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Post by derekbrooks on Apr 14, 2021 20:46:29 GMT
This morning I went on the allotment for the first time for three weeks. The reason that I haven't been going is that most of my work has been in the greenhouses at home. The allotment beds had been dug and weeded a few weeks ago and those manured that needed doing. So there was nothing needed doing until it is time to start planting. In the next week or two I will be planting the shallots, onions and potatoes. Today I took the compost from the boxes in which the chrysanth stools had been in, which is John Innes , and spread it on the onion bed and raked it over. I then put on some fish, blood and bone and raked this in and hoed it so this bed is now ready for planting. I also raked some fish, blood and bone on the potato bed. I picked the first rhubarb, enough for us and three of our neighbours. This afternoon we went for our walk round Blackleach to record the birds and wild flowers which we usually do at weekend but this time it was more convenient to do it today. This evening I have been pricking out French marigolds, calendulas, tagetes and stocks.
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Post by derekbrooks on Apr 15, 2021 20:49:01 GMT
A full day in the greenhouses apart from having my hair cut. We couldn't go a walk this afternoon because Rosemary's hairdresser was coming at 2.00 and she did mine as well. I said on Tuesday that I had sown the last of my annual flower seeds but I had forgotten about zinnias. I sowed these today but I don't so them in trays like other annuals. I sow them in inverted drinking cups with the base cut off and stood in trays. This is because they don't like root disturbance. I have shown you a picture of them before. I sowed long carrots (New red intermediate) in the tubes made from builders damp proof material which I filled a few weeks ago , and stump carrots (Sweet candle)in bore holes which I had made in tubs and buckets. I potted 25 leeks from small yoghurt pots into 4 inch square pots. They have been on a warming bench and they are still on it but I switched off the power. This is because they will need hardening off soon and didn't want to put them from a warming bench straight into a frame. They need to stand at greenhouse temperature for a while first. This evening I have been pricking out lavatera, African marigolds, rudbeckia and more stocks.
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Post by derekbrooks on Apr 16, 2021 21:56:38 GMT
Went on the allotment again this morning. I sowed long carrots in bore holes in the drums which I made a week or two ago. I then planted my shallots. There were 25 and were growing in pots. Planted them a foot apart along the front of the onion bed. A job I did yesterday that I forgot to tell you about was to pot all the rooted cuttings of surfinias into small yoghurt pots. This afternoon I did the same with the diascias but put them in cell trays. I then went over the rose bed in the front garden with the claw to loosen the soil and removed the weeds but there weren't many. This evening I pricked out the remaining calendulas.
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Post by derekbrooks on Apr 17, 2021 20:35:20 GMT
This afternoon I did the rose beds in the back garden with the claw and weeded them , as I did for the front beds yesterday. Went in the greenhouse after and potted the remaining basket plants but there were only a few. They were bacopas , nepeta and verbenas. I then pricked out some varieties of plants that I hadn't many of, Rudbeckia "prairie sun", Lavatera "ruby regis" and penstemon "beloved bells".
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Post by derekbrooks on Apr 18, 2021 20:32:42 GMT
Today I have potted 57 tomato plants from small yoghurt pots into 4 inch square pots. About half of these will be grown at school. I have also mowed the lawns.
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Post by derekbrooks on Apr 19, 2021 20:52:07 GMT
Went on the allotment this morning and planted my onion sets. They were planted in pots on March 9th and were growing well so I planted them out today. There were 70 altogether, 12 "red baron" and the rest were "fen early". This afternoon I potted some more rooted dahlias and this evening I pricked out some nicotianas and some annual chrysanths.
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Post by derekbrooks on Apr 20, 2021 20:40:40 GMT
We went shopping first this morning so I had to do all my watering when we came home. It takes me about an hour to water all my plants every morning. After a walk this afternoon I went to our local garden centre and got 20 basket plants, mainly surfinias and calibracoas. I have a lot of hot pink surfinias but not many of other colours. I always look for plants with a lot of cuttings on and I am hoping to take a lot of cuttings from them tomorrow. I showed the lady who owns the garden centre pictures of my new shed and obelisk in the Garden News because I got them both from there. To make more room in the greenhouses I put all the hardier plants that I had pricked out into some of the frames. This evening I have pricked out some stocks "early bird" and some ageratum "timeless".
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Post by derekbrooks on Apr 21, 2021 20:07:08 GMT
This morning I took 109 cuttings from the 20 basket plants I bought yesterday. After a walk this afternoon I went on the allotment and started planting the potatoes but didn't have time to do them all. I planted three rows of 12 (all Casablanca) about 12 inches apart with the rows 18 inches apart. Put lawn mowings at the bottom of the trenches which helps to prevent scab. There are no more plants ready for pricking out at present so this evening I have potted a few more dahlias.
