Author Topic: What have you done on the plot today? (Read 251636 times)

The Family Cyclist · « **Reply #1225 on:** 02 September, 2020, 03:23:44 pm »

My tomatoes went mad when we had the hot spell at end of July and collapsed. Decided to leave them to it as already damaged the plants but tomatoes growing well although with the weather cooling off don't know if they will all ripen or not

rafletcher · « **Reply #1226 on:** 11 September, 2020, 05:19:54 pm »

Cleared away the Gardeners Delights as they had blight. Took the remains to the tip, and scored 6 heavy duty plastic sack a couple of ladies were going to dump (log bags from the local farm shop).

Also sorted through the Big Daddies ripening nicely in the greenhouse

Untitled by Richard Fletcher, on Flickr

rafletcher · « **Reply #1227 on:** 12 September, 2020, 04:00:09 pm »

Beginning the autumn clearance. Wild sweet peas and a clematis removed from the front of the house, and the bay bush pruned back. Then onto the patio at the back, again a clematis down, and a bay pruned. That’s 7 full sacks of stuff to go to the tip Monday evening.

Wobbly John · « **Reply #1228 on:** 12 September, 2020, 07:04:28 pm »

Dug maincrop 'Rooster' potatoes.

They have got wireworm badly.

ElyDave · « **Reply #1229 on:** 22 September, 2020, 10:13:49 am »

Anyone have any idea what the culprit is for this damage to the roots of my swiss chard? I noticed the same when harvesting a few beetroot. There are slugs about as evidenced by leaf damage (until the beer traps took care of them) but i've never seen anything like this before.

I'm thinking rabbits, but I've never seen any in the garden

SteveC · « **Reply #1230 on:** 10 October, 2020, 04:42:58 pm »

The seasons change. Yesterday and today I have removed all the tomato plants and cleared away the grow-bags from the outside ones. The next stage is to sweep up where the grow-bags were and put the two cold frames there. (The cold frames will have to wait until the chap doing the hard-landscaping job has finished.) And I need to wash the greenhouse down. Changing to 'winter'.

Basil · « **Reply #1231 on:** 10 October, 2020, 05:30:41 pm »

Grease banded the fruit trees. Dog! That stuff if difficult to wash off your hands.

hatler · « **Reply #1232 on:** 10 October, 2020, 05:32:43 pm »

Last of the spuds dug. Tomato plants uprooted and composted. Courgette and cucumber plants ditto. Courgette/cucumber tyre towers refilled with manure and covered. Runner beans cleared. The last of the zinnias, dahlias and sunflowers cut. Still a lot of clearing to do.

Wowbagger · « **Reply #1233 on:** 10 October, 2020, 05:35:32 pm »

I picked some more French beans and cut a cabbage, but the soil is too wet at the moment to do much. Hopefully we will get a few days' dry weather soon.

ElyDave · « **Reply #1234 on:** 10 October, 2020, 10:02:36 pm »

My runner beans are still going, though the outdoor toms need to come down, a few have succumbed to blight with the change in weather. Indoors still OK, but I now need room for winter lettuces. Some good tat soi coming on though

perpetual dan · « **Reply #1235 on:** 17 October, 2020, 09:21:15 pm »

One of the wooden retaining walls on our (stupidly steep) garden had rotted - boards and two of the posts. One post I dug out to arm depth, then got bored and put a big lump of rock in the hole. Then added a temporary set of boards and posts from the spare wood collection. Temporary because they’re a bit mismatched as I’ve been unable to buy either met posts or fresh treated wood this week - apparently there’s a shortage of fence posts.

ElyDave · « **Reply #1236 on:** 18 October, 2020, 06:08:39 pm »

I encountered a shortage of potting grit yesterday, ended with something more gravel than the kind of stuff you'd use on alpines. It goes in my potting mix for bonsai

Wowbagger · « **Reply #1237 on:** 19 October, 2020, 04:37:27 pm »

A very pleasant autumn day today Not especially warm, but this has been a cool October round here.

I jut spent half an hour preparing the ground and sowing a double row of Aquadulce broad beans. I will probably sow another tomorrow morning.

rafletcher · « **Reply #1238 on:** 07 November, 2020, 04:51:20 pm »

Lovely day today, so I took the opportunity to cut the lawn, although “cut” and “lawn” are somewhat ambitious descriptions. The Flymo ripped off the small amount of grass mixed with dock, daisy, buttercup and moss in the area where my wife doesn’t grow anything else. The wet autumn has turned it into a mass of worm casts.

I also planted three bare root roses - Rhapsody in Blue” - that arrived this week. Then cut down the phlox, chopped off some day lily foliage (my wife’s limited mobility after tearing her gluteus medius badly enough to need a ambulance trip to A&E has stopped her doing a lot of the autumn jobs) and cleared back the foliage along the path to the shed. All in all a good couple of hours work in pleasant conditions.

