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Post by derekbrooks on Sept 20, 2020 20:39:31 GMT
This morning I mowed the lawns then finished sorting the veg out to give to our neighbours and took it to them. After a walk this afternoon I went to Blackleach. If you remember,I sprayed the paths and other areas round the visitor centre with weedkiller a few weeks ago , then went and did it again to put some on weeds I missed first time. Last Thursday I scraped the dead weeds from the main path up to the visitor centre and got rid of them. Today I did the same to some of the other areas but I still have another path to do. I had treated weeds on the paths round our church before just like I did at Blackleach and this evening I went again to put some on weeds I missed first time.
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Post by derekbrooks on Sept 20, 2020 20:43:02 GMT
These are two pictures I took this morning of my friendly robin while sorting my veg
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Post by derekbrooks on Sept 21, 2020 19:46:49 GMT
After a walk this afternoon I went to the allotment. I put weedol on some more ground where there were tiny weeds coming up .Removed the yellowing leaves from the sprouts then harvested some sprouts, turnips and a cabbage. Went to Blackleach this evening and finished clearing the dead weeds from the paths round the visitor centre.
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Post by derekbrooks on Sept 22, 2020 20:08:57 GMT
As yesterday, I went to the allotment this afternoon after going a walk. I harvested some sprouts, a cabbage and all the remaining carrots from there (I still have some growing at home ).Nobody on our allotments has had any success with leeks this year. Sandra, who I have told you before, who does weeding at church, also has an allotment .Yesterday she showed me what was left of hers and they were full of tiny maggots and other peoples were the same. I took some of mine to the food market on the 10th and they were O.K. The rest of mine still had blanching collars on but the tops were all dying. So I removed all the collars . Only a few were still usable and the rest were just rotting but I only found a few maggots in one or two leeks so I don't understand why they were rotting. This evening I have been washing and sorting veg under the car port again. This is one of the carrots I dug up this afternoon.
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Post by derekbrooks on Sept 23, 2020 20:43:01 GMT
It rained overnight and this morning was drizzly. This is the first rain for ten days. I fed all my baskets, tubs, tomatoes and larger pot plants again .A large section of a begonia plant that I had on the terrace had broken off. It had four stems on it so I took the top off each one and planted them for cuttings. The weather dried up this afternoon so I weeded the borders round both lawns and the rose beds.
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Post by derekbrooks on Sept 24, 2020 18:53:21 GMT
A bit showery today. This morning I cut 8 chrysanths to put in the house. There are only a few decent ones left now but several have been spoiled by the weather. This is because with there being no shows this year I have not covered the chrysanth bed as I normally do. It is rather a big job putting up the covers and I didn't think it was worth doing.I have lost a few flowers but I still have had enough to cut for the house. I cut all the plants down except those that still had good flowers on.I then tied up some dahlias agin that were leaning over and did some dead heading and disbudding. Thirty catalogues came from Dobies this morning for me to give out to members of our horticultural society and allotments .We get a discount of 40% on seeds and 10% on other items ( plants bulbs and equipment). I took half of them to the allotments this afternoon and left some in peoples greenhouses or polytunnels and put the rest in the toilet block.I have sent an email to the secretary asking her to forward it to everyone on the allotments. While on the allotment I got rid of what remained of my leeks but I didn't find many maggots.I also got rid of the remaining sweet peas because they had all finished and dead headed and disbudded the dahlias as I had done at home this morning.
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Post by derekbrooks on Sept 25, 2020 21:53:42 GMT
VERY windy today. I went on the allotment this morning and part of the afternoon. I started forking over the vacant ground. I did what was the potato bed. There were still some marrow plants along the back of the bed but only one marrow left on them so I took this off and put the plants on the compost. I then started doing the bed where the broad beans and peas had been. The framework of canes on which the climbing French beans are growing is also on this bed and it was in danger of collapsing due to the wind. It was leaning over badly and I tried to prop it up with extra canes but couldn't do it very well. When I dig up the potatoes I always go over the bed again to get any that I missed first time. When digging it today there were still plenty that I missed before. 120 plug plants came from Suttons today for my winter and spring baskets and tubs.I planted them all into cell trays, some this afternoon ,then finished them this evening. There were 20 each of pansies, violas, wallflowers, bellis, forget me nots, and primroses. I received some good news today. I told you that I took some vegetables to a food bank on September 10th and I showed you a picture of the veg I took. I wrote to Garden News and told them about it and sent the same picture.I received an email today saying that my letter had been chosen as the "letter of the week" and it will be in next weeks paper and I have won a vouchure for £25 from Fothergills.I have only just sent my order to Fothergills for next year so I hope there is no time limit on the vouchure then I can keep it a year before I use it. I also write articles in Garden News every four weeks and my next article should be in the same paper.
