Author Topic: What have you done on the plot today? (Read 299911 times)

Mrs Pingu · « **Reply #1650 on:** 06 July, 2023, 03:50:28 pm »

Finally my flower bed looks a bit more full

2023-07-06_03-37-00 by The Pingus, on Flickr

2023-07-06_03-37-09 by The Pingus, on Flickr

Although some of that is due to that huge ragwort which is getting evicted as soon as it's finished flowering, and the fact that the geraniums (Rozanne) and the common bistort are expanding rapidly.

Mrs Pingu · « **Reply #1651 on:** 06 July, 2023, 03:51:57 pm »

Has anyone ever managed to get common bistort to flower twice or should I just cut the spikes right down to the ground?

Mrs Pingu · « **Reply #1652 on:** 06 July, 2023, 04:20:45 pm »

And in other news, the buddleia that was looking very sad after I dug it up a month ago is indeed looking quite happy again.

rafletcher · « **Reply #1653 on:** 06 July, 2023, 08:42:48 pm »

Quote from: The Family Cyclist on 06 July, 2023, 12:36:58 pm

Due to actual rains which put around 300l of water I the water butt's I've not had to water. Last night trimmed the willow stump to make poles for use next year. They sprout if you use them too fresh. Tied up sprouts and had a bit of a tidy

Think I'm going to have to give up the allotment as struggling to keep on top of it. Does mean I have leeks which not sure what to do with as don't want to plant up allotment as lease expires I think September

Don’t give it up, plant low maintenance crops like potatoes.

The Family Cyclist · « **Reply #1654 on:** 07 July, 2023, 08:28:41 pm »

Ah the problems the watering.....the early spuds basically disappeared as died off with the drought we have.

I think I'll try and keep for another year and hope I've got to the top of the waiting list for one closer which the wife could get to more easily. Its only a 5km ride to mine but its alongside the A12 so not particularly pleasant

Sowed some more salad tonight and gave the garden a good drink. Hopefully some courgettes will be ready to harvest in next few days. Got loads of radishes in amongst the sprouts but no luck with the beetroot I sowed in there

The Family Cyclist · « **Reply #1655 on:** 08 July, 2023, 08:33:02 am »

Cycled up the allotment by 7am, quite a few already there including I think a new couple as asked about drinking water

Soaked the bits I needed to dig then watered the rest. I'm hoping for the predicted rain later. Once the soil I'd soaked had softened dug over and put in some leeks before watering them in

Mrs Pingu · « **Reply #1656 on:** 12 July, 2023, 10:49:03 pm »

Bloody snails, caught in the act eating my lupin again. Come on blackbirds, get scoffing them.

rafletcher · « **Reply #1657 on:** 14 July, 2023, 11:20:33 am »

Quote from: Mrs Pingu on 12 July, 2023, 10:49:03 pm

Bloody snails, caught in the act eating my lupin again. Come on blackbirds, get scoffing them.

Blackbirds prefer worms. We're fortunate to have a Song Thrush around this year. And we have toads for the slugs. But my wife goes out most evenings at dusk (more problematic in Northern climes this time of year) to hunt slugs (they get a free flight over the fence) and snails (they get trodden on).

Mrs Pingu · « **Reply #1658 on:** 14 July, 2023, 12:31:09 pm »

I'm trying not to kill everything but am being rather tested. I suppose I could put them in a bucket and take them for a walk.

rafletcher · « **Reply #1659 on:** 16 July, 2023, 10:59:33 am »

Staked several sweetcorn that had been flattened by yesterday’s wind.

