What I did today - 2017

[susieq100]

Bought compost and buckets. Drilled holes in buckets - now I have some not very elegant plant pots with convenient carry handles!

[johnjohn]

Saturday we had the allotment stall at the village carnival which was a success then yesterday- always trying to catch up lately - we had a huge delivery of manure from the local farmer so spent the morning organising that as well as picking up a couple of water butts and a compost bin donated by carnival stall customers.
In the afternoon I got my outdoor sweetcorn planted- Earlybird and also got a bed of beetroot in.
In the polytunnel I planted 1x Ailsa Craig and 1x Gardeners Delight tomato, a Scorpion Aubergine that I bought from the garden centre as a back up in case my home grown don't produce and about 11 Earlybird sweetcorn for (hopefully) an earlier harvest.

[Jonny.D]

Deadheaded Dahlias, weeded, watered front & back garden, checked Tomatoes and pinched out side shoots. Noticed a slug had had a munch on one of the Kale plants so put down pellets

[veggiechicken]

Today I went in search of the Lost Gooseberries of Veggieland!

Deep in the hidden depths of the undergrowth, it was rumoured that there lay a treasure trove of fruit bushes, long forgotten by the inhabitants of this strange land.
Assisted by my fellow explorers, Mrs Brown, Mrs New Brown and Blondie and their furry friends, Bess, Ted and Spud, we hacked a path through to where the hitherto hidden gooseberries could be glimpsed, glistening in the sunlight.

We journeyed through this


to this
.

Eventually, I was able to touch the treasure that had remained hidden from view for so long.


Amazingly, the treasure was untouched by sawfly or birds. Could this be because they were so well hidden in the midst of brambles?
Who knows? I will return in a little while and hope the treasure turns to gold and that nobody else discovers it meanwhile.
The End.

[Jay-ell]

Wandered round the plot a bit to see what's changed in the last couple of days.

• Cucumbers have flowers on them :d
• Half the Oca plants are showing
• Peas are fattening
• Vines are a bit longer
• Potatoes are flowering
• Earth Chestnut is flowering
• Scorzonera has LOADS of flowers open and more to come
• Another cut and come again scorzonera has popped up
• Alpine strawberries are covered in fruit

Strimmed down the paths a bit - need to get a stronger strimmer wire as it snapped every 30 seconds. Wonderful smell of mint, Apple and thyme though.

My little Babington leeks grown from bulbils were looking pathetic - all keeled over and covered in rust. Dug them up to let them dry off over summer so I can plant them back out in September in better soil. Although they hadn't grown into big grown up bulbs yet, alot of them had little baby bulbs formed so hopefully these will also grow next season.


The half dozen elephant garlic I grew from bulbils in last year's flower also looked bedraggled. It was a similar story, except the monobulb was a bit bigger and the had a total of 32 little Bulblets. I sowed them into pots straight away, after nicking the hard outer shell a little, in the hope that they won't go into long term dormancy.


This is the difference between the two.


Thinned rocket and spinach seedlings a bit - still looks like loads so I'll thin them out again later.

Clipped up some of the runner beans to their strings.

Sowed turnip, swede, kohl rabi (2 types), radish, Kale, komatsu, mustard spinach, lemon grass

Need to move the compost bin to finish sowing that bed but it was full of ants. Gave it a good soak and took the side off for the magpies to have a bit of a forage. Hopefully I'll be able to move it tomorrow

Chased a chicken. Now here's a tip for chicken chasing for people without chickens. The goal isn't to catch the chicken. The goal is to move the chicken, and the marauding band of children following it, off your plot and back in the general direction of its coop, although to be honest if the first part is achieved the second is incidental. Mission accomplished with the help of an unpointy stick.

Decapitated a Spanish cabbage. I want to see if it grows it's head back.

Chopped down some chard. It was bolting so cut it right back to see if repeated hard pruning will convince it to stop. Seriously doubt it will but if I don't try I'll never know.

Dug up the last of the spring onions.

