Scrapheap Challenge

[Snadger]

Hope it wasn't one of them dodgy trout...................

Nah, no trout just now as I'm car-less at the mo so can't go fishing. I always like my trout fresh.

[veggiechicken]

No idea of growth habit, size,taste or colour of Vince, I just liked the name! (Ta VC)

I have 1 Vince and it looks like a cordon to me. Its not very big yet but it just doesn't look like a bush tom.

[Snadger]

I have 1 Vince and it looks like a cordon to me. Its not very big yet but it just doesn't look like a bush tom.

Totally agree VC. I have six healthy strong plants which look similar to my Black Russian plants which are cordon.

I just hope Vince wasn't a Russian chess player or summat as I might finish up with an awful lot of BLACK tomatoes!

Just to be on the safe side I actually purchased one Ailsa Craig plant which I am familiar with and know will give me RED tomatoes!

Inwardly, I'm quite excited to see what Vince has to offer, and have good vibes!

[veggiechicken]

Most of the toms I'm growing this year are new to me but Vince is a complete unknown. I like surprises Don't forget to save some seeds

[Snadger]

Had a nice hot bath this morning then settled down to watch South Shields Northern League team win the shield cup at Wembley on sky.
Went to the allotment and took a few piccies when I was there. First one for the benefit of VC is of the 'Vince' tomatoes planted out on the left of the piccie in the polytunnel.



One of the things i did when i was there, inspired by Monty and the ammount of climbing beans I have ready to plant plus because my plot is in a woodland setting, was to construct a rustic climbing bean wigwam.



To the left of the wigwam are the leeks that will go into this area once the Charlotte potatoes have been lifted. The area they are on will also be the home of three Yacon plants I am hardening off.

My peas have now germinated and I have stuck a few of the sticks I pruned off the top of the wigwam posts in for them to climb up. Behind is the netted Calabrese.



I have ordered some Alderman climbing peas which I will sow in the greenhouse border as I haven't got round to putting glass in it yet, so I may as well get some good from it. I have also ordered some leaf celery. I grew Kintsai last year which was a success o hopefully leaf celery will just be another name for it!

[Snadger]

A few more random photos i took:-



The lilac is in flower on the edge of the plot. The white is nice but the purple has a lovely scent.



Above is my single seedling that I managed to keep from a Russian packet of true potato seeds. Now its fairly well established I may pot it into the bottom of a larger pot and add compost as it grows.



I am using my carrot frame which is partly covered with enviromesh, but needs finishing, to harden off some plants.

)

Above are my climbing french bean seedlings which are just about ready to go out. There are blue,green and yellow mixture. This is partly why I needed another wigwam as there are too mant for one. In the front are some cuke seedlings.

[Snadger]

Did I show you my hanging plastic hawk which is supposed to deter pigeons. It doesn't but I like him anyway!



It sort of defeats the object of having a bird table tho!

Garlics doing well in the pots and it looks like i might actually get a decent crop this year!


Just about all the Charlotte tatties are up now and the chrysanths are perking up in the background..


Blueberry is full of blossom this year so hopefully I will have a decent crop. I may need to mesh over it when the berries start to form though.

[Snadger]

Planted out three types of climbing french beans around two wigwams (about 40 in all)

Dot planted six sunflowers around the sunny sode of the plot.

Watered some of the stuff that really needed it making a mental note to get the hose out tomorrow evening if we have no rain.
. Next jobs are to move potted garlic onto hardstanding and plant out sweetcorn interspersed with courgettes where the garlic was.Also need to plant out the Yacon.

[Snadger]

Potted garlic moved onto path. Sweetcvorn planted out where garlic was. Couple od courgettes planted in among sweetcorn and onions.

Planted pumpkin plant in corner of polytunnel, planted Yacon in other corner of polytunnel. Watered all astuff in polytunnel.

Dug up daubeton kale and planted it with a coil of mesh around it to keep the pigeons off it.
Lots of weeding in onion beds and parsnip bed. Planted out three yacon on edge of potato bed.
Dug and semi levelled the glassless grenhouse beds ready for tall peas and broadies.

