Grow Your Own Magazine

Lavenderblue · #**3606** (**permalink**) 22-05-2008, 10:09 PM

oh i've not posted here for ages. We were up on the plot on tuesday evening for a few hours. We weeded out the existing beds as bindweed has well and truly taken hold. We didn't know we had it or we would never have rotivated. Blummin stuff. Anyway, it was so bad on the remainder of the plot we weedkillered the lot. And how we cackled and laughed.

Winged one · #**3607** (**permalink**) 23-05-2008, 09:30 AM

Last night, I planted my sweetcorn (at last!). 12 pots of 2 seeds to a pot (out of date last year so a saffety measure) of F1 Swift, and 3 pots of Minipop.

As I was already out in the drizzle, I then planted 6 pots of (3 to a pot) Borlotti beans (climbing variety) and 6 pots (2 seeds to a pot) of perpetual spinach.

And potted on the second batch of pepper "big Banana" from their single module - 5 plants there. These will stay indoors on the windowsill for another couple of days to recover and then go out into the minigreenhouse with the door open until we dismantle that - then in the open air in pots on the patio.

A nice hour or so pottering around - although the drizzle made a mess of my hair and then stopped so that the newly sown seeds didn't get their nice drink - typical!

Moyra · #**3608** (**permalink**) 23-05-2008, 01:54 PM

I have just come in from clearing a fair length of brick wall of very overgrown Ivy. Yuk! Filled my wheelie bin up so now will have to wait another fortnight before doing some more. Its one way of stopping me from overdoing things but I could do with pushing on!

wellie · #**3609** (**permalink**) 23-05-2008, 07:21 PM

...after a while away 'Cat-Sitting', and I'm not even going to GO there, thinking about how many new members joining that I've missed saying hello to, saying happy birthday to someone at 2 o'clock in the morning (when clearly, I should be tucked up in bed) or interacting with all of you that I know and love already?

So I won't.

But I'm back now, and Holly Cottage Potager has not been neglected, as I've travelled 30 miles daily to ensure it's health and well-being, and the most important daily happening.... to cuddle my cat, and my adorable Trousers bloke.

It poured out of the sky this afternoon, with knobs on, so I got not a shred of anything done, but you just watch this space over the weekend!
Wellie's back, whether Trousers likes it or not!!!

heebiejeebie · #**3610** (**permalink**) 24-05-2008, 04:19 PM

Aaargh! wrote up what I did today, pressed the wrong button and lost it.

Potted on some stuff - tomatoes, cabbages, calabrese, sprouts, convolvulus, indoor cukes and a couple of spare courgettes.
Planted out - 2 squash & 4 swede.
Took the fleece off the first lot of beans & peas as there are a couple of flowers on the broadies.
Made up more planters with begonias and petunias.

nkp1962 · #**3611** (**permalink**) 24-05-2008, 05:42 PM

Weeded, weeded, weeded, weeded.....guess the rest

have about 3 square yards to clear then all systems go - hope to put the polytunnel up tomorrow as well (weather permitting!) - salad crops comng along nicely, but STILL behind with everything else!

Two_Sheds · #**3612** (**permalink**) 24-05-2008, 05:56 PM

Yes, lots of weeding here too ~ 3 buckets full this week. I have planted out some more French Beans, sweetcorn and courgettes. All are mulched with newspaper (topped with soil to look tidy)
Potatoes are flowering - mulched again with grass clippings. No watering necessary.

Mrs Dobby · #**3613** (**permalink**) 24-05-2008, 08:03 PM

Had to work today, v.busy and not helped by having one of my main tills broken and yesterdays stock delivery arriving at 9am this morning! Skivved off an hour early to fetch a bike from another branch (only a couple of miles away from home

) and got to the plot for 545pm, 15 mins before the store shuts!

