What have you done on the plot today?

[rafletcher]

Removed the remaining sweetcorn, and, having picked the ripest tomatoes to make an onion and tomato chutney, removed the last tomato plants too.

[SteveC]

We are having a major reorganisation of the garden this winter. I made a start yesterday on the 'shade bed' by cutting back a whole load of hellebores. They do very well in the garden, rather too well in that bed at the moment. This morning I weeded the ground which I could now see, including removing a large bramble, or at least the bits of it above ground. The root is under a large weigela so I will just have to keep an eye on regrowth.
I have also harvested tomatoes from the greenhouse and some russet apples.
I may go back outside and carry on with the tidying while the sun is still shining.

[ElyDave]

Major reorg started here as well.
This morning started by emptying gutters on the North facing roof of  a years worth of moss and muck.
Then some real gardening, thinning right back the Johnson's Blue perennial geranium, it had taken over one patch, so thinned back to a fringe to soften the front and allow other things to be added in for height behind.
Removed another clump entirely from what will become a "Japanese" bed with trained trees and chipped slate and some Japanese anemone in the rear.

The Japanese anemone will then be stripped out from in front of my fruit trees in favour of much lower stuff. I suspect they are harbouring the earwigs over  winter, I have no trouble in my other fruit bad which has gravel on it (I've got a bunch of lavender cuttings to go in this one in spring).   I have a load of bedding growing on in the greenhouse to go in, plus a bunch of bulbs.

Lots of work to do in prep for next year.

[Bledlow]

Last week I planted a tree.

Very small: an apple on a dwarfing rootstock (but not the tiniest of tinies). Our old blackcurrant bush was showing its extreme (for a blackcurrant) age. It was not well. Bits had been dying for a while, & it was shrinking. It used to be pretty big, needing severe hacking back to stop it becoming capable of sheltering megafauna, but it had shrivelled. Bugger-all fruit, too. So I decided to put it out of its misery, but what to put in its place?

A mini Lord Lambourne! A good apple, I think. Well, we'll find out.

[ElyDave]

The Japanese anemone will then be stripped out from in front of my fruit trees in favour of much lower stuff. I suspect they are harbouring the earwigs over  winter, I have no trouble in my other fruit bad which has gravel on it (I've got a bunch of lavender cuttings to go in this one in spring).   I have a load of bedding growing on in the greenhouse to go in, plus a bunch of bulbs.

Lots of work to do in prep for next year.

Did this bit, three hours of digging, removing, setting aside and replanting of what I wanted to keep. The iris had also gone nuts, from a handful of tubers 15 years ago to needing serious thinning and de-clumping. I now have plenty to distribute to the front bed where I think they'll look very good.

I'm sure I'll see Japanese anemone next year as well, but in much lower quantity and hopefully easy to remove.

[SteveC]

A dry day. MrsC in a Zoom meeting all morning. So, out to the garden.
Swept up the first batch of leaves from next door's beech tree.
Moved the lawn furniture onto hard standing for the winter.
Mowed the back lawn.
Cleared the last batch of pots which have been drying off in the garage window.
Seeing I've also managed a 10k run and a shopping trip into town today, that's not bad.

[The Family Cyclist]

Popped up the plot with the kids as t'wife wanted us out the way so she could sort out for bonfire night guests. Plan was to get some garlic in and some onion sets the father in law had given me. These went where the squash had been and the soil was lovely as lots of compost and manure went onto that part last year.

Then did some weeding and thought id see how the parsnips were getting on  first one we dugout was a decent girth and a fair length. The girls wanted one more and this turned out to be a monster. Pushing a foot long and 1.2kg

Then got a text from friends who moved recently and they've been offered a plot more local to us, going to see if they can transfer to us or we will share with them which could mean running two plots for a year as paid up for our existing one and got stuff on it  but the new one would be easier for the wife to get to to water etc and can always put potatoes on one if needed

[CAMRAMan]

I assembled the B&Q raised beds - easy, then filled them in advance of planting garlic and onions. Planted 50 each of snowdrop, crocus and bluebell bulbs, some of which went into the small rockery at the front of the house. Started planting daff bulbs, but my 'soil' is mainly clay, so the augur method was tough. I still have loads of daff bulbs left - despite the batch being 25-33% rotten. I have 50 tulip bulbs to plant, but I'll use a dibber for those as they're not as big as I expected.

[rafletcher]

Raked up 3 large trugs-worth of leaves, mostly quince, cherry and hawthorn. 

[hatler]

Cleared the sunflower forest, the runner beans and the (badgers') sweet corn. Dug a bed over and then cardboarded and manured it prior to planting purple sprouting and fencing/netting it in. Two and a half hours from two of us felt like real progress.

[The Family Cyclist]

Assembled the compost wormery I got as a Christmas present, worms have been ordered with the voucher that came with the kit. Can't wait to get it now although will insulate a bit as it's set up in shed

[campagman]

Went up the plot where I help out on Fri. V cold, low single figs. Only there for a couple of hours so bearable, just. We are currently erecting supports for a fruit cage. I usually sow my Tomato seeds about now, so brought the seed trays, propagator and some compost into the house to warm up before sowing. I wont buy any seeds, I'll just save some from whatever tomatoes are in the kitchen.

