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Post by derekbrooks on Mar 3, 2020 22:51:56 GMT
Can't remember if I have shown you this picture before of the tubes for parsnips which is on the previous page. It was taken a few years ago but what I have done this morning is just the same
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Post by derekbrooks on Mar 4, 2020 22:12:49 GMT
Today I made up the tubes for long carrots like those I made for parsnips yesterday.I then sieved some potting compost and filled the parsnip tubes with it. Gave them a good watering so they are ready for sowing now but I won't have time till Friday.
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Post by derekbrooks on Mar 5, 2020 21:39:01 GMT
When I got home from school I went in the greenhouse and sowed parsnips in the tubes , 3 or 4 seeds in each.
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Post by derekbrooks on Mar 6, 2020 20:20:30 GMT
After a bit of frost this morning it has been a nice day for a change. We normally go shopping on Friday evening but Rosemary has gone to a meeting so we had to go this afternoon. Apart from that,I have been on the allotment this morning and the rest of the afternoon making the most of the nice weather and forking the manure into the beds. I finished the onion bed which I stated last time then did the potato bed then started what I call the "others" bed. I brought home a cabbage. I also filled 4 bags to take to school.
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Post by derekbrooks on Mar 7, 2020 21:21:04 GMT
Rain had been forecast for later today so I went to the allotment and carried on forking the manure into the beds. I wanted to get as much done as I could before the rain came. However, it is 10 past 9 now and it still hasn't arrived. I thought yesterday that if I could get one bed manured every time I went I would be happy but I have done two this afternoon. I finished the one I started yesterday then did the brassica bed. I brought home the 6 tubs in which I had grown potatoes last year. I will probably take the compost out of them to Blackleach to put on the nursery beds. I am there Monday and Tuesday next week.
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Post by derekbrooks on Mar 8, 2020 21:53:43 GMT
It was a bit showery today but I took the four bags of manure that I had filled on the allotment round to school. If ever I have to take anything like this to school I always go at weekends when the car park is empty. I can't get it in during the week.I spread the manure onto the beds that needed it and forked it in so all the manuring at school is done now. The children used to have their own small beds to grow their own crops but they don't do so any more ,mainly because children are not in garden club long enough to have their own beds as they get changed every half term ,so the beds are now full of weeds. I started weeding these beds but only had time to do one of them. I decided that we might as well grow something in them but I haven't decided what yet. It would be a shame not to use them and they just look a mess.
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Post by derekbrooks on Mar 8, 2020 22:00:24 GMT
I have put this picture on to show you what these small beds were like when they were being used a few years ago. You can see the main veg beds on the left.
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Post by derekbrooks on Mar 9, 2020 21:46:50 GMT
Been at Blackleach all day today. Someone brought a large clump of montbretia to the hut last autumn to be given to anybody who wanted it. I brought some home then and planted it at Blackleach but the rest of it has still been there all winter so I thought I might as well have it .So I brought it home last Saturday and have planted it this morning at Blackleach along the side of the road that leads from the main gate.
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Post by derekbrooks on Mar 10, 2020 21:17:12 GMT
After shopping this afternoon I spent the rest of the afternoon in the greenhouse and took another 52 dahlia cuttings.
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Post by derekbrooks on Mar 11, 2020 21:32:31 GMT
It was fine this morning and I forked the manure into my chrysanth and dahlia beds at home and along the back of one of the borders round the back lawn where I put row of dahlias. The ground was rather wet but, unlike the beds on the allotment which are wider, I was able to fork the beds from the paths without walking on the soil. For the row at the back of the border I used some shelves out of the greenhouse to walk on. I just managed to get it all finished before it started raining and the rest of the day has been showery. I went in the greenhouse this afternoon and potted 40odd rooted chrysanth cuttings which were taken up to Feb 14th.I then took another 52 cuttings which will probably be the last.
