What I Did Today Archive 2011

[binley100]

Diddled around in the garden at home. planted out some pretties and smellies . Chopped back a hooge shrub. Picked cherries .Potted on some aubs into final pots and rearranged the gh again. Had a go with our new gadgie (no handle though which would be a help) Made jam and put some cherries into alkyhol .

[oldie]

Well it was actually last night. Having a last walk round the plot to see what damage the wind has done, just happened to have a 4ft length of 2x4 timber in my hand. Suddenly spotted a rat about 6ft away. With lightning swift reactions, unswerving aim and courage in the face of the enemy the wooden missile was launched............................................. There is one less rat on the plot today.

[bigt1888]

sowed loads of seeds to try and get the kids interest started again....

lettuce
rocket
broad beans
sweetcorn
parsnips
PS broccoli
cauliflower

various herbs


and planted up some pumpkins and one plant that is as yet unidentified as i didnt label it when i put it in the propogator...

it rained all the way through and the kids didnt even notice

[Florence Fennel]

Planted out some coloured caulies, purple, green and orange. Sowed radish. Discovered I've sabotaged my tomatoes and I'm gutted, weeded the carrot beds.

[taff]

sowed winter [late, I know] and summer cabbage [early, I know], kale, kohl rabi and bright lights chard and fennel in modules, put them in the blowaway outside to germinate, it's the safest place away from butterflies while they grow, and I've straddled it over 2 beds so they have a nice waft of wind up the backside so not too hot.
FInally sowed parsnips outside.
Planted out 2 winter squash and 2 summer ones. Planted out a couple of loney module beetroot. If all the beetroot I've sown this year grows, I can supply a small village later on in the year
Did the seedling/plantlet shuffle in the greenhouse again.

[rustylady]

Sat around most of the day waiting for my children to sort out their arrangements for the weekend and looking after grandchildren waiting to be collected for weekend activities. Listened to the thunder and watched the rain, and felt really happy that I wasn't going camping.

[bronwen]

Oldie: good shot with the wood!

Yesterday - my next door neighbour waving frantically to me through the window to alert me that my blowaway had blown down! and I must admit after a stunned silence I let out a little #%$@ diddley #%$@ diddley #%$@ #%$@ #%$@!!!
And then I cried! Ha! Poor me, slight over reaction.
Then I pulled myself together to try and salvage what I could. Most of it actually seems like it will be okay, haven't lost as much as it looked like I would.

Then I tied the blinking thing down with wire.... then later in the day it had blown down again, simply snapping the wire I had used to secure it with. Luckily I hadn't refilled it as it was raining too much. So the poor plants stayed out in the big bad world last night!

[mothhawk]

Yesterday I lifted the last of one patch of early potatoes and put in a brown paper bag in the shed, 'cos I really need the space.
Today in the space, put together and put up a metal rose arch that I got for �12 reduced from �29.99 at the local garden centre, and cable tied some of that stiff plastic net stuff to it. Planted a butternut squash against each side in the hope I can train them up it and support any resulting fruit somehow.

Under and around the arch sowed kale, lettuce, parsnip, leeks, and florence fennel (small f's ).
Repotted some bell peppers grown from supermarket pepper - they are starting to get tiny buds - repotted some spearmint from the GC, and cleaned out and washed the bluetit box.

[Helgalush]

My other half has built me two 4-tier ladder allotments against our new fence, they look fab and do the job perfectly, so moved containers and pots on to those.

Sowed more spring onions and got rid of the spinach that yet again has run to seed before I could eat any of it (what is it with me and spinach?!).

Transplanted peas and made structure for them to grow up.

Transplanted the bean plant that my friend gave to me in to a much bigger pot with better frame, I think it must be a runner bean as it is growing at an enormous rate and I really dont have space for it, but healthier than my other beans (?dwarf).

Chopped side shoots off of tomato plants.

Sowed Italian fennel, bronze fennel (wrong season?), and dandelions for the bunnies.

Transplanted hyssop seedlings in to 3" pots and 2 viola seedlings in to 3" pots.

Sowed nasturtiums, hollyhocks, calendulas, and chamomile in to new flower bed. Transplanted yet more lavender seedlings in to flower bed.

Ate two strawberries.

[Suky]

Squelched down to the lottie and finished putting boards around 2 beds then sieved soil from a heap of 'turf' I cleared and stacked earlier in the year and used it to top up some of the beds. Proved to one of the 'oldies' that paths finished with weed suppressant and topped with woodchip IS a good idea. I could walk between the beds and work the soil as it had drained better than the flat plots I don't have raised beds per se, but they are edged with boards and heaped up.
Came home and watered the greenhouse and tied some of the potato haulms up to canes so I can water the bags more easily.

[Nicos]

Finally!!!!

(last frost 13 days ago- then away for more than a week)
37 toms planted out, red and savoy cabbage, sprouts, climbing French beans, more peas,more courgettes and peppers, celeriac ,leeks ,onions ( shame on me) - oh yes- and about 50 plastic bottles around the plants to pour water into!

yup- finally the bare patch of soil is weed free and brimming full of a promise of a wonderful harvest later in the year!

Soil was wonderful- damp and warm- 2 weeks ago there was dust down to at least 8" (...thank goodness for the rains after virtually none since March!) what a funny old year for growing crops!

[Florence Fennel]

Planted out the last of my cauliflowers, just calabrese to go in now. Watched my son cut the grass!

[bethduckie]

Dug up and binned my entire lot of broad beans (blackfly, sadly) harvested some nice bits, and did a LOT of weeding... yes, the rains have brought out a bajillion of the buggers!

[Snadger]

Spent a pleasurable morning potting on chrysanths and weeding the herb bed.

[Bren In Pots]

Cut the grass and did a bit of weeding.