[Basil]

Not actually on the plot, but today I sowed loads of sweet pea seeds into several pots and seed trays which are now residing on various window sills throughout the house.  I always do this on the second w/e of February.  No particular reason.  No horticultural science woo involved.  It's a nice thing to be doing at a time when winter seems to be going on for ever.
OK, I'm a couple of days late this year.

[The Family Cyclist]

Went to the plot today whilst ona dog walk. Onions and garlic coming through. Need to start making a list seeds to order.

Do have an extraordinary general meeting Thursday as the land the allotment is on has been sold off. Unfortunately its gone form local BIG land owners to investors so whilst it appears its going to remain allotment the rod rent will double over next 3 years. Although this will still be cheaper then council run ones at around £45

[SteveC]

A day of pruning: blackcurrants, gooseberries, autumn raspberries, and roses.
I have holes in my hands. 

[hatler]

Put the shed roof back on. When I got the message that the shed roof had blown off (in Eunice), I presumed it was just the felt. But no, the whole roof really had blown off. Lots of damp stuff inside the shed.

The two panels were in surprisingly good condition and only need a few nails to sort them out.

We had just enough felt left over from the garden shed's last re-felt from about 10 years ago and our allotment next door neighbour donated a further scrap so that I was able to run a line of felt along the ridge.

The end battens were all shot so they've been replaced.

Very satisfying.

[Flite]

I have been picking the thick layer of conifer twigs and branches off the raised beds so I could chuck on another layer of compost.
Thanks to Arwen, Malik, Corrie, Eunice and Franklin.
Every one a "once in a generation" storm so we are told.
Hubby repairing the roof of the plant house - again.

[pcolbeck]

Spent yesterday playing with my new chainsaw (electric). Brilliant. Pollarded the accidental breech tree to about eight feet high.
Why is it an accidental tree ?
Because its the last bit of a beech hedge that somehow didn't get pulled up with the rest of it and then grew over the next 15 years to about thirty feet high. Lovely but its in the wrong place for a big tree.

[rafletcher]

Finally pruned the Rambling Rector on the pergola. Usually I do it in autumn, but the weather was so bad last year I left it. Only got 1/2 sack of prunings, as opposed to the usual 2 or 3. Sadly I think it’s on its last legs. We planted it 20 years ago 

Then it was along the fence line with the Roundup (we’re generally organic and pesticide free but we make exceptions) to get the early shoots of Vinka coming through from next door.

Then out with the rose and clematis feed, and finally into the greenhouse to plant my sweetcorn (Swift F1) and tomato (Big Daddy) seeds, which are now sitting on the hearth, because the windowsills are full of daffodils.

And, in an un-green way, I planted the into a peat based multi-purpose. I’ve tried non-peat based, and “ethical” peat (filtered out of NW Water’s treatment works), but I’ve yet to find anything remotely as good as the bog (no pun intended) standard multi-purpose, and it’s significantly cheaper too.

[The Family Cyclist]

I've been really busy so haven't been up the plot for a few weeks, not that there is much to do and is probably waterlogged

However I did watch a bit of your garden made perfect...not sure if that counts but do have a soft spot for Angela Scanlon

[rafletcher]

A bit of weeding and fertilising preparatory to the new seasons planting out, and the disposal via our compost bins of a row of flat leaf parsley, and several dozen foxglove plants that self-seed in the raised beds. Leaving only another several dozen for my wife to transplant….. 

And, 1 week on from planting seeds I have 10% germination of the sweetcorn, and 20% of the tomatoes (4 and 2 respectively!). Still, once they’ve started it’s usually quite successful.

[Mrs Pingu]

Pingu sewed some cherry pits today. Yes, I know you're not supposed to grow cherry trees from pits but it was an experiment.
Someone on our local FB wildlife group has just offered some cinquefoil and flag iris seeds which might have been useful for the pond we're going to build but it sounds like the seeds really needed to be sown last autumn...

[rafletcher]

Pingu sewed some cherry pits today. Yes, I know you're not supposed to grow cherry trees from pits but it was an experiment.
Someone on our local FB wildlife group has just offered some cinquefoil and flag iris seeds which might have been useful for the pond we're going to build but it sounds like the seeds really needed to be sown last autumn...

We have avocado, lemon, orange and date trees grown from pits.

[Wobbly John]

Planted out 15 metres of broad bean plants, and reset the modules with more. Had the first of the purple sprouting broccoli with lunch
Went back to the allotment in the afternoon to plant 3 rows 10 metre rows) each of shallots, parsnips, carrots & beetroot.

[SteveC]

Pingu sewed some cherry pits today. Yes, I know you're not supposed to grow cherry trees from pits but it was an experiment.

We used to get loads of cherry seedlings in our garden when I was a kid. They don't come true from seed, though. We had an eating cherry, nextdoor-but-one had a lovely dark cooker. The seedlings were obviously all hybrids. I don't think any of them ever got to be proper trees but we did get the occasional one big enough to have a few fruits. For most of my childhood, my parents were not keen gardeners!