Mr D finished digging the last of the main beds on our new plot on Thursday, and had a darn good hoe over all the beds we've got growing, so its not looking at all bad now! Overwintering onion sets are bulking up nicely, goosegogs going great guns, broad beans producing first pods of beans, blueberries producing fruit, toms flowering (gonna have to put up some supports this week for them), first early spuds are flowering (soon be ready to eat methinks!), lettuces and radish almost ready for eating!

Watered everything, both greenhouses, all the beds on plot 1, all the remaining crops on plot 2 and all the squashes, pumpkins, outdoor toms and onions from seed that we've got planted on the new plot! Took a good hour and a half, by which time I was frozen in the wind! (Only had my work t-shirt on - and work trousers before anyone says anything - and no coat or fleece, so v.chilly now!) Got home and watered the crops ion pots in the yard and the backyard greenhouse!

Working again tomorrow, then off on Monday and Wednesday (with a half day meeting on Tuesday), so hoping to get some more plants in and the paths weeded and barked up with any luck! (weather permitting)

purrfik · #**3614** (**permalink**) 25-05-2008, 08:18 AM

Busy day yesterday - Amazed how much I got done and really happy as I was so far behind having just moved here in the middle of March.

Anyway, finally got the bean plot filled in with the soil I'd had to dig out to make it workable and planted :-
Runner Beans
Broan Beans
Peas
Baby Corn
Sweetcorn
Courgettes
Pumpkin
Butternut Squash

Also earthed up the potatoes and weeded around the onions and shallots and parsnips. Am going to have to sow some more carrots. The slugs think that I sow them just for them but have been gracious enough to leave me two!

Snadger · #**3615** (**permalink**) 25-05-2008, 08:44 AM

Finally got around to planting ouit my ham onions. Planted up the rest of my jalapeno's in square catering tubs.Likewise with three sweet peppers in a window box. Planted two cougettes and one cucumber outside. Potted up a melon plant and a cucumber plant for indoors. Mixed up yet anoth batch of JI type compost. Side shooted all my tomatoes as after reading the seed packets thats what they required.

As I've mentioned in another thread I now have a blackbird in residence and am really chuffed!

Claire72 · #**3616** (**permalink**) 25-05-2008, 08:46 AM

Yesterday I weeded my bed ready to put my potatoes in (very late, but been nursing torn ligaments in my foot)

Today I intend planting said potatoes, and weeding the carrot bed and strawberry bed.
Funny how weeds grow faster than everything else isn't it?

gojiberry · #**3617** (**permalink**) 25-05-2008, 04:06 PM

Bought another 10 bean canes from the shed this morning as I had some pea beans to plant out. Didn't think I would be able to do much today because of the rain, but dodging the showers I have but the canes up and planted the beans out. Also picked some broad beans and cut a cabbage for tea. I am also hoping to get out and cut some black weed fabric to go under the strawberry plants as the strawberries are well formed now.

Ian

gojilottie

heebiejeebie · #**3618** (**permalink**) 25-05-2008, 04:41 PM

Put some cane & string support in for the broadies.
Took netting off overwintered cabbages in raised bed. Planted leaf beet in the gaps where a couple of cabbages didn't survive. Used 4 tennis balls as cane tops to support fleece (previously used on beans) instead of putting netting back because the piece of netting isn't quite big enough now things are taller. I'll use it on the strawberries in a week or so.
Pricked out rudbeckia and the second sowings of lettuce "red salad bowl" and "lolla rosso".
Cut the undergrowth in the plastic planthouse. After this season, I'll move the frame onto a piece of tarpaulin.
Found a gooseberry bush I didn't know about growing through the leylandii megahedge

Picked some PSB for dinner and some rhubarb.

I need to get some of the things in 5" pots planted out so that the things in 3" pots can be potted on and things crowding their seed trays can be pricked out...

Might go back for the gooseberries and make jam.

Claire72 · #**3619** (**permalink**) 25-05-2008, 06:30 PM

I am so chuffed with myself!