Sowed leaf Celery in modules along with a couple of dozen peas in modules also.

Chooks are acting strange? I had one 'clucker' sitting on eggs. I now have FOUR chooks sitting on top of each other jostling for position in the nestbox. Interesting animals chooks!

[Snadger]

Spent an hour or so fastening blue debri netting and enviromesh to a couple of carrot frames I made. Ran out of staples again and the borrowed stapler was carp so I may have to make a major investment in stapler and staples.

Four chooks still sitting on top of each other in the nestbox! Is broodiness contagious? I've never seen this before!

[Snadger]

Weeded the large bed I will be using for carrots. Dug vee shaped slits where the carrot rows will be and filled them with sand. Placed the two covered frameworks over the bed with a view to sowing the carrots after work tomorrow.
Has anyone hear of Ruth Stoute? Well I did a bit of Ruth Stout gardening this evening. I raked a bed that was/is full of broken glass and bits of metal level. I then broadcast broad beans on it with aview to 'dibbling' in the beans. The ground was that hard that I couldn't press the beans in.
In true Ruth Stoute fashion I then just coverd the beans with half a bag of sand and the contents of an old grow bag.
If the mice get them, thats fine, if I get a crop, thats fine, and if the five year old seed doesn't germinate thats also fine. We shall see.

Back at the chicken nest box, there are still four chooks sitting on top of each other. I've decided to let nature take its course and just see what happens!

[Snadger]

Sowed my carrots this evening. They are sown in damp sand with a layer of potting compost over seeds.Sowed three packets because some of the seed was old and I never have much joy with carrot germination.



The frames were then placed over the top. One enviromesh and one blue debri netting. It will be interesting to see if there's any difference in growth?



Chooks are still playing silly beggars. Here's a piccie of all four vying for position in nestbox!



And last but not least, a piccie I've already added to the stained glass thread with one panel hanging in front of the summerhouse window. To give an idea of scale the summerhouse windows are 8 foot X 3 foot.

[Snadger]

Decided I need to get some of my brassicas planted out. Planted out kohl rabi, winter cabbage, cauliflower and PSB.
Created a wire mesh frame work around them with a debri betting roof to keep the pigeons off.

Watered all plants that needed watering, especially stuff in pots. Potted on some jalapeno peppers.

See below piccie of area I had been working on. Its hard to protect against pigeons, carrot fly and butterflies and still keep the plot looking pleasant to the eye.

[Snadger]

Bought some more compost and potted on some chillies and my only TSP into a larger pot.
Only other thing of note was that I found a cache of about a dozen eggs in a sheltered corner of the hen run. Hopefully this means the broody hens are chasing the other egg layers away from the nestbox?. If they weren't, the mountain of eggs would just get higher and higher. I think one of them must have got sick of the other three sittting on her head so she's left the nestbox leaving only three huddled together.I piled some straw in the dry corner the others have been laying in to make it a wee bit moe comfortable for them

Chooks, you've got to luv em!

[Snadger]

Planted out three Yacon plants in the polytunnel. Hand weeded around the toms and cukes.
I have a pumpkin planted in the corner of the polytunnel which I intend training to grow out of the polytunnel through one of the ventilation flaps. Put a 6 foot cane in at an angle fed through the flap and tied the pumpkin to it to start it on its journey!

Three of the chooks are still sitting on eggs.

The alternative laying position in the run had become damp so I laid a pan tile down and made a straw nest on top of it to keep them dry. 5 Minutes later the straw was all over the run and the pan tile was bare! (Anyone got a spare dog basket)

Harvested some small heads of calabrese to be steamed like PSB and one shallot which I shall use in my sandwiches for my bait tomorrow.

Had a bit of a furtle at my garlic I have growing in large pots and they are doing really well and are similar in size to shop bought garlic. Don't know whether to harvest it now or wait until the tops turn yellow?