What I did today 2018

[Small pumpkin]

Pricking out and potting on.
Put sales barrow out
Moved lot of stuff from first tunnel to little tunnel.
Weeded raspberry bed
Sown seeds
Put some rhubarb and radish in the honesty shop.

[1Bee]

Potting on... And on... And on....

Weed bashing on the plot. Started digging over the weedy margin of the maincrop potato bed to stop nettles etc spreading in. Mowed paths.

Started trying to assemble raised beds. Wrong size drill bit. Cordless drill/screwdriver can't cope with screws. Broke right size drill bit. Broke manual screwdriver (but since I dug that one out of the ground, I don't mind.

Adjourn to local town. Buy drill bit and ratchet screwdriver. Assemble two raised beds. Phew.

Two more to do, when I can saw the timber.

A new plot holder wandered over and said, "if you had some manure, you could stack two of those and make a hot bed..."

I think I fell in love a little.

[ESBkevin]

Nothing very exciting last night. Watered the seedlings and plants in and around the greenhouse, set a few more outside to harden off.
Fed a few with the patent liguid gold/comfrey tea dilute.
Then got nasty with some glyphosate weed killer on the path beside my garage and around the shed and on the Patio. Not my favourite chemical but It was kept well away from anything edible.

[bario1]

Quick trip to the plot this morning. Pruned my cherry tree for the first time - hopefully i haven't wrecked it! Planted up another spud bag with 3 Lady Cristls.

[Bacchus]

Really what I did at the weekend...

A raised bed of mostly broad beans and onions (some garlic at the far end). As raised beds go they aren't that pretty (some other pictures on here show fantastic ones with nice thick timber) but they are effective enough.



Some elephant garlic in the foreground and some rhubarb in the background. The pretty yellow flowers come from that great scourge - gorse. The local term for it is whins, I haven't actually cut these down as they offer some protecting from the prevailing wind



These are all flowers that my daughter is growing as part of her "sell stuff" project. I've moved them out of the tunnel and it's time for them to face the elements.

[Eric44]

Planted my main crop potatoes today, Sarpo Mira, on the allotment. Earthed up my second earlies. Last week I sowed a row of spring onions but today I hoed the lot! Forgot I'd sown them. Planted out module sown beetroot that were a trial gift from DT Brown. Started hardening off my outdoor tomatoes - Mountain Magic. Strained my hernia so limped off home.

[Scoot]

Planted my turnips out into the garden as they were getting too big for their modules. Will probably sow some more this weekend.

[ESBkevin]

So last night we finally got to plant the maincrop potatos. One row of Arron pilot and one of Maris piper about 25ft long.
I dug a trench, laid in an inch of rotted horse muck, a bit of my compost, a little BFB, then the potatoes, then and inch of leaf mould and filled in. Ridged up a little and added some soil conditioner as a mulch.
Slugs will likely be the problem with all that organic breaking down, but the potatoes will not need feeding or much watering. I think some nematodes in about 6 weeks and some beer traps for good measure after that.
This weekend should see the start of the planting out. Beds are mainly ready now.

[bario1]

Planted up another potato bag this morning before work. If I do one a day, I'll be done by the end of next week!
Watered the baskets in the polytunnel. Lots of strawberry flowers now!

Managed to get to the plot in my lunch break and plant up another 3 potato bags!

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

Continuing to harden off various plants/modules for planting out into my raised beds this weekend by leaving them out in their final planting positions during the day. I left the tomatoes outside last night for the first time and will leave the rest outside for the next few nights too.

Got padron and apache chillies (I'm going to grow my prairie fire on a bit more in the mini greenhouse before planting out), tomatoes, marigolds, first batch of lettuce and rocket, swiss chard and perpetual spinach all waiting go in.

Once the broad beans and radishes are done, I should have cucumbers and the first batch of spring onions to replace them. My two raised beds should be almost full by the end of May.

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

The seedlings should grow through it. This is the stuff I’ve got:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B008ID91..._vlH7Ab33ZGV56

Mini-review: the plastic pegs that come with it are a waste of time. You definitely need some tent pegs or similar, at least until they flatten out over time (as it comes rolled up).

On the plus side they really are easy to cut to size and as well as cutting them into individual square feet so I can protect my SFG squares individually, you could also quite easily cut them to match different SFG planting layouts so your veg/young plants can grow through them and you can leave them in permanently, or until the plants are big enough to provide their own protection.

[Bren In Pots]

Erected my brassica cage yesterday, plants are under it but not planted in the ground yet. Sown a few more parsnips just need 3 more to chit to complete my last full row.

[1Bee]

Dawn shift on the plot.

Moved black plastic out the way, laid out two raised beds, moved them, moved them again, scratched my head, drank some coffee, muttered a bit, moved them again, then moved them out the way and levelled the ground slightly for them. Laid out weed membrane and tucked the edges into the ground, with varying levels of success... Moved the raised beds back into place.

Seived some soil through 2" plastic mesh and then through a soil seive to get glass, roots and nails out. Managed to process a large garden trug full in a relatively short space of time, so that's looking good for an MPC/soil mix for the raised beds.

Did some random weed bashing with the mower. Poor mower.

Greeted Not Our Kitten and had some snuggles.

Dug over a bit more of the pumpkin patch.

[chris_m]

Planted out my last 5 brassicas, which I'd had to pot on and keep in the greenhouse for about 4 weeks until their intended locations were vacant. Compared to their brethren which went straight into the beds from rootrainer modules at the same time, these 5 are monsters - around 2-3 times the size.

Depending on how they finish up, and how the direct planted ones finish up I may be potting the whole lot on for a month next year.

[happyhumph]

Managed to pot on 3 of my overwintered dedos des mocha chili's. Pruned them as had gone v leggy due to my neglect but new shoots showing. Popped in gh, pots to big to bring back in so will fleece at night for a bit.

Other than that looking after chicken pox ridden child and saying hello to seedlings.