What I did today 2021

[bramble]

Cut down the alderman peas that had finished after a really good harvest. Picked blackcurrants and gooseberries.
Sowed more radishes.
Dug some Nicola spuds for tea and cut a lettuce and a cucumber to go with. Will also add a few cooked peas as found a few pods lurking.
I would have harvested the first Rosella tomatoes but something, I think a mouse, has got to every one that is almost ripe first so far and bitten it half through. It hasn’t touched the other vars growing nearby. I am resorting to desperate measures and tying a plastic bag around the truss every night to deny access. A bit of a faff but I am determined to discover what it finds so irresistible about them by actually eating one myself.

Sweet savoury, I had the same problem last year with my tomatoes being bitten.
I watched and discovered the culprit was a squirrel.
5

[bramble]

Spent the afternoon in the garden deadheading and weeding
Tied up,more 9f my tomatoes and took some of the bottom leaves off.
No rain but very warm.
Have a good evening all.

[burnie]

Well a long story, but we are isolating, wee Grandson has covid and we have been in contact, we have all tested negative so lots of gardening going on, I don't think my garden has ever been so well groomed lol.

[Mr Bones]

^^^ Hope everyone's OK Burnie ^^

Gardening in my sandals yesterday, got stung between the toes by a bee... felt sorry for the bee.

[ameno]

Planted out my kale plants (finally) and netted them.
Collected a load of stuff to fill my allotment compost bin.

[peanut]

Mowed the lawns and edged beds etc with my nippy new edger thing. Watered everything thoroughly before the hot weather sets in.

[Mr Bones]

Sat in the shade and sewn two 7m lengths of debris net together (along the long edge).

[Sweet savory]

Noticed the direct sown swede had all been slugged. Will have to be replaced with my back up module sown ones, Watered the plot (fairly) early in the morning. I have 4 celeriac growing OK but one has turned out to be a sort of red celery although from the same packet which is odd. All the carrots direct sown recently have been slugged away (a pattern is developing here) so I will resow when the end of the hot weather is in sight. Harvested all the shallots and put them to dry on the patio.
First courgette has been picked. Spuds harvested every other day. More golden beetroot big enough to be dug. So good roasted.

[Bren In Pots]

Not much in the garden it’s to hot, early morning I watered the GH, topped up
the self watering trays and harvesting salad.

[peanut]

Laid on the sofa and slowly melted into it

[ameno]

Went to the allotment for the first time since Wednesday, and the squash plants have grown another metre... The melons and watermelons are also sprawling everywhere.
I removed the make-shift polytunnel from my sweet potatoes, which have already almost covered their growing area completely.

Also, someone on another plot informed me that their polytunnel tomatoes had all been stricken with blight (he hadn't been removing side shoots properly or removing leaves, which surely didn't help, plus it did get pretty humid in there), so I decided to remove a lot of the older leaves from my outdoor tomatoes to encourage better airflow (no blight yet, thankfully).

Also liquid fed some of the plants and hand-pollinated some of the squashes.

[Nicos]

Cut the front lawns and planted out some Lidl lavender in a pot by the front door.
Picked some flowers and then hid indoors….too hot for much else outside tbh.

[Bren In Pots]

Now the strawberries have finished and don’t need covering I used that piece of debris netting to cover the final bit of my GH.

Its 35.5c in there and that’s with louvers, auto vents and door open. Id hate to think how hot it would be with just a door and roof window open.

[Mr Bones]

Sewn another length of debris net onto the other pieces. (Used double fishing line and blanket stitch plus a knot every 15mm). Now I have a 7m x 5m cover for the kale.

[ameno]

Went to the allotment at dawn today, to pollinate the squashes and to slug hunt. Everything was covered in such a thick dew that it was white, and I discovered two tiny patches of blight on my tomatoes.
I picked off those leaves immediately, and this evening I went down there and sprayed them with potassium bicarbonate solution (it's meant to be somewhat effective at preventing blight infection if applied before symptoms appear, and is about the only thing you can still legally use). You might say that spraying the leaves might encourage blight, but considering how wet they get with dew over night, I can't imagine I could possibly make it any worse.