What I Did Today Archive 2011

[Florence Fennel]

My son gave me a hand yesterday and I've finally got a cover of enviromesh over a bed of carrots and caulies. It looks great. Still got to cover over the rest of the bras though.

[binley100]

Butchered the very neglected hedge at the lottie ......raked over and covered over some of the plot, harvested, watered and had a cuppa
tonight pickled some cauli and peeled shallots to go in a brine bath ready for pickling ....

[sewer rat]

At work, cut grass, sprayed glyphosate round the cottage driveway, the up into the forest for some more crown lifting of the Spruce trees. Fed horses then came home - lifted three fifths of my polypot potatoes, replanted the beds with lettuces and two of my dwarf French Beans. Watered the leeks in the greenhouse. Had supper, put Niamh to bed then did some puter work, then went outside about an hour ago for a potter (alright, went out for a smoke) but ended up transplanting some more lettuce, some African Marogolds, dead-heading the roses, and summer pruning the Damson tree.

[Thelma Sanders]

After clearing the last of the onions, weeded, fed and raked the bed level. Trod it down and planted some Romanesco from pots. Gave them a good watering.
Picked green beans and my first sweetcorn cob
Wasn't fully pollinated (same problem as last year ) but did taste good

[rustylady]

Pulled up the broad beans and harvested the last few pods from them. Dug up some volunteer potatoes and got a bagful of nice spuds from them. Picked french and runner beans, cut 4 courgettes, more weeding, and planted out the curly kale (purple and green). Back home managed to get about half the lawn cut.

[susieq100]

Yesterday, re-potted some poorly tomatoes into bigger containers with fresh compost ( a mixture of MPC and half of an unused growbag) - thank you Rustylady. Had a go at an ants' nest in the one dalek in the garden, weeded the flower beds and cleaned the garlic I harvested a few days ago. My artistic 'plaiting' isn't very artistic. Picked and ate my first beetroot and French beans for lunch. Heavenly.

[perkin]

Planted out Autumn Mammoth leeks into their final positions - a bit affected by the b****y leek moth but I trimmed the tops off so they should regrow okay.
Took lavender and box cuttings (putting my newly acquired RHS knowledge into practice).
Harvested a few purple mangetout, sugar snaps and chillis - all for the freezer. Popped a few green tomatoes into the fridge - trying to keep them green until I have enough for a batch of chutney.
Started to sieve the homemade compost into a couple of recently vacated raised beds.

[Newbie]

Yesterday we returned from a few days away in London via MIL's for lunch and came away with French Beans and a strange looking Chinese veg that my MIL wanted me to turn into pickle for her using my Cucumber Pickle recipe. It has lettuce like leaves on a tall thick pale green stalk, which when peeled has a cucumber like taste/texture but without the seeds. Any ideas on a name anyone?

Once home i inspected the veg beds & greenhouse and was amazed that after just three days away i could harvest a small handful of French Beans, six good sized courgettes and a bag full of Purple Sprouting Broccoli. And there i was thinking i was doing really poorly with my veg growing this year!

[susieq100]

Yesterday went to the plot earlier in the morning than usual to try to avoid getting too hot. Ha! Cleared lots of weeds from the paths, cut back the long grass threatening to take over the raspberries, started edging the big bed with the clay floor tiles I 'liberated' from a colleague's front garden. I spent a whole morning there just tidying up! I picked a Katy apple and ate it, not really ripe enough, but still ... first of the season. The fruit trees are laden this year.

[VirginVegGrower]

Ooh my back hurts. Sowed some Spring Cabbage Offenham (Snadger, PM me and you can have my spares!), lettuce, PSB, kale, parsley and some rosemary. Repotted basil collection into bigger pots. Hoovered out my fly collection in the greenhouse - sparkling it is now! Cleaned all used pots. Harvested more toms, cukes, courgettes, runner beans (prepped and frozen), borlotti beans (prepped and frozen), broadies (last of, prepped and frozen). Cut off broad bean plants and composted. Cut off pea plants, picked last few peas and had them for dinner! Composted pea stuff. Cleaned out hen coops and composted their bedding and waste as my browns. Dug up two and a half rows of potatoes. Sowed green manure immediately. Leeks into final position - better late than never! Fork lifted onions to dry out in this gorgeous weather. Made six bottles of comfrey feed. Now can't move :-)
Happy days everyone!

[Two_Sheds]

We've had 3 weeks without any sunshine, just gloomy thick low cloud. Very depressing. Sun came out finally on 2 Aug

- cut back strawb foliage, as the new leaves are coming through
- cut back several foot of ivy that's trying to take over the strawb patch
- fed the strawb bed with BFB: the perpetuals are flowering again
- sowed alfalfa (green manure) amongst the strawb plants because the soil needs some pep
- weeded a bit, not too bad now
- pulled carrots, & sowed some Adelaide in their place
- planted up a bed for my sis, with salad, mooli, carrot & pepper plants
- chopped up the school's phacelia and left on the soil as a mulch
- chopped & froze 2 kg courgettes, pickled a further kilo
- pulled up more horsetail at school, though it's nowhere near as bad as last year

[Snadger]

Lifted a clump of kestrel potatoes. (All nice big ones)
Added compost and dug over pocket where spuds were.
Dibbled in 16 leeks.
Dug up a pocket of garlic.
Dug over and planted five PSB in area vacated by garlic.
Cut a cabbage for dinner
Picked some mangetout and broad beans for dinner.
Watered evverything that needed it.
Tied up and side shooted some tomatoes.
Did a bit of weeding (mainly the second flush of dandelions......which the chook. enjoy eating)
Sprayed the blackfly on the cardoon.

[Newbie]

My Mother & Father in law came over for the afternoon to help in the garden, we didn't get as much done as i'd have liked but it was just too hot (not that i'm complaining). OH mowed the lawn whilst MIL, FIL & I edged all the flower beds, weeded, hoe'd, planted, pulled & trimmed. Looks much better now. They were sent away with PSB, giant courgettes & garlic as their payment!

[binley100]

yesterday we had a bonfire to burn what we took off the hedges ........just the thing for a hot day

[Thelma Sanders]

Planted Tundra winter cabbage and netted. Fed and watered beans, squash/toms/cucumbers. Hoed a bit.
Picked a sweetcorn cob, a courgette and a handful of french beans