What I did today 2020

[ameno]

Dug some more of my potato patch. Pretty much done now. Just need to do about 6 inches more, then dig in some poultry manure, and then it's ready for planting the spuds.

As of yesterday, I'm off work now for who knows how long (I work in a cinema), so at least I've got plenty of free time to get things done at the allotment and in my garden.

[self-contained]

I had the day off work today as I'm on-call over the weekend. I've set up a new seedlings and microgreens station in front of the window in the spare room, using bed slats and boxes. I can rest various trays and pots there, for reasonable light. That roughly triples my indoor growing space, but compost will be the limiting step. I'm going to try and make a Lidl compost run around 8pm, but will retreat if it looks busy. My parents were going to bring me a big bag in time for potato planting, but I'm just going to have to shuttle smaller bags home when I get the chance.

I've sown a few seeds too, but most of the day has been devoted to getting as up to date with the latest COVID science as possible and getting some rest.

[Bonjour]

Sowed Golden Zucchini and Midnight F1 courgettes in pots to start indoors. Sowed my third short row of Douce Provence peas.

[Bren In Pots]

Tidied up my GH replaced the shelving on the racks then had a sowing session.

[Bonjour]

Forked over a bit more of my roots patch in my lunchtime and stuck a thermometer in my hotbed that I got finished at the weekend. The muck/straw mix is now up to 31 C. After work, I sowed 2 3"pots with 2 seeds each of Crimson Sweet Watermelon and put them in the propagator with heat mat under, and 20 modules of multi-sown Ishikura spring onions which will live in the greenhouse until they are big enough to go out.

[bikermike]

Got pallets! The good thing about this wfh malarkey is I can see things in skips when there are builders to ask, and I'm not wearing a suit. Round our way, green bins are going to be charged for, and I've now got 4 I'm going to take, so I'm going to build another bay on my compost heap...

[Small pumpkin]

Potted up some more chillies into 1lt pots.
Set up the heat mat & heated propagator in the polytunnel.
Sown lot of seeds.

[ameno]

Planted my onion sets. The bag of 50 didn't go that far - wondering if I should buy more.

Put yet another load of coffee grounds on the compost bin. That's the fourth load now, and each is around 8-10kg.

Dug over some more of the potato patch. About 2/3 done now.

Sowed my chitted peas in a length of gutter, and put that in my conservatory.

[Baldy]

Sowed some more cucumber - marketmore as I recall (it was a couple of hours ago)
Potted on some Telegrah Cukes and some de Nice courgettes - I'm expecting some self-inflicted fatailities amongst the cukes, less so the courgettes

[hamsterqueen]

First time out in ages.
Cleared up the cat poo, did some weeding of the raised beds. Tidied up odd leaves of the Cavalo Nero and some sprouting broccoli leaves for dinner.

There are a couple of self-seeded lettuces there too.

Made me feel quite optimistic. Going to plant up a few spuds and sow seeds tomorrow.
If I am going to be confined to barracks poisibly, I may need all the fresh veg and fresh air I can get.

[bikermike]

Planted out my first and second early spuds
Planted cucumber, peppers, toms and loofah in the propogator.
My neighbour's green bin was full of whippy branches- i put them through the shredder and it was less than a quarter-full, took that, two bags of chippings from my garden, and two boxes of coffee grounds to the plot to boost my compost heap.

[Gillykat]

Busy day at work but on way home I popped into Morrisons and, after asking nicely (shy bairns get nowt 'n all that), was given 24 free buckets previously used (I think) for cut flowers. That's my tomatoes & cucumber containers sorted out! Just need to drill some holes in the bases for drainage.

[Bonjour]

Finished filling my hotbed frame with horse muck and old hay, moistened with a few gallons of liquid compost activator of human origin I've been saving. I'm not sure I'll be able to move tomorrow after all that barrowing and mixing. Now to watch the temperature soar then decline, then top it off with 6" of sieved topsoil and get planting.

After that, I pricked out 32 tomato seedlings into 3" pots and labelled them. Then potted on two of my sweet potato plants into 6" pots to keep them growing away nicely so I can take cuttings to increase my stock for planting out in the hotbed. Also potted on the first of my cucumbers into a 6" pot. The other cues can wait till next weekend.

Finally, while fiddling about in the messy area behind the greenhouse, I managed to badly gash my knuckle on some broken glass I'd been meaning to get rid of so now have a whopping great dressing around the middle finger on my right hand. Day off gardening tomorrow looks likely.

[Plot12c]

Just tidied up the garden and put in 2 new beds, going for a mostly edible garden this year. Maximising space as much as possible.

[ameno]

Sowed some beetroot-cylindra.

How long do spring onions take to jump up? It's been 2 weeks and I'm concerned!

Outdoors? Probably longer than that this time of year.
Onions of all types are notoriously slow to germinate, and cold soil makes them all the slower.
For early spring onions, you may want to sow some in a tray indoors, then transplant them bare-root or in small clumps, as you would with leeks, once they're about 2mm thick.