What I did today - 2016

[jonny the plant pot]

Totally forgot about my plot today as I'm seeing my children for the first time in 4 years tomorrow. God I'm so nervous but really exited

[Bigmallly]

Is it usual to find earwigs in the cobs .......? I found four of the wee beasties in two cobs .......!

Yes it is Susie, that's why I don't grow them anymore.

[Bigmallly]

Totally forgot about my plot today as I'm seeing my children for the first time in 4 years tomorrow. God I'm so nervous but really exited

Good luck Jonny, I'm sure they feel exactly the same...........you'll be fine after the first 10 mins.........

[Scoot]

Turned one of the compost bins today. Harvested, chopped up and froze one of my cabbages before the tiny slugs ate it all. It seemed to be getting ate more by the day.

[SusieG]

Totally forgot about my plot today as I'm seeing my children for the first time in 4 years tomorrow. God I'm so nervous but really exited

Blimey jonny, hope your day goes well for you and your children tomorrow....! . You'll be fine...!

[Jay-ell]

Planted out some shallots. Normally I plant them 12 inches apart in all directions but for these I've changed the spacing a little bit and got 38 shallots in a one foot square. Trust me I know what I'm doing. You, however, might have to wait a couple of years to find out if I really do.

Got some Babington Leek bulbils off E-B@y the other day - 15 bulbils for £2.25 (inc p&p) so I though what the heck it'll be a year or two till mine flowers so a little boost to the patch won't hurt. I'm fine with the 15 I paid for but where to put the 52 extras I got for free - managed to squeeze them in though.

Also squeezed in the Mouse garlic and Rakkyo.

Hoed down the green manure I had growing to make space for the elephant garlic bulbs - also had to divert the trombone squash as it was attempting to occupy this area. Popped in about 20 cloves (I was going to plant less but when I've seen how much they charge for a single clove I decided they were too expensive to eat) about 6" deep (they are a leek and I might try harvesting one or two or six as leeks to see how they taste, see if they regrow and compare bulb size on harvested/non harvested plants - should also stop the mice eating my bulbs).

Harvested courgettes, beans, tomatoes, beetroot, cucamelons, aubergine, blackberries, strawberries and a couple of raspberries. Admittedly the soft fruit never made it off the plot.

Put together my last compost bin from stock. Wrote myself a large mental note that this is NOT for manure but for compost. Tempting though as there is still a large pile of manure just outside my plots gate.

p.s. forgot to say I checked my pumpkins (DO tell Snadger)

[Snadger]

Planted out some shallots. Normally I plant them 12 inches apart in all directions but for these I've changed the spacing a little bit and got 38 shallots in a one foot square. Trust me I know what I'm doing. You, however, might have to wait a couple of years to find out if I really do.

Got some Babington Leek bulbils off E-B@y the other day - 15 bulbils for £2.25 (inc p&p) so I though what the heck it'll be a year or two till mine flowers so a little boost to the patch won't hurt. I'm fine with the 15 I paid for but where to put the 52 extras I got for free - managed to squeeze them in though.

Also squeezed in the Mouse garlic and Rakkyo.

Hoed down the green manure I had growing to make space for the elephant garlic bulbs - also had to divert the trombone squash as it was attempting to occupy this area. Popped in about 20 cloves (I was going to plant less but when I've seen how much they charge for a single clove I decided they were too expensive to eat) about 6" deep (they are a leek and I might try harvesting one or two or six as leeks to see how they taste, see if they regrow and compare bulb size on harvested/non harvested plants - should also stop the mice eating my bulbs).

Harvested courgettes, beans, tomatoes, beetroot, cucamelons, aubergine, blackberries, strawberries and a couple of raspberries. Admittedly the soft fruit never made it off the plot.

Put together my last compost bin from stock. Wrote myself a large mental note that this is NOT for manure but for compost. Tempting though as there is still a large pile of manure just outside my plots gate.

p.s. forgot to say I checked my pumpkins (DO tell Snadger)
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My pumpkin was catching up though, but appears to have stopped growing! Yours is prettier , I'll give you that. Mine looks a bit 'wizened' Just like me!

[Snadger]

Another couple of hours on plot 24 after work. Re-positioned some paving flags that spoiled the symmetry of the whole design. Cleaned out the central circles from the keyholess. Took a few picies which I'll add to the 'plot 24' thread.

[Bigmallly]

Tried giving the waterfall an Oriental feel, not sure I succeeded though............

...................

