What I did today 2012-2014

[Florence Fennel]

Got sunburnt putting up the frame for the tunnel. Mr VVG very red too

Where's the jealous smiley when you need him?

[Acanthus]

Started digging an extension to border, lots of worms which looks promising, and planted out some big shasta daisies I'd potted up last autumn. Got bothered by brother, so had to go out for couple of hours. Returned to find peas had fallen off the wire netting so spent a hot sweaty hour in the gh with peasticks trying to prop the poor things up. Bothered by father, so had to sit down for half an hour. Planted some beet root, another pinch of lettuce, more peas, started having another go at ground elder and got bothered by husband so had to make tea( some nice lettuce,avocado,prawns),watered gh and whoopee. Some potatoes poking above soil! Finally got bothered by daughter wanting her school certificates, miraculously oh found them in the garage, so large g and t to celebrate. Finally bug sprayed the chillies which look very sad with greenfly despite all the ladybirds I've introduced them to. I'm a bit worried by my chillies, they don't like the cold nights.

[Uber-Uncool]

- Picked up and placed in the garden a new 'dalek' composter.
- Checked in one of my morries buckets which i had planted a single first early seed potato, furtling away i saw some gorgeous little new potatoes! coved them back over for now.
- picked some chives, parsley, celery par cel, rocket, salad bowl lettuce and oregano to make a green salad for tea...had it mixed with some feta and olives and some home baked bead. Scrumptious.
- planted some lilia purple spring onion seedlings and some leeks, noth into the raised beds.

[Snadger]

After building a small meshed area to protect my calabrese seedlings I was gobsmacked to arrive at the lottie to find every one had disappeared. Somehow something had managed to scoff every last bit of them.
Wasn'r slugs or snails as i had pellets down so was some other flying or crawling creature that had managed to get in through the chicken mesh.

Pulled out the last of my parsnips from last years sowing which were sending up seed heads. They were planted in a barrel so I forked the compost over and panted a courgette plant where they had been. Put a sheet of glas over top of barrel to act as a mini cold frameto harden of the courgette.
Shifted seedlings around in greenhouse and put out twi trays of swede (covered with glass) to harden off.

[Brentalist]

Saturday the 19th May felt like a warm early Summer day so I had a big list of jobs to do at the “farm”

Main Objective was to clear all the windowsills in the house of peas and beans, as per my earlier post I had promised Angela that “by your birthday weekend you can have you windowsills back”. I didn’t say that Chillies have to stay in the warmth as long as possible , perhaps I should have….

Anyway in my “golden hours” while the kids are asleep i got a lot done and the garden is starting to look far less bare

In the Brassica bed the cloches came off uncovering the kale, broccoli and cabbage, very eaten and some didn’t make it so I re-sowed broccoli and kale. Also I spread some wood ash around the edge of the bed to stop slugs, with the netting over the top hopefully they can grow to a decent size without being lunch for wildlife.

in the Legumes beds I planted out 36 pea and bean plants on to the wigwams I set up weeks ago. As a few varieties didn’t make it I have a few gaps but the sowing I made last week should fill those gaps and its good to have a succession of plants coming int o production to avoid the glut. although as I have sown twice as many plants as last year I am going to have a glut and for longer! As I planted the peas and beans so early I have learnt a big lesson and that is that they grow really fast so whatever the weather don’t sow till mid April and then they wont take over the house and are more likely to survive as they wot get stressed by the change etc.

Chillies! (Hurrah!) Well they make an appearance this weekend because they are starting to need to be potted up. I treat them mean by leaving them in smaller pots than you would other veg but chillies like this and it makes them stronger. So I potted up 18 Chillies from 3 inch to 5 inch pots including , lemon Drop, Cayenne Thick and Bhut Jolokia. The Cayenne are starting to flower so it looks like they will the first to produce this year. I cannot wait!

In the Greenhouse, well its staying warm in there now even though its unheated. The night-time temp is nt falling under 9c so most veg is ok. During the day it can go to 40c so plenty warm for all veg!I sowed more Lettuce leaves and need to plant out the tray from 3 weeks ago but I didn’t get time. again I need to have a succession of crops so I have a constant supply. I hope to plant out the mixed lettuce which includes lolla rosso, funly, little gem, etc. Also I potted and staked up and tied in my 3 cucumber plants. the largest of which “Tiffany” is 4 foot high. I also fed and staked up the tomatoes which are doing well in the unheated greenhouse.

