What I did today - 2016

[Stan79]

Sunday - planted out peas, mange tout, sweetcorn, psb, cauliflower, Spring cabbage, Brussels sprouts, lettuce and made a box of lettuce to grow at the back door for easy pickings!

Dug up the last parsnips and pulled a few leeks for Sunday lunch. Hoed and raked the last remaining empty area of the plot.

Cut the grass.

Yesterday - started cutting the grass in the field. Cutting belt from last year gave up the ghost. Fitted a new belt, ordered new belts x2.

[bario1]

Potted on my pointless chillies in a last ditch attempt to get them to DO SOMETHING.
Attempted to transplant a few thinnings from my row of parsnips - whether they'll survive the root disturbance we'll just have to wait and see.
Planted out two tomatoes (Galina and Sungold) into their final positions in the polytunnel bed. Mulched with white polythene.

[SusieG]

Potted on two chillis (Ancho) and now it's warmer(!!) I'm going to leave them in the GH, as an experiment. If they carc it then I'll leave all their brothers and sisters indoors..!!!
Made a 'hardening off' table using wheelbarrow and a couple of Pvc sheets I had knocking around - popped 3 x courgette - runner beans - DFB - sweet corn - all out in readiness for planting out - hopefully towards the end of this week ....

Tackled a load of nettles, now 'steeping' nicely in a bucket with a big, crock plant saucer on the top.

Thoroughly enjoyed myself!

[Nannysally99]

All I had to do today was tie up my tomatoes for the second time, they are growing fast
Had lunch outside for the first time. Garden table is up and parasol too
Oh, and I had to snap off the bolting flower heads on the onions. Thought I'd got away with it ..

[Snadger]

Back on summerhouse duties again today. Managed to get two large panes of glass fitted to complete the roof. All the heavy lifting work done now thank goodness as my arm muscles are aching.
Its all just about titivation and sealing joints now. Roof noggins to add on boarded section and roof felting to be done. Still have one end to add latts to to give a rustic effect.
Did a bit of wood preservative painting on the front.

Not sure whether to use the door i have yet or try for a better one?

A big thank you to Mark, one of the guys at the allotments who has kindly supplied me with an adjustable brace for the wood burners flue pipe. He's also given me an aluminium plate with a hole in the middle to fit over the flue pipe to save me from burning my new summer house down!

My tatties in my tattie field are starting to push through so should be alright for tatties fro a while!

[skeggijon]

Bit of a tidy up and finished converting my small polytunnel into a brassica cage.

I made a double fold curtain to get in, hopefully stopping those pesky cabbage whites from getting in, while still being easy for me to enter.

[treepixie]

Watered the greenhouse, noticed someone had been cutting grass, some went round with my wheelbarrow to collect clippings and then mulched me spuds, back home with a well earned gin and tonic

[Scoot]

I've got some side shoots sitting in water. The little roots gave just started to show. How big do you let the roots get before you plant them?

[jonny the plant pot]

All I've done is feed the toms been a bit lazy today .
Gunna give everything the day off tomorrow before a good soaking Thursday before my fishing trip

[Small pumpkin]

Finally finished sorting out my mint collection all 11 varieties are now in their own pots. Planted a spare cucumber in a potato bag in the little tunnel. Potted on some chives, potted on a seedling that was coming up in my homemade compost I think it's either a sweet or chilli pepper ( fingers crossed its not a dock! ), potted up my first ever tomato arm pit. Never done it before because I've always had lot of the same variety to choose the best from. But this is from my first ever brought tomato ovi's Romanian giant. Hope it works. Did some weeding

[Jay-ell]

Planted out my beans, a couple of pumpkins, a courgette and my sweetcorn. Sowed some dwarf beans. Weeded, Armpitted and strung up my toms and fiddled about in the greenhouse

[Gillykat]

Sunday

Six hours on plot getting perennial flowers out of polytunnel (where they were overwintered) and in to ground to make a big flower bed. Tunnel is approx 90% empty now and ready for tomatoes in a couple of weeks' time.


Tuesday
'Only' three hours today Emptied greenhouse of everything except my tomatoes, melons, squashes and cucumber seedlings. Took out three work surfaces and poked around staging support which needs to come out as it's rotten wood....probably been in since previous tenant first got this plot 17 years ago! Weeded underneath - raspberry suckers, ferns and dandelions coming through from outside - all removed so no hiding places for slugs now!!!
Potted water lily up into canvas pot and then realised it won't fit into the temporary clear stacker box 'home' I have all the pond plants in So put it into a large planter, raised on bricks, and proceeded to fill with hosepipe. It was about three-quarters full when I noticed water around my feet...at the same time as I remembered this planter had HOLES in the bottom for drainage!!!! So back to drawing board and eventually found the solution - fill an empty water butt almost full, put planter on top (is snug with top of butt) then continue filling with water and ta-daahhhh - one mini pond Well.....it'll do until I get the hole for my proper pond dug in the next week or two once I've sorted out my veggie beds and got canes up for beans & peas.
Planted 19 Milan Purple Top turnip and covered them with chicken wire cloches as I don't trust neighbour's pigeons!
Also planted 3 x Nero Kale...6 x Early Purple Sprouting Broccoli and 3 x Greyhound cabbage and THEN realised I had nothing to cover them with so dug around in shed and found a bag full of plastic pop bottle cloches which did the job.
In polytunnel I planted 8 Little Gem lettuce seedlings and 6 Boltardy beetroot.

Wednesday
Popped in to Wilko when I finished work at 1pm to buy some netting to cover brassicas and went straight up to plot to cover them up. Realised when I got there that I still had 10 Cauliflower 'White Excel' to plant out in the bed. Did these, hammered in some stakes to support netting them covered entire bed.
Potted up 5 Sweet william seedlings which were getting too leggy for tray. Once they've grown on a bit more in their pots I'll get them outside in the flower bed.

[Gillykat]

Piccies.....

Waterlily in temporary home


Greenhouse


Plot beginning to look 'almost' like an allotment!

[marcofez]

Prepared my polytunnel soil for lots of tomato plants. Around an inch of my own lottie compost on the beds with some fish, bone and blood meal spread around.

[Containergardener]

Got toms in final pots (well, the bigger ones anyway)
Rest was house work, washing related.