What I Did Today Archive 2009

[Winged one]

Paid a fast visit to the plot today to harvest broadies for lunch and tomorrow's dinner. But last friday, I spent the day there and weeded the spud bed 1 (earlies and 2nd earlies/salads), the roots bed and the onions. And a quick trim around a few paths and some weeds from peas/beans bed. Then I dug over what was tomatoes last year and planted, through weed suppressant membrane, my mixture of summer and winter squashes, pumpkins and courgettes that were ready (11 plants in total) and 15 sweetcorn in between those.

DH was there last friday for half a day, and he weeded the maincrop spuds, dug over the old leeks bed and sowed a load of mixed brassicas (loads of calabrese, and lots of others- cabbages (april, red and savoy), cauliflower, kale (red and black), PSB and brussles sprouts). Also through WSM (our way of keeping control over the weeds as we can't grow everything otherwise). He also dug over the last of the legumes bed, and I'll sow 3 more rows of peas next visit.

It is starting to look decent by now, although the climbing beans I platned out a couple of weeks ago are struggling (lack of water we think). So I may need to sow a few more. Otherwise, we have plenty in the ground, a little spare space for successional things and we are starting to harvest this year's crops. YAY!!

[crichmond]

Today I went the lotty with my daughter and together we potted on the rest of the tomatoes and cucumbers I now have 18 tomato plants growing in the self watering system and another 10 tomato plants waiting to be planted out on the lotty.
Leveled an area of the lotty and laid flags to put the pollytunnel and my other greenhouse on. Potted on all the chili plants and took them to the greenhouse 55 plants in all. And di a bee inspection of some of the hives marking a new queen in the process.

[Herbie]

Had quite a productive day in between the showers. Tackled over grown honeysuckle and passion flower, thinned out and trained along fence. deadhead some flowers and did a bit of weeding.
Took shelter in the greenhouse from down pour and hail stones!
Potted on cucumbers into final big pots, moved market more and restina outside. Put up supports for cucumbers and melons in the greenhouse. Potted up watercress. Potted up chili's. Planted some marigolds around rest of tomatoes. Potted up stella cherry and peach tree (dwarf), planted marigolds around the base of the pots. Moved plum tree in large pot to otherside of the patio. Had a tidy up. Picked mange tout and radish for stir fry for tea.
Planted a few lollo rosso. Made up some compost tea to feed to the veggies. Cut up some pop bottles to insert in the cougettes and pumpkins area for easier watering.
Cut a few things back, cleared up.
Courgettes have started to produce friut!!! Peas are flowering and producing pods, strawberrys are continuing to flower and have lots of fruit but no red ones yet, trimmed back the leaves.
Planning to sow some flower seeds for next year, written labels may get them in tomorrow.

[Topcat36]

Went wilkos got some of those reusable growbags down to 1.50 now , these will have to do till back is fixed ,no time to build raised bed at moment. Black buckets from morrisons .
Mananged to pot up 4 more tomatoes, they are very small compared to the ones i potted up weeks ago poor things. Dwarf french beans planted up not sure if they will do well they were neglected while i was in hospital.
Had hopes of getting more done but back decided enough was enough so retreated to the couch. My list of things to do is huge.

[kentvegplot]

Busy weekend. Cleared the bed which I had grown bulbs in for cuttings earlier, added loads of own compost and a few handfuls of chicken manure - so that's ready for the sweetcorn and courgettes.

Planted out rest of the calabrese, red cabbage and brussels in the new brassica bed - then discovered I don't have a net big enough for the cage......

Into the tunnel to plant out the Marconi and Soro Sarek peppers, put up the strings for the tomatoes - had to clear an enormous ants nest first.

Cut off all the ends of the cherry tree with dreadful black aphid - the tree will be coming out later as it has bad canker, as well as the aphids. Picked off small apples showing codling moth damage - hope that will keep the second brood to a minimum.

After all that action, picked some broad beans for dinner - lovely!

