What I intend to do today/tomorrow!

[Small pumpkin]

Today I will be picking chillies
Feeding chillies
Ordering a new fishing reel
Strimming goose run
Making up goose house
Filling goose pond.
Cleaning out ferrets.

All done except feed chillies. That's now tomorrow's job.
And sorting out the chicken run ready for the new house arriving tomorrow and starting to convert their old house into their bad weather shelter/ indoor play ground.

[Penellype]

Monday's jobs
Deadheading and weeding - done some
Harvest lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, peppers, blueberries - done except blueberries
Check peas, beans, beetroot, courgettes - harvested 1 courgette, the biggest so far, so these do appear to be growing a bit at last.
Also harvested one of the quadgrow pots of Lady C potatoes, mainly to see how they are getting on as they are just starting to die back. There were 6 decent potatoes and a couple of smaller ones, 0.7kg in total from one seed potato.

Tuesday's jobs
Rearrange the grow light garden as some of the seeds in the propagator are germinating
Take photos. I like to do this on 1st of each month so I have a consistent record
Do something with the top branches of the apple tree which are getting heavy and threatening to break
Harvest blueberries and remove more caterpillars
Weeding and deadheading
Wash some plant pots
Harvest cucumber, peppers, lettuce, peas, cabbage, carrots
Check beans, courgettes

[Penellype]

Tuesday's jobs
Rearrange the grow light garden as some of the seeds in the propagator are germinating - done
Take photos. I like to do this on 1st of each month so I have a consistent record - done
Do something with the top branches of the apple tree which are getting heavy and threatening to break - no
Harvest blueberries and remove more caterpillars - done some
Weeding and deadheading - done some
Wash some plant pots - no
Harvest cucumber, peppers, lettuce, peas, cabbage, carrots - done, including the cabbage, which was partly edible.
Check beans, courgettes - couple of beans ready

Wednesday's jobs (rain permitting)
Weeding and deadheading
Experiment with apple tree to see what I can do with it (see below)
Harvest lettuce, cucumber, peppers, peas
Check courgettes

The issue with the apple tree is that a few years ago some very strong shoots grew upwards, and because I didn't know what to do with them I left them alone instead of cutting them off. These now have fruit on and because they form a V shape I am worried that the weight of the fruit will cause the plant to split at the V. The apples on these branches are some of the best on the tree, so I don't really want to take them off

[nickdub]

no reason not to help strengthen your apple. Tie something between the branches at a point where they don't bend too much ie use string or similar to make a 3rd side to your existing 2 branch triangle - if the while lot still feels unstable, tie it back to the fence high up or put in a temporary stake to take some of the weight. Obviously this lot should come off once you've picked the apples :-)

[Penellype]

Thanks nickdub, I've done as you suggest. Hopefully the apples will stay put, as it is forecast to get quite windy tomorrow, which is one of the reasons I was worried.

[damian1225]

Today will be feeding chillies and toms, chopping off some tom foliage and going through my chillies plant by plant looking for caterpillars.. noticed some leaf damage and spotted two of the blasted things so will check them all thoroughly.
Also going to take some seed trays down to the plot to sit my Giant marrows on to stop them rotting, and remove my pea frame and clear the debris.. then weekend will be catching back up on the weeding as I have been away for two weeks

[nickdub]

Thanks nickdub, I've done as you suggest. Hopefully the apples will stay put, as it is forecast to get quite windy tomorrow, which is one of the reasons I was worried.

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No worries - good luck with it - happens quite frequently with plums, as the wood is so brittle - I generally end up wrapping some blue poly rope round the limbs - I've gone as far a as drilling through and putting in a permanent metal bolt a couple of times.

[Penellype]

Wednesday's jobs
Weeding and deadheading - done some
Experiment with apple tree to see what I can do with it - done (see previous post)
Harvest lettuce, cucumber, peppers, peas - done
Check courgettes - ate 2 small ones

Also harvested the Desiree potato which was one left over and was planted in an 11 litre pot. This had never looked particularly happy and had now died down completely. There were 7 small potatoes weighing a total of just 0.2kg, which was very disappointing.

Thursday was impossibly busy and nothing got done in the garden except a quick dash to grab a cucumber for tea.

Friday's jobs
Walk round and check everything, water pots if required
Deadheading and weeding
Pot up beetroot and a couple of late tomato sideshoots (to go on windowsill)
Try to remove more caterpillars from blueberries
Harvest lettuce, cucumber, peppers, beans, peas, blueberries
Check courgettes
Plan weekend gardening.

[vixylix]

soooo much - I am so far behind I don't know how I'm ever going to catch up.

To add to the constant weed issue, a whole load of horsetail has just popped up from nowhere. I've also noticed that the garden opposite is full of bindweed so I'm waiting for that to arrve next. Wonderful!!

[Penellype]

soooo much - I am so far behind I don't know how I'm ever going to catch up.

