Grow Your Own Magazine

We have finally had first rain of the week, its been frustrating as the rest of the country has been deluged. Not been to allotment today, due to go at weekend.

Working today, but last night I finally gave in and used organic pellets around my beans and spinach. Resowed courgette seed since my babies became slug food, made another sowing of spinach, lollo rosso and iceberg lettuce and fed everything - OH included!

It's been raining a lot here today, although thankfully it hasn't really been cold and only a light (quite warm) breeze, but I covered my plants up with plastic anyway to stop them getting squashed/waterlogged by the rain and I had no plastic left over to cover 2 pots of beans so I put them in the shed just inside the (open) door where they have plenty of light but a roof over them so they will be nice and dry, because they got waterlogged lol.
then I planted a few potatoes that have grown ''eyes''
I never got around to sowing my squash seeds yesterday but I will hopefully get them done today.

Eeeeeeeeeek, discovered the beginnings of BLIGHT on the potatoes so sprayed with Bordeaux mixture in the hope that I may arrest it. Then we had a thunder storm so will have to do it again as soon as it dries up.

__________________
Gardening requires a lot of water - most of it in the form of perspiration. Lou Erickson, critic and poet

Today was a busy day for me...well busy for a little old lady like me...I weeded, tied up the tomatoes picked a few (the first) green beans, I walked all the beds checking for any kind of damage and to make sure all my babies were doing fine...I specnt some time making or cleaning up my rock garden as I am totally redoing it this year...it had gotten very weedy and needed re-doing...and I hauled in from my dirt pile about 1 yard of dirt and topped off a couple of beds ...I emptied my composter ...I had two drums of fresh compost and I put it in the beds with the dirt...sat on the porch with a glass of lemonade and stripped an old t shirt for tomato strings...It was a good day...tomorrow will be good too cause I have new rock coming for my rock garden.

Here's a quick shot of my garden today

A quick trip to water the polytunnels (no matter how much it rains they still need watering) also produced a trug os salad stuff, 2lb of strawberries and oh joy a bowl full of the first raspberries this year.

Piglette ran off to work with the fruit , 5 a day and all that.

__________________
Kindest regards, David.

http://pigletsplots.blogspot.com/
updated - Sunday 19th at 2100hrs

I just discovered a new high-adrenaline sport. Some of you may like to try it over the weekend...

You put one gardener in a small greenhouse, the smaller the better. The only implement you are allowed is a small watering can. Into the greenhouse, you introduce a rampant squirrel, hyped up after chasing its mate through the trees. The object of "the game" is to get the squirrel out of the greenhouse without being bitten or damaging the cucumbers. The game is void if either party suffers injury. The game can last quite some time, depending on the amount of equipment in the greenhouse.

I have already applied for a patent, so don't you go getting ideas.

Best go for a lie down to recover now *whimpers*

spent a few hours in the greenhouse tidying up after a few weeks of ummm ... not really doing as much as i should have ....

moved some of the peppers / cucumbers into bigger pots, sowed more lettuce / rocket / spinach / cauliflower in tiny pots (lost most of the seedlings few weeks back but hope still got time to get *something* useful .....

put some weed control sheeting around the rhubarb patch - rhubarb is still small and can't keep up with the weeding

sat and sulked cos all my gooseberries have gone - probably birds

sulked even more when i saw how people here are already picking fruit and veg

(i'm new round here - huge veggie patch out the back, very ambitious but not had as much time as i wanted ..... but doing bit better than last year!)

Came home today with peas, spinach, new pots and a punnet worth of strawberries. Let the good times begin!

got up at 5am to be at work for 6am gods this is not good
got home at 3pm had a brew and planted out 10 tomato plants that had been neglected
but hope fully they will recover its just started raining heavey so come in for a brew and put tea on Mrs D wont be home till about 9pm and then its up again at 5am for work

__________________
Some things in their natural state have the most VIVID colors
Dobby

Went to the allotment after work as I didn't get yesterday. Broad beans have been battered by the strong winds and rain. A bumble bee was sitting shivering on one of the stems waiting for the wind to abate so it could carry on pollinating. Tied them up temporarily until I can make a decent job the morrow!
Tatties have been battered like wise and the top had blown off my pumpkin cover. Re-fastened it in position.

Sprayed all my brassicas with a solution of salt water and washing up liquid to knock out any remaining greenfly from last onslaught!

Temp was down to 50 deg F in greenhouse so lit wood burning stove. Took a bit of lighting but managed to increase the temp to 80 deg before I left.
Deffo need some sunshine and less of the wet stuff for plants to start growing again!

__________________
My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

Mmmmmm ate a meal with all our own veg
Pattas a la pobre (spuds onion garlic and peppers fried in olive oil) with runnerbeans amd purple brussel sprouts!!!

Spent some time this morning tying up worse-for-wear broadies that had been rain battered and tying in toms in the greenhouse that are growing away a treat. Got lots set, from petit pois to marrowfat size - there's light at the end of the tunnel! Picked a handful of tayberries to go with the straws I can see nestling under the leaves. I lerve summer!

__________________
Earth laughs in flowers. Ralph Waldo Emerson

www.vegheaven.blogspot.com

Updated November 30th - Mr Stinky's Excellent Adventure (and a Christmas Cake)

you could try squirrel-fishing...not so hi-adrenaline tho. Tie a long string to a ginger nut. Throw to squirl. Squirl will not let go of a ginger nut, and you can reel him in. apparently.

