What I did today 2018

[Jay-ell]

With two bin bags of grass from the other day to take down the Compost Fairy dropped off another 6 bags today.

Most of it went onto the newly dug bed so it'll keep the weeds off it and break down over winter.

Planted out a couple of heads of Germadour garlic in it - 19 cloves.

Mulched the sprouts. This time last Year I needed a crow bar to plant in this bed. After a year of mulching I can poke my finger a couple of inches nicely into soft rich soil. The weeds that have romped away in the last week were easy to pull out. Nice.

Picked more raspberries - turn around for a couple of days and they're suddenly covered in red things again.

Tomorrow I might harvest some of the grapes as well as the sweetcorn.

Just got home to catch the Compost Fairy dropping off 5 more bags of grass cuttings. More mulching tomorrow then.

[bramble]

Spent the day making jam.
All fruit now converted into jam and jelly.
Strawberry, blackcurrant, blackberry, gooseberry and plum.
The freezer is now fruit free.
Tomatoes now taking up the space.

[Jay-ell]

Wasn't able to get down to the plot till later today as family popped in so had less time than I wanted.

Took the grass cuttings down the plot but didn't have a chance to use them so they'll keep till tomorrow.

Harvested the main crop spuds. Had very few green potatoes which is good.


Main buckets came to 50 pounds of potatoes so I'm happy with that. There is some slug damage but the rest is good.


Picked a fig and MY VERY FIRST GRAPE HARVEST. Okay not giant bunches but it's the first grapes off my vines growing out doors in the North East of England - next time someone tells you that something can't be done, don't be satisfied until you prove for yourself if that's the case.


Also harvested sweetcorn, more raspberries and sorrel.

[Jay-ell]

Had a bag of grass off my sisters lawn to take down.

Also had a package delivered by Mister Postman from the Garlic Farm.

Went down to the plot and planted out 32 cloves of Provence Wight (soft neck) and 21 cloves of Mikulov Wight (hardneck) to add to the 19 cloves of Germidor (softneck) - hopefully they'll amount to something better than this years pitiful crop. They've been mulched with manure and grass so hopefully this will give them the little bit extra oomph they need.

Mulched over another bed again - this time it's a perennial bed that hasn't had much attention this year. Need to pay a bit more attention to the perennials - a least until the plants have spread out a bit.

Transplanted another patch of white welsh onions into the bed I dug the weed control membrane out of from the bed that still has the weed control membrane in it.

Stood at the gate to the plot eating blackberries.

Picked up a couple of stragglers from the potato harvest.

Started to clear up the last bit of the Jungle plot - in The Heart Of Darkness.

I haven't done much with this last section so far - it's the Jungles eyesore bit of the plot that will be sorted "later on". OK I've dismantled and burnt a few makeshift buildings and scrapped off their debris but this spot has had much else done with it except as a place for squash to sprawl or somewhere for compost bins to stand and, of course, as the last receptacle for junk from elsewhere on the plot.

If you can remember back to when I first got this plot the place had junk everywhere - on the beds, in the beds, buried, in bags, etc. Well, I've discovered a vein of Christmas Decorations under the soil - right next to the TV remote mine. Underground Chicken wire. Underground Plastic Mesh. Broken Pottery Ornaments (if your interested VC, they're a root crop, so now you know when to break your ornaments).

Needless to say it's going to take a tad longer than I had hoped which is going to push the polytunnel back till whenever.

Good news is I got attacked by a frog which jumped out of the junk. It was as big as a fist - not that I was trying to punch it, that's just for comparison.

[Jay-ell]

Compost Fairy's gone into stealth mode and dropped off the grass cuttings in the dead of night

Got a bit of a backlog with bags if grass so spent most of the time on the plot tearing newspaper to shreds to layer with the grass to build a compost pule. I already had potatoe bines and courgette leaves but with the grass and paper it's now a 3 foot high 4 foot wide mound.

Done some clearing of the heart of darkness moving bricks, concrete kerbs, and tat and found 2 decent sized stiff mesh panels partially buried that will make great trellises next year.

