What I Did Today Archive 2009

[sewer rat]

Hi Sewer Rat,
Have just been squizzing through some old posts and saw the strawberry one. Am really interested in how you propagate your strawberry runners in yoghurt pots with water? I'm thinking perhaps that you snip them from the mother plant and put them in water or do you dangle them in in situ. Sorry to be thick but would love to know as you do sooo many it must be a really efficient way of doing it. I usually put pots in the ground, fill with soil and pin a runner down. This takes up lots of room and is fiddly - think your way would be preferable if you can actually start off in water in g/h or windowsill. BTW - great posts!

I got this method from a fellow grape. I have strawbs in hanging baskets in my tunnel, as well as two beds outside - one is planted through groundcover (actually old caopillary matting) and the other is just on bare soil - this will eventually become what is called a matted row, where the runners are left to grow in the soil and the row becomes a solid mass of plants eventually.
However, I digress.
The runners are cut from the hanging basket plants and the capillary matting bed when the first root nodules appear, trimmed to size and placed in yoghurt pots of water until they form a decent root sytem.
Last year they were then potted on into 3" pots in which they overwintered before being planted out. This year the early runners will be planted out directly as soon a sthey have a decent root system formed, and the later ones will be potted on into the 3" pots as before.
I know that leaving the runners in the plants for a bit longer reduces the strawberry yields but I am convcentrating on building up a good stock of plants - From 60 parent plants last year, I now have approx 500 , so hopefully next year I will have in excess of 1000.

[sewer rat]

Today I had a long lie - up at 8:30, breakfast with the girls then off to the field. Watered tunnel, pruned cukes, tied in toms and inserted canes for the late planted ones.
Aubergines have started producing flowers in spite of the leaves being all skeltonised and raggedy edged thanks to an expolosion of horny gollachs in the tunnel.
Planted out twenty or so dwarf french beans in the tunnel - the remaining 80 or so will go in as soon as I get the winter brassicas, scallion and chinese cabbages planted out.
Weeded another row of Calabrese and a row of Hispi - have lost maybe a dozen or so to cabbage root fly - perfectly acceptable in my world. All the brassicas seem to be doing well - even the red cabbage which is always a pigeon favourite seems to have survived better than in the last two seasons and is beginning to grow away strongly.
The ground is really really dry just now - rain is forecast for Wednesday but I wouldn't complain if it arrived early

[COMPOST CORNER]

Potted on tomatoes to give to friends as I have no more room in the GH. Don't know if they will grow outside, but got to be worth a try for them. Watered and fed all container grown stuff, Toms, peppers, chillies, cukes, courgettes, summer squash and pumpkin. Planted more genovese basil and some coriander seeds.
Feel better having read that, thought I'd done nowt. Hurrah and Huzzah.

[Newbie]

Lifted all my onions & lay them on racks in the shed to dry out (i plan to open the shed door daily to let the air in - is this right?), raked over the former onion bed & planted my early leeks, planted out basil plants & parsley in the veg plot, edged one of the flower beds, did a bit of weeding, potted 2 spare tomato plants into buckets & made room for them in the GH, sorted out plants to go to brothers on wednesday when i go see their new greenhouse (2 tomatoes, 2 melons, chillis, courgette), planted out white fox gloves grown from seed into the bank in front of new fence edging veg plot, planted out purple plant (that i can't remember the name of) given by M&D in the flower bed. All done in my bikini as it's been boiling - not a pretty sight!!

[Snadger]

Muggy and sunless for most of the day. Used my day off work to good advantage though. Turned over beds and planted out the last of my sweetcorn. Planted some cabbage some sprouts and loads of calabrese.
Harvested a couple of shy's of spuds and some shallots to go with my other veg in a beef stew this evening (in the pan now!)
Ousted my broody off her nest and collected 10 eggs. You wouldn't credit it but another chooks gone broody...........must be the flaming weather!

