What I did today 2018

[Cadalot]

Carrots Sunday and a little helper on the plot Alans Allotment: Carrot Sunday

[Bren In Pots]

This evening I've planted out my Purple podded peas and sweet peas, then potted on toms, and brassicas.

[Chestnut]

Lots of watering, sowed peas, mangetout and beetroot down on the plot.
Then spent the afternoon making a start on my brassica seedling protector -now 10 seedtrays safely enclosed in butterfly netting, just in the nick of time with large whites circling just beyond the back fence
Hoping to add legs and castors at some point, but the bricks will do for now

[bario1]

Made up a potting mix for my basket toms - equal measures of JI no. 3, mpc and home made compost, with a few handfuls of chicken manure pellets thrown in. Planted up three baskets to hang in the polytunnel. Last year I mulched them with a layer of woodchip, but this year I’m trying polythene circles cut out of used compost bags, to try and reduce evaporation and stop weeds growing in the baskets.
Planted out a row of Spring onions.
Fed my garlic with chicken manure tea.
Topped up my pond with rain water.
Pulled up all the ramsons that we’re threatening to drown my globe artichoke plant.
Picked some asparagus and Spring greens.

[Baldy]

Plot inspection - couple of fails,o except because of the lack of Spring thus far this year we're giving everyone an extra month to get sorted - doubt it will make much difference to the ones we spotted but you never know. Got a rather pointless solar powered pump working - might describe it in a seperate post. Gave away a couple of 'de Nice' courgettes and a couple of trays of beetroot seedlings. Gave up on my rotating compost bin - made it a standard vertical one and used the extra ground space to relocate my wormery. Said wormery provided 10 pots worth of compost and lots of wriigglers. Drilled out air holes in my recently acquired steel drum in a bid to turn it into a doubleplussgood incinerator.

[Snowwhyte]

I potted on some chillies and squashes and moved the squashes into the mini greenhouse. i sowed broad beans, mangtout, runner beans and extra squashes. I planted some desiree potatoes and a nearly dead rhubarb that has been sitting in the bag for a month.

[self-contained]

More hardening off, though it was possibly a wasted effort as the overnight temperatures are due to drop after Monday so I may not be able to leave things out as soon as I wanted. My sweetpeas are getting tough love tonight though - just hoping there are some left in the morning!

Sowed some more spicy salad mix, radishes (candela and malaga purple), coriander (confetti), thyme, spinach, kale (curly scarlet and nero di toscana), cosmos (ladybird mixed), winter lettuces, stir fry salad mix and spring onions (north holland blood red).

Sowed hyssop, dill, chicory (red treviso and variegata di castelfranco), poppies (pandora), runner beans (prizewinner stringless), basil (lettuce leaf and lemon) for the first time.

Earthed up my potatoes.

Scooped cat poo out of my old container compost pile. Horrid.

Inspected all my little sproutlings - my oca is appearing!



Copper taped more of my pots.

Set up an obelisk that my sweet peas and runner beans are going to climb (hopefully).

Lounged about in the shade with a glass of lemon and parsley shrub and a lolly.

Threw some old dried up grass around the bases of my rhubarb and gooseberry - we'll see if that helps reduce water loss.

All in all, a productive day outside. Shame I can't say the same for the housework!

[Baldy]

Forgot to mention, sunburn. Tonight Matthew, I'm a redneck
Kids, you really do need to slap on the suncream !!

[Jonny.D]

Checked & watered everything, dug out some wood to build another planter for the Chilies which I'll put together later today when the sun is not so fierce.

[bramble]

Took all the fuschias out of their small pots and replanted them in a large container with fresh new compost.
Done the same with the geraniums.
My aim is to try to cut down on too many pots.
Planted up some large containers with Lavatera a Zinnias.
Planted out some more cslsbrese and beetroot..

