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Post by derekbrooks on Nov 22, 2017 21:52:01 GMT
Not chance to do much today with my grandsons being here. They went shopping with Rosemary for an hour or so this morning so I did a few jobs then. They went home at 3.20 so I went out for a bit after. We won't see them again till New Year. I repaired one of my nest boxes which needed a new top and I dismantled the table which goes on the terrace . It fits in a box and goes in the shed over winter.
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Post by derekbrooks on Nov 24, 2017 22:40:43 GMT
Been on the allotment this morning and afternoon. I have just been removing all the annuals that I grow for cutting and showing and putting them on the compost but didn't get time to do them all. Most of them had been staked and fixed with twistits or sweet pea rings so these needed removing and the canes collected up as I went along. it started raining as I left at 4.30 but had been fine the rest of the day.
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Post by derekbrooks on Nov 26, 2017 20:33:47 GMT
Wanted to go on the allotment yesterday but it was too showery. In the morning I washed the tomato pots from school and took them back in the afternoon. Five roses came that I had ordered from R.V. Roger's. It is far too wet to plant them properly so I just planted them temporarily in the chrysanth bed. Today the weather was just the same. I decided to parcel up the nine dahlia tubers that John wants and get them ready for posting. I want to post them on Tuesday and I have no time tomorrow because I am at Blackleach all day and out at night as well. I am due to do my walk round Blackleach counting the birds this weekend. It did brighten up about 3.00 so I went but I didn't get far round before it started raining again so I will have to see if I can do it tomorrow when I am already there. A lady from church had asked me if I could get some holly to decorate the church . There are several holly bushes at Blackleach but none had even one berry on them. There is a bush at the horticultural hut with a few on so I may call there tomorrow and get some.
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Post by derekbrooks on Nov 28, 2017 21:09:05 GMT
It hasn't rained today for a change. I went for some holly off the tree at the hut. There weren't many berries but I got what I could. Went on the allotment after and pulled the rest of the annuals and put them on the compost. Not much time this afternoon after shopping but I removed the plants from the tubs in the back garden and potted up some fuchcias and geraniums from them.
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Post by derekbrooks on Nov 29, 2017 20:12:32 GMT
Another dry day! I have told you before that Rosemary needs the car on Wednesday morning and afternoon. However, the lady at church who asked me to get some holly wanted me to take it to church at 11.00 as they will be decorating the church then. So I took Rosemary where she had to go and went back for her after. Before it was time to go I took the hanging baskets down from next door and emptied them and also a tub from which I potted up some begonias and a geranium. On the way home I called at the allotment and brought all my canes home because I decided to sort them out this afternoon. I sort them out in the greenhouse so when I came home from church I started making some room. I have to empty one side of my larger greenhouse by temporarily moving the plants and taking the shelves down. I have literally hundreds of canes so I have been sorting them out all afternoon and still haven't finished them. I examine each one to make sure they are sound. I put some pressure on the bottom to see if they break , then sort them into sizes and tie them in bundles If some breaks off the bottom they are still usable but obviously a bit shorter .So, they are sorted into 6 foot, 5 foot, 4 foot, 3 foot and sizes in between for those that have some broken off. Canes above 6 foot are kept in the shed on the allotment so I don't bring those home as I have nowhere to store them here. I forgot to mention yesterday that I posted the dahlia tubers that John wants.
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Post by derekbrooks on Nov 30, 2017 20:34:56 GMT
Didn't have school to go to today so after coming home from Blackleach this afternoon I had a bit of time to do some more cane sorting.
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Post by derekbrooks on Dec 1, 2017 21:53:35 GMT
Had to take my car to the garage next to the allotments for a job to be done. Would have stayed on the allotment to do some weeding but the ground was frozen. I just went on because she wanted some sprouts . Also on the allotment I have an old household refuse bin that I have been using as a water butt but it has started leaking because the base is cracked. I have decided to grow long carrots in it but it needs more drainage than just a crack in the bottom. So I took a hacksaw and cut a corner off the bottom .Walked home after and went in the greenhouse and continued sorting out the canes. Went back for the car at 3.00 then went in the greenhouse and FINISHED sorting the canes.
