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Post by derekbrooks on Feb 16, 2020 20:10:39 GMT
The weather was better today so we went to Blackleach this afternoon and did our walk round. It did a bit of rain as we were finishing and the wind started blowing. It had stopped raining when we got home and I didn't know whether to risk going to the allotment but I decided to go in the greenhouse. I took another 30 dahlia cuttings then potted 30 shallots from three and a half inch pots into five inch.
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Post by derekbrooks on Feb 18, 2020 20:26:15 GMT
Went on the allotment this morning and filled another 7 bags with manure . Took 3 round to school and put them on the veg beds that need it and brought the other 4 home and put them on the dahlia beds. I have given someone else some on the allotments and there was just enough left fro what I wanted so it is all gone now. I'm just glad I got it all shifted before it started raining again. The path where it was tipped still needs tidying up . There is still some on that needs scraping off . I thought I might go back and do it after shopping this afternoon but it was raining so I went in the greenhouse and sieved some more potato compost. I have told you before that I order some flower seeds from Dobies to be given free to anyone who wants to grow them on the allotments and I took them this morning and put them in the toilet block with a list of the varieties. They have been paid for from allotment funds and are varieties I have chosen to attract beneficial insects to the allotments. I have asked Janet, the secretary to send an email round to everybody with all the varieties on and some instructions about how to grow them for anyone who needs them.
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Post by derekbrooks on Feb 18, 2020 20:31:44 GMT
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Post by derekbrooks on Feb 19, 2020 20:14:55 GMT
Went on the allotment this morning and cleaned up the path where the manure had been. Filled two bags for someone else on the allotments.I could only stay till 10.45 because Rosemary needed the car. When I got home I spread my manure out on the chrysanth and dahlia beds. It was raining this afternoon so I washed all the tomato pots from school in the wheelbarrow under the carport, also sieved some more compost. This evening I have washed some more pots.
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Post by derekbrooks on Feb 20, 2020 21:42:34 GMT
It rained all morning , hard at times, for the health walk at Blackleach .Only 18 people turned up against the usual 50 or so. It did stop raining this afternoon and the sun came out. Because we are going away on Saturday, when I got home from Blackleach about 3.30 I started making preparations in the greenhouses. My friend, Alan, across the road waters my plants while I am away so I make things as easy for him as I can .You know that I have some boxes of dahlia tubers on propagators in the house .He can't water them there so I put them on the warming benches in the greenhouse.I took all the boxes of chrysanth stools off these benches to make room and put them on shelves in the other greenhouse.I hope to take more dahlia cuttings and perhaps some chrysanths so these will need to go on the warming benches. I will be sowing a lot of seeds tomorrow which will go in my large propagator. I know these won't need looking at till I come home next Wednesday but some boxes will need taking out which Alan may need to water. I had an email from Suttons yesterday saying that my gloxinias have been dispatched. I hope they come tomorrow then I can box them up before going away. If so I will have to make room for them in the propagator.
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Post by derekbrooks on Feb 21, 2020 22:24:17 GMT
A full day in the greenhouses .My gloxinias didn't come but 15 tigridias came that I had ordered through Garden News.I had forgotten about them but I planted them in three nine inch pots. I sowed a lot of packets of flower seeds and put them all in the large propagator.I know they won't germinate till I come home from Wales next Wednesday. The boxes are all stood on top of each other. I wouldn't have room for them otherwise. They are O.K. like this till they germinate. When I come home I will have to look at them every day because when they germinate they will need light and will have to come out of the propagator. The seeds are pansy (giant fancy), rudbeckia (Prairie sun ), two varieties of cleome ( Helen Campbell and violet queen ), three varieties of African marigolds (Space hopper, key lime and marvel ),statice, verbena (purple elegance ), thunbergia, torenia, and helenium. I also sowed some more exhibition onions, tomatoes and aubergines. I took another 23 chrysanth cuttings and 33 dahlias and potted 30 odd rooted chrysanth cuttings into 3 inch pots.These cuttings were taken on Jan 29th.