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Post by derekbrooks on Mar 12, 2020 22:04:46 GMT
Spent some time in the greenhouse this evening .The onion sets( Fen early ) that I had ordered from Marshalls arrived today .I planted 54 of them in 3 inch pots and also 15 red onions that I bought in Wales . Started off our Christmas dinner by sowing 20 sprouts (Brilliant )in 3 inch pots. These are all the sprouts I will need because they crop over a long period but I sow cabbages and cauliflowers in smaller batches so that too many won't be ready at once, particularly caulis because they need using as soon as they are ready. So I sowed 8 cabbages each of two varieties (Brigadier and Kilazol)and 6 cauliflowers (Clapton ).I pricked out some exhibition onion seedlings into small yoghurt pots (these were my second sowing of onions )and pricked out 18 Achillea "summer berries) into cell trays. Forgot to tell you two days ago that a blackbird had started building a nest in the ivy behind the rockery.
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Post by derekbrooks on Mar 13, 2020 20:14:00 GMT
A decent day so I went to the allotment this morning and part of the afternoon forking the manure into the beds. I had the gladioli,spray chrysanth, dahlia and the runner bean/sweet pea beds to do and I managed to get them all finished, thank goodness. It was hard work and I'm glad it's all done. Like the chrysanth and dahlia beds at home , these beds are narrow enough to dig from the paths without walking on the soil. It is just the other veg beds that are too wide to dig from the paths. There was still too much manure on these beds so I filled 9 bags with the excess. I phoned Joe,one of the rangers at Blackleach ,to ask if he wanted any. I gave him 6 bags last year and he said he would have the same again so I will probably take the up on Monday. I told you that all the manuring was done at school. It is finished on the main veg beds but I have not decided what to grow on the small beds when they are weeded. So I think I will take the other three bags there in case I want to put any on these beds. I did put a few forkfuls on my rhubarb bed. When shopping this evening, we have had to buy potatoes for the first time for a long time.
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Post by derekbrooks on Mar 15, 2020 22:07:24 GMT
No gardening at all yesterday because we went to a party in the afternoon and you know what I do on Saturday mornings, don't you? .You know what I do on Sunday mornings, too. This afternoon I took three bags of manure from the allotment to school and brought the other six home to take to Blackleach for Joe tomorrow. I have left them in the car because they are too heavy to keep lifting in and out of the car. When I got home I went in the greenhouse and again for a bit this evening and took another 52 dahlia cuttings.
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Post by derekbrooks on Mar 16, 2020 20:08:38 GMT
Nothing to tell you today except that I took Joe at Blackleach his 6 bags of manure
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Post by derekbrooks on Mar 17, 2020 21:26:57 GMT
It has been a nice day today. A few weeks ago I was longing for nice weather like this when all the rain was holding up my work outside, particularly on the allotment. However, last week I told you I had finished my digging and manuring . So I have no urgent jobs to do outside now and plenty to do in the greenhouse. So in spite of the nice weather I have been in the greenhouse this morning, this afternoon after shopping and again this evening for a bit. I have sown 22 packets of flower seeds Ageratum "timeless", alyssum, cosmos "sensation", love lies bleeding, mimulus, salvia "Victoria", stock "fragrant bedding", 2 varieties of rudbeckia"toto" and "marmalade", 2 varieties of antirrhinum "Mme butterfly" and "royal bride", tagetes "lemon gem", 2 varieties of lavatera "silver cup" and "ruby regis", 4 varieties of French marigold "honeycombe","naughty Marietta"," disco" and "zenith yellow",2 of nicotiana "sylvestris" and" domino" , 3 of calendula "orange king","Indian prince" and "princess orange black". This last variety was out of stock when I ordered it last October but I had planted the plants at Blackleach and they were still flowering so I collected some seeds from them. All those which are half hardy annuals have gone in my large propagator. The trays are piled on top of each other so after about 4 days I will have to look at them every day and if any are germinating they will have to come out of the propagator. The hardy annuals among them have just been left on the staging. This evening I have sown 3 varieties of sunflowers "buttercream", "vanilla ice" and "Italian white". These are in cell trays with 6 compartments and I have done 3 trays of each. Jo Bennet,the coordinator of the health walks in Salford has sent an email round to say that they are cancelled from next week due to the coronavirus so I will have to tell my walkers about it on Thursday.
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