Dereks Diary Part 2

Yesterday, it rained till 3.30 so I stayed in going through the catalogues like I did on Wednesday. When it stopped raining I just went out and did some tidying up and removed dead leaves from the tomatoes.
Heather arrived again in the evening and this time she brought Jake, my youngest grandson , for the weekend.

I had a helper on the allotment this afternoon, my grandson, Jake. I finished planting the winter cabbages and broccoli , then removed the yellowing leaves from the sprouts. There is a part row of sunflowers, the same variety as those I had at home that I told you about that grew too tall. Some of them were leaning right over the dahlia bed and I couldn't walk down the path between the two beds so I cut them down, chopped them up and put them on the compost. While I was doing these jobs, Jake was removing finished crops. He removed the dwarf French beans and the sweet corn and put them on the compost. I asked him to chop up the sweet corn then it would rot down quicker. He then removed the broad beans but because they had had chocolate spot I told him not to put them on the compost . I explained to him that do diseased material should go on the compost. He put them in sacks and we took them home and put them in the council bin. Then we both removed the sweet peas to the compost. He started at one end of the row and me at the other. This took longer because all the rings that were securing the plants to the canes had to be removed but we managed to finish them. Heather and Jake went home this evening and she can't come again till the middle of next week (about the 19th) so I won't be able to go on the allotment again for a while.

I've been in the garden for much of the day. I cut down all the chrysanths that no longer had any flowers on. There aren't many left now. I pulled up some plants from the front garden that had finished, mainly statice, and put them in sacks to go to the allotment next time I go. The chrysanths went into the council re-cycling bin because they had white rust, like the broad beans from the allotment did on Sunday. I don't put any diseased material on the compost. I will soon be re-planting my tubs in the front garden with spring flowering plants and bulbs but many of them are still flowering well. There were just two tubs in which the flowers were past their best so I removed them. I don't put all fresh compost in my tubs at this time of year like I do in the spring. I just removed the top 6 inches or so, forked over the rest of the compost and mixed in some Q4 fertiliser then topped them up with fresh compost so these two tubs are now ready for re-planting.

As usual, on Thursdays, I was at Blackleach till 3.00 (except for last Thursday when I couldn't go at all). I then went to the garden club at school for 3,30 till 4.30.

A showery day. Not done much gardening, just a bit of tidying up of the plants in the greenhouse and picked some tomatoes.

Almost a full gardening day. This morning I removed the plants from two containers near the front door. One contained geraniums that were in pots. I tidied them up and pruned them back and put them in the greenhouse. The other contained annuals which I put in a bag to go on the allotment compost. in both tubs I forked over the remaining compost and mixed in some Q4 fertiliser then topped them up with fresh compost ready for re-planting. One tub at the back of the carport had my obelisk in with runner beans growing up it. They had grown O.K. but there were no beans on them. It is too late for any to grow now so I removed them. Also removed the bacopas from two pouches under the carport and potted a few up and put them in the greenhouse.
Rosemary had a doctor's appointment this afternoon but Martyn took her, so I took the opportunity to go on the allotment. I called at school first though and weeded a patch at the front of one of the beds where I want the children to plant onion sets on Thursday. I took 4 bags of plants to the allotment which I had removed from the tubs at home and put them on the compost. I picked a lot of runner beans , not many of which were eatable because they comtained large beans.When they get like this, they are tough to eat. Anyway, I deliberately let some get like this because I keep the beans for sowing next year. I will sort them out tomorrow and those containing large beans I will put on top of a cupboard in the kitchen to dry before removing the beans. I also cut down a lot of spray chrysanths that had finished.

VERY windy today. I have a bad cold and cough and I didn't feel like working in that wind very long. This morning I just went in the greenhouse for a bit and did some more tidying up of the plants. Too windy to take Rosemary for a walk this afternoon. It hasn't rained for 2 days so, about 3.00 I did brave the elements and mowed the lawns, probably for the last time this year.