Stood in the orchard eating raspberries.

Moved a little bit. Stood there eating blackberries.

[the big lebowski]

hi all today i took 6 of my chillis out of their 25 liter pots and put them into 9 inch pots to bring home and over winter,i put the mpc on one of my beds that im going to put my garlic in ,i also got a wheelbarrow full of apples that i made into juice and hopping it will turn into cider , up to 4 gallons now ,v pleased with that

[kitty12345]

Made a new bed by digging out perennial weeds (the big 3 - couch grass, horsetail , bindweed) and a few dandelions.
Planted spring cabbages in the new bed.
Very pleased

[muck lover]

I’ve sieved a couple of barrows of five year old leafmould and it’s gorgeous stuff.
I’ve used this to mulch over some oriental lillies in the polytunnel and I’ve cleaned up a bed in polytunnel and added blood fish and bone and planted some white garlic saved from last year. And then mulched with sieved leafmould.

[bramble]

A long walk in the park this morning.
After lunch I spent the afternoon in the garden.
Deadheading the sweet Peas and dahlias.
Taking in my pots of fuschias in case they blow away.
Seed saving, all dried now and packaged in broen envelopes.
Weeding and tidying.
Always something to be done in the garden or greenhouse.
Sitting here now looking at the huge black clouds rolling in.
Have a good evening all.

[bario1]

Inspired by the 'Grand Designs' thread on here I decided to make a start on the recreational area of my plot. I removed half of the fleecy weed membrane that I'd covered the area with earlier in the year, revealing a brown lunar landscape. Some weeds had survived the smothering but they were weak, and came out easily, so it didn't take long to have the exposed bit dug over and raked relatively flat. The main stumbling block now is the drainage trench which runs right through this area - i need to find enough rubbly material to fill this so I can turf over the top.
Other jobs I did were collecting a few barrows of woodchip from the communal pile to cover a couple of my paths (need to do the rest before the pile disappears!), and collecting some logs for my hibernaculum.
Gave the whole plot a quick strim, and it looks transformed.

[Chippy Minton]

Cleaned out the greenhouse ready for winter as getting chilly here and a forecast for 4C overnight this week

Last few toms left to ripen and a couple of aubergines which may make it (especially if I get round to wiring up for the heater). All cukes came out as did the toms that are over and the aubergine that never really did anything. Very forlorn looking space now

[Jay-ell]

Went and dug out a polytunnel today and also picked up enough scaffold boards to build a wooden base for it. Was envious of the fig tree on the allotment I picked it up from - massive and covered with not quite ripe figs.

Compost fairy dropped off a bag load of grass cuttings. He had said that sometimes he doesn't bring all the grass cuttings because he doesn't have a bag so I got 10 large garden bags for him to use for garden waste to drop off.

[bario1]

Nipped down just to harvest a few courgettes for tea. Ended up nattering to three people. Managed to tie up a few errant asparagus and gladioli, and grabbed another barrow of woodchip for my paths.

[Jay-ell]

Took yesterday's haul and the grass down to the plot. Stuck the polytunnel in the shed.

Picked my sweetcorn. When I say picked I mean gathered up the plants that had been blown down by the wind and took off the ears.


Cleared the sweetcorn bed - which obviously didn't take too long.

Oiled my figs. Not tried this before so I'll see if it works.

Picked more another 8 courgettes still more to come.

Went home and shucked the cord, blanched it and took the kernels off.


Gave me five and a half pounds of sweetcorn kernels for the freezer.

[Baldy]

Mostly sorted my water harvesting for the Winter. Jobs a Good 'un though I managed to soak myself in the process. 'Harvested' 4 barrows of gravel from a pile on the car park that the council seem to have forgotten. Pathways spruced up.
Bought and planted a thornless blackberry, 3.50 from Morrison's. Hope it's not quite the thug that brambles are... Split the crown of my Timerley Early rhubarb, gave a few lumps to over plotholders. Bit of nutrition for the remaining crown. Harvested yet more Tom's and chillies...been a great year for both.