Snadgers Penultimate Plot

[muckdiva]

Have earmarked this thread for a binge read later

[Snadger]

Courgettes are still producing and quickly turn to marrows if left for a couple of days.

Tomatoes likewise and I am struggling to keep up with how fast they are ripening

Must try and procure some Japanese onion sets and get some of my winter brassicas planted out.

The Mooli I sowed were a failure and out of a whole packet I probably have six plants that haven't went to seed....yet.

[Thelma Sanders]

Courgettes are still producing and quickly turn to marrows if left for a couple of days.

Tomatoes likewise

Mmmmm - tomatoes that turn into marrows Did you buy GM seed

[Can the Man]

Have earmarked this thread for a binge read later

Hey Mucka I did exactly that last week

[Snadger]

More watering of greenhouse and another huge tomato harvest along with one cucumber.

I also dug a single 'shye' of Charlotte tatties for diner/supper. Quite a few have slug damage but managed to get enough that weren't damaged. I had no keel slug problem at my last plot so this is all new to me.

The soil is a silty clay loam here which holds moisture, which is great overall, but moisture and slugs go together so I am just going to have to learn to live with it. I think the advantages of this soil type outweigh the disadvantages.

Checked the courgette plants before I left and true to form, had to pick more courgettes before they developed into marrows.

Made a mental note to harvest French beans next time I am at plot along with some yellow chrysanthemums which are just starting to show colour.

[Snadger]

More tomatoes harvested along with a carrier bag of French Beans and five beetroot .Watered indoor stuff and did small amount of weeding of the Mooli bed (only six plants that haven't bolted.)

Wind had blown my guttering down so I did a makeshift job of fastening it up with sticky sided roofing felt.

[Snadger]

Added two bin bags of grass cuttings from home lawn into dalek.

Harvested a few carrots for my Sunday dinner.These would go with the French beans and some Charlotte tatties. To some steak I also added home grown red onions, lots of tomatoes and six cloves of home grown garlic. And very nice it was too.
My turmeric has done well in a pot in the greenhouse but with the threat of an imminent frost which would kill it, I took it home to stand on the windowsill.

I watered indoor stuff then hoed off some weeds where the onions had been and where I will be planting brassicas at a later date.

I was slightly aggrieved that even though my carrots were covered with fine mesh and didn't show any outward signs of damage, a couple of the carrots had been attacked towards the point of the carrot? This part was easily chopped off and I wondered whether this was slug damage rather than carrot fly damage.

[Snadger]

It was still a bit windy today but managed to do a couple of hours pottering on the plot. After watering and feeding stuff in greenhouse with Comfrey tea I had a bit of a weed fest .Hand weeding gets a bit monotonous after a while so decided to take the pea sticks out of my mangetout peas and uproot the almost dead plants, which were added to the dalek.
Tied up my squash plants which were making a break for freedom from there canes.
Stripped all the lower dead leaves off my swede plants. Bagged up my thoroughly dried shallots.

I think I now have everything ready for to keep the plot productive during the winter. I have radar and Senshyu onion set along with some red onion sets .I bought two huge garlic heads from Morries for 50p each which will be broken up into cloves and planted. I also have Durham Early spring cabbage plants for winter greens and hearty cabbage. Ball head spring cabbage ,kales, red cabbage and savoy cabbage are all sitting in trays ready to be planted out.
The only thing I have yet to acquire are broad beans but as I won't be sowing until November there is plenty of time for this.

[Snadger]

Hoed and raked the area where my Japanese onions had been and planted a row of Durham Early spring cabbage I had grown in a seedbed. I planted them out about one foot apart with the intention of using alternate plants as spring greens.

I found some chicken wire behind my shed so made a tent shape with it and covered the cabbages against pigeon predation.

I then decided to tackle some brambles that were trying to take over the comer of my plot. They had grown about 8 foot and I had to trace them back and grub out the root. I had planted either a Tayberry or Logan berry (I forget which!) against the fence and hope I have grubbed out the right plants and left the planted berry.

I finished up by cutting some yellow chrysanths for the house.

[Snadger]

Yesterday I dug up a couple of shyes of Charlotte spuds and got enough worms for fishing! (Fishing went well btw)
I called at the plot today mainly to harvest some carrots to go with the spuds, asparagus and some pork chops for supper.
Watered stuff in greenhouse and also newly planted seedlings then left for home to cook tea/supper.

[Snadger]

Called in at the plot to get some veg for the Sunday lunch.Dug a single shye of Charlotte tatties and four nice carrots along with yet more courgettes which are still producing.

I was the only punter on site and it was a really warm morning so I stripped off the tee shirt and decided to try and get a bit of work done.

I hoed off a strip of land and strung out a straight row with an old piece of clothes line.

I then planted 9 winter cabbage plants along the line. The plants I had were quite leggy so I trowel dug deeper holes to bring the bottom leaves level with the surface. Once planted and watered in I raised the clothes line 1 foot up and made a tent over the plantlets of debri netting to keep the pigeons off.

After watering greenhouse stuff I headed for home to prepare Sunday lunch with some nice lamb chops.

[lolie]

I foolishly let what looked like a harmless ground cover invade my flower beds over winter and it's proving super tough to remove. This thread reminds me of what is possible and I come back to it often to remind myself that keeping at it a bit at a time pays off.

[Snadger]

Productive morning this morning. I harvested my spring sown onions which filled two trays in the greenhouse where they were put to dry out.This years sets and garlic are in front of the onions ready to be planted.




The area they were in was de-weeded, raked and planted up with some red cabbage. No idea whether these will survive as they were just sown because I had the seeds available.



I dug up the remains of my Charlotte spuds and after raking area started to sow some of my Japanese onions. This was curtailed when he heavens opened




I left for home with enough Charlotte potatoes for a couple of meals. Because of harvesting them late quite a few had slug damage
I also dug up a show quality leek for home use.

[Snadger]

While I had the camera out I took a few more plot pictures.

Red torpedo onions are just about ready.





Chrysanths are flowereing



Spring and winter cabbage with bird protection.

[Snadger]

Stole a couple of hours sunshine at the plot this afternoon. Managed to get a few more Autumn Champion onion sets planted. I have never grown these before so its a bit of n experiment. I still have Radar onion sets to plant which did do well for me this year, along with red Autumn onions.
After hand weeding my winter leeks and transplanting a few into gaps from a seed tray I had to decide where to put the rest of the Autumn onions. I decided to put them where some broad beans had been which was now overgrown with weeds. I got a bit of a sweat on using a draw hoe and rake to clear the area.
Because I favour a no-dig approach but need to move some soil to level up the plot I will only level the soil where the onion rows are to go. After levelling with a cut and fill technique I will rake the seed bed and plant the sets...….tomorrow is another day though.
I left with a bag of good sized Ailsa Craig tomatoes (must remember to keep one for seed next year)and ate a late strawberry on the way out.