Dereks Diary Part 2

Went to the hut this morning. On the way home I took a box of about 30 dahlias in three and a half inch pots to our local garden centre for them to sell.
I told you last year about a man called Ken whose tubs I plant. This afternoon I took a bag of compost that I got from the hut .Removed most of the old compost from the tubs and put the new compost in but I was a bit short so I will have to take sone more. I took the old compost to the allotment and spread it on some of my beds. I then started weeding the runner bean and sweet pea bed and I went again this evening and carried on with it. I told you before why I have not been able to go on the allotment as much as I wanted until recently and most of the beds are full of weeds which is why I am so behind with my planting. Most of you will probably have got your sweet peas in weeks ago.

Went on the allotment this morning and did some more weeding on the runner bea/sweet pea bed but it still isn't quite finished. Anyway,because I am so far behind with my weeding and planting, I think I have made the decision not to grow sweet peas this year. When this bed is finally weeded it will take a long time to fix up the structure of canes needed .It will take a long time for me to weed what was last years dahlia bed. I think it is more urgent to get more dahlias planted so I have decided to make most of this bed I havwe nearly weeded the dahlia bed. The dahlias I have kept for the allotment are mostly different varieties than those I have planted at home.I won't throw the sweet peas away yet in case I decide to grow some somewhere else. Some plants that I have put into the re-cycling bin are the rest of the chrysanths. It is our summer fair at church on Saturday and I normally have a plant stall. I had kept the chrysanths hoping to sell some on the stall .However, another decision I have made because I am so busy is to not to do a plant stall this year so the chrysanths aren't needed. It is getting late for planting them anyway.
We went a walk this afternoon and when we got home I planted a row of French marigolds along the front of the rose bed at home.
One thing I forgot to mention yesterday is that now my frames are no longer needed I take three of them to the allotment to grow carrots in.I took one yesterday and another today.I grow carrots in the frames because I put a net over them to keep out the carrot flies.
It has rained all evening ,hard at times,so it has saved me a lot of watering. This is the first rain we have had since May 19th.

Not as much time today but I have planted several of my containers.
Went on the allotment this evening and planted the 15 runner beans and tied them to the canes. They don't need tying regularly . This was just to start them off climbing and they will climb themselves after.

This morning I got all my hanging baskets out of the shed and sorted them out to see how many liners I need. I will got some from the hut tomorrow.
Went on the allotment this evening and planted the communal tubs in front of the cabin. I then tied all the dahlia labels to the top of the canes.

Last night, Martyn came to look after Rosemary while Heather took me to the 80th birthday party of one of my cousins.We got home too late for me to go on thr forum .In the afternoon I carried on doing the hanging baskets and that is what I have been doing most of today. I planted four pouches as well and these take a long time.I have also been in the greenhouse and put longer canes on the tomato plants. We had two heavy thunder storms this afternoon while I was working under the car port.

Now that I have finished the baskets I spent most of the morning tidying up under the car port and on the lawn.All thee boxes and pots of basket plants were on the lawn so I shifted tham all and under the car port there were a lot of empty boxes and pots so I gathered then up and put them away. I told you that I had taken three of my cold frames to the allotment for growing carrots in .The remaining four are dismantled and put away behind the greenhouse so I started doing that after and put the two 6 foot ones away this afternoon. I have also finished planting all my containers.
Went to Martyn's this evening and weeded the border at the back of his garden where I intent to put some plants in.Raked in four bags of old compost so it is ready for planting.It didn't take me as long as I thought and it was finished by 9.00 so I came home and put another of my frames away.

Got quite a lot done today. Dismantled and put away the remaining frame which was on what I call the utility area in front of the shed. This is an area where I don't grow anything ,it is just a storage area for boxes of plants and plants in pots that I want to keep for future use. Both borders alongside the back lawn have had frames on them for hardening off plants.The frames are no longer there but there were still a lot of boxes of plants on them waiting to be planted.I cleared them all from the border between the back lawn and the fence by making room for them on the utility area and the terrace. I then forked over and weeded this border and raked fish, blood and bone into it ready for planting. I then put a row of 12 canes along the back for dahlias.
I forgot to mention yesterday that Heather arrived for the weekend so because she is here I was able to go to the allotment this afternoon. The dahlias I took yesterday for anyone who wanted them had all been taken. I planted some lettuce between the two rows of runner beans. Spent the rest of the time weeding till it started raining about 4.15.Rather than weed a particular bed I decided to go over all the allotment pulling up large weeds that are easy to do and those that are flowering before they go to seed.I filled five large sacks with them.
Another job I did at home was to top up the potato bags with old compost.I normally mix some extra fertiliser in it but I haven't time now.