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Post by Cat on Aug 16, 2020 23:16:58 GMT
Hi Derek, I hope and your family are well. Which variety of cabbage and cauliflower have you planted this time please? I have decided that it is time I learnt to over winter crops and I would like to try both.
Take care
Cat
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Post by derekbrooks on Aug 17, 2020 21:28:41 GMT
Hi Cat Yes, me and my family are O.K. thanks. The cauliflower I normally grow (and grew this year) for summer cropping is Clapton. Summer and autumn cropping cabbages I grow (and grew this year )are Brigadier and Kilazol. I have recently sown purple sprouting broccoli and the cabbage Ormskirk Rearguard for winter and spring cropping. I have not grown this cabbage before. If you want to know where to get these varieties, practically all suppliers sell purple sprouting broccoli and cauliflower Clapton. Kilazol is from Dobies, Suttons and D.T. Browns , Ormskirk Rearguard is from Suttons and Brigadier is from Shelleys. There are many other suitable varieties, though. It did an inch of rain here yesterday and overnight . This morning was just a bit drizzly but I didn't risk going to the allotment. Several lavatera in the front garden have died and I don't know why,so I removed them . Where there was a gap I planted a standard fuchsia.I then tied up, side shooted and disbudded some of the dahlias. The weather brightened up this afternoon so we went a walk then I went on the allotment. I had tied up some of the gladioli before and I tied up all the rest today. Some of the annuals needed tying up too having been flattened by yesterdays rain. I the carried on with the weeding. This evening I tied up the rest of the dahlias pricked out 24 wallflowers into two cell trays and potted some coleus from 5 inch pots into 6 inch.
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Post by derekbrooks on Aug 18, 2020 20:36:00 GMT
It was raining this morning . We went shopping first then I went in the greenhouse. I have about 60 surfinias in 4 inch square pots which are for overwintering to take cuttings from next spring. They are getting pot bound so I think I will have to pot some of them up into 5 inch but I haven't room to do them all. I cut them all down . There are 4 colours so I think I will pot up 12 of each so I got rid of the rest. The weather dried up again this afternoon as it did yesterday but we didn't go a walk.Rosemary said she had done her daily walk this morning round Tesco . I went on the allotment. Some radish I sowed a few weeks ago needed thinning.Did some more weeding after. The radish I removed were a usable size so I took them home. Went to church again this evening and carried on with the weeding there.
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Post by derekbrooks on Aug 19, 2020 21:05:36 GMT
It was dry this morning and I did some more weeding in the garden. I had done the beds and borders last Wednesday and today I did the utility area in front of the shed and down the path. The rest of the day was a bit showery, not heavy rain but just drizzle. We didn't risk going a walk so I went in the greenhouse and potted the surfinias that I told you about yesterday into larger pots, 54 altogether. It was a bit drier this evening so we did go a walk and I went in the greenhouse again after and took a few more fuchsia cuttings.
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Post by derekbrooks on Aug 20, 2020 21:23:00 GMT
Went on the allotment this morning. Every time I go there are things that need tying up again. Today it was some of the broad beans ,French bean and dahlias. At the back of the dahlia bed there is a tall rose hedge . It has grown out too much and was blocking the path so I couldn't get along the back row of dahlias to tie them up or disbud them. So I cut a lot of overhanging branches from the hedge to clear the path. I harvested a lot more runner beans and courgettes and the first broad beans. After a walk this afternoon I went to Martyn's to cut his hedges. This evening I went to church again to carry on with the weeding there.
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Post by derekbrooks on Aug 21, 2020 20:08:44 GMT
VERY windy today .A row of sunflowers in the garden had grown taller than I expected . One of the had blown over and some of the others weren't looking safe either so I re-staked them as best I could but later another had fell over .I also went to the hut for some things I needed. We went shopping this afternoon and then I went to the allotment .Most of the sweet peas have died so I removed the plants.It meant removing all the rings from up the canes which took a while.I told you yesterday about cutting some roses down that were blocking the path. I cut them all into small pieces then they would go in sacks and brought them home. This evening I finished doing the weeding at church.
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Post by derekbrooks on Aug 22, 2020 20:39:36 GMT
It was not as windy but it has been a day of heavy showers. It was raining first thing so I went in the greenhouse and fed all my larger pot plants. When it stopped raining I went to school and fed the tomatoes and picked some to bring home.It poured with rain while I was in the polytunnel. A tall sunflower had blown over (like mine at home) so I tied it up again. I then planted some cabbages and cauliflowers. I had weeded the ground for these last week. I then dug up the potatoes. We don't know when school will open again and when it does we don't know when garden club will start again .I would rather let children help me to dig them up then they will know that all potatoes don't come from Tesco but because of the uncertainty I decided to dig them up. I brought them home to wash them.I have enough potatoes of my own so I don't need any of these but Gina said she would take them home and give some to her neighbours.It is a long walk between the gardens and the car park and I had to make two journeys with them and they were heavy. I had some in a compost bag and a large bucket full. I don't see any point in me taking them back to school , to the polytunnel , as Gina will have a struggle carrying them up to the car park again . When I phone her tomorrow I will suggest that I take them to her house,as this will be a lot easier. This afternoon we risked doing our walk round Blackleach . It rained a bit when we arrived but it stayed fine while we walked round .When we got home I washed all the potatoes that I brought home this morning and spread them out under the carport to dry. I didn't risk going anywhere this evening so I stayed in and filled in my bird and wild flower charts from Blackleach.