SteveC · « **Reply #1660 on:** 16 July, 2023, 06:29:26 pm »

In between the showers, MrsC and I removed the bindweed from the blackcurrant bushes and picked those fruits which had been able to ripen despite the covering of the EVIL weed.
I have also finally managed to find time to plant out the dahlias and three cosmos (probably my most pathetic attempt at growing from seed in over two decades) which have been sitting in pots for what feels like months.
This has not been a good summer for getting things done.

rafletcher · « **Reply #1661 on:** 04 August, 2023, 08:07:08 pm »

Quite a bit today, making the most of a dry afternoon before the deluge. Pruned the water shoots off the dwarf Gala apple tree. Then did my best to cut back the Wisteria to a few leaves, but as it’s on a pergola it was fairly random. Then pruned one of our Viburnums, and took the shears to the small Yew bush. Then pruned the “dwarf” cherry so it’s only 3m tall. Pulled the first row of French beans and planted more seeds. Fed the tomatoes, courgettes and cucumbers. Trained the leaders on the other, smaller, Wisteria that’s over an arch, along the wires on the fence behind.

Bledlow · « **Reply #1662 on:** 05 August, 2023, 11:17:39 pm »

Last thing I did before the latest deluge was lifting onions & potatoes, plus a beetroot & a few kabu (looks like a turnip but tastes more like a radish).

The Family Cyclist · « **Reply #1663 on:** 07 August, 2023, 08:37:55 pm »

Got up the allotment for first time in ages. Had become a bit of a jungle. Strange thing is some squash plants have hardly got going where as the pumpkins rampant

Bit of advice please my garlic which is different varieties has grown flowers and looks like its dying back but has is still small. Is it likely to grow or should I just cut my losses and dig it up

rafletcher · « **Reply #1664 on:** 12 August, 2023, 11:55:54 am »

The garlic won’t get any bigger. I’ve had very limited suspects with it personally.

For the first time ever (at 66) I actively used a strimmer to go round the sides of the raised beds. A lot quicker than shearing the tufted bits of grass. Then I mowed the rest of the (grass) paths and the lawn.

ETA then emptied a compost bin of the small amount remaing so we can stop using the (ptretty full) one that’s now got a wasps nest in it. Might water it a bit and see if they leave. Chopped down a teasle, and most of the sweetcorn, plus defoliated the Marmande tomatoes.

It’s been a poor season for both, only about 1/4 of the sweetcorn ripened, and for a beefsteak type tomato the fruits are rather small. Next year we’ll revert to Swift and Big Daddy respectively. OTOH the French beans have done ok, and we managed successional showings at 2 weeks so not overwhelmed with them. The few runners we put in (in with the sweet peas) will be ready early September, so at least the weather will be more suitable for the eating of them than high(!) summer.

The Family Cyclist · « **Reply #1665 on:** 12 August, 2023, 01:29:54 pm »

Dug the petité garlic, strangely found some elephant garlic the top had completely died back but found bulbs

Dug up the potatoes which were disappointing and tidied a bit

Then wandered to the congregation of people as was an open day. Got chatting to a lady who turned out to be the wife of the plot holder next to me.

She said her husband had claimed that I had run to the plot from where I live but she thought he must have misheard. Put her right in that it's only a 10km round trip so just a gentle evening jog really. Seemed equally perplexed that I cycled to the plot. Was glad I had a tailwind as had a fair bit of produce in the panniers

Had to stop at farm shop on way back to get coop cleaner as my chickens have red mite so need to give that a thorough clean. Could do without the family being away as previously when had have grabbed chickens and held while someone else gives the chickens a dust.

Bledlow · « **Reply #1666 on:** 12 August, 2023, 08:05:10 pm »

Mrs B popped up to the allotment & came back with our first sweetcorn. It was yummy. Lots more approaching edibility. We'll be eating it for a while.

And she picked three cucumbers from the plant in the back garden. Also tasty. More on their way at the allotment. Yesterday she collected two fat cabbages & a load of onions.

All the tomatos are still very green, though, & there aren't any leeks ready. Almost no reaspberries left.

