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Post by derekbrooks on Dec 7, 2012 22:47:15 GMT
Hi Cherry. Rosemary doesn,t mind so long as I clean the kitchen properly after. It rained overnight but has been dry the rest of the day and I have weeded the rose beds in the back garden.It was too wet for digging so I have just been weeding with a hand fork.
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Post by derekbrooks on Dec 8, 2012 20:36:42 GMT
No gardening today because we have been shopping at Bolton but my seeds have come from Dobies and I have been checking them tonight.They have sent all those I ordered for giving out on the allotments and for school with mine to save postage.
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Post by derekbrooks on Dec 9, 2012 21:40:03 GMT
I told you last week that 4 new roses had arrived and because it was raining I had planted them pemporarily.It was dry this afternoon so I managed to plant them.They were to replace some in my rose bed that were no longer any good.When planting roses in an existing bed like this I use rootgrow on the roots .When you use this you are not supposed to need to change the soil. I did though,as an extra precaution .I made a planting mixture with some new soil, some old potting compost and bone meal.
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Post by Tel on Dec 10, 2012 16:14:06 GMT
Is this one of your Pendle improved leeks Derek. ;D
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Post by derekbrooks on Dec 10, 2012 22:33:02 GMT
Nice one ,Tel. Where did you get that from? Today I have been cleaning out my propagating greenhouse.I completely emptied it by transfering all the plants to the other greenhouse ,cleaned the windows,swept the staging and shelves and brushed them with armillatox then swept the floor ,shifting all the rubbish.Left the door open then the smell will have gone by morning and switched off the electricity then the heaters will not come on.I am out most of tomorrow but I am hoping to put the shelves and propagators back in position but I don't think I will have time to transfer the plants. I don't want to transfer just a few of the plants because I would have to switch the heaters on. Talking about armillatox reminds me of a lecture I went to many years ago by Joe Maiden from Golden Acre park.He was talking about armillatox and saying all the good uses that it can be put to. However,he mentioned one thing that it wasn't good for-your sex life.His wife said to him "you're not sleeping with me with that smell"
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Post by derekbrooks on Dec 12, 2012 19:55:58 GMT
Yesterday I just had time to put the shelves ,propagator and warming benches in position. Today I have put sand on the warming benches but I didn,t put the cables in because the sand is a bit frozen with being outside.I will let it thaw out first. I began transfering plants from the other greenhouse which meant that I had to put the heat back on.
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Post by derekbrooks on Dec 13, 2012 20:10:35 GMT
Today I have put the warming cables in position on the sand and covered them with another inch of sand and switched them on.I then put the boxes of chrysanth stools on the benches. This is the last gardening I will be able to do for a few days.Tomorrow and Monday I am at Blackleach all day and on Saturday we are going to our daughters in Wales to exchange Christmas presents and coming home Sunday.So you will probably not hear from me again till next Tuesday.
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Post by Tel on Dec 18, 2012 7:38:08 GMT
I will have to sort my heated bench out after the New Year. Then it will be here we go again. ;D
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Post by derekbrooks on Dec 18, 2012 19:33:23 GMT
yes,Tel,it will soon be all go again.I will be making further preparations over the next week or two. This morning I just went to the allotment for some sprouts and a cabbage but the ground is far too wet to do anything else. This afternoon I have been in the greenhouse doing some more tidying up of pot plants.
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Post by Cherry on Dec 18, 2012 21:40:21 GMT
Have a good Christmas Derek. You can put your feet up when you are in Wales.
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Post by derekbrooks on Dec 19, 2012 18:09:45 GMT
Thanks,Cherry.Same to you. I pruned all my roses this morning (apart from those on the allotment).I know that March is the traditional time for rose pruning but I do mone any time in the winter providing it is not frosty.It was mild today and not raining so I decided to get them done and I just managed it before it started raining at 12.00. It was showery this afternoon so I worked under the car port washing my seed trays.I wash them in the wheelbarrow with hot water ,a bit of washing up liquid and disinfectant. I didn't get time to finish them though.
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Post by derekbrooks on Dec 20, 2012 21:06:20 GMT
It rained all day today and still raining now .Glad it doesn't rain under the car port because I have finished washing my seed trays, all 170 odd of them!. Some are cracked and need repairing so I have left these in the kitchen to dry. If they are cracked I just bind brown parcel tape round them.
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Post by derekbrooks on Dec 21, 2012 20:11:00 GMT
It was dry all day today but after all the rain yesterday the ground is too wet to work on.I repaired the broken seed trays and put them all away under the greenhouse staging. Spent the rest of the day sorting and tidying plants in the greenhouses.Transfered a lot more plants back into the propagating greenhouse ,tidying them up as I went along.Now that this greenhouse is more empty I started tidying it up.I dont go to as much trouble as I do with the propagating greenhouse but I brushed the shelves and swept part of the floor that was empty and will probably carry on with it tomorrow.
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Post by derekbrooks on Dec 22, 2012 20:45:33 GMT
After one dry day back to rain today. It rained very hard all morning and drizzly rest of the day. Planted my hyacinths into bulb bowls.I always start them off in pots first then I can match them up in the bowls.I then finished tidying up my larger greenhouse and got rid of several plants that were no good any more. Had another pot washing session this afternoon at the kitchen sink.The Salford garden bird survey started today.We have to count the number of birds of each kind that visit the garden each day for two weeks and I can watch the birds through the window while I am washing pots. I need to mix some seed compost soon.I normally use peat,sand and a Chempak seed base.However we have no peat at our supply hut and if we can get some it will be a lot dearer. I can't wait till we start up in January anyway so I decided I would have to use multipurpose compost.I got two bags before we finished in November .I had an hour spare after my pot washing so I started seiving this compost in the greenhouse .I am considering mixing some sand with it.
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Post by derekbrooks on Dec 23, 2012 19:21:41 GMT
Another dry day We sem to be getting a dry day and a wet day alternate . Rain is forecast again for tomorrow. We need some sprouts for our Christmas dinner so I thought I had better go for them today in case it is raining tomorrow. I have two rows of roses on the allotment,one of H.Ts and one of floribundas and I decided to prune them because the weather is still mild but I only got time to do the H.Ts.
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