Author Topic: What have you done on the plot today?  (Read 248381 times)

Re: What have you done on the plot today?
« Reply #1300 on: 22 March, 2021, 03:43:16 pm »
I think you're about three months late for sweet pea seed planting. Pondering here whether they go in this weekend or not.
Rust never sleeps

Re: What have you done on the plot today?
« Reply #1301 on: 22 March, 2021, 04:05:43 pm »
I sowed my last batch of sweet peas this weekend. They will flower later than the others but I thought it worth a go.
"No matter how slow you go, you're still lapping everybody on the couch."

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Re: What have you done on the plot today?
« Reply #1302 on: 22 March, 2021, 04:11:39 pm »
I always plant my sweet peas in seed trays on the third week of February and then sit them on window sills.
Most are coming on nicely now, but one tray has done nothing at all.  I'm beginning to wonder if I actually put any seeds in.  :facepalm:
Certainly not too late for you to sow indoors, but don't hang around much longer.
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Re: What have you done on the plot today?
« Reply #1303 on: 31 March, 2021, 05:46:08 pm »
We've had a fairly industrious day.

All the taters are now in, and I've sowed parsnips and a band of Autumn King carrots. I put in another double-row of broad beans, and tried to weed the broad beans and autumn onion sets I put in before the really wet weather began last October. our garden is infested with 3-cornered leek, an invasive species which is edible, but a real faff to use as the plants are so small. Also, those poor onions had to put up with a load of goose grass which has appeared over winter. I don't recall seeing any sign of that last year.

I think I'm winning the war on brambles and bindweed - I have been quite industrious at removing the roots of those when I find them.

I think our soil is pretty good. I had a message from my Shropshire brother today bemoaning the lack of rain. His soil is very sandy ours is clay-based, but the topsoil is not too heavy at all. It's breaking up nicely after the digging I did about a month ago.

Everything that has gone in is at least a month earlier than we managed last year. ISTR planting the potatoes on 7th May (Google Photos suggests this is true).
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Re: What have you done on the plot today?
« Reply #1304 on: 01 April, 2021, 03:56:04 pm »
Scythed the lawn for the first time this year.

Re: What have you done on the plot today?
« Reply #1305 on: 01 April, 2021, 03:59:25 pm »
Only on yacf .....
Rust never sleeps

Re: What have you done on the plot today?
« Reply #1306 on: 01 April, 2021, 04:29:13 pm »
Had a couple of visits to the plot this week. Got most of otndugnover know and have piled the big grassy clods up on some manure and will try and break that down a bit for when my squashes are ready.

Got loads planted and quite excited as celeriac seedlings at home are going great guns. Hopefully the predicted cooler weather doesn't get too cool and could actually do with a bit of rain soon. We did have a little I think overnight but that appears to have been mostly sand judging by the state of my car

Re: What have you done on the plot today?
« Reply #1307 on: 11 April, 2021, 01:14:56 pm »
3 rows of man-get-out peas (about 160 plants) planted and netted

2 rows of lettuce (72 plants) planted and cloche covered.

This afternoon's aim is to prick out a few hundred Petunia plants...
If it ain't broke, fix it 'til it is...

Re: What have you done on the plot today?
« Reply #1308 on: 13 April, 2021, 09:28:25 pm »
Almost finished digging & raking everything, ready for seedlings. Planted some cucumber, maize & french bean seeds to be kept indoors until ready to plant out.
"A woman on a bicycle has all the world before her where to choose; she can go where she will, no man hindering." The Type-Writer Girl, 1897

Re: What have you done on the plot today?
« Reply #1309 on: 21 April, 2021, 08:21:33 am »
Mrs Pcolbeck retired (well from her full time job she's still doing a couple of days a week in her friends shop) and wanted to do more proper gardening now she has time. So my project the last couple of months has been to start sorting out the garden we flattened a couple of years ago (under her direction I just build stuff I don't know anything about gardening).
This is the results of the last six weekends or so of work:

Project greenhouse nearly complete (need to adjust the doors still and connect the water butts) and project raised beds completed.

I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that.

Re: What have you done on the plot today?
« Reply #1310 on: 23 April, 2021, 03:56:12 pm »
Trimmed the roadside verge with a sickle.

