What I did today 2012-2014

[Feral007]

Eggs lettuce as usual. There's a load of seedlings to go out, will get son onto that. I had to go up to Canberra again to get daughters new glasses fitted (and to see her brothers so she could show them) hair cuts, and horse day today. One horse in the yards pacing the fences and pushing to see if he can break them(again), one on light duties (but galloping to see his friends like a mad thing), and everyone to be fed.
Didn't even get a good look at the garden today.
Will try and pick some more lettuce tomorrow to take to work, and water my cuttings, and then it's away for 3 days.
One bamboo plant has died, and I'm thinking that I've got maybe half the tagasaste trees survived. Pretty good really considering the lack of wet stuff this year. Still hoping for some more shortly.

Chia's all done in with the frost and goosegogs as well. Nice try tho.
Chooks have a death wish here, one decided to 'pop over the fence' just to see. And it say a kelpie who saw it. Good thing it moves faster than the kelpie or me! The rooster let out a warning or I'd not have seen. Rooster frightened the stuffing out of the old grey horse by crowing behind her as she stuck her head in the hen house yesterday. Too funny!
I need to do some cooking but don't think I've time before I go away. Hope they keep till I'm back.

[rustylady]

Yesterday I raked in 2 year old rotted chicken manure, dug 3 new ridges, and sewed Kale/Calbrese/Cauliflower and covered the top of the ridges with black plastic as scutch grass is going crazy, might plant a quick crop like lettuce on them in a month or so).
Watered seedliings I had transplanted the previous day (ground is so dry!)
weeded my "bath" of strawberries (I love recycling "junk"!)
weeded around my carrrots/parsnips.
Transplanted a blackcurrant bush.
Prepared the ground for my young leaks to go into in a week or two.
sewed more carrots with wildflowers, at 60:40 blight resistant but i read this idea online.
harvested a few leaves from my young spinach plants

Why are you digging ridges?

I don't understand the reference to carrots/wildflowers being blight resistant either

[Daffy]

Ginger freezes beautifully and can be grated from frozen.

[Two_Sheds]

- planted out 100s of pea seedlings, sweet peas, lettuce, pelargoniums: it's all systems go
- planted out chitted caviar/beluga lentil seeds, into a wet drill. Not done them before
- put chitted sweetcorn seeds into loo rolls
- packed the heated props away in the shed till next Feb
- potted on the tomatoes, everything slow except Roma
- top dressed the houseplants with fresh 2" of compost
- fed the fish (which are down to 18" of water in the butts ~ need some rain)
- cleaned greenhouse (and house) windows with white vinegar. Wonderful stuff, cleans everything
- cleaned out guinea pigs, put all the mucky bedding onto compost heap
- sowed even more pumpkins
- took cuttings of the dahlias, which have now started to shoot in the gh
- collected more seaweed off the beach, rinsed it and added to beds as a mulch
- planted a bed of couch grass up with densely sown turnip seed, to see if it is a repellant
- still no rain (7 weeks?) so watered the recent transplants. Established plants don't need it yet
- filled school's water butts with the hose, they've been empty since early March
- took a class of year 3s round the garden, we talked about what plants need & how they grow, and why we humans need plants, and bees, and worms. It's all a bit foreign to these urban pizza loving kids.
- lost one member of Garden Club already, because his mum said gardening won't "help him with his future", whatever that means. It's not career advice, it's a fun after-school club
- continued the lunchtime "frog tours", where I let the children into the Wildlife Garden to observe the frogs & newts. The newts are now egg-laying, and very visible in the clear water.

[Feral007]

I may be quite cynical now I'm on my 3rd kid twosheds, but I figure they go to school for whatever works, and they can learn anything else they need afterwards. Too much emphasis on getting on with life, if you ask me.............oh sorry nobody asked

[stella]

Picked a big basket of Mespillia (not sure what they are in English) ready to make some jam

[Snadger]

Quite warm in the sunshine so decided to patch up the felting on my shed roof. No knife, so cut the felt with a woodsaw!
Planted out my sweet peas.
Dug over last years carrot bed and recovered a carrier bag full of useable carrots.
Picked enough PSB for my supper.
Potted on some calabrese plants
Weeded all flowering dandelions from my plot.
Planted out some shallots that I'd started in trays.