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Post by derekbrooks on Feb 23, 2020 19:47:24 GMT
We arrived at our daughter, Heather's, yesterday afternoon. I could,t go on the forum last night because there was a message saying that I wasn't connected to a network. I have always been able to do it before when I have come .My grandson, Alex, connected me up a few years ago and he has just had to do it for me again. On the way here yesterday we called at a garden centre. Some of my asters that I sowed a few weeks ago didn't germinate so I got another packet and also some" Red Duke of York" potatoes. We went in Wilkinson's yesterday afternoon and I got some more asters and some red onion sets. We haven't seen much of Heather, or Alex, our eldest grandson. Heather came to church with us this morning but she was working till 10.00 last night and again today .Alex was working till 10.00 last night and today he came home about 6.00.jake, out other grandson has been working both mornings. We went a walk this afternoon,bird watching. Martyn has phoned saying that my gloxinias have arrived
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Post by derekbrooks on Feb 24, 2020 22:48:19 GMT
Heather has a friend called Barbara whose birthday it is next week. She loves snowdrops and Heather wanted to but her some for her birthday .Because she is busy working she asked us to look for some .We sometimes see them in pots or bowls at garden centres. We looked in the garden centre we called at yesterday and we went to another and looked in likely shops but they all said they had all gone so we were too late. Forgot to mention yesterday that when we went in Wilkinsons and I got some onion sets ,the onions were marked shallots and the shallots were marked onions. They had been put on the wrong shelves. I told one of the assistants and he swapped them over .Our youngest grandson, Jake, works there . He wasn't working at the time and ,jokingly, I said to the man that I bet Jake had done that and I pulled his leg about it when we got home.
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Post by derekbrooks on Feb 26, 2020 23:14:00 GMT
We arrived home from Wales about 1 30. It rained a bit last night and a bit first thing this morning and that's the only rain we had ,but here over two inches of rain fell while we were away. I've been in the greenhouses the rest of the afternoon. I put the potatoes that I bought in Wales in a tray to chit and I sowed the aster seeds that I brought home and also two packets of antirrhinums. I had to look at all the seeds that I sowed last Friday that were in the propagator to see if any were germinating and some were so I had to take them out. I also put two boxes of dahlia tubers back on the propagator and warming mat in the house .Can't do much more gardening till weekend because I am at Blackleach tomorrow till 3.00 and all day Friday.
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Post by derekbrooks on Feb 27, 2020 20:38:34 GMT
When I got home from Blackleach at 3.30 I had the rest of the afternoon in the greenhouse. I told you a week or two ago that I had got some free lavender plants from Parkers. Alan,who looks after my plants when I am away, has just received some with some begonias that he had ordered. He asked me if he could plant them straight out. I told him that they were a bit too small for that and it was rather early. I told him that I had potted mine into 4 inch pots and was going to keep them in my greenhouse and grow them on a bit before planting them out. He has no greenhouse so I said I would pot them up for him and keep them with mine until I thought they were big enough to plant out. So that is one job I have done this afternoon. Some chrysanths arrived while I was out that I had ordered from John Peace so I potted them up in 3 inch pots. This evening I have washed some more pots. There are still some I haven't done but I think I may have enough washed for what I want without doing any more
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Post by derekbrooks on Feb 28, 2020 19:44:04 GMT
Chrysanths from John Peace potted up
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Post by derekbrooks on Feb 29, 2020 19:00:12 GMT
This afternoon we went on our walk round Blackleach. I had brought home all the tomato pots from school a few weeks ago and washed them so I tool them back when we got home along with some seeds that I had ordered and some onion sets from the hut. I went in the greenhouse after and took another 47 dahlia cuttings.
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Post by derekbrooks on Mar 1, 2020 20:25:46 GMT
A decent afternoon so I went to the allotment. I thought it was a bit too wet for digging but I spread the manure out on the beds .There was a bit too much on some of the beds so I filled three more bags and took them home. There is a border at home where I usually put some on but I hadn't done this time so I put these bags on. Still on the allotment , when I had finished spreading the manure out I did start forking it into the onion bed but I worked from the paths to avoid walking on the bed. Spreading manure out on the beds.
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Post by derekbrooks on Mar 3, 2020 22:40:23 GMT
I was hoping to go on the allotment this morning so I was disappointed to see the rain again. So I went in the greenhouse and finished sieving the compost from last years potato bags. You probably know that I grow parsnips and long carrots in tubes made from builders damp proof material.I spent the rest of the afternoon making up these tubes
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Post by derekbrooks on Mar 3, 2020 22:49:10 GMT
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