What I did today - 2019

[Bren In Pots]

Took out my Purple podded peas for some reason they've finished early Still got plenty of telephone peas left though. Lettuce that's gone to seeds in the compost bin so is the bolted chard.
Weeded beds and made a start of the lawn then was rained of.

[bramble]

Cut out the old wood on my raspberries.
Cut out dead foliage from the strawberry plants.
Took out lily bulbs from two pots and put them together in one big pot.
Took out some salad that had gone to seed.fed and watered sol the greenhouse plants.
Took lower leaves and side shoots from tomato plants.
Dead headed dahlias and sweetpeas.
Done done weeding.
And enjoyed a beautiful sunny day.
Still no rain here so carrying cans of water down the garden.

[elsie-scot]

Sob, broke another tine on our small wedding present fork. My dad broke the first one just after we got it. It worked ok with three but two is a bit less effective! I was preparing a new area to move raspberries to later in year.

[carolefu]

This morning, I took care of my triffid bean, i.e. carefully trained on the netting. Something has been eating/nibbling the leaves off practically all my herbs, but not the chives. Maybe it was because I started everything late this year. So I didn't have a chance to encourage both hoverfly & ladybirds to the backyard . So, I have been researching what plants I need to encourage these beneficial insects. I also had a look online where I can buy some pouches that you can nail on the wall. These pouches look good if you don't have the space, or want to cover an unsightly wall. It's just a question in how many I need

[bikermike]

Busy weekend:
Lifted spuds, picked courgettes, beetroot and mangetoute all with the "assistance" of the small person.

Today i fixed a leak in the greenhouse watering system, started an attempt to layer my wisteria, dug a barrow of compost out of the home dalek, spread that on the plot. I also spread the box of coffee grounds as ug defences, emptied out one bin of the allotment compost bins and turned the newer one into the now vacant bin, did nematodes and planted out some toms. Also took some acquired wood to the plot and painted it with wood preservative.

And got to listen to some good cricket

[SarrissUK]

I picked French beans, chard, kale and peas yesterday and although I'm not quite at glut levels, I want to start experimenting with fermenting. I did one jar each of the beans, chard stalks and chard leaves. No idea how it will turn out, but I flavoured it with dill and garlic
I have picked some lovely blackberries, so I used half for blackberry vodka, and half for apple and blackberry cordial.
My house smells delicious today

[Bren In Pots]

Yesterday. Weeded beds, propped up sunflowers, tied JA's together to stop them falling onto Bean row, mulched around courgettes and toms with grass clippings.

[bikermike]

Sob, broke another tine on our small wedding present fork. My dad broke the first one just after we got it. It worked ok with three but two is a bit less effective! I was preparing a new area to move raspberries to later in year.

Which tines do you have left? if you have two next to each other (ideally 2 and 3), then you have just made yourself a narrow-bed weeder. Is it pressed plate or cast/forged? Ideally, you would trim off the sites of the remaining tines.

(if you are left with 1 and 4, then, there's not a lot I can advise. But remember tool-making is what separates us from the animals. Apart from gorillas, chimps, beavers, crows, etc...)

[1Bee]

Trying to systematically weed all the beds in rotation.

Mostly failing, but progress is being made!

Feels like a constant round of chasing my tail harvesting and weeding...! Currently harvesting french beans, courgettes, salads, raspberries (a couple of confused branches of autumn rasps), early and main crop potatoes, broad beans and sugar snaps.

A neighbouring plotterer let me pick a load of his redcurrants which are having a bumper year. I made redcurrant jelly for the first time, and gave him a jar. THAT, right THERE, is happiness.

[ameno]

Weeded under the insect netting. It was well overdue, really, but removing and replacing the net is such a pain...
Dug out some bindweed from where the willows used to be.

[elsie-scot]

Meant to quote bikermike’s post - brain dead as ever

It’s tines 1 and 2 or 3/4! They completely came off. Not sure about forged etc. Know it wasn’t cheap. Def still going use it. DH reckons that once all tines are gone then that’ll be marriage end. I said I’d break the last one on his head!

[bikermike]

Does it look like it was made from a flat bit of metal bent into shape (pressed from a sheet), or is it more round in section. When the tines broke did they snap or tear?

If it's a good one and you still have the details, it might be worth approaching the manufacturer, I've never managed to break a fork.

It's not hugely important in the grand scheme of things, but it is very satisfying making/modifying tools. I have a old hoe that snapped (hoeing dry clay does that...) and I sharpened the remaining bit to make a useful sharp pokey-stick (not sure what the technical term is) for getting at the brambles that come up in the 1' gap between greenhouse and fence.

[veggiechicken]

Busy day - tinged with sadness. Had to remove an old pear tree that was in the garden when I moved here nearly 40 years ago. Its hasn't looked well for a few years and this year, although there were plenty of pears, they were blackened and rotting. The leaves also had black patches and I thought it was time to say goodbye. Many years ago, it had fallen over and the lower part of the trunk was horizontal, resting on the soil. Probably a miracle that it has lived for so long.
The good news is that it has opened up a corner of Bed 2B and I will be able to widen the path.
Part 2 of my busy day was removing a low chicken wire fence that parallels the boundary on the north. It used to be a chicken run/fruit bed that has become very overgrown and difficult to weed because of the fence which I had to clamber over!! Now the fence has gone, I will be weeding it and incorporating it into the rest of the garden. It was Bed 26 and I always ran out of steam by the 26th of the month!

A tiring but satisfying day - and I managed to stay out of the rain.

[ameno]

Potted up the sweet potato cuttings I had in water (they're to overwinter for next year's crop).
They sure do grow fast. I only put them in water a week ago, and the roots are already two inches long.

Pruned my plum trees.

Removed all my onions from the allotment, dug out the weeds, and planted purple sprouting broccoli.

Emptied the dead perennial weed from my weed tea barrel onto the compost heap (a very smelly job). I shall start packing the next batc of weeds into the barrel another day.

[Can the Man]

Filled a new raise s bed with compost and soil ready for planting later this week.
Sowed some beetroot seeds
Sowed sweet basil plants in my herb corner in the poly tunnel and my herb cluster for my daughter in law
Water potatoes in the poly tunnel