Snadgers Penultimate Plot

[Snadger]

Flaming pigeons. I have a row of swedes which are covered with debri-netting and doing fine. I also have a row exposed to the elements which are like lace curtains due to pigeon predation. I decided to run a strip of debri netting over them and hopefully save them.
I put a post at each end and a piece of clothes line stretched between at 40cm high. stretched the debri netting over it and pegged it down with bits of cane to form a green mesh cloche.
Harvested my garlic and laid it on the greenhouse bench to dry out for a couple of days, then into the shed it goes.
Watered peas, beans and all internal stuff and left for home with a handful of strawberries.

[Snadger]

Watered the raised bed that had the garlic in it and once surface was friable I sowed three rows of Mooli.
Dug over an area about 1 metre X 2 metres and dibbled in about 30 small leek plants I had grown in plug modules. Filled he dibber holes with water but didn't firm leeks in
Dug one shye of Charlotte spuds and got enough spuds for mine and OH's supper.
Did lots of hand watering of beetroot, leeks ,strawbs ,sweetcorn ,torpedo onions ,climbing peas and beans + chrysant plants.
Tied up and side shooted tomatoes in greenhouse. Hoed of newly germinated weeds from paths.
I was there from 1.30pm until 4.30pm and came away cream crackered.

[Snadger]

I had a bit of a change of plan with my squash plants which are romping away. I had three plants in one large pot and to plants in another. I have now taken two plants out of one pot and one out of another pot all with a decent root ball. These 3 I have planted outdoors in a row and stuck a few canes in temporarily. If I get a chance I will pop down the wood which is next to the allotments and see if I can find some dead branches to make a bit of a framework for them as I know from past experience they like to climb.

So now I have two pots in greenhouse with two different varieties which I will allow to ramble along the staging on one side.

I potted on four late sown cucumbers into 4 inch pots before planting in there final positions, two indoors and two outdoors as an experiment. I also gave five cucumber plants to my allotment neighbour.

Glad to see my Mooli is starting to germinate outdoors. The seed was old so I didn't know whether it would be viable or not.

I sowed ball headed spring cabbage Spring Hero, red cabbage,Cavelo De Niro black kale and what I thought was Spring Cabbage but was actually Greyhound summer pointy cabbage. All were sown in modules indoors.

It was warm and drissely with rain, ideal conditions for weeds to grow

I bent over the tops of my largest Japanese Troy onions one of which had grown that much it had burst.

[Snadger]

I did loads of hoeing. It should be easier next year when I remove more of the stones from the soil

Dug some new potatoes for lunch Mooli has germinated well and I shall thin it out a bit when its a little bit bigger.

[Snadger]

Did a bit of defoliating on the tomato plants, hopefully I haven't been too aggressive.

Loaded the foliage along with a sack of grass cutting from home into the dalek.

Put two canes around each of my chrysanth plants. I usually put three canes around each so will have to buy some more.
I took the netting off my swedes which are quite large now, hopefully the pigeons will leave them alone now.

Thinned out my Mooli plantlets and weeded around my climbing French beans and peas wigwams.

[Snadger]

Just came back from plot where I only intended to water the stuff in the greenhouse

I had removed the debri netting from the swedes yesterday and there was no pigeon damage evident Enthused, I removed the netting from my other brassicas.
Of course, when I removed the netting there were loads of freshly germinated weeds.

Half an hour later, and after using the hoe, the plot looked a lot tidier.

I am hopeful of a decent crop of Marian swedes this year as they are tennis ball size now. I have never grown decent swedes before (due to a Boron deficiency on my old plot, apparently) so I am looking forward to a good crop.

[Snadger]

Planted out four Yacon plants. Watered and fed stuff in the greenhouse.

[Snadger]

Took an old dog cage to the plot today so that I could take some brassica seedling out of the greenhouse to harden off a bit, without worrying about pigeons getting them.



I know I keep banging on about my Japanese Troy onions but some of them have grown bigger than the Kelsae onions I used to grow years ago.



Next door neighbour at the plot was looking a bit rough today.

[Snadger]

Watered indoor stuff and some outdoor stuff. Put some more twigs and branches along my mange tout row along with a couple of lengths of plastic washing line.
Harvested some broad beans. Moved the glass off a frame ready for possibly sowing some turnips.

Dug over a small portion of the plot at the rear of the plot, mainly to get a few worms for fishing tomorrow.

[Snadger]

Harvesting onions ,only a few at a time as required.. A few more broad beans and courgettes.

Potted up a cucumber into its final pot. Too hot to do much else so watered stuff in greenhouse and left for home.

[Snadger]

Potted up another cucumber plant into a 9 inch pot to grow in the greenhouse. I had another two cucumber plants spare so planted these outdoors just to see if they would grow.
Lots of hoeing done mainly on pathways.

Harvested broad beans, onions,courgettes and baby beetroot

Watered indoor veg and headed for home

[Snadger]

Managed to get quite a bit done at the plot today after dodging rain showers.

I normally wear shorts all summer but because of the inclement weather I had long trousers on. This meant I could finally get in among the nettles which were entrenched among some raspberry and blackcurrant bushes and grub them all out.
There was also some comfrey in the corner which appears to have escaped from the neighbouring plot. Because I already have comfrey on another part of the plot which I brought with me, I grubbed this out as well. This of course went into the dalek to rot down.
I then lifted all my shallots and laid them to dry out (if it ever stops raining) on a mesh frame.
The bed they were in consisted of what appears to be 10 inches of compost over heavy clay. I dug this over and incorporated a bag of sand I had lying around. After a few handfuls of chicken manure and a good raking I sowed five short rows of Golden Ball turnips and a single row of Durham Early Spring Cabbage which should give me enough Spring cabbage to plant out on he plot later in the year.
Watered stuff in greenhouse giving a tomato feed to everything and harvested some Tigerella and Yellow toms. Noticed the Tumeric in a pot has finally sprouted so will be interested in its development.

[Snadger]

Called to plot to water greenhouse stuff, which didn't need it.

Harvested some mange tout peas and dropped off a pot grown Blackcurrant plant, a Red Goose Berry and a blackberry plant, all purchased for 20p each on offer with yellow stickers at Morries!

[Snadger]

Watered indoor stuff.

Put together a 'veg box' for my Daughter. Included onions, broad beans, courgettes, new potatoes and beetroot.

Pleased that my Tumeric tubers have now germinated in a large pot in the greenhouse.

Tomatoes are ready for harvesting every day now, as are courgettes.

[Snadger]

I took two large sacks of grass cutting from my lawn at home to the allotment. I had left them in the bags for two days and they were already yellow and had started composting. It was a tight fit but managed to squeeze them into my dalek at the plot.

Watered indoor stuff which is doing quite well. Put some red cabbage seedlings into the dog cage outside to harden off and grow bigger before planting out.

Noticed a few of my Golden ball turnips had germinated and what appears to be all of my Durham Early Spring cabbage likewise.