[Bren In Pots]

Sown another couple of cucs because think the first ones failed, just watch they pop up tomorrow.

Bren, when you plant out your spring onion seedlings how do you make sure they don't get damaged or do you mean that you sow directly onto the ground.
I transplanted some from a seed tray to the ground yesterday and made a right mess of it. I don't think its the right thing to do or if it is I don't know how to do it without causing damage.
What do you do?
Lynne x

Lynne this time I sowed direct into the soil but I also sow in a tiny pot just a pinch at a time every few weeks planting the whole thing out when they're showing the onions sort of move apart when they get larger.

[Currysniffa]

Got a row of peas sowed today. Started to put another path in on the new plot. Path going behind greenhouse with room for more water butts. I've put my name down for another plot as I'm hopefully coming off the other allotment at the end of this year.

[Likac66]

Weeded a raised bed in the garden and planted beetroot into part of it. It's a bed that's quite shady so not sure how beetroot will be in there but we'll see.

Pumpkin seeds are up in the greenhouse. Phew! I was beginning to get a bit worried as my daughters planted them for the allotment competition. All 4 came up together!

Went down the allotment. Weeded and hoed. Planted 8 Duncan cabbages and 6 Flower Brussels Sprouts that have been hardened off at home. My lovely allotment neighbour lent me some netting to put over them to keep the pigeons off. Potatoes coming through. Also planted some red cardinal spinach and some onion seeds that were in modules. They weren't very tall but I figured I may as well just get them in the ground. Also planted the last of my germinated parsnip seeds directly into the ground.

[Florence Fennel]

Planted out some wooden looking kale that had been in modules for too long. It can take its chance with the snugs. Potted on more toms (why, when I said I wasn't going to grow as many this year, have I grown more?) pricked out cauli and cabbage. Stood back in amazement that the beetroot in modules looks positively healthy. Emptied the windowsills of seedlings and filled them up again with plants

[Bigmallly]

I've got pricking out fingers!.........pricked out Cabbage, Cauli, Lettuce, Sprouts, Turnip, Marigold......got to pace myself as 2 days still left...........

[Peppermint]

This time last year (according to my gardening journal) - hail, snow and a northerly wind - 10 C.

Today, rain, cold biting wind (didn't even register where it came from ) and eventually it got to 10 C.

Typical Bank Holiday on Orkney

Cut back a bed of willow (just one more to go). Pushed willow whips in around the border of the garden. They'll just have to take their chances.

Sowed 36 stations (3 seeds to a station) of parsnip in the new raised bed.

Planted out my modules of bolthardy beetroot.

Transplanted Golden Acre cabbage and calabrese into 3 inch pots.

Transplanted 2 pepper plants from last year into new pots.

Transplanted 2 tomato plants into bigger pots.

Sowed some courgettes (they are now in the propagator).

Planted out 78 Red Baron onion sets (started off in modules)

Planted two container pots with summer flowering bulbs - one lot Freisia - the other I can't remember but they start with a 'T'

Had a great day despite the weather According to my garden diary last year - it should hit higher temperatures in about two weeks time

I still have some potatoes to put in, but it was just the same last year and we had a fantastic crop. Fingers crossed that it will be the same this year. I hate having to buy supermarket potatoes now. OH complains they have no taste.

[VirginVegGrower]

Met a very special grape - had a fab breakfast - was given a most illuminating tour into what proper allotments are about - had a plant swap - bought seeds - gave some away - came home and took some cerinthe up to the allotment, which was planted. Sowed some more lines of carrots. Put in a patio area for seating up there. Took in the sunset and came home.

[green fingered]

Sad to hear a mothers objection on how to learn to grow your own Two sheds. I thought that would be one of the most important life skills a child could learn. I am a mother of two and have to outdoor loving children who would probably spend their whole time outside if they could. My daughter helps me as much as she can with the veg garden and we are talking about getting chickens and what fruit she would like us to grow to get her more involved physically and verbally. My son is still a little too young yet 19 months old but he is good at unloading the shopping and eating the raw broccoli and swede at the same time

I have only managed to support sweet peas until they are ready to do it for themselves and water onions, garlic and rhubarb outside and flowers and veg seedlings in greenhouse. Went for walk to feed a hungry house some carrots too