Nobody blinks seeing someone using a sickle or scythe here. I've seen someone cutting hay on an entire croft with a scythe, raking and stacking into decent stooks.
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Re: What have you done on the plot today?
« Reply #1311 on: 23 April, 2021, 08:38:49 pm »
More seeds sown. Komatsuna, shiso (both red & green) under cloches, other Japanese greens I can't remember the name of, & daikon, today. There are cabbage & cauliflower seedlings already in the ground, potatoes starting to sprout, onions coming up, garlic planted last year looking very good, carrot & radish seeds sown, french bean seedlings flourishing indoors & the first cucumber plants sprouting. Sowed some Romanesco cauliflowers, having eaten it for the first time last year & Mrs B announcing that she loved it.

Raspberry canes in the garden look healthy, but those on the allotment are suffering from too much competition. Clearing around them is the next job.

Very dry, so I'm having to do a lot of watering. Gave everything a good drenching today.
"A woman on a bicycle has all the world before her where to choose; she can go where she will, no man hindering." The Type-Writer Girl, 1897

Re: What have you done on the plot today?
« Reply #1312 on: 29 April, 2021, 05:28:48 pm »
Good job the plots looking respectable as they are going to re start the cultivation policy inspection which didn't happen last year. I don't think they are very strict but as far as I aware is a waiting list so may be a tad stricter

Cycled up there today and raked over areas I had previously dug. This actually produced clouds of dust so after getting some more seeds in gave the plot a good soak

Will need to build another compost bin soon as nearly filled the first one

Regulator

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Re: What have you done on the plot today?
« Reply #1313 on: 30 April, 2021, 10:30:31 am »
My peas (both the Early Onward and the Mangetout) are beginning to sprout.  The red onions are beginning to sprout as well - the white are taking a little longer.  I've got peashoots and salad greens going under cover as well. However, I need to replace the two tomato plants that the frost got.

The strawberry plants are growing nicely, with the first signs of budding on the earlies.

I've got to tidy up the herb troughs and plant out some bronze fennel, Greek oregano and Black peppermint.  The peppermint is lovely - you only have to brush the leaves to get a strong scent.

I'm going to try and get hold of some wild garlic as well, and plant that out.

Now I just need to decide what to put into the 1.5 raised beds that going spare...
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Re: What have you done on the plot today?
« Reply #1314 on: 30 April, 2021, 10:36:23 am »
Apparently wild garlic is very slow at germinating from seed. Indo have a packet ingot free with some normal garlic but managed to get a club from a friend which will hopefully spread

Re: What have you done on the plot today?
« Reply #1315 on: 03 May, 2021, 04:41:46 pm »
Dug over an entire bed and removed a bucketful of mare's tails. Erected the runner beans frame. Sorted the shed out. Mrs hatler set about planting all the stuff that's been growing at home the last few weeks (though I think I may have lost track of exactly what was in the list); sunflowers, sweetcorn, sweet peas, zinnias, marigolds. She also cleared the kale.

Slightly worried about the potatoes, they've been in three or four weeks and there's not a sign of them, but apparently this is the same across all the plots, due to the cold (at least that's how the thinking goes).

Next door plot had recently become the home to four bee hives, but there are six there now. The apiarist was there today (husband of the plot runner). I haven't met him before. Fascinating stuff. The two extra hives are because his bees produced two swarms in the last fortnight, so he caught them and housed them. There's a note out with the local beekeepers' association offering them.
Rust never sleeps

Re: What have you done on the plot today?
« Reply #1316 on: 03 May, 2021, 06:38:54 pm »
Sorted out the water butts for the new greenhouse. Go them connected up just as it started to rain and since its been siling it down all afternoon they are probably half full by now.
Still need to refit using some silicon sealer as the greenhouse guttering endcap / downpipe connector is dripping but that will have to wait for a dry day.
I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that.

