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Post by derekbrooks on Dec 15, 2017 20:17:49 GMT
Not had much gardening time the last two days. Yesterday I didn't get home from Blackleach till 4.30. After the health walk we had a party with a buffet to which everybody brought something. Then the art club people didn't go till about 4.00 This morning we have been to a Christmas concert at school. This afternoon we have been to Wales to meet Heather half way to exchange Christmas presents. There is a McDonalds half way between Porthmadog where she lives and where we live where we always meet. In between I just had time to rake the leaves from behind the greenhouses but all the things I keep behind there need putting back now. We have to go shopping in the morning because we couldn't go today but I hope to get more jobs done in the afternoon.
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Post by derekbrooks on Dec 16, 2017 21:39:43 GMT
After shopping this morning I started putting the things back behind the greenhouses that I keep there. I had thought of going on the allotment this afternoon but the ground was frozen so there wasn't anything I could do there so I decided to wash some more pots. By the way , I expect you have seen on the television about 4 children being killed in a house fire last Monday. It was just across the main road from Blackleach country park, where I spend a lot of my time. I was there all day last Monday and the main road was closed.
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Post by derekbrooks on Dec 17, 2017 19:12:24 GMT
Didn't get home from church today till 2.30 because after the service we had a very nice Christmas dinner supplied by outside caterers. All I had time for when I got home was to wash some more pots. It was raining all afternoon though so there was not much else that I could have done.
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Post by derekbrooks on Dec 18, 2017 21:00:17 GMT
A full gardening day today so I decided to spring clean my propagating greenhouse as I do every year at this time. I completely empty it by transferring all the plants to the other greenhouse. I take down the shelves and put them outside . I have large trays on the staging containing grit which helps create a moist atmosphere in the summer but that's the last thing plants want at this time of year. So I empty the grit into sacks and brush the trays . I have two warming benches consisting of warming cables between layers of sand . They won't be needed again till next year so put the cables in the shed and remove the sand. I then brush all the staging and shelves and put the shelves back. I then spray all the staging , shelves and the propagator with armillatox. I leave the doors and ventilators open overnight to get rid of the small. I have a junction box in the shed with a separate switch for each greenhouse so I switched the power off the empty greenhouse. I hadn't enough armillatox so I went to the hut for some and also some fresh sand for the warming benches which I forgot to get last time I was there. It's a good job I have my own key to the hut, isn't it, but I won't be able to pay for what I have bought till we start up again in February. The greenhouse floor still needs sweeping and the windows cleaning but I didn't get time. I haven't much time tomorrow but I have another full day on Wednesday so I hope to finish it then and start putting the plants back . One thing I have forgot to mention is that the wooden surrounds for the warming benches are a bit rotten so I have decided to make some new ones. There is a builders merchants opposite the hut so I got some wood while I was there.
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Post by derekbrooks on Dec 20, 2017 19:57:05 GMT
Didn't get time to do anything yesterday after Blackleach and shopping but I have had a full day today carrying on with spring cleaning my propagating greenhouse. I cleaned all the windows inside and out then swept the floor. I have a home made propagator made of wood surrounded by polythene . The polythene was getting a bit tatty so I decided to put all fresh on. It is fastened on all round with drawing pins.I then put it in position on the staging. It stands on sheets of asbestos. I told you I had got some wood to make new surrounds for my warming benches . I cut it to the right sizes then painted it all with timbercare that we sell at the hut. I will probably give it another coat before I fasten it together. My last job was to put all the trays back on the staging upside down.
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Post by derekbrooks on Dec 21, 2017 18:55:02 GMT
All I have had time to do today after the health walk and art club at Blackleach was to give the wood for the warming benches another coat of timbercare. Hope to fix the benches up tomorrow.
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Post by derekbrooks on Dec 22, 2017 22:08:06 GMT
Just this morning for gardening today. I made the surrounds for my warming benches by fixing the pieces of wood together and put them in position on the staging. Put a bag of sand in each one and levelled it out. I put a sheet of polythene in them first slightly bigger than the base and going up the sided a bit so that none of the sand leaks out. The next job is to put the warming cables in and some more sand on the top. 24 leeks arrived that I had ordered so I potted them up into small yoghurt pots.
