What I Did Today Archive 2008

[deezyb]

Not in garden at weekend, toooooo cold! However today much sunnier! I planted out some Perpetual Spinach plugs (75p for 12 plugs in bargain corner) and Bronze Fennel from B&Q, potted on some chilli plants, Sweet Basil, Chives, put in new supports for tomatoes, weeded the flower border and tidied up some clematis that was getting a bit unruly! Was tempted to put out the courgettes but still feel a bit chilly here, so will wait another couple of weeks!

[piskieinboots]

I planted more spouts and sat in stinging nettles

[joedogs]

planted 4 rows of spuds today and planted some brussels enjoyed the flask of tea at the end

[hamsterqueen]

Broke up all the lumps of clay in the courgette/squash bed. Dug in old compost from a growbag.

Dug a big hole for my apple tree (1 of 3 trees ordered, 2 still to arrive) in stages, having discovered that the side beds are pure clay! (those years of sieving raking and adding compost must have really helped the veg garden)

Went to several garden centres in search of tomato plants. They were either half dead , yellowing or non existent.! Managed to get 2 Heritage varieties , which should be interesting. Also bought a yellow courgette. I was surprised at how poor the quality of plants was though.

Pak Choi just poking their seed leaves above ground so the burying of treasure by teh fox cubs doesn;t appear to have completely ruined my hard work.

[gojiberry]

Dug up last years salsify dug the bed over completely, fertilised with chicken pellets and then transplanted a row of leeks, 4 peppers and some lettuce (little gem) into the bed. There is room for another row of leeks but am waiting for some plants from another lotmenteer. I have another 4 trays trays of my own leeks but they will keep till the spuds have been lifted. Earthed up as best as I could the potatoes ( planted the rows a bit to close to each other). Picked the first of the broad beans, only enough for a spoon full each. Checked the carrots and there are one or two the thickness of a pencil. Pea pods starting to fill out and only a week or two and they will be ready.

[Snadger]

Busy day at work so went to the allotment with the sole intention of watering plants then returning to have an early night. As happens, because it was a sunny night did a bit of weeding, a bit of grieving over my frost caught tatties, and a bit of general pottering. Was there 3 hours!

[shirlthegirl43]

Monday I managed to make two quite good looking veg beds and got them all raked ready to plant out. Yesterday, decided what was going in which bed (they are not very big beds) and planted purple-pod mangetout and Canoe peas in one bed, celeriac and turnips in the other - space in the root bed for a row of beetroot and a row of carrots. Beans are all planted out in the bean bed, broadies and Alderman peas growing nicely in my established raised bed. Shallots are looking quite impressive - never grown them before and quite delighted with them. The lettuce are really getting going in their new salad bed too. Quite excited at having some bits of garden that look like 'proper' garden now. Also Nemaslugged last evening as the weather was just right for it.

Note to self - get more beds sorted and buy another 30 foot of hose so you don't have to lug the watering can up to the back veg bed all summer long! Boy my arms are sore today!

[Mrs Dobby]

Got to the plot for 10am this morning, and didnt leave until 7pm!

Mr D has now dug over (since we took the plot over 12 days ago) all but 1 main bed and 1 small bed on the new plot (from a total of 18 beds and a greenhouse border), the guys a digging machine! I'm soooo impressed with him!

We also managed today to build another compost bin (and fill it!), trim back the hedges at the side of the plot, sort out the pile of fleece, wood, tubing and assorted other junk at the side of the shed, move all the perspex behind the new compost bin, plant up (thru cardboard) another bed, this one with 8 outdoor toms, (5 cordon and 3 bush, complete with framework for support), water the whole plot and weed about 1/5th of the paths on the new plot!

Is it any wonder we both pooped out now!

[womble]

Went to several garden centres in search of tomato plants. They were either half dead , yellowing or non existent.! Managed to get 2 Heritage varieties , which should be interesting. Also bought a yellow courgette. I was surprised at how poor the quality of plants was though.