Re: What have you done on the plot today?
« Reply #1317 on: 04 May, 2021, 10:21:47 pm »
Slightly worried about the potatoes, they've been in three or four weeks and there's not a sign of them, but apparently this is the same across all the plots, due to the cold (at least that's how the thinking goes).
Our potatoes have been very slow to come up, but they're starting to show now. I think cold is probably right.
"A woman on a bicycle has all the world before her where to choose; she can go where she will, no man hindering." The Type-Writer Girl, 1897

Regulator

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Re: What have you done on the plot today?
« Reply #1318 on: 05 May, 2021, 02:48:34 pm »
Mrs Pcolbeck retired (well from her full time job she's still doing a couple of days a week in her friends shop) and wanted to do more proper gardening now she has time. So my project the last couple of months has been to start sorting out the garden we flattened a couple of years ago (under her direction I just build stuff I don't know anything about gardening).
This is the results of the last six weekends or so of work:

Project greenhouse nearly complete (need to adjust the doors still and connect the water butts) and project raised beds completed.



Are you available for hire?   :thumbsup:
Quote from: clarion
I completely agree with Reg.

Green Party Councillor

Re: What have you done on the plot today?
« Reply #1319 on: 09 May, 2021, 03:26:10 pm »
Mrs hatler's not here this weekend so I took the chance to do some tidying.

Shed area is a bomb site. Bamboos on the ground, bamboos on the garden bench, two or three pallets slowly rotting away behind a bramble outbreak, a whole pile of badly bundled up plastic ground cover. Aghh. It hurts my eyes.

Cleared the brambles, stacked the pallets up for later assessment if there's anything we can do with them, folded all the plastic so it fits into about a tenth the volume (safely tidied away in the shed).

And masterstoke of all (what with the local tip being appointment only, and me not being organised enough to sort that out), I realised that two worn rims will make the perfect basis for a vertical bamboo pole store. Stakes prepared, zip ties acquired, all I need now is agreement from Mrs hatler as to the precise location for it.
Rust never sleeps

Re: What have you done on the plot today?
« Reply #1320 on: 09 May, 2021, 07:08:25 pm »
As at last we've got at least a week of no frosts predicted have planted loads in the cold frame today including some beans as the first lot didn't germinate, suspect was too cold.

The various squashes I have on the windowsill are starting to come though and have LOADS of celeriac seedlings that need putting up but have run out of compost. Hopefully the nursery near my work is in a scheme my wife found out about where you buy a kinda big bag for life and get it refilled.

Also started some watercress in pots which will hopefully go innthe stream once they've got going (no sheep nearby so ok)

Re: What have you done on the plot today?
« Reply #1321 on: 18 May, 2021, 09:10:30 pm »
Planted one of my Tomato plants into the G'house border soil which is very dry and sandy, I have not grown in this before. I also used plenty of compost. I also buried an old plastic Milk carton next to the plant which will help to water said Tomato.

Re: What have you done on the plot today?
« Reply #1322 on: 18 May, 2021, 10:01:20 pm »
Moved all the plants in pots from the front to the back. This is because we nicked all the york stone flags from the front to the back to extend the patio and a man is coming with a digger to regrade the front so we can repave with cheap flags.
I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that.

Re: What have you done on the plot today?
« Reply #1323 on: 18 May, 2021, 10:02:11 pm »
On Saturday I set about the continuing clearance of the area next to the shed. Managed to detach the carpets (laid five years ago) from the ground revealing a lot of bind weed roots. The carpets had virtually turned into turf. Nearly did my back in. Once they were disposed of laid cardboard over the bare soil ready for next weekend. Mrs hatler set about lots and lots of planting and weeding.
Rust never sleeps

robgul

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Re: What have you done on the plot today?
« Reply #1324 on: 20 May, 2021, 09:43:08 am »
Shifted a couple of very large bulk bags of topsoil and one of bark from the front driveway to the garden - n wheelbarrow trips including a pause to repair the barrow's handle and adjust the front wheel - garden level is about a metre above the path with steps so trans-shipment of said materials into trugs was necessary  ::-)

Looks like we'll need another 2 bags each of topsoil and bark to get the beds (created within the overall landscaping project) up to standard.

Next task when it stops raining is to make the fence along one side of the garden - it's going to be roofing battens/laths fixed to the previous fence as "horizontal slats" - about 800m of batten and an awful lot of staples to fire from my nail gun.