What I intend to do today/tomorrow!

[muck lover]

I have a raised bed filled with bought ericaceous compost and growing four blueberry bushes. But it’s never been successful. The plants grow ok but birds steal the few blueberries produced. I think it’s too well drained as well.
I’m going to lift the blueberry bushes and maybe try planting them in large pots in the excavated ericaceous compost. I want to refill the bed with old cow manure and home made compost and Leafmould and grow something else next year. Hoping the manure and leafmould will retain moisture. It’s a big job and might kill the blueberry bushes but if I even grew potatoes next year it would be better than nothing. Possibly asparagus which I believe is ok with dry conditions.
I’m being very very nice to the Young Muck Lovers hoping for some assistance with the digging. So far they haven’t suspected my ulterior motive.

[lolie]

I have a raised bed filled with bought ericaceous compost and growing four blueberry bushes. But it’s never been successful. The plants grow ok but birds steal the few blueberries produced. I think it’s too well drained as well.

Everything I've read about growing blueberries says that you need to net the bushes to protect the flowers and fruit from birds and other critters.

I have my blueberry bushes in pots. They're in a mix of azalea mix and sphagnum moss (I could have used pine bark instead but the sphagnum moss helps hold moisture while still creating good drainage) and mulched with sphagnum moss.

[lolie]

I was going to mow the grass today but we're on day 3 of a hazardous air quality warning so I don't think I'll be doing anything outside.

The bushfires are a good 4 hours north of us but you can taste the smoke in the air today.

I need to go to the garden centre again on the weekend to get more potting mix, a pomegranate bush, another blueberry, and a few other bits and pieces.

Actually did finish getting the back mowed and might even get the edging done if it cools off enough before sundown.

[Penellype]

Friday jobs
Garden photos (weather permitting)
Plan weekend gardening
Harvest carrots, possibly calabrese

[Penellype]

Friday jobs
Garden photos - done
Plan weekend gardening - done
Harvest carrots, possibly calabrese - done

Weekend jobs
(This may turn out to be wildly ambitious)

At my friend's
Feed slugs to chickens
Remove finished tomatoes from greenhouse
Weeding
Harvest potatoes

At allotment
Take photos
Collect leaves
Weeding
Tidy shed, put away poles, string etc from tomato supports
Check plants in growhouse and water if necessary
Harvest carrots, salad leaves, possibly spinach

At home
Tidy up tomato supports etc
Deadheading
Weeding
Check stored tomatoes and remove any showing signs of blight
Harvest lettuce, tomatoes, peppers

[lolie]

We're due to get heavy rain from about lunch time tomorrow so I'm hoping to get the front tidied up a bit by doing the edges before it arrives. There's no hope of me mowing it until there's a rain-free break in this heat, but I'd still like to get things looking tidier.

[Penellype]

Weekend jobs

At my friend's
Feed slugs to chickens - done
Remove finished tomatoes from greenhouse - done some
Weeding - done some
Harvest potatoes - no

At allotment
Take photos - done
Collect leaves - done some
Weeding - no
Tidy shed, put away poles, string etc from tomato supports - no
Check plants in growhouse and water if necessary - done
Harvest carrots, salad leaves, possibly spinach - done carrots

Also trimmed some of the dead leaves off the strawberries.

At home
Tidy up tomato supports etc - no
Deadheading - no
Weeding - no
Check stored tomatoes and remove any showing signs of blight - done
Harvest lettuce, tomatoes, peppers - no

Monday jobs
Collect leaves
Tidy shed at allotment
Tidy up tomato supports at home
Deadheading
Weeding
Harvest lettuce, tomatoes, carrots

[lolie]

Today's maximum is meant to be a mild 20C, so I need to take advantage of that to get the edging done in my front yard.

I also need to tidy up my gardening supplies. They're strewn everywhere at the moment.

Tidied up a bit and then hit a wall, so the edging won't get done today. I'm busy the next couple of days so the earliest it will get done is Friday.

[Penellype]

Monday jobs
Collect leaves - done some
Tidy shed at allotment - done
Tidy up tomato supports at home - done some (the rest require walking on the lawn, which is too wet)
Deadheading - done some
Weeding - done a bit
Harvest lettuce, tomatoes, carrots - done except carrots

Also cut down the last 2 outdoor tomato plants (Balconi red) as the slugs were eating the fruit.

Tuesday jobs
Collect more leaves
Weeding
Keep eye on forecast and protect begonias from frost if necessary
Check stored potatoes and use any that are sprouting
Harvest carrots, check calabrese, strawberries (one in the growhouse is nearly ripe)

[Penellype]

Tuesday jobs
Collect more leaves - done some
Weeding - done some
Keep eye on forecast and protect begonias from frost if necessary - done
Check stored potatoes and use any that are sprouting - no
Harvest carrots, check calabrese, strawberries (one in the growhouse is nearly ripe) - done
Also cut down the last cucumber plant.

Wednesday jobs
Collect more leaves
Weeding
Check stored potatoes
Harvest romanesco, carrots

[Penellype]

Wednesday jobs
Collect more leaves - done some
Weeding - done some
Check stored potatoes - done
Harvest romanesco, carrots - done romanesco, also one large strawberry from the growhouse.

No gardening time today.

[Penellype]

Friday jobs
Make tomato soup
Dig bottom out of hotbin
Collect leaves
Bring hanging basket into garage (frost forecast)
Plan weekend gardening
Harvest romanesco, carrots

[Penellype]

Friday jobs
Make tomato soup - done
Dig bottom out of hotbin - done
Collect leaves - done a few
Bring hanging basket into garage (frost forecast) - done
Plan weekend gardening - done
Harvest romanesco, carrots - done

Also emptied water out of self watering trays so they wouldn't crack if they froze (forecast suddenly went from 0-1 to around -3 for last night)

Weekend jobs

At my friend's
Continue removing finished tomatoes from greenhouse
Weeding if not flooded/frozen

At allotment
Collect leaves
Weeding if possible
Cut back nettles and brambles in hedge
Harvest lettuce, baby fennel, carrots

At home
Clean moss off capillary matting from self watering trays and hang to dry
Dry and put away self watering trays
Tidy up leaves and finished bedding plants
Decide what to do with all the pots of begonias from the front fence (currently on garage floor)

[Penellype]

Weekend jobs

At my friend's
Continue removing finished tomatoes from greenhouse - done
Weeding if not flooded/frozen - no

At allotment
Collect leaves - no
Weeding if possible - no
Cut back nettles and brambles in hedge - no
Harvest lettuce, baby fennel, carrots - done carrots, also spinach

At home
Clean moss off capillary matting from self watering trays and hang to dry - done some
Dry and put away self watering trays - done some
Tidy up leaves and finished bedding plants - done some
Decide what to do with all the pots of begonias from the front fence (currently on garage floor) - done

Also strung up the remaining 20 or so surviving onions.

Monday jobs
Collect leaves
Cut back nettles and brambles in hedge
Weeding
Harvest lettuce, baby fennel, peppers

[Penellype]

Monday jobs
Collect leaves - done some
Cut back nettles and brambles in hedge - done
Weeding - done
Harvest lettuce, baby fennel, peppers - done

Rather busy for the next few days so unlikely to do much gardening.