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Post by derekbrooks on Oct 3, 2014 20:26:16 GMT
 Flowers cut for the church harvest. I could have cut twice as many |
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Post by derekbrooks on Oct 5, 2014 19:16:41 GMT
 Basket of veg for the church harvest |
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Post by derekbrooks on Oct 5, 2014 19:42:24 GMT
Hadn't time to go on the forum last night. We were out singing with our choir and didn't get home till 10.30 just in time to watch "Match of the day" It was raining most of the morning while we were at the hut . It did dry up later on but I decided to have an afternoon in the greenhouse. I potted 40 odd rooted fuchsia cuttings into yoghurt pots. Then finished cutting down all the plants that needed it.
A much better day today so I went on the allotment this afternoon. Finished cutting down all the spray chrysanths . Planted 20 daffodil bulbs that I won in the raffle at the last fuchsia meeting in one of the borders. Spent the rest of the time weeding the gladioli bed which is full of chickweed.
This is my last gardening for over a week unless I do a bit at Blackleach. I am there all day tomorrow , then on Tuesday we are going to Scotland till Sunday on a coach tour with Highland Heritage. The Monday after we come home I am at Blackleach again so it will be a week on Tuesday before I do any more gardening. I will have a lot to catch up with then won't I. Unless I have anything to tell you about tomorrow you won't hear from me till a week on Tuesday.
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Post by derekbrooks on Oct 14, 2014 22:24:30 GMT
Not much gardening time today apart from school. My next job will be to box up the chrysanth stools. I cut the rest of the chrysanths and Rosemary put them in a vase and I cut the plants down and began tying the labels onto the stools .After school I called at the allotment for a cabbage and some sprouts.
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Post by derekbrooks on Oct 15, 2014 19:28:05 GMT
Nice dry day today and a full day doing jobs . It started raining a bit at 5.00 and is pouring down now. I said yesterday that I was going to box up the chrysanths but because it was dry I decided to put new roofing felt on one of my sheds. I wanted to get it done before winter and we don't get many dry days at this time of year. Also I couldn't go on the allotment because Rosemary needed the car in the morning and this afternoon I had to take it to a local garage to have a job done. So because I have been at home all day was another reason for getting the shed done. It took me till about 2.00. I mowed the lawns after as they hadn't been done for 2 weeks with going away last week. Another job which needs a dry day which I did after was to remove the coolglass from the greenhouses. It wipes off easily with an old towel when it is dry.
30 Dobies catalogues came today to give out to people on our allotments and horticultural society so this will be one of my next jobs. We get a discount of 50% on seeds and 15% on other items .
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Post by derekbrooks on Oct 16, 2014 22:02:33 GMT
This afternoon I finished tying the labels on the chrysanth stools , then removed all the canes and tied the wires , to which the canes had been attached along the fence at the back. Next job of course is to dig up the stools and box them up. The boxes need washing first though.
This evening I went in the greenhouse for an hour and potted up 24 rooted coleus cuttings in to 3 inch pots.(3 each of 8 varieties ).I am going to give the rest to a lady to sell at her church,(the same lady who I gave flowers to in September ). She said she would pot them up herself. 24 is all I have room for. They will have to be kept in the house over winter as it is too cold for them in the greenhouse.
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Post by derekbrooks on Oct 17, 2014 19:50:33 GMT
This morning I went to my sons to cut his privet hedges and remove his bedding plants. The hedges weren't bad so I didn't think it was worth getting his electric shears out of his shed so I did them with my hand shears. When I had removed his bedding plants I carried on weeding the borders but didn't get time to finish them. I told you before that he wanted his apple tree digging out. A man has been and done that and has transplanted a spiraea from another part of the garden in its place.
Went on the allotment this afternoon and finished tying the labels on the spray chrysanths and dug up the plants and brought them home. Another reason for going this afternoon was to give out the Dobies catalogues.I have left them in peoples polytunnels and greenhouses. I have had a lot of phone calls to make this evening telling people where I had left them and asking other people from the horticultural society if they want one. I will take some to the hut tomorrow for these people.
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Post by derekbrooks on Oct 18, 2014 19:45:01 GMT
This afternoon I have boxed up the spray chrysanths. I had to give the boxes a good wash first. They are in 7 mushroom boxes, 2 varieties in each box. I usually box up the disbuds before the sprays but I haven't dug these up yet and I brought the sprays home from the allotment yesterday.
I have also been to our local garden centre for some basket plants because I will soon be replanting the baskets with winter plants. I also got some winter pansies from Morrisons yesterday.
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Post by derekbrooks on Oct 19, 2014 20:02:48 GMT
This afternoon I have boxed up the disbud chrysanths as I did the sprays yesterday. They are also in 7 mushroom boxes.
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Post by derekbrooks on Oct 20, 2014 22:12:43 GMT
The last few days Rosemary ha been pulling up bedding plants from the garden that had finished. This morning I went on the allotment to do some weeding and took three sacks of these bedding plants to put on the compost heap. As soon as I arrived though it started pouring down so I just put the sacks on the compost and came home. Brought home 4 sacks of weeds to put in the recycling bin. Worked under the carport the rest of the morning.
