What I did today - 2019

[Bren In Pots]

Potted on more toms and courgettes then dug out dandelions from the beds and lawn.

[Greenleaves]

Pretended to be David Bellamy and played in the undergrowth

[Baldy]

Sowed some french beans - saxa I think they were - see if some of them will do ok in a big pot as well as sown in a bed. Got given some cabbages so they went in a bed. Put a few cauli sproutlings into a couple of pots too as an experiment...
Tidied up the cold frame so I could move things out of the tiny GH on the plot - moved marigolds and a few chillies out and in.
Picked some rhubarb - then realised no one else in tonight to make it worthwhile cookng them so left them on the 'take it please' bench.
Picked up some corrugated plastic for a friend - was a 20 mile round trip but I fancied a change of scene.
More old pots taken from home for a last lease of life at the plot. Mrs Balders approves of such manouevres.
Currently staring at the GH at home - not used it yet this year - will probably use it for toms - but I think it needs moving away from the house and down into the far corner of the garden - a job for autumn. But I have cojutated about it today...
Sowed some lettuce.
Lent someone a spirit level.
Fed the cats.
...

ok I'll stop now

[chillithyme]

Tidied up dead leaves in congested flower trays
Propogated trailing geraniums to double up quantities
Some more juggling of seedlings, running out of space, am looking forward to shifting plants into small mini greenhouses

[Small pumpkin]

Mantised beds 2 & 3
Potted up another 22 sunflowers, tomatoes, cucumbers,Tromboncino & melons
Pricked out cabbage, chard, spinach, turnips,beetroot, swede and basil.
Cut down pea shoots (they were getting a bit carried away)
Shut down hydroponics for a few months.

[SarrissUK]

I potted on my Thompson's seedless grapes (thank you VC!), cucumber lemons, basil before the rain threatened and I went inside.

[Baldy]

Early(ish) to the plot before the rain - local tree suregeon must have just left as when I filled a barrow with newly arrived chippings they were hot to the touch. 3 barrows up to the plot during the course of the day. Most weed suppressing, some composting....
Rain arrived - home to tidy up the GH in the back garden - took out two cape gooseberries - they'll see out their last days at the plot and might give me a final hurrah!!!
Removed some knackered old staging - that will be added to the plot raised bed edges and may see out a year or two before the eyesore is even too much for me.
Rain stopped so back to the plot - shifted som emore woodchip and pottedon a couple of cucumbers - old seed - from 30 or so sowings I've had 3 gernination - still, 3 more than nothing.
Back at home took an iron bar to a stump that had stupmed me for a couple of weeks. Think the rain had helped as I finally managed to root it up... huzzah
Smal tincture now. Early night. Off to the big lights of Somerset tomorrow...

[Gillykat]

I had a good couple of hours on my allotment (original one - No. 34) this afternoon.

Potted up a couple of pots of sweet peas I bought from Morrisons for £1 each (cos silly me didn't sow my own early enough!) - once I split them all up I had 20 individual plants

Potted my two rhubarb (Apple Delight & Poulton's Pride) up into bigger pots - these will both eventually go on new plot.

Sowed two varieties of peas - snap 'Nairobi' and petit pois 'Calibra' - 20 of each
11 x broad beans 'Crimson Flowered' (meant to just do 10 but there was an extra seed in the pack!)
8 x rainbow chard
4 x yellow scallop squash
16 x sweetcorn 'Golden Bantam'
30 x sweetcorn 'Swift' (we like sweetcorn LOL)

Postie also brought my second asparagus order. Supposed to be 5 crowns of Mondeo but they actually sent 6. Potted them up temporarily in compost in trays so they don't dry out and I'll decide tomorrow whether to dig a bed for them on Plot 34 or put them on Plot 10 as soon as I get the keys (hopefully sometime this week!).

Also magically created a LOT more time to sort out both allotments.....I quit my job today!!! Boss has been a nasty bully for past year and it was giving me crippling headaches so doctor put me on sick for 2 weeks. That's given me time to think and Neil suggested I quit that job and take a few months off to relax, go birdwatching & gardening and just decide what I want to do next
Wrote out letter of resignation this afternoon and dropped it off at work this evening.


Back tomorrow (on allotment, not nightmare job LOL) to start digging beds and sow some flower seeds.

[bario1]

Congratulations on quitting your job, Gillykat - perfect timing what with your new project and summer round the corner.... I'm not jealous!

This morning I managed to plant out a dozen or so broad beans before i had to go... to... my... job.

[1Bee]

Grumpy Tuesday on the plot feeling tired and achy for no apparent reason, so instead of putting in 4 hours or so, only did 2. Slowly.

Weeded about a third of one of the old raised beds. Moved sprouting dahlias in their pots to the covered raised bed.

Pulled fleece off onions and weeded. Watered a couple of things. Mulched dahlia beds with grass clippings. Dug over a small bit of the megabed. It's already been dug, but will need going over several times.

Planted up four strawberries in mark 2 milk bottle suspended pots. Mowed some paths. Grumped off home.

[Small pumpkin]

Had the shredder out for a little play.
Weeded bed 5
Sown lots of old seeds.

[Bren In Pots]

Weeded a washing up bowl of dandelions out of the lawn.

[chillithyme]

Finished preparing 3 beds that I started work on last week, raked in some organic growmore, covered and pegged down weed control fabric to plant potatoes and onion sets through.
I ran out of fuel in my bbq lighter or I would have made the holes in the weed control with it ready for planting.

[kitty12345]

Planted out some runner beans (still early I know). We'll see if they survive.
Gave my colleague another four strawberry runners.

[Gillykat]

Nothing done on the plot today My first day of freedom was eventful to put it lightly!

Was woken at 2am with agonising toothache, popped a load of painkillers and eventually fell asleep. When I got up and looked in the mirror I got SUCH a fright (even more than normal! ) as one side of my face was completely puffed up! Rang dentist and luckily got an appointment for 3pm. Turns out the tooth had lost it's filling (a few weeks ago but silly me kept putting it off) and developed an abscess at the root. So dentist took it out.....which was an hour long ordeal as my roots are so long....he's never had one so tricky to remove! He showed me them afterwards and they really DID look like the bulbs of Dog's Tooth Violets!
Felt like poop when I got home at 4.30 so went to bed with hot water bottle. Felt much better by 8pm and now writing out labels for seeds I'll sow this weekend (taking it easy tomorrow too).