Tweet
Got to the plot in the afternoon and noticed that my stick was starting to bud out and develop leaves – I may have a peach tree after all. The blossom on the blackberries which was so lovely and loved by the bees is now fading but the chive hedge is in full bloom (forgot to take a photo) and the bees have moved onto them (although still making visits to the raspberries). The scorzonera flowers are starting to open so I was in time to see one lovely big bloom.
Got a new hose long enough to do the length of the plot – it’s nice to be able to use it without the connectors exploding when you stop watering.
Finally got round to doing stuff in the greenhouse – looks a lot worse now than when I started. I pulled out the irrigation system from the greenhouse and remade it. Last year I put in a system using that narrow black drip irrigation hose which is good for connecting to individual drippers but isn’t so good to use as a main line as it doesn’t allow enough water to flow so that all the drippers can work effectively. Today I stripped it out and put in a new system using 13mm hose as the main, elbow connectors at the corners and T connectors off to 10 arms each with an inline valve, 2 foot length of 13mm hose and an end plug. Added a separate filter just after the water butts to feed into a brand new timer running the show (the timer as a built in “filter” but it’s not as fine as the separate one). Now I just have to connect the individual drippers and 4mm tube to each arm (max 6 per arm).
Emptied out the old compost from the tomato bed planters and moved the planters along so I get better access to the area next to the water butts. Used the old compost with a bit of BFB and chicken manure pellets to fill up the cucurbit troughs. Filled up one of the tomato beds with fresh MPC (need to get more for the other one) .
Built up a framework of interconnecting supports for the toms (anyone else remember Fisher Technics and when Meccano was a proper engineering megabox kit with general purpose metal parts rather than the single model things?). It’s not Heath Robinson as I didn’t use any string al all, never mind in a mission critical part of the construction (in which case it must be 2 or more pieces tied together).
As I have a couple of plastic patio chairs on the plot I had to do a bit of extended testing on them to make sure they hadn’t been affected by the heat and were still fit for purpose. They passed this time but I think that I’m going to have to run further test when I’m down and it’s sunny.
Planted out my dwarf runner beans – three different varieties although one variety is a mixed bag made up of 4 varieties one of which is one of the other varieties I planted out by itself.
My Scarlet runners are up at the side of the glassless greenhouses, just waiting for the gigantes to show on the other side. Some of the Climbing French are now making their own way up the strings. Just the dwarf french to harden off and plant now.
The rocket and lettuce have germinated and I’m sure that a couple of the basil are up as well. Noticed another Scorzonera plant from a root harvested and eaten last year has regrown. If anyone grows Scorzornera make sure you get all the root out if you don’t want it back in the same spot next year, the year after, etc. Me, I’m just growing around them.
Watered the beans, onions, spuds, herb bed, figs (they are getting big now), JA buckets and Shallot buckets with the new hose and for the first time this year I didn’t look as if I’d been swimming fully clothed.
Got a new hose long enough to do the length of the plot – it’s nice to be able to use it without the connectors exploding when you stop watering.
Finally got round to doing stuff in the greenhouse – looks a lot worse now than when I started. I pulled out the irrigation system from the greenhouse and remade it. Last year I put in a system using that narrow black drip irrigation hose which is good for connecting to individual drippers but isn’t so good to use as a main line as it doesn’t allow enough water to flow so that all the drippers can work effectively. Today I stripped it out and put in a new system using 13mm hose as the main, elbow connectors at the corners and T connectors off to 10 arms each with an inline valve, 2 foot length of 13mm hose and an end plug. Added a separate filter just after the water butts to feed into a brand new timer running the show (the timer as a built in “filter” but it’s not as fine as the separate one). Now I just have to connect the individual drippers and 4mm tube to each arm (max 6 per arm).
Emptied out the old compost from the tomato bed planters and moved the planters along so I get better access to the area next to the water butts. Used the old compost with a bit of BFB and chicken manure pellets to fill up the cucurbit troughs. Filled up one of the tomato beds with fresh MPC (need to get more for the other one) .
Built up a framework of interconnecting supports for the toms (anyone else remember Fisher Technics and when Meccano was a proper engineering megabox kit with general purpose metal parts rather than the single model things?). It’s not Heath Robinson as I didn’t use any string al all, never mind in a mission critical part of the construction (in which case it must be 2 or more pieces tied together).
As I have a couple of plastic patio chairs on the plot I had to do a bit of extended testing on them to make sure they hadn’t been affected by the heat and were still fit for purpose. They passed this time but I think that I’m going to have to run further test when I’m down and it’s sunny.
Planted out my dwarf runner beans – three different varieties although one variety is a mixed bag made up of 4 varieties one of which is one of the other varieties I planted out by itself.
My Scarlet runners are up at the side of the glassless greenhouses, just waiting for the gigantes to show on the other side. Some of the Climbing French are now making their own way up the strings. Just the dwarf french to harden off and plant now.
The rocket and lettuce have germinated and I’m sure that a couple of the basil are up as well. Noticed another Scorzonera plant from a root harvested and eaten last year has regrown. If anyone grows Scorzornera make sure you get all the root out if you don’t want it back in the same spot next year, the year after, etc. Me, I’m just growing around them.
Watered the beans, onions, spuds, herb bed, figs (they are getting big now), JA buckets and Shallot buckets with the new hose and for the first time this year I didn’t look as if I’d been swimming fully clothed.
Comment