Got the carrot bed weeded and planted carrots and onions today. OH planted my potatoes, so should finally have some veg growing in the garden now.
OH going to make frames for my carrots and onions as chickens kicking three colours out of them

will need to wake him soon and remind him

Also trimmed back a tree growing amongst my hedge.
Doesn't sound much now, but took all day, and I am really pleased with my work

Newbie · #**3620** (**permalink**) 25-05-2008, 06:45 PM

Saturday finally finished setting up the new greenhouse, was too late to move anything into it though

Also managed to earth up my potatoes and do a bit of hoeing around my garlic. Tomorrow i really need to move things into the greenhouse & do some potting on.

wellie · #**3621** (**permalink**) 25-05-2008, 07:09 PM

Sowed some more Herby Salad Leaves and Red Spring Onions in trays.

Took a drive out to two garden centres in the vicinity of Monmouth.
I bought some seeds and spiral plant supports, and Trousers bought some Lindor Chocolates. No change there then..........!

barrie tough · #**3622** (**permalink**) 25-05-2008, 08:01 PM

happy with what i got done today,got lettuce,carrots,brassicas,sweetcorn,kiwi fruit & grape vines planted out plus sowed some other stuff in the greenhouse

.also done some hoeing & weeding done.

Kimbo · #**3623** (**permalink**) 25-05-2008, 08:09 PM

Today I pulled up my old spinach plants which have bolted (I have had a good few servings off them and they were past their best so I planted a lot of new ones in their place. I then dug out 2" of grass from around 5 of my raised beds (still have 3 to do) to make it easier to mow the grass in between. Noticed greenfly on my strawberries in the greenhouse so gave them a good going over with my homemade garlic spray (it has worked on the blackfly on the broad beans). Then the wind really got up and I decided as I have all week off I would call it a day (but looking at the weather forecast I will be lucky to get anything else done next week).

nkp1962 · #**3624** (**permalink**) 25-05-2008, 08:32 PM

[quote=heebiejeebie;231610]
Picked some PSB for dinner and some rhubarb.

Did the Rhubard like the PSB??

Just got in from the plot - built five 6 foot x 3 foot (due to timber length!) raised bed, & sowed parsnip, carrot, swede, turnip, beetroot, chard - bit late, but going from last year should be OK

Gave everything a good watering, as according to forecast we will either get sun or rain

Too windy to attempt polytunnel erection

Flummery · #**3625** (**permalink**) 26-05-2008, 11:38 AM

Got back from hols on Friday with a cough which by Sat had turned into a stonker of a head cold. 5 minutes of doing absolutely anything results in an hour's sit down with a book. So, only got 2 beds at the lottie weeded, the beans and sweet peas tied up. Everything else is in my head to do later. Read most of my book though!

Mrs Dobby · #**3626** (**permalink**) 26-05-2008, 07:35 PM

Got to the plot for 1030am, and just got back now!

It was exceptionally windy, but warm this morning in the sunshine, but went really cold when the clouds rolled in at about 1pm! Fortunately it stayed dry, until now when its started spotting with rain!

Mr D turned over the last 2 small beds on the new plot while I sideshooted the toms in both greenhouses and set up the string supports for them to grow up (and weeded around the base of all greenhouse crops by hand). After that we transplanted the foxgloves from our half plot into the bed at the front of the new plot, fed all the crops with a foliar feed, then planted up the other small bed on the new plot as a herb bed. Mr D aslo planted out a bed of trench celery and a bed of baby bear pumpkins! After that Mr D set about the small bed on plot 1 (that last year was our heb bed, but was fairly bady overgrown), getting it ready for the comfrey we want to transplant from the half plot on wednesday, and whilst he was digging that one over I planted the melons in the lean-to on the new plot!

Also took some more plants to the plot to go into the cold frame to harden off for planting later this week!

Finally, also harvested the first 2 pods of broad beans, which are going into a rissotto for tea tonight!