More from Today...

2 days ago I put a load of squash seeds in the airing cupboard on damp kitchen roll to pre- germinate as I have had quite a few not comw up in the greenhouse this year and many of those which have are rather moribund-looking. These have germinated already and so I potted them up in the greenhouse today to see how they get on. Hope it isn't too much of a shock to their systems. I used B & Q peat -free compost which is rather lumpy but seems less prone to totslly dry out than the peat-based ones. It is bit like a cross between a compost and a mulch!

I also sowed these directly into the ground next to the Purple Sprouting I planted out in the new bed earlier just to see how it goes.

Not only that I weeded  the onion bed just before I went home..

Another Busy Day!!!

I put up Kevin & Irene's Tibetan bunting to brighten the place up a bit and spread a few vibes...

...I finished the new bed ready for the brassicas...

...I tied string to the remnant of the bean frame ready for planting out asap...

...and I planted up the new bed with 4 Purple Sprouting and 5 Curly Kale plants. The kale I protected from thew wind as it is very gusty at the moment and they looked a little shellshocked!

The faint semicircular marks you can see between the purp. plants are where I planted out three pre-germinated squash seeds to see how they get on.

More Bedmaking...

Double Day!!!

Update...

I spent a few hours down the lottie this evening after the presentation of awards for the photographic competition I judged in Preston and a long nap at Roy's in the afternoon brought on by the excellent buffet lunch!

I dug these purple sprouting gone to seed and put them aside in readiness for disposal...

...I dug this area over in preparation for carpet and squash plants....(I am going to try pre-germinating the seeds and sowing them direct due to the time of the month and so on)...

...I finally got the Desiree spuds in the ground....

...and I cut the Jerusalem Artichokes into a rather fetching angled arrangement at this end to allow easier access to the shed this year. I have realised in a belated flash of inspiration that I can suppport the plants much more securely by winding the rope accross the bed from post to post rather than just going round the outside! Why did it take nearly 15 years to work that out when we do it with garden perrenials on a regular basis...

I also did loads of weeding!

Fruit Cage etc

Impressive eh! Only 8ft tall though and I looked at the label after I'd finished it and it gave the height after 10 years as approx 10ft! We'll cross that one when we come to it...

This corner of the lottie is looking very different to just a few weeks ago - glad I don't have to do all that lot again.

Every greenhouse should have a spaniel curled up in front of it ...

There are still a lot of jobs to be done, though, of course. Must get the potatoes and strawberries in amongst other things!

Fruit Cage Operational!!!

All done but the top! Luckily I found a piece of shading just the right size and tacked it to the last piece of timber cut in half.

I tied rope to the crosspieces...

...and drilled a hole in the millboard to thread it through...

...and then applied tension by twisting it and inserting a cane to stop it from unravelling. Seems pretty secure....

Fruit Cage Update....(cont.)

I just got as far as taking these pics when the heavens opened and it was into the shed for an hour. The pair of Great Tits nesting in the Frank Lee Memorial Nestbox were in and out constantly feeding their young all the time I was there.

Can't remember why I posted this pic as well as the above....

Getting there! It only has three sides at this juncture though and I need to sort out a way of stopping it blowing over. I think probably knock a couple of posts in and secure it to those.

 

I have now attached the netting to all four frames so just a matter of the finishing touches next time I am down ( and the small matter of what to do at the top!).

Fruit Cage Update...

This afternoon I scuttled in and out of the shed between showers/torrential rain and made four frames to form a fruit cage for the cherry tree. They are 8 ft high which might seem a little excessive but what that means is that when not needed for the cherries they will fit perfectly along the length of the two new beds nearest the shed. The only problem was stapling the plastic netting to the frames - it has a tendency to tear in places and I ran out of staples! I will go again in the morning and see what I can do between the rainclouds tomorrow.

Coldframe Spotlight!

Here is the new 'improved ' cold frame in action....

...it is a simple design but I hope effective....

....this is what it is protecting at the mo....

....and here is a view from the side.

Progress!!!

Igot a fair few jobs done this afternoon after a fish'n'chip lunch with Mum and a bit of a nap!

I finished off the most recent of the new beds....

....I finished boxing in the asparagus bed - three years or so after I started....

....good eh?...a proper cobbled-together allotment job using bits of wood I had lying around and stuff....

....and I levelled this area by the groundcover in readiness for a big bit of wood to tame this soil. I might make beds here or just border it cover it in carpet and grow squashes through the carpet. Either way it will probobly be squashes I grow here as I am aiming for a bumper crop of winter squash this year...

I also dug out any horsetail I could see anywhere on the plot and made a start preparing another old bed space for renovation....crikey - sometimes things just seem to get done  - better make the most of it!!!

Wet Wet Wet!!!

This is the 'usual' view from a couple of days ago when I did very little as it was so muddy. Had a bit of a sort out in the shed I seem to recall.

It was very muddy.

I did however manage to break one of the panes in the double glazed unit on the new cold frame. Very unluckily it caught on a nailhead I hadn't knocked in entirely strait and cracked right accross. Will probably have to chuck it when I've finished with it this season:-( I was only tipping it up to let some of the water off....sigh....

Despite the convolvulus and horsetail the Autumn Bliss look rather lovely this year. I will be removing the rogue self-seeders in due course to try and keep things in check.

A Cold Frame!!!

I made a cold frame today from a double glazed panel from my Mum's kitchen which had to be replaced...

...thus enabling me to clear some space in the greenhouse for the next round of seed-sowing.

the artichokes are at last beginning to take off. I am resolved to keep them in check a little more this year...probably...

Yesterday I trained the loganberry round a post  (dug the hole with a bulb planter). Then I realised I wasn't wearing any glasses! They had obviously been ripped off in th eheat of the moment and I had trodden on them and broken them. Luckily I keep my old ones (with the scratch accross th elens) in the car just in case.I started digging the dandelions out of the lawn too.