What I did today 2021

[ameno]

Emptied out one of the weed bins onto the comfrey patch to let the excess water drain out. I will put it all on the compost bin tomorrow.

[quanglewangle]

Set out 80 Senshyu onions on 20cm spacing both ways. Every three rows left a 50cm walkway. I need wide spacing because I am a clumsy hoer.

Raked in about 10g/m sq of 15,15,15 fertiliser before starting.

Dibbed a hole twice as deep as needed and backfilled hafway with loose soil so the roots don’t have to penitrate compacted soil. Added a tiny pinch of Root Grow in each hole under each onion.

[ameno]

Replaced two of the sides of my pallet bin with fresh pallets, as they were getting pretty rotten. Then I filled the bin with the contents of my other compost bin, plus the contents of the weed barrel I emptied yesterday.

[Sweet savory]

Planted out garlic in a big tub in the garden. Remaining cloves planted into cells to grow on and be planted out early next year.
Own shallots put into modules to shoot as I found last year they did better planted out with a bit of growth already on them

[Bren In Pots]

Collected Blauhilde bean pods that's been drying on the plant for next your seeds.
Pulled up the last courgette plant.

[bramble]

Planted my garlic this afternoon.
Took my potted geraniums into the greenhouse for the winter.

[ameno]

Cleared all my squash plants and put them on the compost heap.

Also decided I would tackle the communal compost heap.
People just keep piling more stuff on top, either things they don't want to compost themselves or from plots which don't have compost bins, but no one seems interest in actually taking any of the compost from it. The three years I've been there, nobody has done anything but add more to the pile.
So, I decided I'd help myself. I removed the top, unrotted later from one of the bins and dumped it on the other one, then set about sieving the lower layers into my wheelbarrow. There's a lot of soil in the pile, not just compost, so it's more of a loam heap than a compost heap. I sieved out two barrow loads of good loam from it today, and I've only done about 1/5 of one (of two) bin, so there's plenty more to go. Should help fill the new raised beds I'm planning.

[quanglewangle]

Turned this year's compost (bin 2} into empty bin 3 so it will be ready in the spring. Mrs quanglewangle heroically chopped up the sweetcorn stalks into what will now be the current bin (nr 1)

The glow of virtue is upon us.

[ameno]

Cleared my achocha plants. They were still going strong, but it turns out I don't have much use for the stuff, and haven't picked any since August, so thought I'd just get rid of it now. I don't dislike the flavour, but it's nothing particularly good, either, and it's a pain to prepare and it's hard to know what meals to use it in. Shan't grow it again, despite how prolific it was.

Also cut some of the long grass on my paths with sheers.

[peanut]

Mowed the lawns, last cut of the year? Trimmed all the edges round the veg beds and paths. Also used my little clipper thing to take the tops off the weeds in the Brassica beds. Put in more supports for some Cosmos.
Admired my Giant Puffball again

[Bren In Pots]

Shelled some Blauhilde beans I've had drying and picked raspberries not much else it's been raining all day.

[ameno]

Brought back four pallets from my work, and set to cutting them up to make a sort of raised bed-cum-planter. I've got two sides done so far, as well as levelling the ground where it's to go.

[Jungle Jane]

Picked two courgettes on Monday,there’s two tiny ones on the plant still. Picked some tomatoes yesterday,there’s about five plants left on the patio,with a couple of tomatoes on each plant waiting to ripen. I’m wondering about how to protect all my geraniums overwinter,I might make a bubble wrap house for them & the peach tree at the end of the week….

[Bren In Pots]

Took out the last of my runner and French bean plants then picked raspberries and Black cherry Tom's in between the showers.

[ameno]

Finished building my raised bed thing, lines the sides with plastic, and started filling with. It's about 2/3 full now.