__________________
~ What do I think of Western civilisation? I think it would be a very good idea ~ Gandhi

have seen squirrel fishing on the telly, you can even lift them off the ground they hang on so much. laughed so much I cried

__________________
Kernow rag nevra http://www.cornishnotenglish.com/

The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits
Albert Einstein

Just be ordinary and nothing special. Eat your food, move your bowels, pass water and when your'e tired go and lie down. The ignorant will laugh at me, but the wise will understand
Bruce Lee

Dug up some potatoes for dinner then planted broad beans in the space left behind. About time too - the BBs were about a foot high and looked a bit out of place in their modules! Weeded the strawberry bed.

__________________
You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
Max Ehrmann, Desiderata

blog: http://allyheebiejeebie.blogspot.com/ and my (basic!) page: http://www.allythegardener.co.uk/

Squirl fishing sounds fun. I've only tried crab fishing with the grandchildren, but that was fun too. Not done much today, re-arranged the greenhouse AGAIN. Too many plants - never mind, quite a few can go outside now. And as soon as it stops raining I can plant some more seedlings onto the lottie.

Got my 4 F1 greenhouse cucumbers into their final pots with strings going up to the greenhouse roof in the hope that I can keep them tidy. Too many plants in there just now. Might try moving the staging outdoors tomorrow (if it is nice like today) so that I can move the tomatoes to the other side of the house and get better organised. Put some growmore round dwarf beans and some other things that looked a bit yellow - not sure if that was right but decided they would die if I didn't do anything so I may as well try.

Also celebrated finally having a Big Jim chilli growing!

__________________
Happy Gardening,
Shirley

http://www.honeyjukes.co.uk

Managed to avoid the rain today (mostly!) at the Hill and I:

• dibbed 2 rows of 20 leeks in to the space left by the first row of early spuds
• hoed and hoed and hoed and hoed
• sowed a row of mixed carrot seed
• gave the left over leek seedlings to another plotholder in return for 3 globe artichoke - recipe needed, folks! - and some spinach
• picked about a carrier bag full of broad beans - er, how do I blanche and freeze these....?
• picked the first of the peas, and ate them!
• picked radish and turnip
• Dug up the weedier looking garlic which were falling over (about 20 bulbs) - pleasantly surprised on size, actually.

Came home and put garlic out to dry on bench - HA HA HA! and this afternoon took mum to the Hill and gave her lettuce, radish, potatoes, sp onion and carrots - I will now inherit the entire estate

__________________
Hazel
www.hazelandjanesallotment.blogspot.com
update Sun 30/11/2008......Indoor Allotmenteering too!.....

Both had to work today, but Mr D finished early, so down to the plot he went, I got a phone call an hour later, 'Weeds!!! Lots of em!' Lol!

He started weeding, then when I finished work I went down to give him a lift until my tummy started rumbling!

Well, lots of things are growing away nicely, tho they do seem to have slowed down a bit with the cold, wet and windy weather! Mr D had to tie up the climbing peas as they'd been knocked flat, but thankfully no damage and they are starting to flower! Yeah!

Courgettes are now also flowering, pumpkins and squashes are getting very big too, and corn is now at 8" tall, seems to be growing about 1/2" a day atm!

2 of the cucumbers on the cuke inside the greenhouse have turned yellow and died back, so we've removed them, and looks like some more are already beginning to form! Lots of baby toms inside the greenhouse too, and chillies and a few peppers, the second lot of Big Jim that we left on the Big Jim chilli inside the greenhouse are now as big as the first 3 that we lost to whatever it was that turned their ends brown, but these still look ok, and have to be 15cm long now! Aubergines are all flowering too!

Fartichokes look a little battered, so Mr D is going to put up some cane supports and ring them with string tomorrow, to offer a bit of support for them! First batch of onions is now definitely laying flat, so we will probably pull them on Tuesday, and the overwintering garlic is almost all yellow leafed ow, so I think they may well be coming up too!

All in all its going well, tho the weeds are going to take a few days to sort on our hols next week, and we may well be sorting out a shed too!

__________________
Blessings
Suzanne (aka Mrs Dobby)

'Garden naked - get some colour in your cheeks'!

The Dobby's Pumpkin Patch - a blogspot work in progress!
Last updated 26th November2008 - more new piccies!

Tied up and pinched out all my toms which are all growing well and all varieties now have either flowers or baby toms showing.
Hand weeded another two drills of onions
Went to see puppy that we are getting next month ( it's for Iona's birthday)
Came back home early - bought last 5 growbags from GC, cut each in half, and planted up 10 Kimberley tomatoes in the greenhouse. Also planted 10 Alaskan Fancy tomatoes in raised beds - will fashion some sort of protection for them tomorrow.
Fell asleep on sofa.

__________________
Rat

British by birth
Scottish by the Grace of God

Blog updated Wednesday November 13th

Took spare tomato, artichoke and pumpkin plants to daughter's school fiesta. Beamed a proud dad smile at her playing in the steel band & singing with gospel choir.
Visited lotty in afternoon, picked strawberries, redcurrants, peas and a few heavily blackfly infested broad beans.
Lifted a couple of garlic bulbs to see how they're doing - leaves looked a bit rusty and have died back - good enough to frighten a vampire.
Broke off a few onion tops to stop them running to seed and to chop up in salads.
Rescued some leaves from spinach plants which have all bolted, despite frequent watering.
Home for Dr Who.