What I Did Today Archive 2011

[Loudbarker1]

Checked garden first thing. Red Duke of York showing through under black plastic. Need to decide whether to grow through the plastic over the weekend or pull it back. There's quiet a bit of perenial weed showing through under the plastic, sio I may mulch with grass cluppings, cut holes in the plastic and out the spuds through.

Pulled out a few of those damn weeds......

Went to work

[susieq100]

Yesterday - went to the plot to collect FYM for the garden at home and stayed for nearly 2 hours pottering about! Planted out cauliflowers but under a mini cloche, my first early potatoes were peeking through ... about 1.5 inches above the ground. Bernard, the sage of the allotments, advised me to cover them up in case we have a frost, so 'moulded' my potatoes!
Dug a big hole near the border of the plot, forked the soil over, half filled with FYM, topped off with soil and more FYM, put cardboard and a tyre over it. I shall cut a hole in the cardboard and plant my squash there - then it will be 'trained' to grow along the grass border. Theoretically. Barrowed and bagged up horse poo. Came home and prepared a bean trench using said horse poo in the border near the conservatory, erected the wigwam for the Climbing French beans. OH mowed the back lawn. Looks 100% better.

[Oli]

Sowed spacemaster 80 cucumber, butternut squash, little gem squash, white bush scallop squash, crown prince squash, golden nugget squash, aubergines, okra, scotch bonnet chillis

[VirginVegGrower]

Sowed last gutter of peas, also six pots of borlotti beans. Pricked out and potted on some cuke crystal lemon. First blue egg today from cream legbar hen Sage = major eggcitement in our house!

[Snadger]

Took cuttings of early and late chrysanthemums. Tidied up around greenhouse exterior. Filled a barrel with compost ready for sowing some parsnips. Not sure of its final position yet though. Did a bit of hand weeding.

[Two_Sheds]

- bought a new (dark red) trailing pelargonium & a million bells, and got 4 cuttings off each
- pricked out Dahlberg Daisy (what a curious but pleasant smell that has)
- dug up some kerria to plant at school
- filled the last 3 raised beds at school with turf from the paths (I say turf, it's 80% dandelion & 20% mouse ear)
- cats are dumping in the beds, so I arranged canes across the tops to deter them
- sowed Markana pea along the chain link fence
- planted sweet peas along the clf in the flower bit of the garden
- had to water the new transplants as we still haven't had any rain
- sowed 2 rows of Chioggia beetroot
- and 1 row of coriander
- weeded lots and lots of flowering chickweed, groundsel & dead nettle
- the celeriac & parsnip are bolting, so dug them out too
- planted out 4 or 5 trays of annual flowers, to make room for the next lot of trays that need hardening off
- French beans are up in the gh (min 10c which is meant to be too cold for them)
- dug a black sack of horsetail & couch out of the school's wildlife garden. Again

[lottieanne]

popped to the allotment for a coffee at lunch as I was working in the area ...... shallotts, onions and garlic all growing well and I have flowers on my strawberries wooo hooo I have an allotment.

At home peas, broadbeans and runner beans moved out of coldframe to harden off as they are getting very big :-)

[JamesM]

Sowed more marigolds, toms, sunflowers, spinach, spring onion to go in the blowaway. Planted some mixed seeds for my one and only border and some lettuce under cloches

[bearded bloke]

Started to build the fruit cage

[Mantha81]

Today I bought some foxgloves, pansys, marigolds and lupins to add to my companion planting, attracking bees and black/green fly etc. Also bought some wild flower mix that aphids take a particular fancy to. After the visit to the garden centre I've come to my mum's to paint her fingers green!

We've planted: peas, french beans, cucumbers, lettuce, rocket, spring onions and peppers. She only really has outside growing, so hopefully it's not too early to be leaving the little lovely's outside. Have got her to make some home made mini green houses out of pop / water bottles - told her to use these for the peppers.

[frogga]

Weeded all day, trying to make the garden a nettle and bramble free zone before the mother in law to be comes and inspects over easter, tomorrow is more of the same, and cutting the lawn.

[VirginVegGrower]

Planted maincrop potatoes and ran out of room in the bed. Will need to find room at the end of the lane veg patch! Planted on my 4 into 1 module beetroot aka Monty Don.
Got sunburnt again and pleased to see more on their allotments today.
More root crops tomorrow.

[binley100]

Picked caterpillars off my goosgogs. On the Centenary Garden , planted out the first of the brassicas and made a frame to support the anti- pigeon and butterfly netting. At home...played musical plants, pricked some out and sowed some more.(sweetcorn and climbing french beans) Said hello to the crystal lemon cucs that have shown their faces......

[oldie]

Made my first cut of Comfrey leaves, some gone under the last of my spuds and the rest into my tea urn. First brassica's planted out - cabbage and brussels sprouts. Cleared a new area near the hedge to sow a hedgerow flower mix.

[Snadger]

Planted some turbo onion sets, some Duke of york tatties,some kestrel tatties, some gladioli corms. Stripped a boilling of sprouts and fed the plant remains to the chooks. weeded and tickled over an 18 foot X 4 foot bed. Weeded new sitting out area formed in the Vee of an L shaped greenhouse.
Tested sitting out area for suitability......as one does!