What I Did Today Archive 2008

[gojiberry]

Good drop of rain last night will make every thing grow well. Bit to wet to do a lot on the lottie and it keeps mizzling so probably won't dry out today. Picked some peas and managed to plant out some valmaine lettuce.

Ian

[kwa50]

Rain rain go away.....

Tried to pick some beans, peas and radish, but rain stopped play.

Wanted to cut down broad beans as I feel that is it, but will try again at the weekend (fingers crossed for some sunshine)

kwa50
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[Charles Hemingway]

today I watered greenhouse picked a few carrots , then set about weeding the green bean patch, this rain makes them grow out of nowhere. earlier in the week I dug some potatoes (duke of york earlies) all my autume onions and garlic, and some lovely strawberrys.

[Flummery]

Been looking for some seeds (for next season!) of Red Alert, a bush tomato I grew years ago on my old allotment - fantastic flavour. Went to an off-the-beaten-track nursery and found some. Looked around their plants and found a red alert looking sad and pot-bound with several fruits set - at much less than the seeds. Got my seed-bank sorted for next year then - and a few toms to eat in the meantime.

[Saffer]

Planted another few rows of carrots, beetroot & radish. Hope it's not too late - the growing season is a bit longer here in France so we should be just about O.K. The OH is going to take out 5 old plum trees that are about 5 meters high, tatty, fruitless & definitely are past their best. Will have a few evenings mulling over the fruit catalogues deciding what we are going to put in their place. A bonus - some good firewood for winter & perhaps even some decent fruitwood for his lathe!

[Mrs Dobby]

Its the Trafford allotment competition judging this week and next, and after all the hard work that Mr D has put in on the new plot, he's determined to get a look in (even a 'commended' would be great!), so following on from 6 days away on holiday, plus a day looking for a new bed yesterday, today has been all about getting the new plot (plot 1) back up to scratch!

We've now finished weeding all the beds and paths, sideshooted the toms, fed n watered everything, made a couple of (very heath robinson) signs for the plots (Plot 1 and Plot 2) and put them up, had a darn good tidy and harvested what was ready to come out!

Plot 2 (our original plot) is still a work in progress, with the paths still to be finished off and barked up, plus 2 beds to plant up and a lot of weeding to do, so depending on when the judges come to view, we 'may' be able to get it back into shape, but it will very much depend on the weather.

Although it would be nice to have the hard work acknowledged, its not the be all and end all, the real reason we are GYOing is for the fresh, tasty, health organic veg, and as long as thats what we get, then its definitely worth while!

[gojiberry]

Not a lot today as it has been peeing with rain all day. Judging by the entries for today it has been nationwide.

Ian

[Two_Sheds]

We had a sprinkle of rain y'day morning, but then hot sun again all afternoon. I don't water unless absolutely necessary ... my beans and peas were wilting, so they got a good drink, into their bottles (watering the roots, not the soil).

Sowed AvonResistor parsnips & Virtue swedes indoors in loo rolls.

Planted out the last of my French beans (Cherokee).

Put cloches over my black kale because the pesky pigeons have found them and shredded the leaves.

Pulled up my Red Sun shallots to finish drying in the sun.

[hawthorns]

We had a sprinkle of rain y'day morning, but then hot sun again all afternoon. I don't water unless absolutely necessary ... my beans and peas were wilting, so they got a good drink, into their bottles (watering the roots, not the soil).

Sowed parsnips & swedes indoors in loo rolls.

Planted out the last of my French beans (Cherokee).

Put cloches over my kale because the pesky pigeons have found them and shredded the leaves.

Pulled up my Red Sun shallots to finish drying in the sun.

what type of parsnips are you sowing. ive already pulled 2 of my true and tender as they were huge. i did plant them very early

[Flummery]

Rushed out before the rain and harvested a load of peas, broadies, spuds and gooseberries. Tackled a badly overgrown border and found that the gooseberry had layered so I got 3 free new bushes! It pays to be a lazy gardener! Checked the toms as usual and found that the first Sungold is ready - will half it later today for the traditional First Tom ceremony. It's usually a Sungold. Hoped this year it might be a Golden Sunrise which was the first to set fruit. This is still lagging in the ripening stakes but will have a huge crop. Found that 2 of my attempts to cross pollinate tomatoes seem to be swelling up. The first half dozen or so just dropped off. I guess I removed everything, not just the male bits! Then it rained like the blazes so I came in to update me blog and play with me seeds!

[heebiejeebie]

Arranged with the neighbour earlier in the week to sort out the greenhouse today. Her kids emptied it ( oops - a few bent tomato plants and the plants grouped carefully because I was short of labels are now "unidentified brassica"). We took out the shelving and replanted the best 12 tomato plants in half growbags and 4 cucumbers in compost bags. The 2 biggest cukes are trained up the side of the greenhouse. Also potted up 4 chili plants and left out 3 aubergines and 3 big pots in the hope that whoever is next at the plot will pot them on. Whilst the tomatoes were getting sorted out, the kids picked potatoes and planted out the some of the mystery brassicas. One of the youngsters was suspiciously quiet by the strawberry patch...

Cropped: Anya potatoes, broadies, peas, lettuce, courgette.

[Snadger]

Finally got around to knocking up some netting on my arbour to train my peas up! They are about 6 inches tall and will soon start there upward climb. Ne Plus Ultra on one side and Purple Podded on tuther, both from my own saved seed!
Harvested a nice cabbage plus four small heads of a culiflower type plant which could be broccoli............i'll just have to wait and see. Tipped out my penultimate tub of Charlotte spuds and gathered a bit of mint to go with them. Surprisingly the birds had left me with a few strawberries which i duly scoffed.
Topdressed half my tomato plants with well rotted manure and the other half with comfrey leaves as an experiment!

Oops nearly forgot, harvested a handful of my first broadies!

[Two_Sheds]

horrible wintry weather today, so stayed in and sewed a dress.

[Two_Sheds]

Oh, forgot ... I did take a few cuttings from my fuchsias to root in water.

[wellie]

I dodged the showers, and so did Trousers, to bring a smile to your faces at the start of another hard slog at the office, and The Flobalobs did too?! (See Below)
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