To add to the constant weed issue, a whole load of horsetail has just popped up from nowhere. I've also noticed that the garden opposite is full of bindweed so I'm waiting for that to arrve next. Wonderful!!

When I have a job that looks too big or daunting I chop it up into manageable bits and concentrate on one at a time. Horsetail is an almighty pain, and you'll probably find that the best you can do is pull out as much as you can when it appears. Can you cover apart of the plot with cardboard or plastic to suppress the weeds while you deal with the rest?

[Penellype]

Friday's jobs
Walk round and check everything, water pots if required - done, some pots were surprisingly dry, probably due to the strong wind yesterday
Deadheading and weeding - done some
Pot up beetroot and a couple of late tomato sideshoots (to go on windowsill) - done the beetroot, one tomato was rotting and had no roots so I left the other alone for a bit.
Try to remove more caterpillars from blueberries - no
Harvest lettuce, cucumber, peppers, beans, peas, blueberries - done except blueberries
Check courgettes - not ready yet
Plan weekend gardening - done

Also put the fruit cage back together as the wind had forced one of the joints apart and tied in the tomatoes.
Harvested one of the potatoes from the Quadgrow vegetable planter (Lady C) for an astonishing 1.4kg of nice big potatoes from a single seed potato. The sides of the pot were actually bulging! To put this in context, the average yield of Lady C per seed potato from the ones I grew in buckets was 0.47kg.

[Penellype]

This weekend

At my friend's:
One of the cam straps on the hotbin has broken and the compost is falling out, so most of this weekend's jobs will be focussed on sorting that out.
Cut back bush so I can get at hotbin properly
Clear old peas or find somewhere else to dump compost
Dig out rotted compost and replace cam strap
Harvest potatoes
Weeding
Fill self watering trays in greenhouse

At home
Mow lawns before it rains again
Move brassica seedlings to fruit cage as grow light garden is too hot
Weeding and deadheading
Sow chinese celery and more kohlrabi (only 1 germinated)
Remove more caterpillars from blueberries and pick the ripe ones
Harvest cucumbers, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, peas
Check courgettes, beans, beetroot, brassicas under shelving
Dispose of some of the old strawberry plants and french beans that have probably finished.

[Penellype]

This weekend

At my friend's:
One of the cam straps on the hotbin has broken and the compost is falling out, so most of this weekend's jobs will be focussed on sorting that out.
Cut back bush so I can get at hotbin properly
Clear old peas or find somewhere else to dump compost
Dig out rotted compost and replace cam strap
Harvest potatoes - done
Weeding - done
Fill self watering trays in greenhouse - done

I decided to leave the compost where it is and just secure the panel with a new strap, because there really wasn't anywhere sensible to put the compost and it wasn't as bad as I had thought. Time was better spent weeding.

At home
Mow lawns before it rains again - done
Move brassica seedlings to fruit cage as grow light garden is too hot - done
Weeding and deadheading - done some
Sow chinese celery and more kohlrabi (only 1 germinated) - no
Remove more caterpillars from blueberries and pick the ripe ones - done some
Harvest cucumbers, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, peas - done
Check courgettes, beans, beetroot, brassicas under shelving - done, harvested some courgettes and beans
Dispose of some of the old strawberry plants and french beans that have probably finished - no

Also potted up some cabbages, mizuna and namenia

Monday's jobs (likely to be busy at work)
Collect rain water for blueberries
Slug and snail hunt
Check and secure plant supports ready for gales on Wednesday
Remove more caterpillars from blueberries and harvest
Sow chinese celery and kohlrabi
Deadheading and weeding
Trim lawn edges if dry enough
Harvest lettuce and salad greens, cucumber, tomatoes, peas, beans

[Penellype]

Monday's jobs
Collect rain water for blueberries - done, bin now full
Slug and snail hunt - done
Check and secure plant supports ready for gales on Wednesday - done
Remove more caterpillars from blueberries and harvest - no
Sow chinese celery and kohlrabi - done
Deadheading and weeding - done some
Trim lawn edges if dry enough - no
Harvest lettuce and salad greens, cucumber, tomatoes, peas, beans - done

Also harvested another of the quadgrow pots of Lady C potatoes for 0.85kg from 1 seed potato. As the main stem of this plant got broken in the wind fairly early on, I was pleased with this.

Too wet to plan to do anything very much today.

[vixylix]

When I have a job that looks too big or daunting I chop it up into manageable bits and concentrate on one at a time. Horsetail is an almighty pain, and you'll probably find that the best you can do is pull out as much as you can when it appears. Can you cover apart of the plot with cardboard or plastic to suppress the weeds while you deal with the rest?

I'm just prioritising what I can when I can - none of its the end of the world (or at least thats what I keep telling myself )

I've just bought a load of weed membrane actually to roll out to cover all the undug bits - I wanted to use black polythene weighted down with the millions of rocks and bricks we've dug out, but OH was not keen so we've settled on membrane and pegs. My plan then is to plant my brassicas through it over winter - should hopefully give us a bit of a head start for next year!