What I did today 2018

[muck lover]

Also over weekend made a sizeable new bed which I think I’ll grow some spuds in. There was an area that had been covered with black plastic for years whilst we tamed other areas of the garden. So we emptied out three compost heaps and added on top some seaweed collected a few weeks ago, coffee grounds from a local cafe, used potting compost from some large pots I had been minding for my brother which was going to dump, and covered the lot with a layer of cardboard followed by a layer of grass clippings and leafmould. My home made compost has millions of weeds in it but the cardboard should keep them under control. I’m thinking of using this for spuds next year.
Also planted some onion sets, garlic and sowed spinach in polytunnel.

[Small pumpkin]

Cut down the last of the tomatoes and cucumbers in the tunnel. Then Weeded and covered the bed. It still needs tidying and washing but that one tunnel shut down for the winter.
Saved a couple of armpits from Tom going to experiment with them.

[Mark_Riga]

planted out about 100 garlic cloves in 3, 17' rows, we use a lot of garlic.

[bramble]

Raked and bagged up lots of leaves.
Cut down some more tomato plants.
Emptied some pots from spent peppers and chillis.
Cut down the last of the sweet peas.
Still deadheading the dahlias.
And weeding of course.

[kitty12345]

Harvested and cleared final borlotti
Weeded calabrese
Broke one red cabbage by mistake - luckily I have spare spring cabbages
Worried about garlic not sprouting yet
Weeded blackberry canes - not finished yet
Harvested giant beans and Cherokees
Ate a strawberry

[kitty12345]

Did some nice work this weekend. Lucky with the weather, hoping it continues at weekends!

Finished weeding blackberry bushes and potted up three runners.
Planted raspberries in the ground. Was meant to be done in summer.
Planted shallots
Checked garlic - still not sprouting!
Started digging new bed for onions
Scattered some green manure - not sure if too late
Planted leftover spring cabbages
Gave leftover kale plants to plot neighbour
Harvested beans, kale etc

[Logunner]

Built a mini polytunnel

[1Bee]

Dug up two dahlia tubers and decided this process was far more difficult than I'd been led to believe so decided to leave the rest and mulch.
Picked some sprouts and removed some of the lower leaves.
Cleared an old broad bean bed - this lot never cropped much then gave up. I never had time to get rid of them earlier, but when I pulled them up I found they'd cropped again without my noticing. Picked a good portion of broad beans and chopped up the stems for composting.
Chucked the broad bean stems, the brussels leaves and some shredded paper into the empty compost bay, then turned the other heap over on to it. Disturbed a nest of very cute mice, thankfully without casualties, and resettled them in a corner with cardboard and leaves to nest in.

Went for a walk to surreptitiously case the hedgerows down the lonning for hazel poles for my next bean tunnel. Found a perfect spot with easy access, plenty of poles the right size, on the boundary of a wood whose owner I know. Sorted. This will involve something of an expedition: I'll load up a rucksack with bowsaw, loppers, flask and snacks, drive the car to the allotment, walk back to the hazel stools, cut my poles, tie 'em up, rest and refuel, and walk back to the plot, then drive home. About a 3 mile round trip.

[bikermike]

re-felted my shed (see other thread)
lifted potatoes (not a good yield - put it down to the drought, I hope)
picked carrots - quite pleased. The ones planted as seeds in the bed failed, but the ones I planted in loo rolls did nicely. Got some heritage carrots, which came up in whites, purples and yellow ones.

Took out the remaining tomato plants, green tomatoes on the windowsill with a bananananana to ripen. canes out and drying


Picked some parsnips (only misidentified one as a white carrot...)

[bramble]

Spent the morning cutting down the tomatoes.
They are all finished now.
Had the last one for my bunch in a sandwich.
Checked my garlic and some of them are up.
Generally just tidied and cleaned up.

[bario1]

Hadn't been to the plot for a while so i was curious to see how it was doing, we've had a lot of high winds recently. Sure enough, my blowaway cover had been torn into strips, so I harvested the last of the peppers before they get frosted. I'm happy to have got two seasons out of it for £40, don't think i'll bother replacing it though.
Didn't have time to do anything else as i was on my lunch break.

[Bren In Pots]

Raked leaves and cut more leaves of my tom plants.

[burnie]

Picked Butternut squash and lifted three of the plants that have finished, just one left with two squashes on it, don't seem to be growing much, about the size of cooking apples, sure we will eat them though, they are safely tucked up in the greenhouse.

[Thelma Sanders]

Moved potted fuchsias into the greenhouse, before the cold forecast for the weekend, cleared out some pots of summer stuff to make way for them.
Potted up a size, some small shrubs and perennials that never got planted because of the cold spell & then the drought, and moved them into the Norfolk plastic greenhouse for a bit of protection over winter.
Also moved the experimental boxes of late-sown carrot seedlings in there, we'll see how they grow over winter/or not

[Jay-ell]

Howked 4 garden bags of grass cuttings and 4 garden bags of shredded hedge clippings down to the plot and layered them onto the compost heap - that's one growing happy compost pile I've got there.

Cleaned out what was left of the Lazy Housewife - a little pile of beans dried on the vine for stews and broths in the winter. The others still have some drying to do.

Pulled up the golden beetroot. Had a furtle under one of the the oca plants - a quick wiggle of the fingers and there was a handful of little tubers ready. The leaves have already been touched by frost so should die back soon - that means that they should be ready to harvest in two to four weeks time, a couple of weeks after the tops collapse totally.

The Yacon already died back but the Mashua is showing no signs of slowing down it's advance over the gooseberries - it's now starting to grow over the kiwifruit vine - lets hope that below ground is as productive..

Picked a few pheasant berries - not many ripe ones there but it's more than just pheasants that like them. Also have a few lingon berries ripening, but not quite ready yet.

Found my mother swearing at the raspberries again. They've gone and sneakily flowered and set berries AGAIN despite being trimmed back.