SteveC · « **Reply #1239 on:** 07 November, 2020, 05:13:55 pm »

I've also been doing the autumn tidying up.
The dahlias have been dug up and are currently drying in the greenhouse, along with the tuberoses. The dahlias have been lovely this year. When we've tried them before, they've all been eaten, but this year they have not only survived, but thrived.
I've also cleared a space in the front garden for some primulas which we won in a raffle last winter.
And the tulips are potted up.
Oh, and a little weeding as well.
Still loads to do, but it was beginning to get dark. .

The Family Cyclist · « **Reply #1240 on:** 10 November, 2020, 11:51:13 am »

Had planned a good visit to the allotment today having looked at the weather forecast and it being predicted to be dry but after a few days of very heavy showers instead had to make do with a quick trip to spread some chicken manure and harvest some leeks and kale which has turned purple after a few frosts last week.

It turned ridiculously warm again so lots still growing. Need to plan much better next year with us just completing our first year on the allotment as have lots of unused space. I also need to get some covers so can grow brassicas without them being devoured by pigeons or caterpillars.

Also need to improve the soil and possibly lime it as my squashes did poorly and Bob Flowerdew on GQT said to a correspondent that could be the cause.

ElyDave · « **Reply #1241 on:** 13 November, 2020, 09:27:40 am »

Ditto re lawn, was getting long and with the rain hard to get to. The new battery powered mower is far more effective at clearing damp grass than the petrol one was though, so managed to give it a once-over. Again, lots of wormcasts.

Cleared the remaining tomatoes and put some lettuce seedlings in the greenhouse bed, may get some late salads

Pruned the fig tree for direction, took a few cuttings of cape daisies, rescued a self-seeded acer campestre from the garden and potted as a potential bonsai as it has a winged bark mutation and a potentially interesting triple trunk formation.

Then it started raining again!

campagman · « **Reply #1242 on:** 14 November, 2020, 07:01:27 pm »

I lifted the Jerusalem Artichokes today. Planted 5 tubers which have produced a good crop. Will sort out a good way to store them and also take some to the Allotment, where I volunteer, to grow/give away.

hatler · « **Reply #1243 on:** 15 November, 2020, 02:00:49 pm »

Dig dig dig.

SteveC · « **Reply #1244 on:** 21 November, 2020, 02:17:19 pm »

Now that the hard-landscaping job has finally been finished¹, I have been able to move the garden to its 'winter' set up. The cold frames are where the outdoor tomatoes were, and they have been filled with the appropriate plants for overwintering. The left over bits and pieces from the hard-landscaping have been moved, ready for reuse or disposal. The three figs in pots have been moved to their new home. The lawn furniture has been moved off the lawn to its winter location.
I will get out there again in a while to carry on with the general tidying up which is needed at this time of year.

hatler · « **Reply #1245 on:** 21 November, 2020, 02:26:05 pm »

Dig dig dig. Sunk four paving slabs edge down to keep the neighbour's couch grass out. I'm slowly working my way along the whole border.

ElyDave · « **Reply #1246 on:** 23 November, 2020, 07:26:00 am »

Mowing, a bit of tidying, and potted up a oak that had been in the garden to try and deal with a nasty reverse taper on the trunk, took a few cuttings of verbena for next year.

Can't believe how much is still growing, roses still flowering etc. Only our second frost of the winter this morning, so good job I moved the potted olive tree back into the greenhouse for the winter yesterday

hatler · « **Reply #1247 on:** 28 November, 2020, 04:04:45 pm »

Dig dig dig.

Looking good. Only a couple of beds to go until we have the place under control (ha ha).

Target for next weekend is the 'dumping ground' bed. If all we achieve is to sort through the stuff I'll regard that as a result.

ElyDave · « **Reply #1248 on:** 20 December, 2020, 12:12:29 pm »

some general tidying over the last couple of days, claering dead annuals, removing fig embryos that'll not amount to anything, planning next year etc. Green waste bin now full, to go out next week.

Also working on a composting solution to be as rat proof as possible, the idea being a base perimeter of light foamcrete blocks, on which a frame of verticals and feather edge board will sit with no gaps between the boards. The front of the two boxes I'll make will be reclaimed and slot in vertically. I might even add another layer of blocks on the vertical up against the outside of the base of the boxes as further deterrent from getting underneath. IT'll cost <£100 all in, vs >£100 each for pre-made square wooden composters which will still need the deterrence around the base. I may line it with plastic at the base as a further deterrent.

Finally, showing how weird the weather is right now, during my weeding efforts I noticed that the daffs are already 2" above the ground

hatler · « **Reply #1249 on:** 20 December, 2020, 01:05:24 pm »

Last weekend. More digging, and more paving slabs on edge to stop the neighbour's couch grass working its way through to our side. Only about six more to go at one end of the plot but about 20 at the other. At least I've worked out a much more efficient way to get them in. I can do four in about half an hour now.

Mrs hatler delighted at how far ahead we are. Purple sprouting is going good guns ready for February. Sprouts went in a bit late but are thriving. Broad beans coming on well. Kale producing food. Dahlias covered up. About four beds have been dug over, manured, cardboarded and manured on top ready for whatever we do next year.

Next task is to clear the mess around the shed and de-bramble the shed's surroundings.