[solway cropper]

The climbing peas are now well over 6 feet tall so I pinched out the tops. Not much point having peas if I can't reach them! The torrential downpour yesterday has helped things along and the caulies seem to have grown 2 inches overnight. It's still far too hot to do much during the day and when it cools off the midges come out so I still can't do much in the evening. I mowed the back lawn and put the clippings round the fruit trees to help keep the weeds down and hold in a bit of moisture. The maincrop onions have been a disaster this year...serves me right for buying a load of sets from the pound shop. Leeks, chives, shallots and spring onions are all fine so that's some consolation. I might just put in a small prayer for some more rain before I go to bed.

[COMPOST CORNER]

Followed the advice of Snadger and Zazen999 and fingered my onions.

[Edwardo82]

I have lifted all my Shallots planted in March and they are all hanging now. Fingered my onions and garlic.

Picked a load of Peas, Beans and Sugar Snap. My Courgettes are going into over drive and I am producing loads of them along with a few of my first Tiger Marrows.

I lifted some of my first ever carrots and I am very happy with those, cannot believe how tasty they are.

Been watering big time of an evening and weeding left right and centre as I go.

Had my first cabbage as well and again very tasty, starting to realise now that keeping up with the harvesting is just as important as putting all your love and care into growing it everything in the first place.

Pickled some more Beetroot but did not use just White Wine vinger this time as it was a little bit strong :P

[Professor Peabody]

Got sent home from the office because the AC broke so spent a couple of pleasent hours tidying the plot and sowed some romiane lettuce and turnips. Pulled up last of the radishes that had bolted. Earthed up spuds and pulled up first bulb of garlic.

[Two_Sheds]

Hot, but windy
- sowed 2 rows of Mr Brooks Blue frenchie
- planted out Blue Lake, Orca, Cobra & Yin Yang, Cherokee frenchies
- planted out 2 Cobnut & 3 Harrier butternuts & mulched them well
- picked another pan full of broadies (and made into hummous)
- picked a handful of Frenchbeans (Purple Teepee & Mr Brooks Blue ... both "black" beans)
- gave in and watered the strawbs ... the plants have collapsed in the drought
- potted on tomatoes. Got a couple of red ones (Juliet)
- picked a breadbag full of peas (and only a couple of maggots)
- saved a handful of Aquedulce broadies which have now dried on the plant, for Nov. sowing

[A Life Less Simple]

Just come back from the allotment where I've spent a very nice could of hours, dug two more beds (with a lot of help, I hate digging) and planted out french beans, peas and cabbage plants, covered everything to keep rabbits off , before leaving for the allotment this morning I went to the garden centre and bought a load more netting, also had my dwarf runner and french bean seeds arrived for one last sowing so will start those off and some more cabbage seeds I think.

[Snadger]

Been on chicken cree building duties today..............got about half the coop finished when i realised my shoulders and neck were a wee bit warm from sunburn. Decided to put my shirt back on,pack up and head for home before I got sunstroke!
Pleased with what I got done anyway!

[sewer rat]

Today I got out to the field, watered the tunnel and then started to plant out my winter brassicas - so far I have planted out 900 Savoy Cabbage, 250 Curly Kale, 200 Tuscan Kale and 400 Tundra Cabbage - got 600 Tundra, 450 PSB and about 6000 leeks left to do - and my back hurts already, as I pulled or strained or popped it in the local tug of war competition last Tuesday.
Would have done more but my mate who lives in one of the farm cotage and is recently seperated came down to the field with a beer so we sat for a while and put the world to rights - it would appear that women do not have sole rights on bitching !!
I NEED RAIN !

[Lottieval]

SR - just read your 28.06 post - What on earth is a horny gollach?! I have visions of your tunnel being inhabited by a herd of large, veggie, dinosaur type creatures!!!

[Snadger]

Progressed with fabricating my lofty chicken coop and am now worried I haven't made it big enough!