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Post by Tel on May 17, 2012 19:38:43 GMT
[quote author=derekbrooks board=derek thread=117 post=59416 time=1337205286]This morning I went to my son's house to weed his garden.I will be putting some plants in for him in a few weeks so it needed weeding first.I wish he would do some weeding himself but he won't .It wasn,t as bad as I thought though but it still took me all morning. In the afternoon it was a toss up between planting the chrysanths at home or going on the allotment.I decided on the allotment because there were a few jobs I wanted to do.I planted the leeks and the onion sets.These were in 3 inch pots. I then sowed the broad beans and french beans.Had to hoe and rake the soil first and rake in fish,blood and bone. I know some of you will think it late to sow broad beans but this is to time them for the shows. When I got home I sowed some of the beans in pots to plant if any sown direct did not germinate.[/quote] Your too soft with him mate, he should be helping you, not the other way round.  |
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Post by derekbrooks on May 17, 2012 21:47:54 GMT
He helps me with other things Tel, particularly my computer.
Apart from school today I only had this evening for gardening.I fixed up the wires and canes ready for planting the chrysanths.I fix the canes to the horizontal wires using "jiff clips"I have a full day tomorrow so I am hoping for a dry day then I can get them planted.
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Post by derekbrooks on May 18, 2012 21:30:05 GMT
A full day planting chrysanths today and I managed to get them all done. There are about 150 altogether.Rain was forecast today but it only did a few spots thank goodness.I tie them to the canes as I go along.These are just disbud varieties--most of the sprays are grown on the allotment. Last year I didn,t have any white rust but this year it is pretty bad in spite of spraying.I will just have to hope I can keep the breaks clear of it as they grow.
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Post by derekbrooks on May 18, 2012 21:33:00 GMT
 Chrysanths all planted |
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Post by derekbrooks on May 19, 2012 22:09:16 GMT
Only had part of the afternoon today but I went on the allotment to try and get the spray chrysanth bed ready for planting.There weren't many weeds but I dug them out and forked the bed all over .It now needs raking and fertiliser adding ,then the canes fixing up but that will have to wait till next time I go.
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Post by derekbrooks on May 21, 2012 22:12:49 GMT
Couldn't tell you yesterday what I had been doing because I couldn't get on my computer.I emptied all my frames of bedding plants and dahlias and filled them up again. All the basket plants went in and the tender veg and more bedding plants.
Today I have had a full day on the allotment planting the spray chrysanths.This morning I had to rake the ground ,breaking up the lumps and incorporating fish blood and bone then put all the canes in. This afternoon I planted all the plants (74 ),tie them up and tie the labels to the top of the canes.Tying the labels on is a job Rosemary does for me at home and she has been doing it this evening. I had an evening in the greenhouses.Because of putting plants in the frames yesterday I had more room in the greenhouses. Potted the rest of the rooted basket plants and potted on some more plants which I had no room to do before.
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Post by derekbrooks on May 22, 2012 21:29:54 GMT
When sorting out the spray chrysanths for planting on the allotment yesterday I sorted 20 out for planting at home.I grow these in the border round the back lawn.I won't be able to plant them till June though because one side of the border has 4 frames on it and the other is full of boxes of bedding plants.I therefore potted the plants on into 5 inch pots.
Went on the allotment this evening and just carried on weeding and getting more beds ready for planting.
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Post by derekbrooks on May 23, 2012 21:54:22 GMT
Went to my son's house this morning to cut his privet hedges.He has one all round his front garden and one along the back.
Went on the allotment this afternoon and planted the gladioli.before i went I removed all the loose skins from the corms.I have nine varieties and I planted 10 or 11 of each.There are 98 altogether.They are 12 inches apart and I put a small handfull of coarse sand under each corm.
Went again this evening and got the runner bean/sweet pea bed ready for planting. Began putting the canes up but didn,t have time to do them all.
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Post by Cherry on May 24, 2012 7:45:00 GMT
Brilliant tips in your writing Derek. Setting the corms on coarse sand is just one of them.
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Post by derekbrooks on May 24, 2012 21:17:38 GMT
Thanks for that comment,Cherry
Just had the morning for gardening today (except for going to school ).Went on the allotment and finished fixing up the structure of canes for runner beans and sweet peas. I grow both these on the same structure.I will plant the sweet peas next time I go but I cant go till Saturday.
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Post by derekbrooks on May 24, 2012 21:31:13 GMT
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Post by derekbrooks on May 24, 2012 21:44:15 GMT
I have put this picture,taken a few years ago ,on to show you what this cane structure is like.It has horizontal canes the full length and some shorter ones accross the two rows and also diagonal ones .The idea is to give strength to the structure.When it is full of runner beans later in the season it soon gets blown over if we have stong winds if I don't use these stengthening canes.As you can see I grow sweet peas on one side and runner beans on the other .Salad crops are grown between the two rows.
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Post by derekbrooks on May 25, 2012 22:10:23 GMT
I have been at Blackleach country park all day today.This morning I weeded an L shaped bed at the side of the visitor centre which I didn't get time to do last time ,and planted it with calendulas.It is a single flowered variety.When planting any flowers here I concentrate on those good for wildlife.Single flowers are better for this purpose as they provide food for insects.
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Post by derekbrooks on May 26, 2012 22:33:10 GMT
I always make my own compost for hanging baskets because I add swellgel and slow release fertiliser granules to it.I make two batches of 20 gals.I use compressed bales of peat which need breaking up by rubbing the lumps between my hands .Each bale gives me 20 gals to which I add a Chempak multipurpose base plus the swellgel and the slow release. I do the mixing with a shovel under the car port.I really wanted to mix them this afternoon but it is so windy that the peat would have finished up accross the road.!So I just got the peat broke up but left it in sacks till the wind drops.
Went on the allotment this evening and planted the sweet peas and runner beans.I said before that I grow sweet peas on one row of canes and runner beans on the other but there are twice as many sweet peas so one row has got both on.I know some of you will think it is late to be planting swet peas but I sow them late to hold them back for the August and September shows.
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Post by derekbrooks on May 27, 2012 21:52:54 GMT
Thought it was still too windy this afternoon to mix the compost so I went on the allotment and planted the Kelsae onions.I had some from Fothergills and some I had grown myself. Fothergills were the better plants so I planted all these (about 30 )then picked out the best of my own plants.
Went on again this evening just to water.Watering takes a long time this weather.I have watered my plants at home 3 times today.Good job we haven't a hose pipe ban.
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