What I Did Today Archive 2009

[wozzawozacat]

Today I've sowed

Butternut Squash
Courgettes
Leeks
Tomatoes
Chilies

Also started hardening off some seedlings

[greendean]

tidied up a customers garden yesterday. got loads of leaves to add to leaf mould bin and some snowdrops for the house. oh and got payed to garden. woo hoo!

put some shelves up in the shed and filled them straight away so need some more

pricked out some aqualegia seedlings that overwintered in greenhouse and sowed a few french beans and pansies

going to make a cold frame at work today

[devon-surfer]

I've a crap clay plot, so today following advise from other grapeviners I've but hort grit and covered the bed in well rotted farm manure, got soaking wet, but the plot looks 10 times better already. Now I need the dry weather so I can turn it all over without half the plot sticking to my boots.

[sewer rat]

Box today today - this weeks boxes contain some or all of the following;
potatoes, carrots, onions, parsnips, beetroot, leeks, perpetual spinach, jerusalem artichokes, swede.
If that's not a winter soup box, I dunno what is
Beginning to struggle to vary the box contents now - roll on my early CCA salads and radishes. Also my PSB, though it seems to have had a burst and now slowed again - hope it get's the proverbial finger out soon.

[pigletwillie]

Hurrah, the soil pipe is finally up into the loft ready for the conversion, I can now box it in and plaster.

Gardening wise, some peas were sown into pots, dwarf french beans too. Cabbage, cauli and shallots were all kicked out of the heated greenhouse.

Chrysanthemum cuttings were taken and more leeks pricked out.

[Printemps]

Printemps has a new toy!

Managed to get to Lidl's at opening time to grab one of those electric cultivator's (baby rotovator) then went on a wild goose chase trying to buy a heated propagator, to no avail.

My mini veg patch has been neglected since last autumn, so has become awash with chickweed and various other annual weeds. I wondered whether to just rotovate them all in, or to painstakingly hand-weed the worst of it before I tried out my new toy.

Sense prevailed - well, for around 20mins - as I set to pulling up loads of chickweed. At this point female sense intervened and I decided that as this ickle patch will shortly become several raised beds, I'd just set the lynda66 apparatus* to work and cover the decapitated weeds with FYM and déchetterie (local tip) compost when the sleeps are in place next week. *I worked out which way the rotovator would go before I switched it on!!

My new toy worked a treat, working the earth to a fine crumbly tilth. It seemed such a shame to then walk all over it, let alone coping with the heavy going as the soil turned my gardening shoes into industrial platform soles, so I employed a new technique - I just walked backwards!

Sometimes I think I'm wasted - quite a few think I am! Hic!

[greendean]

made my cold frame yesterday and put blackcurrant and goosberry cutting from greenhouse into it. sowed a few more french beans and pricked out some overwintering delphiniums. picked up all the cat poo in the beds. wish horses would do that for me!

[womble]

Realised my French Marigolds sown on the 23rd Feb, won't be coming through and ordered some more seed. Disaster! Well behind for putting them in with my tomatoes now.

[selfraising]

So far today I have pruned another branch out of my olive tree. Trimmed back someof my herbs and sown Feltham Early peas in modules. Cucumbers that I sowed on Monday have germinated today. Have brought my Anya spuds that were chitting in the shed indoors. They have been out there since January and not a sign of a chit anywhere! So hoping that by bringing them in, it might encourage some growth.

[Twinkle]

planted my Charlotte potatoes - not much chit on them but decided to chance it anyway as tradition dictates earlies are in by Paddy's Day (apparently, unless my mate's on a wind-up)

Sowed french beans and runner beans and sweetcorn

[Flummery]

More work on the hen run and a platform to stand the hen-house on - this will give us a sheltered area for feeding the chooks under the house.

[gojiberry]

Worked on the clients garden this morning, mainly pruning bushes as time is now getting on. This afternoon went down B&Q and got 3 bags compost for myself and some battons from wicks for a frame around the carrot bed. Will put the frame and micro mesh up on sunday and sow the carrots at the same time. Sowed a 15 tray each of cucumber and courgettes.

Ian

[Printemps]

Ran amok with my loppers severing an old, overgrown campsis which had found its way under the roof of an outhouse. Not too sure what I'll put in its place yet.

Swapping to a pair of secateurs I pruned the grapevine, albeit a few days late. In this locality it is said that pruning of vines should be finished by the 10th March, otherwise the fast rising sap will run from the pruning cuts, especially if you cut into old wood. Several cuts did in fact weep but nothing like the first year I did it when the sap dripped for days, just as if a washer had failed in a tap. To have been seen to be believed.

Checked on the chilli seeds (from swaps received) which I sowed on 6th and 7th March on wet kitchen towel in former take-away plastic boxes and several are showing the first embryonic shoot - or should that be root. Actually, does anyone know at what stage should I pot them up?

Temperatures got to around 22C, 43C in the conservatory, so decided to start potting on the mints, which are well out of their winter dormancy, so too the hostas. Took some cuttings of box, most with a heel, but not too sure what the usual propagation technique is. So a fingers crossed job here. Sowed some watercress seeds, some beetroot into cells and lifted and split oregano, majoram and sage.

Changed the oil in the lawnmower and cleaned and gapped the spark plug in anticipation of tomorrow's belated first lawn cut. Blade edge didn't look too bad so won't bother about getting it sharpened just yet.

My legs and arms are still aching from yesterday's rotovating, so a soak in the bath is called for. Night night.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

[Welsh Wizard]

Erected my 5 quid poly tunnel from lidl: genius piece of kit at that price. Will keep the pigeons off my broad beans nicely. Sowed my second batch of broad beans hopefully giving me a bit of succession: I love broad beans more than any other veg and they are hard to get in the shops so its an important crop for me!

I tend to care for my veg in order of how much I want the crop: This year I really really want a glut of fresh broad beans, mangetout peas and strawberries so those are getting sown, weeded, netted and pampered to the max. I have bought in more strawberry plants. I also want blue berries: I have 8 bushes in action!

The rest of the plot gets second class treatment; if I manage a crop from the other sowings then it will be nice but if the slugs get them then so be it....

[Roger_Hanuk]

What I did this week

Built two raised beds out of sleepers; one 3m x 1.5m x 2 sleepers high the other 1.5m x 1.2m x 1 sleeper high. Then shifted 3 giant bags of topsoil to fill them. Also dug out the lawn and laid 24 slabs to increase the the size of the patio (shifting 2 giant bags of building sand in the process), so I can now sit and admire my raised beds. Oh, and built a small fence as a wind break
Then yesterday, finally, sowed parsnips, radishes, carrots, shallot sets, spring onions (in the rain).
And today I've planted asparagus, and some Nicola potatoes.

In between times I've been lurking on here picking up all sorts of tips - Thanks guys and gals

Back to work next week - I could do with a rest

Think I'll go and do some more sowing