Planted two hanging baskets for our daughter ,Heather, in Wales. We are taking them next week. When I boxed up the chrysanth stools I didn't get time to tidy them up so I did this today under the car port. Cut all the growths down and because of the trouble I have had with white rust I took off all the leaves. I will keep spraying the stools with systhane . I put all the boxes of stools on the shelf in the cold greenhouse.
The weather dried up this afternoon so I decided to do some weeding in the front garden now that most of the bedding plants have gone. There were a lot of tiny weeds most of which have seeded through the fence from next door.
This evening I have been the question master in the inter D.A,quiz between branches of the National Vegetable Society. I have done this for several years now. Tonight it was in Warrington (Cheshire). There were three teams of 5 people and the results were as follows-Merseyside 36, Cheshire 34 and Manchester 28. There was a trophy for the winning team . We had a nice buffet meal after and we arrived home at 10.35.
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Post by derekbrooks on Oct 22, 2014 20:43:10 GMT
Went on the allotment this morning. I always go with certain jobs in mind that I want to do but sometimes ,like today, I find something else that needs doing first. I thought I would transfer the compost from one bay to another. When I arrived the asparagus had blown over and was blocking the path so I had to re-stake it. The nets covering the brassica bed to keep butterflies off had partly blown off and were obstructing the path. People walking past may have tripped over it so I decided to remove them altogether because I don't think they are needed any more and the canes that supported them. Folded them all up and tied them up and put them in the shed. I then did a job that I did intend doing . I have a row of floribunda roses "Anne Harkness" but one bush in the row is missing.I took four cuttings from the other bushes and planted them in a v shaped trench hoping that one will root to fill the gap.I then carried on what I wanted to do with the compost. There are three compost bays. One is being filled with new material and the other two were half full of compost that is almost ready for using. These two bays were full of new material last year but now they have rotted it will all go into one bay so I have been shovelling one on top of the other but didn't bet time to finish.
It is Rosemary's birthday so we went out for our lunch. We then had to go for our 'flu jabs . Rosemary goes to our son, Martyns house every Wednesday to do his cleaning When I have some gardening to do for him I always go with her. So we went straight down to his house from the doctors and I was hoping to do some more weeding for him. I took my gardening clothes to change into but it was raining so I just sat reading my Garden News till she had finished. We got home about 3.30 and it had stopped raining so I finished weeding my front garden.
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Post by derekbrooks on Oct 23, 2014 20:43:38 GMT
A full day on the allotment today. Finished what I was doing with the compost bins first. I have had to repair the framework of canes on which the runner beans and sweet peas several times during the season because it was coming apart. Due to the strong wind the other day part of it has collapsed altogether and the rest is leaning over. The beans and sweet peas have more or less finished now so I decided to dismantle it all and it took me nearly all afternoon. Took a while to remove all the twistits from the sweet peas. Put all the plants onto the compost. I then had to put all the canes into the shed which is a work of art! The canes are 8 feet and it is only a 6 foot shed so they have to go in at an angle and it isn't easy getting them all in.
The dahlias have been battered by the wind and many have collapsed but I managed to cut a bucketful to take home to put in a vase.
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Post by derekbrooks on Oct 25, 2014 20:57:25 GMT
just about 2 hours spare this afternoon but I went on the allotment mainly tidying up and Rosemary wanted some sprouts for tomorrow. Removed the climbing French beans and the framework of canes up which they were growing ,like I did with the runner beans and sweet peas. There were only 24 canes whereas the runner bean and sweet pea structure had 70odd so it didn't take me as long. Put all these canes away in the shed with the others. Also removed the broad beans and sweet corn because they had finished.
At home I have taken down all the hanging baskets because they were no longer nice. I pot up some plants from the baskets that I want to keep for taking cuttings next year such as surfinias, verbenas, and bacopas . There are also geraniums and fuchsias that I want to keep but I haven't had time to pot any up today.
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Post by derekbrooks on Oct 26, 2014 22:12:26 GMT
Went on the allotment this afternoon ,just weeding . The onion bed and the bed where the broad beans have been were full of chickweed. I just forked out as much as I could , just large clumps. I will have to go over it again being more thorough and trying to get the smaller weeds out as well. I did the same with the gladioli bed a few weeks ago. We are going to Wales on Wednesday for the rest of the week and I am at Blackleach all day tomorrow and Tuesday morning so I have only got Tuesday afternoon(after shopping)to do any more gardening this week. I still have the hanging baskets and tubs to re-plant and a lot more tidying up and weeding to do on the allotment.
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Post by derekbrooks on Oct 28, 2014 22:15:13 GMT
Rain was forecast for this afternoon so on my way to Blackleach this morning I called at the allotment in case I couldn't go later. I wanted some flowers to take to our daughter in Wales tomorrow and Rosemary wanted a lettuce to make sandwiches to have on the journey.
Got home from shopping this afternoon at 3.00 and was just thinking about going to the allotment to do some more weeding when it started raining so I went in the greenhouse. Sprayed the chrysanth stools with systhane which I am going to do regularly hoping to prevent white rust. I then started emptying the hanging baskets. I took them into the greenhouse one at a time and potted up the plants out of them that I wanted to keep for cuttings next year.
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Sept 6, 2018 17:58:08 GMT
Sept 6, 2018 17:58:08 GMT
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Aug 10, 2019 9:01:47 GMT