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Post by derekbrooks on Apr 22, 2021 20:19:25 GMT
I have been working in the greenhouses most of the day. Heather, our daughter from Wales, arrived at 12.00 and is staying till tomorrow. She went shopping with Rosemary this afternoon and then did some jobs for her so I just carried on with my greenhouse jobs. She went with our son, Martyn, and two of his friends for a meal this evening. I am still short of room in the greenhouse and I decided that the leeks could go into a frame to give me more room. Before I put them in I put their first blanching collars on. It was easier to do while they were still in the greenhouse. I then sowed all the tender veg that can't be planted out till there is no risk of frost. I had to plug in the propagator in the kitchen again and also one in the greenhouse that hasn't been in use for a few weeks . In 4 inch square pots I sowed 52 runner beans (40 "stenner" and 12 "mergoles"), 12 climbing beans "Rob Roy", 12 marrows "tiger cross", 10 squashes "hunter", 8 courgetes "orelia" and in drinking cups 18 sweet corn "sundance". I found room for them all on the propagators and warming benches. Another job I did was to plant 3 Charlotte potatoes in each of 7 potato bags that I filled with compost a week or two ago.
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Post by derekbrooks on Apr 23, 2021 19:56:22 GMT
Heather left for home at 11.30 but she is calling at Prestatyn on the way home to see a friend of hers. This morning I potted 48 brassicas from 3 inch pots into 5 inch. I do this to help prevent clubroot. The roots have more compost to occupy before they reach the soil and also they will be bigger plants when planted out. They were 24 sprouts "crispus", 8 cabbages "brigadier", 8 cabbages "kilaziol" and 8 cauliflowers "clapton". We usually go shopping Friday morning but because Heather was here we went this afternoon instead. After, I went to the allotment and planted another row of potatoes. I have room for another two rows but I have no more potatoes so I will get some more from the hut tomorrow. I need some to plant in the bags as well. This evening I mixed another 17 gallons of compost for potatoes and put it in three potato bags. Because of all the watering I have had to do recently both my water butts near the greenhouses were nearly empty so O decided to swill them out with the hosepipe and fill them up again.
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Post by derekbrooks on Apr 24, 2021 19:45:13 GMT
I told you yesterday that I had room for two more rows of potatoes . I got some Pentland Javelin from the hut this morning and after a walk this afternoon I went to the allotment and planted them. I took one of the three potato bags that I filled yesterday to the allotment . I planted this and the buckets that were already there and also the two bags that I left at home with Charlotte. This evening I have fed the roses. Put one handful of fertiliser round each bush and hoed it in. Because the ground is so dry, I watered it in as well.
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Post by derekbrooks on Apr 25, 2021 19:51:44 GMT
Today I have sown a lot of veg seeds in the greenhouse. In 3 inch pots I have sown about 30 peas "show perfection" and 12 romanesco "green and white". In cell trays I sowed 4 varieties of lettuce, corn salad and beetroot "pablo" . Outside the greenhouse I have a box about 8 inches deep and I sowed some baby beetroot in it. I pricked out 2 boxes of 30 each of antirrhinum "Mme butterfly" and amaranthus (love lies bleeding).
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Post by derekbrooks on Apr 26, 2021 20:44:01 GMT
Went on the allotment this morning. I forked over half of the root crop bed , raked it as fine as I could and raked in some fish, blood and bone to get it ready for sowing. I only did half of it because I am not going to sow all the bed at once. I then started forking over the sweet pea/ runner bean bed. In the greenhouse this afternoon I transferred 30 dwarf delphiniums from cell trays into 3 inch pots then pricked out 30 larkspur into these cell trays.
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Post by derekbrooks on Apr 27, 2021 20:58:02 GMT
We had a bit of rain overnight but hardly enough to wet the ground and we had a bit of drizzle this evening . After a walk this afternoon I went to the allotment and carried on getting some of the beds ready for planting by forking them over and raking them and raking in fish, blood and bone. Finished doing the sweet pea bed and did the gladioli bed.
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Post by derekbrooks on Apr 28, 2021 21:26:15 GMT
We had 0.2 inches of rain overnight , the first measurable rain since April 12th. This morning I mixed another 17 gallons of compost for potatoes. I put some in another potato bag and planted it. The rest will be for topping up the rest of the bags when the potatoes are growing. We went for a walk this afternoon and I thought of going to the allotment after. However, I didn't mention to you last week that a woodpigeon had built a nest in a tree in next doors garden which was only about 2 yards from my greenhouse. One day the woodpigeon was in my greenhouse going mad, frantically trying to get out , thinking it could fly through the glass and knocking some of my plants over!. I had to catch it and put it outside. When we got home home this afternoon it was in one of my frames which was full of chrysanths, frantically flapping about trying to get out. I just opened the frame top to let it out but several of the plants were damaged , a few were broken altogether and many of them had lost most of their leaves. I had to spend time tidying them up, several needed re-staking and tying . I will have to see what they are like at planting time in a few weeks and hope there are enough that were still O.K. Apart from this , another reason I didn't go to the allotment was that 20 plug plants of New Guinea Impatiens came from Suttons so I potted them into 3 inch pots. I also pricked out some nemesias and Salvia "Victoria" but there weren't many of these. Another job I did was to put the tubes in which parsnips were growing in the greenhouse, outside to make more room.
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