I went a got a couple of trailing tomato plants yesterday, I saw some cordon plants that were 4 inches tall and had 4 or 5 sets of flowers on them!
Also saw them all watered in the middle of the day in the hot sun, by a hose spraying freezing cold water over the leaves.
Also saw some very sick looking peach trees with leaf curl sitting outside.
My OH remarked how they treated the plants compared to how I babied mine.
I think there is a big difference between nurserys that grow their own plants and garden centres that sell std bought in plants.

[deezyb]

I went a got a couple of trailing tomato plants yesterday, I saw some cordon plants that were 4 inches tall and had 4 or 5 sets of flowers on them!
Also saw them all watered in the middle of the day in the hot sun, by a hose spraying freezing cold water over the leaves.
Also saw some very sick looking peach trees with leaf curl sitting outside.
My OH remarked how they treated the plants compared to how I babied mine.
I think there is a big difference between nurserys that grow their own plants and garden centres that sell std bought in plants.

I was out on Sunday and was in two very well know DIY/Garden Centre style places....and the state of the plants was totally appalling!

Anyway, so far today I've sown some more coriander and sown some Cauli Serac to see if I can get any caulis for the Autumn, my Autumn sowing last year failed miserably!

[Snadger]

Planted some sprout plants grown from my own home produced seed from last year off my best plant. Just in case they don't work out, I also planted some plants I grew from F1 hybrid seed. It will be interesting to do a comparison. Spent ages watering stuff that needed it as small pots dry out very quickly just now. Made a mental note to get some more JI compost mixed up and get them out of the small pots and into big pots where watering won't be so crucial!

[nkp1962]

I've just realised it's been a while since I've posted here - I can only blame work, the weather and a lot of work at home - HONEST!

Not much of a 'what I did today' post, more of a 'what I'm going to do at the weekend' one!

The plot has taken a bit of a back seat this year, however I have had a good May (so far) but all the beds are clear, the greenhouse is full, and I am hoping for a decent weekend - I have a poly tunnel to put up as the conservatory is full of tomato & pepper plants -in fact I got 2 tunnels off eBay - bit of a mistake, but I think one may do - the other may go on eBay, or sold somewhere else - and loads of seeds to sow.

Had a potter in Greenhouse earlier on, with the second set of seedlings doing well (don't mention the first attempt) - I will be looking at putting them in the plot at the start of June (just looked - not far away now) - French & Runner Beans; Peas; Sugar Snaps; Sweetcorn; Ornamental Sweetcorn (picked up a packet of seed in Holland because I liked the look of the picture!); Courgettes, etc.

Leeks are small (read tiny) - but nothing has sprouted from the seed I harvested last year, these seeds came from a packet!

[Lavenderblue]

oh i've not posted here for ages. We were up on the plot on tuesday evening for a few hours. We weeded out the existing beds as bindweed has well and truly taken hold. We didn't know we had it or we would never have rotivated. Blummin stuff. Anyway, it was so bad on the remainder of the plot we weedkillered the lot. And how we cackled and laughed.

[Winged one]

Last night, I planted my sweetcorn (at last!). 12 pots of 2 seeds to a pot (out of date last year so a saffety measure) of F1 Swift, and 3 pots of Minipop.

As I was already out in the drizzle, I then planted 6 pots of (3 to a pot) Borlotti beans (climbing variety) and 6 pots (2 seeds to a pot) of perpetual spinach.

And potted on the second batch of pepper "big Banana" from their single module - 5 plants there. These will stay indoors on the windowsill for another couple of days to recover and then go out into the minigreenhouse with the door open until we dismantle that - then in the open air in pots on the patio.

A nice hour or so pottering around - although the drizzle made a mess of my hair and then stopped so that the newly sown seeds didn't get their nice drink - typical!

[Moyra]

I have just come in from clearing a fair length of brick wall of very overgrown Ivy. Yuk! Filled my wheelie bin up so now will have to wait another fortnight before doing some more. Its one way of stopping me from overdoing things but I could do with pushing on!