What I did today 2012-2014

[Deano's "Diggin It"]

Bex! It tastes better!.........

I'd willingly have the embarrassment of spinach on my teeth!

[Feral007]

Yesterday I planted out a bucket of daisies I held over from the beginning of winter. Some were already sending out leaves so here's hoping. Mulched up big time around them.

Potted up the globe artichoke ofsets, not sure how they'll all go, there were little ones springing off the sides everywhere so I just cut them off as best I could and potted anyway. 16 in total, so will have some seed swapping power if most of them take.

Since that it has been absolutely pinging down with rain. Water, water, running everywhere.
Doesn't happen here often. So today will be:
Flinging seed out into the paddocks. Putting seeded hay out to seed and self mulch.
Throwing out the grass seed balls to see how they go.

Then digging up a 3 patches for the hazelnuts to go in. Best move the blueberries while I'm at it.
And the asparagus bed. And put in lots of pipe to keep the water up to them when it dries out more.
That might be more than one days worth, but son is off so if we can get organised and don't get too cold and wet we just might get there.

Rain

[Dorothy rouse]

Made some blackcurrant jam.

[Littlefox2000]

Sunday was a day of weeding and weeding and more weeding. Did a bit of harvesting on the plot. Then spent the afternoon playing with the new canner. Canned batches of asparagus, and French beans.

Monday...made some nut milks - soya and almond. It was my first ever try and they were really easy to make and tasty too. Then prepared Tom Kerridge's Slow-cooked lamb shoulder with boulangere potatoes to take to my parents for Sunday dinner. Next up, was some canning of runner beans and sweetcorn. I also set the dehydrator up to make sweet potato and beetroot crisps.

Today, I finally took the sweet potato and beetroot out of the dehydrator...I'm a bit disappointed with my first attempt. Too hard and thick and I put too much oil on them. But put a batch of brassica and kale leaves in for crisps. I had also dried out the almond pulp from the milk making...apparently you can use it as a flour substitute. So popped it in the fridge. Then made a nice fennel and leek soup.

[marcofez]

Sowed "Phacelia" green manure where the potatoes had been. First time I have used green manure, so hopefully good results will be had. Hope it'll be easy to dig in! Picked loads of ripe plum tomatoes ready to turn into passata. Will be using my new toy my sister bought over from Italy, an electric tomato passata maker.
Planted out 10 french bean plants for a late harvest and about 20 spinach plug plant I grew. Just waiting for my salad & veg plants to grow a little larger, so then I can plant these out also.
Finally tidied up my onions and garlic. Put these in separate string nets.
Also usual hoeing and weeding

[Martin H]

Started clearing my weed / compost heap. Got four barrowloads of nice compost spread on my most recently cleared bed. There's plenty left though:

[Artychoke]

Dug over another section of the allotment ready to make a strawberry bed with runners from bed in garden. Picked some Joan J raspberries and Lady Di runner beans. In the afternoon took mother in law to garden centre where we looked at sheds and trellis then bought a hydrangea and an abelia for the garden, followed by tea and cake, this doubled as respite for her from looking after FIL- left hubby with him!


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[skeggijon]

Started the day with a trip to Peterborough B & Q to pick up two greenhouse frames for a tenner each. After a celebratory cuppa when I got back, found someone on the Boston & Skegness sales and wants page of FB with 10 sheets of corrugated clear plastic for £5, so had to have that of course Finally got to the lotty about 3pm and did a bit of pottering, oh and harvested 3 courgettes - 1 that I seem to have missed previously was rather larger than I would usually like. Also pulled a few baby carrots - mainly for thinning out purposes, but still a decent size and few french beans.

[Deano's "Diggin It"]

Had a relaxing Sunday on't plot!

That time of year for a bit of tidying up n putting to bed!

Harvested most of the ripe toms!

The girls are away for a good few day's! So god knows what am gunna do with em!

Still a few to play with!


The "Boskoop" grapes in the tunnel have started to turn!
well chuffed! As are the white ones in the summer house!


Off to nosh another "curry" could live on the stuff!

When the cats away!

[Florence Fennel]

Collected up 5 builders buckets full of apples, mostly damaged by insects and scab so nearly all in the compost. Just enough ok for a couple of pies. Pruned half the apple tree, the other half will have to wait until my son can take the saw to it. Sweetcorn plants pulled up and in the green bin. Some plug brassicas arrived today to replace my slugged plants so I've hastily shoved them in some cells and trays until I can sort them better at the weekend. The e-mail I received this morning said it could be up to 4 days before receipt and they had arrived when I got home this evening. The best laid plans and all that! Shattered now

[Bex]

Went to bed at 1 am, up again at 5:30, work till 4:15 then lottie. Sited my new compost bin courtesy of my dad, started to fill it. Mooched about on my neighbours plot looking for his wheelbarrow so I could mulch a bed. He'd hidden it from me lol.

I then went and scrumped some runners and raspberries from my dad's plot. Say nearly an hour in traffic to get home, cooked dinner and now I am ready for my bed.


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[pigletwillie]

Harvested 30 bin liners full of 18 month old leaf mound and top dressed the beds with it. A large strawberry tower is also in the making and lots of runners are being potted up to plant it with when they root up.

[Snadger]

Cut down all of my comfrey greenery and put a one foot thick mulch on a 10' X 4' bed which had just given up its potato crop.
Covered the lot with three 4' 0" sheets of cardboard (Just because I had it!)
Harvested some spuds, some mooli and some french beans for my dinner to go with a leg-o-mince! Ate one of my sweetcorn cobs raw as an aperitif!

[Penellype]

Picked a load of tomatoes. Dug all the Charlotte potatoes out of the water butt to make room for some rather desperate broccoli plants. Planted the broccoli. Chopped some of the mildewed leaves off my courgettes and harvested 2 big ones. Picked some peas for tea.

Removed several large and decorative spiders from the garage where they had made their webs round my onion strings. Strung some of the onions but decided the rest were still just a teeny bit damp, so removed the roots and outer skins and left them to dry a bit more in the garage.

Moved the perpetual strawberries off the compost bin lid onto the garden seat where they should get a little more sun. Discovered a ripe strawberry, which I ate. Put the rooting strawberry runners that had been on the garden seat onto the compost bin lid (every bit of space is used here!)

Made some tomato and courgette soup.

[Dorothy rouse]

Chopped (pruned) , those blackcurrant bushes, that had dropped their leaves, we'll see what happens, at least I can see them now.

Picked 2.5 lbs of 'split toms' , and prepared them for roasting tomorrow