Hobbit Allotment!

[horticultural_hobbit]

Please don't put plastic in the soil


Noted Aunty two_sheds

[horticultural_hobbit]

Triffids and tomatoes planted out. Waiting for raised beds. Have so much grass in the borders where the tulips and anemones were sown. Has completely over run the onions, shallot and garlic. Tis the most depressing thing bar the weeds. Especially as the onion shallot garlic patch is my favourite for being the first thing I planted. At least those will only be in the ground til August; by then I can try and dig it up and out. Really need to sort the borders out, so I can sink summer bulbs and things.

It's a tough time in the school year, so going to the plot is going to get more challenging. And Ma is poorly, a double whammy.

On a plus side, my kiwi got leaves! Raspberrys not so much.

[snohare]

Is it couch grass, or annual grasses ? Because the latter are fun to weed - yes, once bigger they get a good hold and are hard to haul out, but smaller sized they're not hard to remove, (admittedly time-consuming) and shaking the soil off the roots can give you wonderful, fine crumbs ideal for potting or sowing seeds in modules. I reckon the roots of annual grasses actually improve the soil structure.

Triffids

Are you planning on world domination ? Talk about blind ambition... (Or could you be meaning peppers ?)

my kiwi got leaves!

Come on, don't be coy - show us a picture. You can't just keep me in suspense like that, I've never seen a real live kiwi plant !

[horticultural_hobbit]

Uncle Sno...I didn't say that jennifer was big and grown up.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=1&theater

The triffids would be the nine courgette/squash thingies.

Not sure which grass it is. Might be couch, with its purple tentacles. Think it has me defeated at the moment. I'm going to dig it out in small sections. The large carpet of it on the onion shallot garlic bed will have to wait ti later. Have been digging out the clumps with a fork, and then bashing it to decrease the size of the clod before discarding the grass clump.

My next job, is to weed beneath the runner bean wig wam before putting all the runners in.

This made be smile yesterday. Such pretty colours.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=1&theater

[Two_Sheds]

Not sure which grass it is. Might be couch, ...Have been digging out the clumps

Couch is easy to tell: it has thick white brittle roots which run to 12" lengths

Annual grasses, in comparison, have fairly feeble little roots (which are actually very strong and hold onto the soil for dear life if you try to pull them up).

Grass is easiest to pull out (as are all weeds) if you catch them just as they are flowering: there hold on the earth is less strong

[horticultural_hobbit]

think my cukes are dying. All keeled over, not crispy but wrinkled leaves. Can't be lacking water. Soil is moist.

[Two_Sheds]

Are they outside HH?
I think it's still too cold at night to have cukes outside?

[horticultural_hobbit]

Nope, they are inside. Was going to put outside to harden off-they are marketmore- but didn't as the weather changed. Currently sat by a warm window.

[Two_Sheds]

Currently sat by a warm window.

Me too.
It's down to 6c this week, so my cukes are still in the gh. Will it EVER warm up?

[horticultural_hobbit]

It's really depressing, the cukes were so happy. Then came the cold weather. I don't think mine are going to be alive much longer, in all honesty. They do look like they are shuffling off their horticultural coil. If they do, might have get some from a GC.

[Two_Sheds]

It is depressing. I've lost a lot of French beans and sweetcorn this year, and look like having no chillies at all

[horticultural_hobbit]

Have just repotted cukes to see if that makes a difference; the roots were creeping out.

Tis very depressing. Only get to pop to the lotment briefly at the moment; and it's starting to get carpeted by weeds that are rising with the rain. Can't see to get a window to bash them all. This first year is definitely a learning curve. Have some raised beds that need making when life allows.

[horticultural_hobbit]

And another order from Nanaji. He's said to grow Sauf (Fennel).

The way he said though. Translated to throw droplets. Which I think means to broadcast sow. Then again, he told me to that with everything. And mooli's. Have to sow mooli's.

[Two_Sheds]

Mooli is dead easy, just sow it (late summer) and leave it ~ whopping great big roots for no effort at all

[binley100]

Even I can grow Mooli .......