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Post by derekbrooks on Dec 2, 2017 20:28:48 GMT
Not a full day because I had to go somewhere part of the morning and part of the afternoon. I went to school to bring the compost that I had emptied from the tomato pots. There were still 3 pots that had cucumbers in so I emptied these. So there were 10 bags full of old compost. I took 6 to the allotments and brought 4 home . On the allotment I intend putting some of it into the refuse bin that I told you about yesterday.
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Post by derekbrooks on Dec 3, 2017 23:24:57 GMT
Not much time this afternoon because I had to go somewhere else at 3.00 but I started planting my new roses. I have 5 to plant and I just had time to plant 2 of them. They are to replace some that have died or not growing well. Because they are going in an existing rose bed I have goy some rootgrow to dust on the roots. In spite of doing this some roses planted like this in the past have not grown as well as I would have liked so this time I have decided to change the soil as well. I am not going anywhere tomorrow so I can have a full gardening day. Hope it's fine.
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Post by derekbrooks on Dec 4, 2017 21:34:06 GMT
It was dry today so I finished planting my roses , then because the weather was mild I decided to prune my H.T. roses the rest of the day and managed to get them finished.
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Post by derekbrooks on Dec 5, 2017 22:43:26 GMT
Not much time today after Blackleach this morning and shopping this afternoon but when we got home I pruned the floribunda roses. These are just about 15 in the front garden.
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Post by derekbrooks on Dec 6, 2017 20:40:49 GMT
Almost a full day today. The pansies haven't done very well for the last two years so I decided to change the soil on the bed where I grow them for some on the chrysanth bed. I have made a note which part of the chrysanths bed now contains some soil from the pansy bed and which part contains some from the rose bed after planting my roses the other day. Behind my greenhouses there is a high hawthorn hedge and a large ash tree and as I have told you before the leaves fall all over the greenhouses and behind . This afternoon I made a start getting rid of them. Alongside the larger greenhouse there is a high fence belonging to another house. It is a difficult job to remove the leaves from here because there is hardly enough room for me to get between but I managed to do it before it started raining about 4.00.
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Post by derekbrooks on Dec 8, 2017 20:19:40 GMT
Frosty this morning and a scattering of snow on the ground. Too frosty for digging or weeding but I went to the allotment mainly because she wanted some veg. I filled the household refuse bin that I told you about last week with the compost that we had grown tomatoes in at school. This is for growing long carrots in next year. I then cut down the large clump of Crocosmia "Lucifer" and put it on the compost. Brought home some turnips and beetroot. I told you last week that I had finished sorting the canes but I didn't do the 2 foot ones so I did those this afternoon.
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Post by derekbrooks on Dec 10, 2017 20:54:34 GMT
We haven't had as much snow as some parts of the country but enough to stop me doing anything outside the last two days. There is still a scattering of it on the garden. All I've done is a bit of tidying in the greenhouses. I went up to Blackleach this afternoon to count the birds on the reservoir as I do every two weeks. I am at Blackleach all day tomorrow so I will record the results on the chart.
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Post by derekbrooks on Dec 13, 2017 20:43:07 GMT
I've not been able to use my computer for 2 days but Martyn has just solved the problem. Good job he could because he is going away and if he wasn't able to do it today I would have had to wait till Christmas Eve. I told you that I had been getting rid of leaves between my larger greenhouse and the fence but there still a lot behind my greenhouses alongside the hawthorn hedge. I store a lot of things behind here like seed trays, buckets and pots so yesterday I shifted all these things out of the way. There were leaves all over the smaller greenhouse and this morning I got rid of these. It started raining about 11.00 and rained most of the afternoon so I couldn't move the rest of the leaves. So I went in and spent the rest of the day washing pots. I have hundreds of pots and they all get washed every year and it is a job I can do when I can't work outside.
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