What I did today 2021

[Bren In Pots]

Not much today I’ve emptied a couple of containers and refilled them ready for courgettes once the weather is warmer.

[annie8]

Grabbed a quick half hour at the end of working day and potted on my courgettes and squashes.

[ameno]

Finished digging and edging my bed extensions.
Filled the gaps between some of my edging tiles and the path with soil, so that slugs and snails can't hide there.

[Mr Bones]

Raked mulch up over the emerging potato leaves (poss frost tonight), looked at the compost because it ought to be turned today but went back into the shed instead out of the cold wind.

[Containergardener]

Opened greenhouse and put some plants outside

Closed greenhouse

[quanglewangle]

Tied up cucumber Baby F1 because we now have fruit setting

[Mr Bones]

^^ Nice one QW, you're streets ahead of us, our cukes are still in the seed packet

Turned the comp today, further mounded up the spuds with compost, took netting off the red kale as it's about finished and netted the parsnip seeds to stop blackbirds turfing them out..

[annie8]

More potting on of tomatoes -green grapes this time, plus a red onion squash. My new summer bulb purchases arrived today so did a bit of planning about where I’m going to put them.

[Containergardener]

Oh nice Annie what bulbs have you got?


Shuffled windowledges
Pricked out more rudbeckia
Sowed cosmos seeds

[annie8]

Dahlia blue boy, Nerine bowdenii Alba, Liatris spicata and Caladium Candidum. First three for the full sun front garden, the caladium is for the shady back border.

[ameno]

Potted up one more rooted sweet potato cutting. That's 10 now, plus I have one more rooting in water, and several more growing from the tuber I set to sprout.

Then at the allotment I raked poultry manure into the big bed and set up a frame for my beans, then did a little hoeing.

[Containergardener]

Dahlia blue boy, Nerine bowdenii Alba, Liatris spicata and Caladium Candidum. First three for the full sun front garden, the caladium is for the shady back border.

Oh bet they'll look lovely. Each Yr I say I will do summer bulbs then we get to summer and I've forgotten again.

[StephenH]

Bought a moisture and pH meter from Wilko today. Stuck it in the legume bed (currently unoccupied, waiting for the runners which are currently in fibre pots) which I limed a few weeks ago, and it told me that the pH was about 5, ie very acid! I have a fairly heavy clay soil, but that seems unlikely. Do these things actually work?
In other news - sowed courgettes and squashes in fibre pots to replace my onions, which died. No sign of my cabbages or kale yet. My apple trees are smothered with blossom, promising a heavy crop, and lots of cider.

[ameno]

Bought a moisture and pH meter from Wilko today. Stuck it in the legume bed (currently unoccupied, waiting for the runners which are currently in fibre pots) which I limed a few weeks ago, and it told me that the pH was about 5, ie very acid! I have a fairly heavy clay soil, but that seems unlikely. Do these things actually work?

Most of them don't work very well, no. And they don't work at all if the soil is not damp enough.
Your best bet is just to buy some cheap universal indicator paper online somewhere, then in a small container mix a little soil with some distilled water (which you can buy fairly cheaply, or else you can use condensed water from something like a dehumidifier) and then test the resulting solution.

[Mark Rand]

Take a sample of the soil and put it in a jam jar with about twice as much water. Put the lid on and then shake it up well. Let it settle until most of the crud has fallen to the bottom. Now use the meter to measure the pH of the liquid. That's far more accurate.