Allotments 4 All

Weed, Weed and Weed again

Not a sausage.  :(

Had hoped to get back to the plot to do a bit more tidying up and pick runners and peas today but my dad's lunch-time carer isn't well so it's down to me.

More of the same - horsetail patrol, a bit of hoeing, weeded amongst the leaf lettuce and threw down some snail bait, drank tea, dug on the plotshare. Homeward bound in the dark - my, how much sooner darkness seems to fall now compared to six weeks ago.

Planted out last of the Celeriac
Harvested Peas, French beans,Carrots and Kale.  ;D

 >:( >:( nothing today bl@@dy rain !!!

I turned the air blue after stubbing my toe on the stair gate, i now have a black toe with half of it's nail broken :'(

Only watered the greenhouse's to wet for anything else, but that took long enough hobbling around :-[

Fight the eternal battle with horsetail that dares show its head above the soil. Contemplated hoeing but the afternoon rain left the surface too damp to really make it effective. Pinched out some climbing beans - they're finally getting to the top of the poles. Made tea. More tensioned wires on the shed in an attempt to discipline the honeysuckle. More digging on the plotshare. Enforced end of play when my fork lost a tine. That's me seeking a replacement fork then. Mental note to cut back the jerusalem artichokes.

Dug up a row and a half of Cara potatoes and had some of them with the roast for supper. Rest are drying out on the garden table ready for sacking tomorrow.

Ninny

Quote from: 100mph on August 05, 2012, 21:36:42
. Mental note to cut back the jerusalem artichokes.

Isn't it very early to be doing this? You'll miss the lovely flowers!

Advice I was given was to cut off the flowers so that the plant put energy into the tuber rather than into seeds. Seems reasonable to me since I want the tubers to eat rather than the flowers for looking decorative - I've got plants for flowers to fill that role. I've always cut of the flowers before they're really formed and crop weight from my Jerusalem Artichokes has always been impressive.

No plot visit today - I've no working fork at the moment and heavy rain at travel time dampened my enthusiasm

Harvested the first of my potatoes...my first attempt at potatoes, I have 9  ;D ;D  varying from half an inch long to 3 inches long....from 3 plants...I have another 5 or 6 plants to harvest.  Really quite proud of my harvest :) :D :D

Measured my pumpkin then had a sulk as its not growing quickly enough  :(

Today I bought a new, I'm going to regret it but I kept the reciept, fork for a tiny price. After todays rain it was too wet for hoeing so I hand weeded and fought the ongoing fight with the horsetail. Put out trellis for the cucumbers and more rampant squashes. Drank tea. Grabbed some seeds from finished annuals for next year. Shifted a load of large stones. Took a stroll around the rest of the field. Happy to see runner beans flowering in my wigwams at last.

Cutting hedges and pulled out ragwort and knocked over Himalyan Balsam....(thousands overhere)

Today its been a little hot, not sure if anyone noticed ??

So today Harriet has been watering everything and saying hello to Mr Ant and all his friends we moved a bag of soil to plant up a bayberry and found a worm which must have been 2 ft long big and fat !! So harriet dug him a little hole and we popped him into the garden with a little soil on top and then Harriet watered him in to give him a bath in his new home.

Moslty i have been binning plants which have not survived being in water logged or parched soil and pulling a few more persistent weeds which have been sprayed a few times but they keep coming back :(

Am still off work monday and am hoping to rake over one of the beds and recover it for next year. Have 2 beds left to clear. I have 4 bags of soil which i am going to resist using and instead am going to use this as top soil over the beds when i uncover them in the early spring as there is a better chance in the soil being warm in the plastic than dug into the ground. :) Planning good things for next year :)

What a day for a visit to the plot! Boy it was hot.  8)

Most sensible people would go early morning or later in the evening cool but not me.  ::) We needed more potatoes and beetroot so I waited until I had a couple of free hours and set off.

Peace and quiet... the only couple daft enough to be out in a midday sun were just packing up to go home to the cool.

I plugged in the hose, topped up the water butts, lifted the potatoes (Charlotte I think), pulled some big beetroot, cut gladioli, picked beans runners & French then did 30 minutes watering (Leeks, wallflowers and beans) and finally scaddelled home.

What glorious sunshine and warmth!!  :)

Bit of a toastie one at the plot today got there at 7.00 turned on the site water and cracked  on with jobs list early. It was one of those dewy misty mornings that I love  but it didn't last long sweating buckets by 8.00. Had a good morning though picked runner and french beans , tidied up and weeded the asparagus bed , cut a cabbage , filled all water butts , dug spuds , picked the courgettes , clipped the hedge ,weeded and watered .  Went back to turn off the site water at the stop valve at 6.00 and had a visit from a couple of passing chaps and a young lady, they are cycling from London to hereford in as carbon free way as possible so they were after a few goodies for tea and a top on water bottles so I loaded them up a nice bag full  ;D

After yesterdays all-day bonfire extravaganza in the hot sun I managed today to stay away until 6, then managed to water two greenhouses for other people, attack my own horsetail, pick a carrier bag of beans, take a little care of the plot adjacent who's been called away for family illness and water for myself things that I thought really needed it.

Two days of sun in row...when is the hosepipe ban due to restart, do you think?

A bit of hoeing
Watered
Harvested some nice sized beetroots.   8)

Got stuck into digging my onion/carrot bed.  What a mess - fat hen and milk thistle and self seeded russian kale.  Did not expect any crops thought the slugs would have eaten them but to my great surprise a good crop of onions.  Plus 5 carrots and four potatoes.