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Post by derekbrooks on Feb 1, 2018 22:14:31 GMT
I called at the hut for a soil testing kit but there wasn't any. I thought there was one left but it must have been sold. When I got home I tried my electronic metre again but it still didn't work. I had some pH testing solution left from another testing kit , I have some tubes so I just put some soil in them and filled up with this liquid , gave them a shake and left them to settle . Then compared the colours on a chart. Not very accurate but this will have to do for this year but I will try and get a new metre when I can. I posted an order to Suttons for a lot of plug plants for my summer tubs and baskets.
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Post by derekbrooks on Feb 2, 2018 22:19:34 GMT
A nice day and so a full day on the allotment. I finished forking over and weeding the smaller dahlia bed. Took me longer than the other bed because there were more weeds including a lot of bittercress. I then started doing the annual beds. I had three frames on the allotment in which I grew carrots. They are not needed there now and I will soon need them at home. The last three times I have been to the allotment I have brought a frame home so they are all at home now.
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Post by derekbrooks on Feb 3, 2018 22:24:32 GMT
Our horticultural supply hut opened again today after the winter break. When telling you anything about it I just refer to it as "the hut".We sell most things that members want for their gardens-composts, fertilisers, pots, canes, pesticides, fungicides, weedkillers and a whole range of other sundries. We weigh large bags of composts and fertilisers into 3 kilo bags and count canes into tens. I have my own key and can go in any time when we are shut, as I did last Thursday, but now we are open I will be going every Saturday , unless I am away of course, or when I have shows in August and September. It was raining all morning but we had 21 customers. This afternoon I took another 26 chrysanth cuttings in the greenhouse.
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Post by derekbrooks on Feb 4, 2018 20:30:36 GMT
This afternoon we went on our walk round Blackleach counting birds as we do every two weeks. When we got home I went in the greenhouse and took the first nineteen dahlia cuttings. Fifteen of them , though, are of the same variety ( Elma E ). I have two boxes of tubers on a propagator and a warming mat in the house, in what I call my utility room next to the kitchen. There are another four boxes on a warming bench in the greenhouse. All the cuttings I have taken this afternoon were from the boxes in the house because they get warmer than those in the greenhouse. I have therefore swapped over the boxes so that more tubers will start growing and I will keep doing so until I have enough cuttings.
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Post by derekbrooks on Feb 5, 2018 22:30:47 GMT
Another full day on the allotment. Put limestone on the brassica bed according to my pH tests. Spent the rest of the time forking over and weeding the annual beds.
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Post by derekbrooks on Feb 6, 2018 21:37:13 GMT
Just had a bit of time this afternoon after shopping so I went in the greenhouse and took another 31 chrysanth cuttings. We had to buy our first potatoes for a while because all my home grown ones had been used.
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Post by derekbrooks on Feb 7, 2018 22:10:34 GMT
Went to the allotment this afternoon intending starting digging the trenches for sweet peas and runner beans. The ground was a bit too frosty though so I just measured out some of my beds. The reason for this was that I am having a load of manure delivered on Friday so I measured out the beds where this is going . The lobelia that I sowed two weeks ago didn't germinate very well so I bought 3 more packets and sowed them. Also sowed three varieties of tomatoes.
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Post by derekbrooks on Feb 8, 2018 19:31:17 GMT
As you know, I haven't much gardening time on Thursdays , having to stay at Blackleach till 3.00 for the art club. I just went in the greenhouse after and sowed some more tomatoes and also cucumbers and aubergines.
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Post by derekbrooks on Feb 9, 2018 22:54:22 GMT
My load of manure was delivered this morning but too late for me to shift any. While I was waiting for it coming I finished measuring out my beds. So this afternoon I have done nothing except shovelling manure. I shifted 23 barrows of it. It gets dumped on the road between the allotments and completely blocks the road so nobody can walk past. So the priority today was to shift it from one side and make room for people to walk past. I will carry on with it tomorrow afternoon , weather permitting, but the forecast isn't good.
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Post by derekbrooks on Feb 10, 2018 21:30:10 GMT
Raining all day , so no muck shovelling today!. 90 gladioli and 18 non stop begonias came from Parkers. I put the gladioli in trays and put them on top of a cupboard in the kitchen. I don't plant them in compost. They are just stood in the trays the right way up and labelled. There are six varieties. I planted the begonias in trays of compost and put them in my propagator in the greenhouse. I also did the same with the begonias I had kept from last year. These had been left in pots under the staging and left to dry. I just had to remove them from their pots and box them up like the others. I have to do the same with gloxinias and achimenes when I have time.
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Post by derekbrooks on Feb 11, 2018 20:32:02 GMT
Went on the allotment this afternoon to carry on with shifting the manure but as soon as I arrived it started hailstoning. It was very windy too , and very unpleasant to work in. So I just sat in the car till it stopped . It kept stopping and starting all afternoon so I only managed to shift six barrows . So I gave up about 4.15 and was glad to get home out of the freezing cold. Could have a full day tomorrow but what will the weather be like then?.
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Post by derekbrooks on Feb 12, 2018 21:51:23 GMT
This was the first morning this winter when I have had to shift snow from the front path. Only about half an inch but with the ground covered in snow I didn't think it worthwhile going to the allotment. So I went in the greenhouse and boxed up the gloxinias kept from last year . Then removed the achimenes tubercles from the pots and boxed these up too. Put them both in the propagator. I then took another 63 chrysanth cuttings. The snow was melting in the afternoon so I decided to go to the allotment and I shifted another 10 barrows of manure.
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Post by derekbrooks on Feb 13, 2018 22:16:49 GMT
After Blackleach and shopping I just had an hour and a half this afternoon. I went in the greenhouse and sowed some more flower seeds - pansies, cleome, rudbeckia, torenia, African marigolds, statice and bidens. Also a packet of sweet peppers which came free from Marshalls but there were only four seeds in the packet.
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Post by derekbrooks on Feb 14, 2018 17:09:02 GMT
I have told you before that Rosemary usually needs the car on Wednesdays, both morning and afternoon. However, she had a cataract operation last week so she can't drive at present. So today I had to take her where she had to go then go back for her later, both morning and afternoon. I didn't think it was worthwhile going to the allotment in between so I decided to give the lawns their annual treatment. I scarify them then spike them all over with my fork and brush sand into the holes to assist drainage. I scarified the back lawn and I had just started spiking it when it started raining so I went in the greenhouse. I potted the onion seedlings into small yoghurt pots ,about 30 altogether, then potted the first 30odd rooted chrysanth cuttings into 3 inch pots. It did stop raining for a bit this afternoon so I did some more spiking on the back lawn till it started raining again about 4.15.
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Post by derekbrooks on Feb 15, 2018 18:49:58 GMT
When I got home from Blackleach this afternoon I just had time to finish what I was doing to the back lawn. I still have the front one to do but that's only half the size.
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