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Post by derekbrooks on Sept 26, 2020 18:36:59 GMT
Went to school this morning to feed and tidy up the tomatoes again. I also planted some winter onion sets on the bed that will be the root crop bed next year because this bed doesn't get manured. Harvested more tomatoes, dwarf and climbing French beans. I mentioned last Saturday that the school were not allowed to use this veg in the kitchen and I said I didn't agree with this. I asked for your comments , whether you agreed with what I had said or not. A week has gone by and I am disappointed that nobody has commented. This afternoon we went a walk in a different country park than Blackleach for a change. Went to the allotment after and picked more sprouts and 2 cabbages. The sunflowers in the garden had blown down again and before I went out this morning I cut them down and while I was out, Rosemary cut them up and put them in sacks. I took them to the allotment this afternoon , cut the stems up more and put them on the compost.
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Post by derekbrooks on Sept 27, 2020 18:54:01 GMT
I am thinking of taking some veg to the food bank again. This morning I decided to take out the carrots that I had grown in tubes because we won't need them all so I could take some. I will pick out the best ones to take . Went to the allotment this afternoon and got some sweet corn and turnips. I also picked a box full of apples from another plot . They had given me permission .After I continued forking over the bad I was doing last time I went.
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Post by derekbrooks on Sept 28, 2020 20:57:45 GMT
This morning I mowed the lawns then did some sorting of the veg that I hope to take to the food bank. I have some savoy cabbages and sprouting broccoli to plant. They will have to go in where other cabbages have been harvested from .This afternoon I harvested two more cabbages then forked over the area ready for planting. Also brought home a lettuce
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Post by derekbrooks on Sept 29, 2020 21:41:09 GMT
This morning I went to the food bank again with my surplus veg. This afternoon I went to the allotment and finished forking over the ground where I am going to plant my winter brassicas and raked it over. I forgot to take any fertiliser .It could do with some raking in before planting so it will have to wait till next time I go. Carried on doing more weeding after.
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Post by derekbrooks on Sept 30, 2020 21:03:56 GMT
A wet day so it has been a day in the greenhouse. I had a lot of rooted fuchsia cuttings ready for planting into small yoghurt pots. I didn't think I needed them all though so I made a list of the numbers of each variety that I had got in various pot sizes and I just potted those that I thought I was short of and disposed of the others. I then potted all the fuchsias in 4 inch pots into 5 inch. I also potted some rooted coleus cuttings and took some begonia cuttings. I put the begonia plants under the staging to dry off till next year. All the fuchsia cuttings had been on a warming bench and I decided that I don't need it on any more so I fixed up a smaller propagator to put the begonia cuttings on.I also cut down several plants that were getting leggy, mainly prlargoniums.
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Post by derekbrooks on Sept 30, 2020 21:48:26 GMT
These are the veg I took to the food bank yesterday
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Post by derekbrooks on Oct 1, 2020 20:27:10 GMT
Been on the allotment three times today, morning, part of the afternoon and a bit this evening. This morning I planted the brassicas ,purple sprouting broccoli and savoy cabbages. I had no growmore so I put some chicken pellets and some Q4 on and raked the area first. The chicken pellets had been in my shed for years and not used. I also had some winter onions to plant but these brassicas took up the whole area so I didn't think I had room. Anyway, I then had a bright idea,(well, I hope it was). I decided to plant them between the brassicas. Hopefully, the onions will have taken root and started growing before the brassicas got too big.I always plant the winter onions in the brassica bed because next year it will be the root crop bed which is the only bed that gets manured in the winter. I can't manure a bed if there are onions growing in it. The rest of the day I just carried on with the weeding.I have not been going in the evening recently because it goes dark too soon. The reason I went this evening was that this afternoon I took my Garden News to show people my letter but I left it in my shed.
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Post by roofgardener on Oct 2, 2020 7:45:24 GMT
These are the veg I took to the food bank yesterday WOW.. what an amazing harvest derekbrooks !
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