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Post by derekbrooks on Oct 20, 2020 18:10:17 GMT
We went shopping first and I went to the allotment after. Picked some more dwarf and climbing French beans .Dead headed the dahlias again then did some more weeding. Went to school again part of the afternoon Finished weeding the main veg beds then carried on weeding the small beds. These are the beds that the children used to use. This evening I have been to Blackleach to update my bird and wild flower charts on the wall in the visitor centre. It only takes half an hour,10minutes there, 10 minutes to do the charts and 10minutes home. My seeds have arrived from Suttons and also the bulbs from Fothergills that I spent my vouchure that I won on.
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Post by derekbrooks on Oct 21, 2020 18:39:14 GMT
A day of heavy downpours so I haven't had chance to do much gardening .Between showers I put the hose pipe away as I won't need it again this year. It just coils up and hangs in the shed. Also weeded the chrysanth beds but there weren't many weeds.
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Post by derekbrooks on Oct 22, 2020 20:04:50 GMT
Only this morning for gardening today .It's Rosemary's birthday and I told you before that we should have been away for it but we couldn't go. We went out for our lunch and we have been out this afternoon. On the allotment this morning I harvested some more turnips and beetroot then started weeding the root crop bed again.
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Post by derekbrooks on Oct 24, 2020 21:27:31 GMT
Didn't do any gardening yesterday because I was doing a job in the house. This morning I finished this job then went to the hut for a bag of compost which I will need for my baskets which I will be re-planting soon. I then went to our local garden centre hoping to get some daffodils because those I ordered from Fothergills were out of stock. They had also sold out of them but I got 12 hyacinths and planted them in 2 bowls when I got home. It rained all afternoon so I went in the greenhouse. Potted a few rooted fuchsia cuttings and some begonias.I then tidied up the rest of the plants in the greenhouses by removing the dead or dying leaves.
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Post by derekbrooks on Oct 27, 2020 20:03:24 GMT
My computer wouldn't let me get on the forum the last two days.
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Post by derekbrooks on Oct 27, 2020 20:07:53 GMT
On Sunday I hadn't much time but I got all the leaves from the top of the greenhouses. Yesterday I started emptying some of my hanging baskets and potting up plants I want to keep. It has rained much of today so I haven't done much.
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Post by derekbrooks on Oct 28, 2020 20:01:34 GMT
Martyn came this evening and brought me a new toy to play with- my new computer and I am playing with it now!. He has fixed it up for me and has transferred all my pictures and documents from my old computer and put this forum on it so that it comes up automatically . I wouldn't have had a clue how to do all this. This morning I emptied some more baskets and my windowbox and potted up the plants I wanted to keep.I intended going to Martyn's this afternoon to cut his hedges again but it started raining so I started doing a job in the house. It stopped raining mid afternoon so I went to the allotment. I took 4 frame tops to put on the frames in which I had planted lettuce and French beans. I then got rid of the climbing French beans and put them on the compost because they had finished cropping. I also harvested two large cabbages, big enough to cut into two or three to give away to neighbours as well as some for ourselves.
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Post by derekbrooks on Oct 29, 2020 19:41:49 GMT
No gardening today as it has rained all day so I stayed in. The seeds I ordered from Dobies arrived . They are for two other people besides my own and also the flower seeds to be given free to people on the allotments for anyone who wants to grow them. I chose these seeds to attract beneficial insects to the allotments. So I have been sorting all these seeds out. I have also been carrying on with my writing for the National Vegetable Society magazine.
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Post by derekbrooks on Oct 30, 2020 19:45:16 GMT
It was a bit drizzly first thing but I took a chance and went to the allotment and it managed to stay fine while I got some jobs done. I picked some more sprouts and pulled a lot of yellow leaves off the plants. Got rid of the remaining climbing French bean plants and dismantled the canes and put them away .Also got rid of the dwarf French bean plants.
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Post by derekbrooks on Oct 31, 2020 21:31:23 GMT
It was a bit showery this morning but we went shopping. It brightened up this afternoon so we walked round Blackleach writing down the birds and wild flowers that we saw as we do every two weeks. Not so many flowers now, of course, so we won't do them again till spring. We will just count the birds . We get more on the reservoir in winter than we do in summer. We have about 160 Canada geese at present and last time we went I counted 190 which is the most we have had since we started. I got some seeds from the calendulas in the border while we were there because it is a variety that is not in the catalogues this year or last year .I saved my own seed last year .It is called "Princess orange black".
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Post by derekbrooks on Nov 1, 2020 20:56:16 GMT
A bit showery today but I finished emptying my hanging baskets and three I did for next door and potted up plants from them that I wanted to keep. Rosemary started pulling bedding plants from the front garden.
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Post by derekbrooks on Nov 2, 2020 20:47:51 GMT
Rather windy today but it stayed fine till this evening when we had a heavy shower. Went to the allotment this morning. Got rid of the runner bean plants onto the compost heap and dismantled the cane structure on which they were growing and put all the canes away in the shed. I have said before that it is a work of art getting 8 foot canes into a 6 foot shed and it took me all morning. We went a walk this afternoon .Apart from going to Blackleach last Saturday this is the first time we have been able to go for a walk for about two weeks, mainly due to the weather .Went back to the allotment after and began putting the annuals onto the compost heap.
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Post by derekbrooks on Nov 3, 2020 19:24:42 GMT
Another showery day. We went shopping first and after, I didn't risk going to the allotment. Between showers I cleared a lot more leaves from the path at the back. I stayed in this afternoon carrying on with my writing.
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Post by derekbrooks on Nov 4, 2020 21:47:04 GMT
Mostly dry today except for a shower this morning. I started planting my winter baskets. I have 12 which I do in, the summer but now I am just doing 5 for the front of the house. I also have 4 to do for Edna,a friend of ours , plus, she has two large semi circular ones that fit on a wall. I use liners for the other baskets but these are difficult because I have to use polythene and it isn't easy to cut it to the right shape . They also use a lot of compost. I put them and all the baskets under the car port then I could carry on if it started raining. I put liners in them all but I only had enough compost for Ednas. We have been to Bolton, shopping this afternoon and when we got home I had just time to go to the hut for some more compost. I could do with some more plants so I will have to go to the garden centre tomorrow. There isn't as much choice of basket plants now as there is in summer.
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Post by derekbrooks on Nov 5, 2020 22:01:32 GMT
Went to the garden centre first for some more basket plants. Got some small conifers and euonymus which will do for the centre of the baskets and some ivy. Planted some of them when I got home. Rosemary has been pulling up the annuals from the front garden and putting them in sacks but there are more to do yet and we haven't any more sacks. The contents of my summer baskets are also in sacks. We went a walk this afternoon and when we got home, I decided that rather than carrying on planting the baskets I had better take the sacks of plants to the allotment and put them on the compost then we will have some empty sacks to re-fill. Took nine sacks . While I was on the allotments I decided to remove the bedding plants from the communal containers near the cabin. We are supposed to be getting new containers for next year so I decided to empty the compost out as well and put it on my allotment. These containers are made of wood and when I emptied two of them the bottom came off and they fell to pieces so you can see why we need new ones.
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