What I did today - 2017

[Snadger]

Took some stuff down for the compost - may need to build another bin if these ones don't settle and give more space. Today was a builders tonne bag worth of stuff.

Dug up the last of the Yacon today. Anyone have any recipies to use up the 7 stone 3 lbs of Yacon tubers I have?

Harvested some parsnips - these were a late sowing but are a decent size.

Dug up some carrots - the orange carrots hidden in a polyculture bed had been got at by the fly but thr purple and white carrots under the enviromesh were OK so it'll be the environmesh from now on.

Also harvested some golden beets from the same bed and cleared out most of the rest of the stuff.

Threw some oproe bulbs I found it the spare room that were starting to sprout into one of the beds.

Moved the Jerusalem Artichokes bed along a bit. All I had to do was drag a bath full of soil along the plot. Probably easier than if they were planted in a bed.

Just having a cup of chicory coffee - surprisingly nice. I'm going to have to grow alot of root chicory next year. Right next to the dandelion. Wonder if you can do the same with other roots like parsnip, carrot or turnip? Radish cappuccino anyone?

Made coffee from dried dandelion roots once. It was ok, tasted like 'Camp' coffee which is chickory based I think?
I arrived at the scrapheap after you had left. Didn't do much as i was mainly dropping layers pellets off for the chooks.
Mooli, carrots and a small savoy cabbage to go with the Sunday dinner today!

[Cadalot]

An early Sunday morning start around 8:15 as last week and today the target was still to remove as much Hawthorn and Bramble from against the wall as possible. Wally gave me a hand to expose what now appears to have been a foxes den, after I exposed more ground and found another entrance into a cavernous hole in the ground which was under the Hawthorn and Brambles.

There was lots of rotting wood in the corner which has been laid out on top of a pallet and covered with the cold frame skin to stop it getting saturated. Once dry it will get burnt along with the remainder of the Hawthorn from along the first wall once it has been removed

So it looks like a couple more*visits of*cutting stacking drying and burning to go, then I can strim and cover the whole plot and start sorting out the shed and greenhouse area. Lets hope the weather holds and I manage to get those couple of*days in before Christmas.* *

Photos and more waffle at Alans Allotment: Clearing Plot 1 - Day 4

[Jay-ell]

Made coffee from dried dandelion roots once. It was ok, tasted like 'Camp' coffee which is chickory based I think?
I arrived at the scrapheap after you had left. Didn't do much as i was mainly dropping layers pellets off for the chooks.
Mooli, carrots and a small savoy cabbage to go with the Sunday dinner today!

The dandelion roots had a sweet parsnip like aroma when they were roasted. I only lightly roasted them till golden, whereas the chicory I dark roasted. I'll have to send off for more seeds so I can try a darker roast next year.

[bario1]

Today I did a bit of tidying up, chopped down some sunflowers, pulled up the bean teepees, and cut back and mulched the globe artichokes. Pulled up the giant parsley monster in the polytunnel. Dug up some nice Charlotte potatoes.

[Small pumpkin]

Only thing that's gardening related today was making plant labels.

[lolie]

Put stuff outside for council cleanup and dead-headed the carnations.

I noticed that my Burnley Gem tomatoes have started to set fruit, so I'd best get some tomato food in the next day or two.

[lolie]

Potted on my black cherry and yellow pear tomatoes. I was hoping to be able to put them in the ground but they're not big enough yet. They're now in the same soil as the garden beds, so hopefully that will move them along.

[burnie]

Some varieties new to me there Lolie

[Dynamo]

I spent a few hours working in one of my greenhouses. I use wallpaper pasting tables to put my pots on inside them but any water that gets onto the top warps the hardboard so I've screwed some boards to the top. I did the same in my other greenhouse about 4 years ago with no problems. They work a treat.







After that I folded the tables up and stored them and then wiped all the windows down inside using ***** fluid.

[lolie]

Some varieties new to me there Lolie

I've seen other members here post about growing black cherry, so I assume it grows in the UK.

Yellow pear originated in Europe but I assume the varieties available here have been bred to be more heat tolerant. It's a fast grower (7 weeks to harvest from transplanting) and allegedly bears up to 8kg of fruit (we'll see - I haven't grown it before).

I just noticed that we're now at a 70% chance of a La Niña event. That makes growing conditions almost ideal for most summer crops. The only thing which might struggle is capsicums.

Just cut back the vine which grows through my fence from next door. I've been meaning to do it for weeks but kept forgetting.

[lolie]

Pulled down the pop-over greenhouses and put them in their storage bags. I was avoiding this task so much that I didn't even put it on my "to do" list.

Cut back my King of the Black carnations. I'm not sure whether I'm going to pull them out altogether or give them another chance. They took two seasons to flower but they haven't looked right since they started flowering and I'm tempted to just pull them out and use the container for something else.

Tomato (Burnley Gem) babies.

[lolie]

Pulled out a Lebanese cucumber which wasn't looking particularly healthy and planted a salad special in its place.

Cut back the beans a bit to tidy them up and get rid of the ratty leaves.

Put the English spinach into a bigger pot. It's starting to form proper leaves now so hopefully I'll get at least one meal out of it.

[Small pumpkin]

Covered the rhubarb with a barrow load of well rotted manure.

[lolie]

Sowed some radish and salad burnet seeds in the microgreens sprouter. I have no idea whether either can be grown that way but I guess we'll find out.

Separated my mint, oregano and thyme to get some new plants going for Christmas. I had cuttings going but they weren't doing much and the parent plants are going crazy at the moment.

I need to decide whether to hang onto the pots of spring onions or not. They really don't look like they're going to do anything much and I could use the pots for something more productive. It might be time to accept that the only way I'm ever going to grow spring onions is by planting the bottoms of bought ones.

Fertilised the raised beds containing golden shallots and green leaves for the rabbits and topped them up with more soil.

Pruned excess leaves off the zucchini. Everything's growing so fast at the moment that at least one vegetable needs a trim each day.

Planted out two black cherry tomato seedlings. I'm not entirely sure they are big enough, but my determinate tomatoes have already set fruit and I want some cherry tomatoes ASAP (neither the sweeties nor the Florida basket are flowering yet). It's overcast today and goodness knows when it will be again, so I took a chance. I still have a back-up in a pot if it turns out to have been the wrong move and I still have more seed.

[Dynamite]

Hi there everyone. This is what I did today.....

* took out last years toms and cucumbers from pots in greenhouse.
* removed spent compost from all spent greenhouse pots.
* brought my cannas in from garden and potted up using spent compost.
* collected leaves from my garden and popped into brown bin which I’m keeping in to make leaf mould.
* pottered about tidying and composting old stuff.
* used some degraded half composted grass cuttings to earth up my bananas(not taking them in this year).

Regards........Rob