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Post by derekbrooks on Aug 23, 2020 20:56:53 GMT
This morning I put all the school potatoes in two bin bags and I phoned Gina , suggesting that I take them to her house but she came here for them instead. I told her to take them out of these bags and put them in trays if she had any as they are easier to examine to make sure they are O.K. They shouldn't be kept in plastic bags anyway. I thin started picking the apples off our tree but it started raining about 10.15. I was ready for going in though because with our church being closed, our minister puts a service on You Tube at 10.30 which we always watch. This afternoon I picked the rest of the apples and also the pears that I could reach. Branches of the apple tree are overhanging the path up the garden so now that the apples are picked I cut off some of these branches. Went on the allotment this evening . Some of the dahlias needed tying again and I did some more side shooting and disbudding. Spent the rest of the time weeding under the rose hedge. There are nettles, brambles and raspberries growing under there and it is very difficult to get them out.
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Post by derekbrooks on Aug 24, 2020 20:47:56 GMT
Went on the allotment this morning. Cut down all the gladioli that had finished then carried on weeding under the rose hedge. This afternoon we went for a walk and when we got home I cut most of the branches from the apple tree into small pieces so that they would fit in the recycling bins. I filled our bin and one of a neighbour across the road. There were two pieces that were thicker and not easy to cut so I took them and 6 bags of weeds from the allotment to the recycling centre. Went to Blackleach this evening. I went in the visitor centre first to update my bird and wild flower charts on the wall. When I went in to do them two weeks ago I hadn't done them since February and it took me an hour and a half.So I have decided that I will go in and do them every time we do the count. It only took about 10 minutes. Did some tidying up in the border alongside the visitor centre after. Dead headed some penstemons and phlox. The penstemons looked beautiful a week or so ago. I then cut the grass at the back of the border again and got rid of convolvulus that was growing up the golden rod.
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Post by derekbrooks on Aug 25, 2020 20:05:01 GMT
A very windy and mostly wet day so I have hardly done any gardening jobs.I just potted a few plants into larger pots in the greenhouse this morning.I took my car to the garage for a service and didn't get it back till about 3.00 so I couldn't have gone anywhere before. When I got my car back we went shopping. In a brief dry spell this afternoon I took this picture of some of my chrysanths (Max Riley). All the rain hasn't spoiled them
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Post by derekbrooks on Aug 26, 2020 20:54:21 GMT
The weather forecast on Monday was for rain yesterday and more again on Thursday so I was hoping for a fine day today. I mixed some fertiliser to feed my baskets and tubs , but then it started pouring down. So I went in the greenhouse and took some more fuchsia cuttings. The rest of the day was showery. Between showers I did feed my baskets and tubs. I am still having trouble with the sunflowers falling or leaning over. One was on the floor this morning and some of the others were leaning over. I have kept trying to re-stake them but they are over 6 feet tall. They are only supposed to be 5 feet. Many sunflowers that you see are just a single stem with a flower on top but these are bushy plants with several stems which make them top heavy. So I decided to get rid of the worst ones so I pulled them up and cut them up into pieces and put them in sacks to go on the compost. I also harvested the potatoes growing in bags.I had cut them down before so I tipped each bag (there were nine )into the wheel barrow to harvest the spuds and put the compost back into the bags. Another job I did in the greenhouse while it was raining was to sow 24 French beans in 4 inch pots. When they are growing I think I will plant them where the potatoes on the allotment had been harvested from and hope I get a crop from them before the cold weather comes. It was dry this evening so I went to the allotment. Both my bean frames were leaning over so I fixed more canes to them to support them. some of the broad beans needed tying up again. A runner bean frame on another allotment was a lot worse than mine and had partly collapsed. I tried to support it with canes like I had done with my own but I couldn't do it properly .It was too heavy for me to support while I tied more canes to it. I have pushed some of my own canes in along the side to prevent it from falling over completely and I have just sent the lady an email to tell her. I harvested more runner beans, broad beans and courgettes.
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Post by derekbrooks on Aug 26, 2020 21:30:18 GMT
Potatoes harvested from bags this morning. Varieties are Red Duke of York and Charlotte
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Post by derekbrooks on Aug 26, 2020 21:32:31 GMT
"Sweet candle" carrots harvested this morning
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Post by derekbrooks on Aug 27, 2020 20:54:16 GMT
A dull day but it remained dry this morning. The marigolds "tall Scotch prize" in the front garden along the wall were leaning so I put longer canes in and re-tied them. I then washed the potatoes that I got from the bags yesterday and left them to dry under the car port. We went for a walk this afternoon and then I weighed all the veg I brought home yesterday and sorted some of it out to give to our neighbours. It started pouring down about 4.00 and it has rained all day since . The chrysanths (Max Riley )that I showed you a picture of in the garden are now in a vase in the house
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Post by derekbrooks on Aug 28, 2020 20:06:51 GMT
We had a very heavy shower this morning so I went in the greenhouse and took some more fuchsia cuttings. The rest of the day was dry. We went shopping this afternoon and when we got home I mowed the lawns and did more dead heading, side shooting , disbudding and tying up of the dahlias and chrysanths. There are 4 rows of dahlias with a path down the centre but I couldn't walk down it because the dahlias were leaning over and blocking the path.I had to knock the canes in better because they were leaning over and re-tie the plants to them. We went a walk this evening because we hadn't had one this afternoon. Just had half an hour in the garden after and finished what I was doing with the dahlias. These are the marigolds "Tall Scotch prize " in the front garden that I told you about yesterday.
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