[Small pumpkin]

Chillies had another day in the tunnel.
Repotted some of them into final pots.
Sown seeds
6 barrow loads of well rotted manure on bed 1.
Filled 6 big tubs with manure

[happyhumph]

This weekend. Sorted out greenhouses - emptied old compost from pots onto beds outside, swept floors, washed class etc, now looking lovely. Sowed cucumber seeds. Weeding and hoeing.

Mainly though enjoyed the sun with family and friends.

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

Started on the prep work for planting out some of my module sown plants this weekend. I've got swiss chard, perpetual spinach, lettuce and rocket all waiting to go out. They've been in the mini greenhouse with the door open most of the time so shouldn't need much hardening off but I've started putting the modules out in their planting positions and will start leaving them out overnight over the course of the week.

I prepped the designated squares in the raised bed by lightly cultivating them - forked over some of the compact soil, broke up any clods, worked in some more multipurpose compost and added a good handful of Seafeed poultry manure pellets to each square and worked them in.

Topped up the Strulch underneath my strawberry plants.

Sowed my first batch of dwarf french beans in small pots. I'm going with 4 to a square foot, although some planting plans say you can do 5 or even 9. I'll plant these ones in pots out hopefully in 3-4 weeks and then sow some more in the next square directly.

Earthed up the potatoes in my potato bags.

Watered everything that needed it, including the kentia palm in my garden office.

I'm hoping the beds will be nearly fully planted by the end of the month. Tomatoes and chillies should go in in a coupe of weeks or so - I need to go and get some bamboo canes for supports.

My grass seed that I used to oversow and fill in patches/thin areas is finally starting to germinate, I just need to keep on top of watering. Lots of seeds still yet to germinate, presumably the slower growing types in the mix. I removed a bit more annual meadow grass and cut out the last bluebell foliage - they seem to have finally given up trying to grow through the lawn now.

Finally, I had a bit of a tidy up and did some rearranging in the mini greenhouse.

Everything in the garden is looking great although the tulips are starting to shed some petals. A few photos to share...

Orange geums, "Prinses Juliana" look great in our main border with the white daffodils ("Actaea") which smell lovely. The "Purple Sensation" alliums are all opening up now too. As impressive as the tulips and alliums are, the geums seem to deliver the best "bang for buck" in the Spring display:

https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#...4-4AD755669AF7

Although I had to cut back some sickly looking shoots on the clematis ("Avalanche"), it's shown no further signs of trouble and the two biggest vines are flowering well - this only went in the ground last Autumn:

https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#...D-33F418F220D8

Some of the iris alongside our driveway have opened, I don't know which these are - does anyone recognise them?

https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#...C-9E5637ECBF18

[Gillykat]

Couple of hours on the plot this morning before it got too hot. Moved everything out of greenhouse to continue hardening off.....all are flowers Also took loads of young plants (more flowers and 2 tomatoes) which have been growing on the living room windowsill up to the plot.

Back home by midday as it was already up in the 20's by then. Got on with sowing more seeds which will be started off at home where I can keep an eye on them.

Pumpkin 'Munchkin' x 4
Tigger Melon x 2
Climbing French beans 'Cobra' x 6
Climbing French beans 'Borlotto' x 6
Runner Beans 'Painted Lady' x 6
Runner Beans 'Red Rum' x 6
Cucumber 'La Diva F1' x 2
Cucumber 'Lemon' x 2
Cucumber 'Mini Munch' x 2

[bario1]

Planted 3 Lady Cristl potatoes in a bag - i'm a bit late starting these already and I've got loads more to do!
raked over the bed I'm growing wildflowers in this year and sowed the seed mix, watered in.
Planted out two Ildi toms in the polytunnel.
Picked some asparagus i'd promised to a friend.
Watered the rows of carrots and beetroot that I sowed at the weekend, don't want them to dry out!
Cloched the courgette I planted out at the weekend, I think the temperature might be a bit low for it tonight.
Watered all the pots and baskets under cover.
Gave the garlic, broad beans and Spring onions a feed of chicken manure tea.