[solway cropper]

Hacked back some shrubs in the border this morning and recovered about a square yard of ground. This is quite sheltered so today I'll be planting out three Moneymaker tomatoes which are still in 3 inch pots and flowering. It doesn't matter if they don't produce much as the main crop is in the greenhouse and coming along nicely. BTW what do people do with all their tomatoes? I see crichmond has 18+10 and last year was very poor due to mildew and blossom end rot but I still managed to get 37lbs from 8 plants.

[crichmond]

I use them fresh, make chutneys, eat them straight off the vine, dry them and preserve them in oil and herbs and make tomato sauces and freeze it.
We also have 8 kids so there isnt much left at the end of the year.

[Two_Sheds]

I spent 5 hrs just weeding. omg, I hate weeding. I have trays and trays of plants to get out, but it is just too hot and dry.
Please, let it rain !

[teamladd]

I have just come in from planting out my beans into another raised bed I have made. Im not sure what beans they are as I was given them by my grampy. I have also moved some tomato plants into bigger pots. Tomorrow I will be moving my courgette plants into big pots.... Just need some more compost.

[coreopsis]

Dug up another bit of lawn-planted strawbs as they weren't too happy in the pots and are thirsty beasties.Planted dwarf frenchies-2 trays with nearly 100%germination planted out,the rest-wait and see.Earthed up the tatties(grass cuttings mixed with top soil),watered everything and escaped home from midges

[solway cropper]

Cut some swiss chard and had it with our evening meal....steamed and with a knob of butter and a sprinkle of black pepper. Was pleasantly surprised and will be sowing more. It's probably not going to be a staple veg but makes a nice change. It seems to do well in pots and is fairly fast growing. I used a rainbow mix of seeds which look really nice with dark green leaves and red, yellow and white stems. You could probably get away with it in a flower border!

[IgglePiggle]

Today I made 1 step! Not alot I know, but Rome wasn't built in a day either Also my Swede I planted in modules are now starting to sprout!!!

[taff]

I finished the last raised bed as much as possible, then put 15 tomatoes in there along with a row of peas at the end in the vain hope it'll give the tomatoes some shelter. I've never grown them outdoors, so let's hope they live.

Took everything out of the greenhouse, put 24 tomato plants back in, then didn't have enough room for some of them outside, so put some more back in. Forgot about the cucumbers, so they went back in, also forgot about the aubergines, so they went back in. Now I'm in the same position with a stuffed greenhouse even though I've either planted out or given away most of my surplus. Arggghhhh!!!!

Chopped down some climbing thingy from next door, and took some buddlea branches off the triffid in the other next door. Trimmed all nettles, grasses at garden edges, weeded the gravelly bit out the back.

Tripped over some fairly flat grass, put hand out to save myself, straight onto bucket that disintegrated, fell on my knee onto a very sharp stone, hobbled for rest of the day.

[Two_Sheds]

It rained all night, but dried out lunchtime, so off to the plot:
- put in White Emergo and Tiger beans
- dug out lots of dead bramble roots so I could plant 6 Trafalgar sprouts, with French Marigold in between to deter whitefly
- pulled up all autumn onions ... golf ball size, but edible
- picked another bag of broadies and a few peas
- got hit by a car

[sewer rat]

Not a good day

Watered the tunnel at my own place them spent the day at the posh walled garden.
Walked through the gate to be greeted with a horrible site. Two of the guys who work in the hotel said they would spray off the paths for me and I agreed, thinking they would use the watering can and trickle bar - but no, they used round-up and a small pump srayer - so it was goodbye to 100m of Paris Market Atlas Carrots, 50m Ishiwotsit Spring onions and 50m each of Monogerm Beetroot, Golden Beetroot and Chioggia Beetroot. NOT A HAPPY RAT !
Anyway, no point crying over spilt Glyphosate, so weeded Peas and Broad Beans, unearthed Parsnips from mass of weeds, weeded out Asparagus bed, weeded runner and French beans, planted out aubergines in greenhouse, planyed out last 100 Celeriac and last 100 Florence Fennel.