In the root veg bed I sowed a line of early carrots next to the onions so the flies that would go to either now wont. Very good tip that one!

Finally how can I forget that I had company from my Gemma on Sunday, she managed to try and eat a leaf…

[redser]

After building a small meshed area to protect my calabrese seedlings I was gobsmacked to arrive at the lottie to find every one had disappeared. Somehow something had managed to scoff every last bit of them.
Wasn'r slugs or snails as i had pellets down so was some other flying or crawling creature that had managed to get in through the chicken mesh.

Pulled out the last of my parsnips from last years sowing which were sending up seed heads. They were planted in a barrel so I forked the compost over and panted a courgette plant where they had been. Put a sheet of glas over top of barrel to act as a mini cold frameto harden of the courgette.
Shifted seedlings around in greenhouse and put out twi trays of swede (covered with glass) to harden off.

Ah bugger. Any signs of tunneling under the frame?

[Florence Fennel]

Weeded the dratted chickweed out of the carrot bed, sowed more carrots, replaced enviromesh. Filled one of the growbeds - it took some of my dalek compost and 120 litres of compost. Better get good courgettes this year. About to go and put three in.

[binley100]

Morning at the lottie .....watered in the gh and then mulched with grass clippings , spread grass clippings on my tatties in the planting up bed .....centenary garden , planted celery , asparagus peas and an achoca......work stopped play.

[Peas'n'Kews]

Not a lot today (visited aged parents) but did give a liquid feed to the peas which are flowering (2 sets out of 4 - the first 2 sets of guttering grown peas planted, doh!)

Also removed the netting from my brassica bed and gave it a good hoe-ing. did I already mention the OH thinks I am a champion hoe-er?????

[bethduckie]

At lottie:

More digging and weeding

Planted some sunflowers

At home:

Potted on some courgettes and peppers and split up a shop bought basil carefully and potted some of the plantlets up. No idea if it will work but I forgot to water my basil and it fried. Oopsie.

Just about to plant up some pre chitted corn, never pre chitted before so no idea if it will work but they have teeny roots and look really most exciting!

[kentishgal]

popped to town to buy more compost and came back with mini border fencing, a large tub to make a mini pond and some really nice looking ferns to go in my ickle wildlife corner (thanks Wilkos!!). Bindweeded and regular weeded all the beds. Earthed up the tatties, decided to leave the windowsill crew in the cloche full time (night temps should be 12C min all week). Filled my Morrison buckets with compost ready for planting and did a little happy dance when I found a little rhubarb shoot from my plant that was eaten to nothing by slugs!!
Then spent all afternoon chillaxing with a book in my teeny garden...

[Snadger]

Took a roll of the fluorecent orange mesh used for fencing to allotment. Built a frame around my proposed brussel sprout bed and planted out a dozen sprouts. It aint pretty but hopefully it will keep the flying rats (pigeons) away from them!

[StephenH]

Went to the lotty today. Didn't need to do any watering - did loads on Sunday and the beds were still damp. I created a new compost ridge, my second. A few weeks ago, I was making a compost heap outside the back of the polytunnel, when I had the bright idea of making it inside the tunnel instead. There are eight deep beds in the tunnel - four on each side of the central path - with six sunken paths between them, and four at either end, sunken because all the topsoil from them went onto the deep beds. I decided to put all the compost material into one of the sunken paths, and heap it up as high as possible. The pt gets pretty warm inside, even without doors, so that'd help the heating up, and I could control the moisture too. Of course, it meant one-side-only access to the two deep beds on either side, but they're narrow enough to reach across all the way from the other side, at a pinch. Anyway, the first one rotted down very quickly, because the material was too sappy (I knew that when building it, but went ahead because even a too-sappy heap is a lot better than nothing). That one is now at the cold-composting stage. The new one, opposite, is, I think, somewhat better balanced between 'browns' and 'greens'.
While I was there, I also earthed up the spuds, which are outside the tunnel.
On Sunday, when I went previously, I took with me a big bag full of well-rotted compost from my garden bins, and mulched the beans (French and Runner) and Pumpkins. Things are finally starting to grow, after the delay caused by the miserable April and early May. Hopefully, they'll catch up, and today's beautiful weather is not just a one-off.

[Brentalist]

Last night planted out courgettes, put cucumbers in the greenhouse and gave outside pot plants and potatoes bed a water. it was glorious!

[Bren In Pots]

Yesterday I planted out my Black Kale, Brussels, kholrabi, calabrese and some perpetual spinach.