What I did today - 2016

[Bigmallly]

Just having a lunch break but this morning I have managed to clear out the greenhouse ready for next year. One of the netted tunnels is now cleared of blighted toms, weeded & hoed. Is now stocked with Spring Cabbages. Removed a bed of Beans and their supporting canes..........after food I just need to go down & weed that bed so that will be another one cleared & ready.

[Snadger]

I've been working 6 days a week lately (a bit like the big fella in the sky with a white beard!)so decided to have a break today as its Sunday!
Got myself a Sunday paper, somew food and drink (non-alcoholic) and sat on my park bench at the allotment reading paper and eating and drinking.
Sharp got sick of this though so decided to water the greenhouse stuff, a few perennials and my pumpkin which was wilting badly.
Sod it sez I, "I may as well dig up a couple of rows of tatties and get rid of bindweed roots and rake the soil level"

So much for my day of rest!

[Jay-ell]

Popped over to the Hexham car boot sale today. Managed to resist the temptation to buy any of the many scythes on sale. Did buy two Gardman reusable grow bags and a Gardman 4 section salad and veg planter all for the princely sum of £1.50 total. Nothing else took my fancy.

Popped into the garden centre around the corner and bought a "Pink Lemonade" Blueberry bush.

[bario1]

Laid two sections of pipe in my main drainage channel.
Lined the path I dug over a while back with old fertiliser bags and woodchipped it.
Made my first ever batch of jam from the plums off my inherited plum tree!

[bramble]

Lifted all my Polyanthus from their pots and devided them as they were making new plants and getting short on space. Planted up some window boxes with these for a bit of winter colour.
Planted up some large containers with Tulips.
Deadheaded the Dahlias and Sweetpeas. Saved some more seeds.
Cut back the leaves on the tomatoes and peppers.
Potted up some Strawberry runners.
All in all spent a lovely sfternoon outdoors.

[Jay-ell]

My squashed ae on the turn. Gave several plants a hair-cut today trimming off the old and dying leaves - there doesn't look to be too many female flowers formed on the courgettes now, mostly male. Come Saturday it will be two months of courgette harvests.

The small sugar, kabochi and other squashes are dying back. The pumpkins seem to have stopped growing and are hardening their skins.

Soon I'll be able to walk back into the house without trying to sneak another courgette into the fridge.

My bean frame's collapsed again - I'm just leaving them. I'll sort it out once the beans have dried.

Planted out some alliums - Allium Moly (Golden Garlic), Allium Neapolitanum (Daffodil Garlic) and Allium sphaerocephalon (Round Headed Leek). My Allium Polyanthum (Many-Flowered Garlic) has sprouted.

Checked the elephant garlic I saved last month - although it still has some flowers it does has some grass forming.

Chopped down the comfrey again. I think this may be the fifth time so it's done well. The last lot should make enough concentrate to see the toms through.

Picked the cucamelons. which are going to be pickled. It wasn't till I was in the car that I realised I needed some vine leaves to put in the pickles so I had to run back to the plot to get them. Popped to the supermarket to get some vinegar, came out with a Goji Berry plant.

[bario1]

Watered the basket toms, they've been cropping continuously for ages now, but they're down to their last few green toms. I'm not watering the toms in the ground any more, I want to stress them into ripening their existing fruit.
Re-potted one of my five blueberry bushes into a 36ltr hadopot. These will eventually be buried in the circular bed at the centre of my perennial keyhole garden. First I'm going to need a LOT more ericaceous compost!

[Jay-ell]

Mr Postman came today with a couple of packets. One was a packet of Trinidad Perfume seeds (with free courgette seeds - aaarrrrgggghhhhhh) and the other was a packet of Stevia seeds - thanks Hamamelis.

Now that I've tidied up the squash beds it's obvious that they don't prevent the growth of weeds.

If fact it seems as if the create the perfect nursery bed for dock and bindweed seedlings. Weeded out one and a half of the squash beds - half way there.

Sowed mooli radish and spinach.

Decided that I need to start preparing the onion bed even if it still has squash in it so I rearranged the vines to make it easier.

There's two piles of horse muck outside my plot gates, one fresh and the other half rotted so I narrowed more muck up the new teritories to scatter on the onion bed to be so that I can dig it in at the first opportunity. It hasn't had anything added for at least two ears, except for the planting piles for the squash and courgettes so it's in need of added goodness .

Also chatted a bit.

[Snadger]

Mr Postman came today with a couple of packets. One was a packet of Trinidad Perfume seeds (with free courgette seeds - aaarrrrgggghhhhhh) and the other was a packet of Stevia seeds - thanks Hamamelis.

Now that I've tidied up the squash beds it's obvious that they don't prevent the growth of weeds.

If fact it seems as if the create the perfect nursery bed for dock and bindweed seedlings. Weeded out one and a half of the squash beds - half way there.

Sowed mooli radish and spinach.

Decided that I need to start preparing the onion bed even if it still has squash in it so I rearranged the vines to make it easier.

There's two piles of horse muck outside my plot gates, one fresh and the other half rotted so I narrowed more muck up the new teritories to scatter on the onion bed to be so that I can dig it in at the first opportunity. It hasn't had anything added for at least two ears, except for the planting piles for the squash and courgettes so it's in need of added goodness .

Also chatted a bit.

Some interesting reading for you Jason!

How to Grow Stevia

Fancy a go myself, but from cuttings methinks!

[Snadger]

Didn't do a lot on the plot this evening. It was so clammy my tee shirt was sticking to me.

Manhandled a metal mesh panel roughly six foot square to be be used as part of my chicken run After setting it up roughly I decided to put a metal gate into ther run next to the coop and move the panel along.

I didn't feel particularily lucky when one of my new chcicks poo-ed on my shoulder though! Especially as i had to call at the shop for OH's shopping with chicken poo my shoulder on the way home!

[bario1]

This morning I potted up another blueberry bush.

[Guest]

........melted!....................

[Small pumpkin]

I've finally finished weeding the path in front of the house.
Composted a few more tomato plants that have finished.
Tidied lots of things away that were in the wrong places around my veggie garden. Starting to feel like I'm getting somewhere. Maybe, sort of............. Probably not.
Just off out to collect eggs and harvest something for tea.

[Nannysally99]

Popped into town to do a few jobs, mainly financial jiggery pokery, got a few bits for holiday. Mainly hubby's. Being as I haven't lost any weight, I'll stick with what I've got.
In Wilkinsons - only going in for soap and hand lotion - bought a few packets of seeds half price.
Mainly flowers because I haven't got so many of them lol.
Made a batch of cards as well, trying to stay in front of sales. It has been so warm today, no gardening or housework done at all.
Got a Lids deluxe chicken pie in the oven with just picked carrots and runners. Also own spuds still.
Happy days eh?

[Snadger]

Decided to go to the far side of the plot and dig some Pink Fir Apple spuds which were the last ones planted. I didn't expect much but was peasantly surprised. Quite a few have phallic overtines, but they are in the pan to eat with some sausages rather than bangers and mash!
Fastened an old Clocking in card metasl rackthat i got from work to the inside of my Summerhouse wall. The idea is to use it for seed packets!