[Jay-ell]

Looks good BM almost got a solid rain chain feel. Maybe if you had some clumps of structural plants or small ornamental reeds down the edge to soften the hard edges.

And possibly a gnome in a kimono.

[Bex2012]

Suffering with labyrinthitis at the mo, which means Ive hardly been able to do anything at plot (severe dizzy spells & a chronic headache mainly). When I have been over, its been for 10-15 mins at a time, just to harvest stuff. So far Ive picked about 15kg of tomatoes, bags full of raspberries, loads of green beans, and today was the first of the butternut squash (which has been turned into soup). The OH dug up two of the courgette plants (im sick of them now!), and uncovered half a dozen 'Devil's Coach Horse' beetles - horrible looking things!

[Bigmallly]

Looks good BM almost got a solid rain chain feel. Maybe if you had some clumps of structural plants or small ornamental reeds down the edge to soften the hard edges.

And possibly a gnome in a kimono.

Good thinking Batman.............

[Hazel at the Hill]

Went to the Hill and

• picked runner beans - these have been terrible this year, even with a second planting, I have very few, and the ones I have are stringy. Very disappointing
• picked french beans - the normally reliable Emperor of Russia variety are stringy this year too.
• dug a few potatoes - just a kilo from 3 plants, and some of them slugged.
• picked raspberries - ran the gauntlet here as there is a wasps nest underground in redcurrant bed next to the rasps
• took down the pea plants and frame. That's quite close to the redcurrant bed/wasps nest too. I live a dangerous life
• at the two squash beds, I cut three small courgettes, admired the pumpkin, which is growing larger than I would have liked, but there you go and tried to count how many butternut squash there are on the plant. Think it is about 7, but I lost count wading through the foliage

[Jay-ell]

Cleared out the winter squash plants as they had died off. Put the squash in the greenhouse to cure. Was going to pull up the courgettes but there's still a chance of a couple more courgettes so I'll see how it goes in a couple of days.

Weeded out the second squash bed - mostly dock seedlings.

As today is Sunday that means manure moving so I had a couple of barrow loads onto the bed piled up is the spaces between the courgettes and the pumpkins.

Filled up another compost bin - this time with garden waste rather than manure. I'll give it a few days before I think about getting any more. I'm not being greedy - it's been there 2 weeks and nobody else seems to want it. The beds in the new teritories haven’t had anything added for a couple of years and needs some organic matter added to boost it up.

Grinned to myself for a while. My raspberries are ripening and looking good and I have a couple of elephant garlics poking up above the soil.

These are from corms I planted last winter/this spring and grew into rounds. One is in a large pot with a couple of other rounds and the other is in the New Territories next the elephant garlic whose flower I shaved (both plants were left in situ over summer ). The grass on the shaved bulb is coming on even though it was late flowering - hopefully they'll be ready before winter comes.

Checked my perennial kale cuttings I took the other week and they are looking fine.

P.S. found 3 40 litre and 2 25 litre tanks dumped on the site - tidied them away

[Snadger]

Cleared out the winter squash plants as they had died off. Put the squash in the greenhouse to cure. Was going to pull up the courgettes but there's still a chance of a couple more courgettes so I'll see how it goes in a couple of days.

Weeded out the second squash bed - mostly dock seedlings.

As today is Sunday that means manure moving so I had a couple of barrow loads onto the bed piled up is the spaces between the courgettes and the pumpkins.

Filled up another compost bin - this time with garden waste rather than manure. I'll give it a few days before I think about getting any more. I'm not being greedy - it's been there 2 weeks and nobody else seems to want it. The beds in the new teritories haven’t had anything added for a couple of years and needs some organic matter added to boost it up.

Grinned to myself for a while. My raspberries are ripening and looking good and I have a couple of elephant garlics poking up above the soil.

These are from corms I planted last winter/this spring and grew into rounds. One is in a large pot with a couple of other rounds and the other is in the New Territories next the elephant garlic whose flower I shaved (both plants were left in situ over summer ). The grass on the shaved bulb is coming on even though it was late flowering - hopefully they'll be ready before winter comes.

Checked my perennial kale cuttings I took the other week and they are looking fine.

P.S. found 3 40 litre and 2 25 litre tanks dumped on the site - tidied them away

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I thought someone may have a use for those when I spotted them at the gate. I looked at them and thought "Nah, I've got enough junk on my plot!"

PS Please, leave me a couple of barrow loads of that muck at the gate, didn't have time to get it today!