Drank coffee and ate peas and strawberries

[damian1225]

so recent progress was using my instant compost tea to feed the plot it had added nano, its amazing how half a teaspoon makes a watering can look like musddy sludge water, I could smell seaweed so that must be one ingredient, will be interesting to see the results over the rest of the season, also weeding, weeding and more weeding.. does anyone else just hoe them off and leave them or are you anal and weed and remove? now the weathers warm it only takes a few days for them to shrivel up and vanish

[Jungle Jane]

so recent progress was using my instant compost tea to feed the plot it had added nano, its amazing how half a teaspoon makes a watering can look like musddy sludge water, I could smell seaweed so that must be one ingredient, will be interesting to see the results over the rest of the season, also weeding, weeding and more weeding.. does anyone else just hoe them off and leave them or are you anal and weed and remove? now the weathers warm it only takes a few days for them to shrivel up and vanish

I dig my weeds out & remove,get as much root as possible,make a pile of them & tidy them away so it's all tidy,lazy people might say it's anal

[Jungle Jane]

I've been potting up the last of my tomatoes,peppers etc trying to empty the blowaway so I can put it in the shed,then I can put pots in its place on the patio.

[Jay-ell]

Planted out 5 hostas at the top of the New Territories under the hedge and Bird Cherry.

Took down the frame to a blowaway, dug out the bed, lifted the path to the right, moved the bed 12 inches to the right.

Now instead of a 1' path to the left and a 2' pa th to the right it has a 2' path to the left and a 1' path to the right.

Far better I'm sure you'll agree - especially as it now means there's 2' between the bed and the greenhouse.

Went to move the compost but it was still full of ants so gave it a good soak. Meanwhile emptied a manure bin onto the bed and forked it in.

Back at the compost I'm forking the compost with one hand and the hose in the other. Compost is now too wet to sift out the big bits (mostly Jersey Kale stems) so trugged a couple of loads onto the bed and spread it out.

Sowed some grass and clover down the sides paths then gave the bed and paths a good soak.

Still ants and eggs in it but Jenny Wren came back and forth to help a bit with them.

Weeded under the vines and the Oca bed - 9 are up now, 3 to go.

Watered the pots and a couple of beds.

[damian1225]

I dig my weeds out & remove,get as much root as possible,make a pile of them & tidy them away so it's all tidy,lazy people might say it's anal

Im definitely lazy, guilty as charged lol

[1Bee]

I'm rather fond of the ants in my compost dalek.... should I be getting rid of them? Will they do harm to plants/the compost if I leave them be? They do a nice line in fine tilth, given enough time.

[Jay-ell]

Ants are an indicator the compost is too dry for the bacteria to finish off the compost so you may have unfinished bits.

If they set up home in the roots of the plants they can cause damage as their tunnels will let the moisture drain away and your plants can die if thirst.

They also farm aphids, protecting them from predators. And they swarm all over you when you try to dig up the compost and sort out the unfinished bits.

Some people say that they kill off all the bugs in the compost heap but I've never noticed that, I often get ants nests and the compost usually is teaming with worms, centipedes, beetles, snails, slugs, woodlice, etc. I think if you let it get too dry that's what drives them out rather than ants.

I agree that they do help make the compost a nice fine tilth and if the compost isn't going to be needed for a while and is nearly finished I might not bother dislodging them straight away. I'll give it a soak to dislodge them then spread it on the beds to let the birds have a go. If they get past these they usually bake a bee line for the paths and set up home under the pavers. I give the beds a good soak to make sure they don't want to set up there.

One of these days I'll maintain the moisture levels in the compost and not get ants. Someday, eventually.

[1Bee]

Thanks Jay-ell, that's helpful. I'm in Cumbria, on clay. I could probably use some extra drainage... ;-)

They were in the dalek last year, but that was moved and emptied in autumn, so I wasn't expecting them to set up again. The heap is certainly teeming with other life, though.

When I dug the new bed (a strip of the neighbouring, unused half plot I've been allowed to have) I did encounter some fabulous ant nests, so I expect there's a large population next door.

[Jay-ell]

One other thing - the farming aphid thing can also include moving them from infected to plants to other uninfected plants thereby spreading the aphid problem.

On a plus - there's the extra ant frass

[susieq100]

Weeded. Had to tie up the broad beans to canes - lots of pods! Planted some peas in guttering in the glass shed. Ate a lot of strawberries.