What I did today - 2015

[Greenleaves]

Constructed a cage on a triangular bed that will be for my strawberries next year but will lend its self to a few brassica's until then, terrible picture but gives a rough idea. As you can see, I like my wood green

[kris1960]

Planted peas, weeded bed and planted kale and some more chard, picked icecream tub of raspberries, pulled up phacelia, more repairs to polytunnel, cleared some duckweed.
Avoided staking and tying tomatos in the greenhouse but MUST do tomorrow!

[jayjaybee]

Picked blueberries and researched what to do with them, moved water from one butt to another in the hope of more rain. Harvested lots. Gloated over broccoli and cabbages under net and untouched by insects or pigeons, contemplated sowing more carrots. - oh and totally irrelevant - did the long overdue ironing

[Snadger]

Had a sort out of my seeds and sowed yellow dwarf french beans, purple french beans and green french beans . All were old seed so we'll just have to wait and see what comes up! Lots of weeding and pulling up comfey whilst dodging the bees. Left the comfrey with the most flowres on it until the bees have worked them out.
Sowed pointy spring cabbage and will sow the ball head version (Spring Hero) a bit later.

Side shooted and took some of the bottom leaves off my tomatoes to allow air around them. This also allowed me to weed in between them.
Brought my Japanese onions indoors and stripped off some of the skin to tidy them up. I now have both the red and normal Japanese onions drying in the greenhouse.

[1Bee]

Netted a raised bed to discourage the cat who's adopted it as his personal toilet, weeded, smiled a lot at so much productivity from a 30 years non-cultivated plot.

Love my plot.

[kris1960]

2 hours watering, a few repairs to polytunnel, harvested about 4lbs of redcurrants( the birds had the rest), replaced some runner beans lost to slugs and another courgette and continued staking and tying in.

[Snadger]

A productive couple of hours on the plot today. Hoed over the area at the bottom of the cane wigwam where i originally sowed my climbing french beans in situ. Nothing came up apart from weeds. Planted out about a dozen second sowing of beans which wasn't much better as these were all i got from a full packet sown in modules. Pulled up a bit more comfrey until the bees protested too loudly so left it for yet another day.
Lifted my Autumn planted japanese onion sets. Half were the red type and half the normal type (Senshyu i think?) Put the reds inside to dry off but just heaped the normal ones on my park bench in the middle of the plot as i had no room. Weeded the bed and applied a granular fertiliser. Planted out Black kale covered by netting and more Leeks in the cleared bed. I know leeks are an allium but i never get anal about crop rotation as long as it is rotated now and again.

Ate a goodly amount of gooseberries,raspberries,blackcurrants and strawberries as i was working.

[CaroleL]

Made a start on one of the corners of the garden that needed de-cluttering, weeding, sorting etc. Won't be too long before our jungle looks like a proper garden.

[Snadger]

Looked at my Comfrey plants. Decided to harvest some leaves to make tea. There were no bees working the flowers. Soon word got out in the bee population that I was pruning there pollen provider and they were not at all pleased!
Decided I need the bees and they need the pollen so the Comfrey tea can wait until a mutually agreeable time!

[Bren In Pots]

Potted on my armpit tomatoes and resisted starting any more off.

[kris1960]

Dug up garlic and shallots, hardneck is not as big as softneck but has a good flavour. Shallots prolific but small.
Between the showers and the TDF did not get a lot done!

[Jay-ell]

Got down to the the plot and had one of the worst sights an allotment holder can have.

A half naked Snadger poking around the car park. Please there's baby veg on the site.

Once I recovered I got on with the garden.

Planted out brassicas which have been growing in a nursery bed into the bed I've cleared of onions. Planted into this bed

6 Evesham sprouts
4 red rubin sprouts
8 black kale
7 dwarf green kale
4 collards Southern Georgia

Built the new bed to replace the bed I took apart last week and planted it with

3 jersey kale
75 leeks
4 purple curly kale
6 cauliflower

As the new beds are shorter (but wider) than the beds they're replacing there's now a strip down the side of the plot (which coincidentally happens to be where I put up a two foot fence with eight foot fence posts). This space is now the home of
1 kiwi and
3 red currants
(With enough space left for the Gooseberries, blackberries and black currants currently in Morrisons pots - once I've finished demolition and construction)


P.S.

The plants I jumped up and down on the other day are doing well so I jumped up and down on a couple more.


Had to hurry up and water the transplants as I heard the thunder and wanted to get my plants watered in before it rained.

[Lumpy]

The new veggie growing area is still under construction but a raised bed was ready for action so I have relocated my leeks out of their cramped planter and into the bed, sowed some carrots into it as well and have risked sowing savoy Ormskirk even though its several weeks late.

OH has sorted out the raspberry zone and started to organise my fruity triangle (that sounds quite rude don't it)

[Deano's "Diggin It"]

Had a "Potter"

Weeded n thinned the parsnips!



Pruned back both grapevines to one per "Side Shoot" a little late, but done!








Oh n the "Butter Nutters" are taking over the "Asylum"

[Lisasbolt]

slowly dying in the polytunnel, trying to get it cleared thought if i got plants well established now i'll get a good late crop into late winter.

The temp is reading at 43 and the air is so still, keep putting the hose on top of my head