Mrs Pingu · « **Reply #1667 on:** 12 August, 2023, 09:34:22 pm »

We are off on holiday for 2.5 weeks from Thursday so I decided I'd better do something about the plant situation - I had a lot of seedlings that weren't likely to survive that long in tiny wee pots, so I planted the lot of them.
A whole pile of tiny lupins, 6 slightly larger echinacheas, the 3 little aubretias that actually made it, and the sole pair of tansy and single borage that deigned to sprout.
So no doubt they'll all get scoffed by snails instead.

My brother was visiting today so I gave him my 2 courgette plants. I'm not really expecting them to be in a great state given he's not that great at remembering to water stuff, but better than nothing.

Legs · « **Reply #1668 on:** 15 August, 2023, 11:06:21 am »

Came back from 2.5 weeks in the States on Sunday. Our neighbour had been popping round each day to feed our cat (which was lovely of her), but, in spite of my insistence, she hadn't been helping herself to things from our veg patch, the result being that we've got a handful of gigantic cucumbers but very few smaller ones to come in the next weeks, and the rhubarb is threatening to take over the world. Like the Bledlows, our tomatoes are nowhere near ready yet.

Bledlow · « **Reply #1669 on:** 30 August, 2023, 10:07:22 pm »

We're getting a steady trickle of ripe tomatoes now, & more are starting to ripen. Loads of cucumbers. We've eaten quite a lot of sweetcorn & there's more coming. Not many French beans left, but runner beans are now coming in.

We got a bit tired of cabbage. May give some away. We've given away cucumbers.

Yesterday I was checking to see if there were any onions left behind in the bed before heaping some compost on it (which I didn't do because I got too tired: this rapid onset exhaustion is annoying*), & I lifted a plank - to see a big fat toad in a little hole beneath it. It wandered off into some vegetation.

*Following covid-19, a bacterial respiratory infection, oral thrush & then shingles, which I'm still taking drugs for. Not a fun three weeks. And while languishing in bed I read a very depressing book - Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro. May not have been the best choice.

Wowbagger · « **Reply #1670 on:** 03 September, 2023, 02:15:03 pm »

We have decided to shell out for the garden waste bin to be collected again (£69.50 annually, for weekly collections) as we want to remove a large laurel bush/tree that my mother seemed to want when she moved in with us 22 years ago. There's also a honeysuckle-triffid cross that needs to be dealt with, and numerous suckers from the horrible false acacia that the council cut down a few years back. I'm normally against the council cutting down street trees, but I make an exception with false acacia. Nasty spiky vicious brutes.

Anyway, we've mostly filled the bin ready for Thursday's collection, with bits of laurel and false acacia suckers.

rafletcher · « **Reply #1671 on:** 08 September, 2023, 01:47:16 pm »

Removed the remaining sweetcorn, a very indifferent crop this year. Also as the Marmande we’re looking rather desiccated and possibly blight-ed I picked all the remaining tomatoes, some 12kg worth. Plants are in a poly sack along with the sweetcorn eddy for a tip trip, which may be Monday as I’m off and it’ll have cooled somewhat.

rafletcher · « **Reply #1672 on:** 24 September, 2023, 01:51:55 pm »

Hmmm, reading the above… I forgot about the tomato plants I’d bagged up. That’s going to be a gag-worthy trip to the tip on Friday!

Removed the second, and last, box ball we had flanking the path. Too much box blight $:-\$ .

Mrs Pingu · « **Reply #1673 on:** 24 September, 2023, 05:58:48 pm »

Weeding the front 'garden' - I keep feeling there must be a better way than all the gravel out front, cos it doesn't actually stops the weeds.
Weeding the back garden, that creeping buttercup is a pain in the arse. I don't mind it and the clover in the lawn, but they don't bloody stay there.

I need to buy some pollinator friendly bulbs to plant soon too.

rafletcher · « **Reply #1674 on:** 25 September, 2023, 06:56:49 pm »

Aliums are a good bet for pollinators. And for early season Pulmonaria (not a bulb of course) are good. And even in winter, you could put in a sarcacocca bush, with bonus scent.