .

I hadn't meant to sow the broccoli this early but was simply testing the seeds viability ahead of recommended sowing times as the seeds was bought from car boot sales with Jul 2007 expiry date. How is it that the germination of dubious seeds zoomed 100% ahead of T&M newest packets of F1 cabbage and cauli AYR seeds? Running out fast on cabbage seeds, next time I won't be buying F1 seeds as they don't provide enough seeds to allow for errors.

Mulched around the broccoli plantets with grass cutting to protect the roots from cold/frost, covered with a single layer of Wilko's fleece (should have been double layer but forgot to cut it right first time), then covered over with bubblewrap plastic lying around. The ideas only came up after reading up on ways of protecting your plants from the Net. Bubblewrap is only for night time protection, might be too hot & steamy in the daytime.

Hand pollinated the dwarf peach Bonanza in the greenhouse using art paintbrush although not exactly sure whether I'm doing it correctly, then again I can't be more wrong than a pollen-clueless bee. Branches are smothered in pink blooms by this time of end March, with little or no disturbance from strong winds or rain water for 'leaf curl' syndrome.

Potted 4 seedlings of possibly Kabocha squash that had sprouted in the kitchen compost bin. They were loads more seedlings and these were supposed to be rejected seeds from last sorting! There were also lots of pale, thin pepper seedlings, most likely supermarket's bell peppers.

As for today, potted the squash (TS Sweet Potato) that had finally germinated ahead of other squashes in 12 days from pre-germination in k-roll method. When it sprouts, a tail sticks out of the pointy end of the seed. Though I peeled off very carefully the rest of the outer seed skin, I wonder if I should have continued leaving in the damp k-roll until all skin off or that I should have left the skin on, in the pot of compost.

Pre-germinated in k-roll Parsnips had also sprouted after 12 days (from 10 days onwards), looking like tadpole with tail sticking out from pointy end of seeds. Acceptable germination rate of over 60% for seeds bought last year (stated on packet as 'packed for year end Sep 2008). Sowed both sprouted and unsprouted seeds in 2" cell tray/insert about 3-4 seeds per cell. Didn't realise these cell trays are so flimsy so cut the 40 cells into 20 cells for more stability (that one could buy their matching sturdy seed tray, what a rip off ). Hopefully I can get the seedlings planted out in their final bed before the roots reach the bottom.

More will be added later subject to progress....

[ChrisH54]

Stood looking out of window at teaming rain and strong winds, wondering what I could do and wishing I'd kept my sowing for today instead of yesterday

Chris

[Flummery]

Did another dozen 'germinated parsnip in a loo-roll' things. Made some celeriac soup from the celeriacs given to me on the allotment yesterday. The chap asked if I liked them - he was clearing his bed - and I said they made a cracking soup, as I helped myself to a couple. He came round to ask how I made it - I gave him the recipe and permission to raid the bay tree on the way past. Sharing's what it's all about!

[allotmentlady]

Aching and feeling very sorry for myself, just a nightmare with the insurers!

Got plenty of gardening mags and books, making plans and having time to reflect on what next to do.
This weather is lousy..... need a few days of drying weather for the ground before i can rotovate......well gordon can rotovate I will delegate!

Thanks to all for the lovely comments and messages.

[Snadger]

Didn't go to the allotment today, went for a nice long walk with the pup instead!
The only gardening related thing I did was to take out of the propagator a tray of dwarf Tagetes that had sprouted and will now have to survive in a cold greenhouse.
Put a tray of half sweet peppers and half chillie peppers into the propagator!

[areia]

i was not going to be defeated this week that blimin veg boarder was going in, after been put off by rain all week, yesterday the first sunny i get i stuck in bed with nasty virus, by 4 o'clock in the afternoon im fed up with being stuck in bed, managed to sneek to the sofa to watch mindless telly till i had orders to go upstairs again grr. I decided sod it im blimin doing it, started ok noticed neighbour shredding a tree to asked if i could have some bark chippings dont ask dont get do you, so got a small bag coming as shes actually using most of them. but by 6:30 pm im as grumpy as hell hot and cold sweats telling partner to either help or push off along with child, in his rare moments deciding to help (funny ive been asking for help for ages now they decide to) finished it by 8 looks a little wonky will sort when better, was not allowed to get up at all today but somhow managed to wash up and cook dinner, now fever broken im wide awake and bored im interested in this moon planting thing now does it mean you have to plant out at night (?) (maybe stupid question)
planted 3 more runners and 4 more sweetcorn, marigolds are up yay

[zazen999]

Sowed peas, purple french beans and sultana beans in new fangled root trainer plug thingies.

Got a phone call about an allotment; finally - meeting the guy at 4pm on monday to choose the plot.

get in.

[esrikandan]

Planted out onions and garlic at the plot in the rain with my sis...before escaping to the pub.

[Snadger]

Progressed with the old to new greenhouse glass swap. Ran out of clips. Started to rain. Went into greenhouse , lit stove and planted silver onion sets in trays. Pricked out red ham onions into trays. Re-arranged interior of greenhouse (again) and came away knackered!

[Paulottie]

Getting sick of the lack of progress. Just so wet this year. Ive got a greenhouse full of stuff. potatoes a-chitting and everything needs a home.

The spuds are destined for my new second plot...disguised as a field of couch. I had managed to dig and mypex a bit this month but it was slow going as the mud is so stuck to the weeds. Thought I'd have a go with the rotavator but it was just scratching the surface. after a few hours I thought drastic action was required. I Tried to start my mate's tractor..failed! Luckily he pitched up, started it and after a few adjustments with the spanner we were good to go. I dug out some Daffs, rhubarb and a couple of raspberries to save Then between us we dragged the cultivator through the whole lot and pulled out the remnants of the old chicken wire fencing. Heavy going and it looks a bit like the Somme but just a couple of dry days and I should be able to go again, rake up and get the mypex down again for planting the spuds through.

Okay its not my ideal methodology but it certainly takes the backache out of gardening!! I am hopeful again.