|
Post by derekbrooks on Feb 2, 2021 21:30:43 GMT
Did a lot of rain overnight and rained hard again later this afternoon. Martyn has got an apple tree in his garden and he has been saying for a while that he would like another fruit tree and some shrubs. Before it started raining, he came a walk with us and we went to our local garden centre and he bought a "Stella"cherry tree, a rhododendron and two skimmeas. We couldn't carry them home so I went in the car after to collect them. I will have to go and plant them for him sometime.
|
|
|
Post by derekbrooks on Feb 3, 2021 21:03:41 GMT
In the front garden , between us and next door there is a 3 foot high trellis fence but it is old and some of it got broken with the wind so I decided to get a new one. So I went to B & Q this morning and got some more trellis. I will paint it before I fix it up. It is wet so I have left it in the greenhouse to dry. When I went with Martyn to the garden centre yesterday to get him a cherry tree I forgot to get a stake for it so I went for one this afternoon . I also got some smaller stakes for my new fence.
|
|
|
Post by derekbrooks on Feb 4, 2021 21:28:03 GMT
A dry day so I went to the allotment this morning. Put some limestone on what will be the brassica bed to raise the pH to about 7.5. Then began shifting the pile of manure onto the beds. On the brassica bed I will leave it a month or so for the limestone to do its job before I put manure on. Put 6 barrowfulls on the "others" bed and 3 on the potato bed (this bed needs more yet). Filled 5 sacks and brought them home and put them on the chrysanth beds. After a walk with Martyn this afternoon I finished painting the wood over the chrysanth beds.
|
|
|
Post by derekbrooks on Feb 5, 2021 21:28:37 GMT
Not a full morning because we went shopping first. Went on the allotment after . Was a bit drizzly so I didn't know whether to risk it but I'm glad I went as it brightened up . I also went again after going a walk this afternoon. I have just been carrying on barrowing the manure onto the beds. Put three more barrows on the potato bed then four each on the spray chrysanth and dahlia beds. May put some more on these beds later. Both this morning and this afternoon I have brought five sacks full home and put them on the chrysanth and dahlia beds.I think I may have enough at home now.
|
|
|
Post by derekbrooks on Feb 6, 2021 20:58:39 GMT
It rained most of the day, just dried up a bit late afternoon. This morning I went to the supply hut of our local horticultural society to help for the first time for a year due to the lockdown. I have my own key so I have been going any time when I want something but I will be going every Saturday morning from now on. When mentioning it in future I will just call it "the hut". Because it was raining hard I didn't think we would get many customers but we were busier than I thought probably because it was the first day. When I have finished typing this post I am going to make a new price list because there are just a few prices that have gone up . Things are still cheaper than garden centres, though. We have never had any peat free compost because we don't usually get asked for it but we are getting some next week. This afternoon I painted my new fence in the greenhouse with wood preservative, the same as I used for the shed. I have left it in the greenhouse because it needs another coat before I fix it up. My begonia and gloxinia corms from last year have been left in pots under the staging. I removed them from their pots and boxed them up and put them in my propagator to start them growing again.
|
|
|
Post by derekbrooks on Feb 7, 2021 21:07:53 GMT
This morning I fixed the robin nest box that I made last year onto my new shed. I also planted the achimenes tubercles into small pots and put them in the propagator to start them growing , like I did the begonias and gloxinias yesterday. Rosemary didn't feel like going for a walk this afternoon so I went to the allotment. I filled 8 bags with manure and took them to the school and put them on the beds . Managed to get my wheelbarrow into the car as well as the 8 bags then I could wheel them round to the veg beds two at a time. If I am taking anything like this I try to go at weekend then I can get my car onto the car park so I don't have as far to wheel the barrow round. In the week I can't get my car into the school grounds at all. Went back to the allotment after and filled another 4 bags and brought them home and put them along the fence at the back where I grow a row of dahlias.
|
|
|
Post by derekbrooks on Feb 8, 2021 21:37:35 GMT
Very cold wind today but I went to the allotment this morning. I put another barrow of manure on the chrysanth bed and one on the dahlia bed. I then filled 10 sacks to put on the brassica bed but as I have said before I can't put them on yet because I have put limestone on. I went to Blackleach this afternoon to do the bird count then went in the visitor centre to fill in the charts on the notice board. When I got home I went in the greenhouse to give the trellis a second coat of paint but didn't have time to do it all.
|
|
|
Post by derekbrooks on Feb 9, 2021 20:32:18 GMT
After a walk this afternoon I went in the greenhouse and finished painting the trellis then took the first 12 dahlia cuttings.
|
|
|
Post by derekbrooks on Feb 10, 2021 20:57:17 GMT
The ground was frozen so nothing I could do outside and therefore it was a day in the greenhouse. I started re-potting all my pot plants that were in 5 inch pots or over as I do every year at this time .Most of them are fuchsias, streptocarpus, geraniums and pelargoniums. I knock the plants out of their pots , remove some of the old compost and replace it with fresh. Most plants go back into the same pots but there were just a few that I thought would be better in the next size up and just a few that I potted down . The compost that I remove doesn't get wasted. Later in spring I mix some more fertiliser with it and use it for growing carrots or potatoes in tubs and buckets.
|
|
|
Post by derekbrooks on Feb 11, 2021 22:12:27 GMT
When I sowed my first seeds on Jan 25th the packet of lobelia "sapphire" was empty. I naturally phoned the supplier and the replacement packet arrived today so I sowed it this afternoon. Apart from going for a walk I spent the ret of the day carrying on with re-potting my plants in the greenhouses. Not many to do now.
|
|
|
Post by derekbrooks on Feb 12, 2021 21:11:15 GMT
I finished re-potting my pot plants today. One plant I was potting was a Christmas cactus and some of the branches broke off so I broke some pieces off the top and planted them as cuttings. Rosemary had ordered a carpet for the new shed and it arrived today so I put it in position. It doesn't cover the whole floor, just the centre. I had to shift some things out first and put them back after. I didn't think it was necessary myself. I have never had a carpet in my sheds before but Rosemary wanted one in.
|
|
|
Post by derekbrooks on Feb 13, 2021 21:02:36 GMT
The ground is still frozen but I went to the allotment this afternoon because Rosemary wanted some veg. I picked the last sprouts and sprout tops . The sprouts were only small but usable. I also brought a cabbage home. When I got home I went in the greenhouse and started potting the first rooted chrysanth cuttings into 3 inch square pots. These cuttings were taken on Jan 11th and 12th.
|
|
|
Post by derekbrooks on Feb 14, 2021 21:57:36 GMT
We were ready to go a walk this afternoon when it started raining, not hard but we decided not to risk going. So I went in the greenhouse and finished potting all the chrysanths that were rooted on Jan 11th . Altogether there are 54 pots of disbud varieties and 46 of sprays .I also potted the exhibition onion seedlings into small yoghurt pots, there are 32.
|
|
|
Post by derekbrooks on Feb 15, 2021 20:08:25 GMT
A nice mild day after all the frost and ice. This morning I fixed up my new fence in the front garden. I put some planks down to walk on while putting it up but didn't find it easy to keep to them so I had to fork over the border after where I had walked on the soil. This afternoon we took the old fence to the recycling centre. One of the walks that we go on is on the way to the recycling centre so we went there after. When we got home I spread the manure out on the chrysanth and dahlia beds but it was still frozen and lumpy so I couldn't start forking it in. My new fence
|
|
|
Post by roofgardener on Feb 16, 2021 15:42:56 GMT
|
|