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Post by derekbrooks on Dec 23, 2017 21:14:04 GMT
Rosemary and me went to Blackleach this afternoon to count the birds on the reservoir. Spent the morning and the rest of the afternoon in the greenhouse. I had put a bag of sand on each warming bench yesterday and levelled it. Today I put the warming cables in position. I switch the power on for a bit first to warm them up which makes them pliable and easier to bend into position. Then put another bag of sand on top of each and levelled it out. They are the bags of sand we sell at the hut. They are about 25 kilos each .I then began transferring plant into this greenhouse from the other one. Put 7 mushroom boxes of chrysanth stools on one of the warming benches but didn't switch it on . I don't need them on till January. Put the dahlias back under the staging . Then tranfered some other plant such as fuchsias , geraniums and streptocarpus. Examined each one and removed any dead or dying leaves and checked for slugs under the pots. I have a problem with the heater in the home made propagator. I switched it on to make sure it worked and all the power went off, not only in the greenhouses but in the house as well. It had tripped a switch in the junction box in the shed and also one in the house. Rosemary was washing at the time and the washing machine went off and the central heating. I only had to unplug the heater and switch the switches in the junction boxes on again and everything was back to normal. I don't know what to do about the heater though except buy a new one but I don't know where to get one from. I can't do without my propagator. It is full of seeds and cuttings in the spring. I don't need it till mid January but I hope I can sort something out by then. I am not an electrician and if an electrical appliance doesn't work I don't understand why other electrical things should be affected.
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Post by derekbrooks on Dec 23, 2017 21:21:19 GMT
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Post by derekbrooks on Dec 23, 2017 21:27:40 GMT
This is my empty greenhouse before I started transferring the plants. You can see my home made propagator on the left and the two warming benches and the trays on the staging upside down. When telling you about the heater in the propagator I forgot to mention that it is just a tube 2 feet long. The rest of the greenhouse is heated by similar tubes, 8 feet and 6 feet long.
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Post by derekbrooks on Dec 23, 2017 21:30:22 GMT
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Post by derekbrooks on Dec 24, 2017 21:47:19 GMT
Even though I still have some plants to transfer to the propagating greenhouse , because it was a dry day I decided to go to the allotment this afternoon and do some more weeding. I had not been for two weeks mainly because it has been too wet or too frosty. I forked over and weeded about half of the onion bed.
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Post by derekbrooks on Dec 26, 2017 20:21:36 GMT
Did a lot of rain overnight so it was too wet to go to the allotment. I washed all my seed trays in the wheelbarrow under the car port. I have nearly 200 of them. Some were cracked and need repairing so I put them in the kitchen to dry. When dry, I just bind some tape round them.
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Post by derekbrooks on Dec 27, 2017 19:50:36 GMT
A day in the greenhouse today. I sprayed the chrysanth stools with systhane again to prevent white rust. I then planted the shallots in three and a half inch pots. Spent the rest of the day working with the plants in the larger greenhouse. All my plants had been put into this greenhouse while I cleaned my propagating greenhouse. They were very overcrowded till I put some back in the other greenhouse. I now had to spread them out so that I could tend to them properly and I examined each one as I went along , removing dead or dying leaves , and I discarded some that were no longer any good.
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Post by derekbrooks on Dec 28, 2017 19:32:00 GMT
There was no art club at Blackleach today so I didn't need to stay till 3.00 as I usually do . I came home at 12.00 after the health walk and spent the afternoon carrying on with my greenhouse jobs. I cleaned the windows in my larger greenhouse then finished sorting out the plants . I then washed the pieces of glass that go on top of the seed trays when I am sowing seeds. We are going to our daughter , Heather's at Porthmadog tomorrow till Tuesday (assuming the weather will let us ). I am taking my computer so I will be able to go on the forum if I have anything to tell you about. Anyway, I wish you all a Happy New Year and hope everything grows will for you in 2018.
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