What I did today 2021

[Purple Primrose]

Planted out 12 kale (Nero di Toscana), 12 calabrese (Marathon), 12 cabbage (Dutchman), 12 cabbage (Savoy) and 8 Chinese Cabbage (Scansie).

[Mr Bones]

Sprinkled garlic powder over the vacated onion beds (for white rot control) and topped off with a fresh layer of compost mulch.

[Mr Bones]

Lifted the maincrop onions (what a harvest ) and fitted the 5x7m net over the red kale.

[Mr Bones]

Took an early(ish) walk in Clumber park. Was lovely and cool under the trees and not at all busy.

[Sweet savory]

Watered the plot at dawn (ish) today. Dug last of spuds there and resowed with phaecelia.
Noticed a badger had been sniffing around near the sweetcorn so will probably have to write that off this year. It had also launched itself into the raspberries and broken the bottom wire. I didn’t think they particularly went for rasps and there are only 1 or 2 ripe ones as yet anyway. Just hoping it doesn’t get a taste for them
Also harvested a beetroot and a small purple top turnip and the last of the garlic. And put a tile under the latest squash.

[ameno]

Went to the allotment at dawn today, to pollinate the squashes and to slug hunt. Everything was covered in such a thick dew that it was white, and I discovered two tiny patches of blight on my tomatoes.
I picked off those leaves immediately, and this evening I went down there and sprayed them with potassium bicarbonate solution (it's meant to be somewhat effective at preventing blight infection if applied before symptoms appear, and is about the only thing you can still legally use). You might say that spraying the leaves might encourage blight, but considering how wet they get with dew over night, I can't imagine I could possibly make it any worse.

[Mr Bones]

Sewn another length of debris net onto the other pieces. (Used double fishing line and blanket stitch plus a knot every 15mm). Now I have a 7m x 5m cover for the kale.

[Bren In Pots]

Now the strawberries have finished and don’t need covering I used that piece of debris netting to cover the final bit of my GH.

Its 35.5c in there and that’s with louvers, auto vents and door open. Id hate to think how hot it would be with just a door and roof window open.

[Nicos]

Cut the front lawns and planted out some Lidl lavender in a pot by the front door.
Picked some flowers and then hid indoors….too hot for much else outside tbh.

[ameno]

Went to the allotment for the first time since Wednesday, and the squash plants have grown another metre... The melons and watermelons are also sprawling everywhere.
I removed the make-shift polytunnel from my sweet potatoes, which have already almost covered their growing area completely.

Also, someone on another plot informed me that their polytunnel tomatoes had all been stricken with blight (he hadn't been removing side shoots properly or removing leaves, which surely didn't help, plus it did get pretty humid in there), so I decided to remove a lot of the older leaves from my outdoor tomatoes to encourage better airflow (no blight yet, thankfully).

Also liquid fed some of the plants and hand-pollinated some of the squashes.

[peanut]

Laid on the sofa and slowly melted into it

[Bren In Pots]

Not much in the garden it’s to hot, early morning I watered the GH, topped up
the self watering trays and harvesting salad.

[Sweet savory]

Noticed the direct sown swede had all been slugged. Will have to be replaced with my back up module sown ones, Watered the plot (fairly) early in the morning. I have 4 celeriac growing OK but one has turned out to be a sort of red celery although from the same packet which is odd. All the carrots direct sown recently have been slugged away (a pattern is developing here) so I will resow when the end of the hot weather is in sight. Harvested all the shallots and put them to dry on the patio.
First courgette has been picked. Spuds harvested every other day. More golden beetroot big enough to be dug. So good roasted.

[Mr Bones]

Sat in the shade and sewn two 7m lengths of debris net together (along the long edge).

[peanut]

Mowed the lawns and edged beds etc with my nippy new edger thing. Watered everything thoroughly before the hot weather sets in.