Kitchen Garden Forum

I think Pa community means a bigger patch than district in NHS talk - great gift for those hard working guys & girls, but they will be up for it & taken advantage of by Jeremy as he knows that, but they still can't have a pay rise!

I was the only one on my row there today as clever clogs has got everything sorted. Took down the last of the Jerusalem artichoke stems, harvested those that escaped their bed & some were huge! Topped them with compost from my back pile & even tackled most of the flower bed but the drizzle got inside my clothes so too cold to consider pruning the roses so huddled in the shed with the dog sharing biscuits until Mr Westi picked me up!

And tomorrow is it - enjoy the day everyone! This time next week we will be talking about resolutions - I think I'll just cut & paste from last year!

I would just like to say a big thank you, to all that are involved with keeping the forum going, whether it is people behind the scenes, or members of the forum. But my biggest thanks goes to Peter, for keeping us safe from the never ending dodgey posters.

Merry Christmas to one and all.

oldherbaceous wrote:I would just like to say a big thank you, to all that are involved with keeping the forum going, whether it is people behind the scenes, or members of the forum. But my biggest thanks goes to Peter, for keeping us safe from the never ending dodgey posters.

Merry Christmas to one and all.

Seconded

And “Thirded” If there can be such an expression ! He’s allowed a day off from his duties today though !

Boxing Day Morn.

It absolutely lashed it down last night.

SWMBO wants to go looking at new kitchens today, as long as it's just looking I'll go along with it since the plot will no doubt need a bit of draining and drying time.

Hopefully I will get onion seed sown in the greenhouse today.

Due to my recent lethargy I still have about 100 red onion sets to plant out that were purchased in Oct, must pull my finger out in case the next chemo session knocks me for six in a weeks time otherwise they will be useless

Nice new thermal padded coat to test out on plot as well as a Tetley tea set for use in shed, both being very useful gifts

Really must buy some new secateurs to prune apples & pears (not the rhyming slang kind)

After a second day of feasting today I have a feeling my constitution will have had enough over indulgence and some exercise will be needed - digging out the compost heap calls. Only wish I could have had a Duracell energy pack for Christmas to give me a kickstart. My excuse, like pa’s is that everything is too wet at the moment after last night’s downpour but these days, every time I contemplate a new season’s digg and planting I seem to do it with a little less energy and enthusiasm than the previous year.

With all the wonders of modern technology and medicine, you’d think they would have developed a pill for that by now, wouldn’t you?

I think they used to turn to Gin in the old days, Primrose......

Fortunately I got down to lottie today as the bit of a breeze at home was quite a lot stronger down there. Had to bang in loads of stakes and took ages getting several yards of netting out of the fruit trees. Hopefully caught in time. It is currently pouring and this weeks weather isn't looking too clever so it could have been a disaster if I left it.

Back to work tomorrow for me but a very short week and another long weekend to look forward to!

The couple who have the plot next to ours came down last week I was talking to a fellow plotter at the time but she came over and said they were giving the plot up she had been in hospital a couple of times as she keeps calling over her partner has been diagnosed with Parkinson's he is one of the nicest people you could hope to meet anyway she said anyone can have the pollytunnel she wants £30 for the shed and what she takes is all she wants , with in one week her plot has been stripped bare with in one day all her flags had gone this morning I noticed her pollytunnel on another plot but the mess left behind is disgusting this is by fellow plotters it really annoys me

My husband helped me dig out one of the compost cages this morning - a physical job that I hate to admit is getting too physically hard for me these days, so most of that has now been dumped on the vegetable patch and borders ready for spreading later. A by product was harvesting about five pounds of excellent potatoes from its innermost reaches.

Have also weeded all the couch grass from my strawberry bed and pulled off all the dead leaves. Many of the plants are about 4 years old now and probably past their best but the bed has received a nice dressing of fresh compost which will hopefully get whither,s year’s crop out of them.

I confess I looked at my vegetable growing areas this morning and wondered where I’m going to summon up the energy to get them all dug and weeded ready for spring but hopefully a few sunny days later on in winter will give me the boost I need to get out there and get cracking! I do find these days a break over winter can be a mixed blessing as every year it seems a little harder to get going again!
I don’t mind the digging so much; it’ s the having to bend down and kneel to do the weeding part which reminds one the body isn’t getting any younger. Perhaps I need to eat more blood, fish and bone sandwiches !

robo wrote:The couple who have the plot next to ours came down last week I was talking to a fellow plotter at the time but she came over and said they were giving the plot up she had been in hospital a couple of times as she keeps calling over her partner has been diagnosed with Parkinson's he is one of the nicest people you could hope to meet anyway she said anyone can have the pollytunnel she wants £30 for the shed and what she takes is all she wants , with in one week her plot has been stripped bare with in one day all her flags had gone this morning I noticed her pollytunnel on another plot but the mess left behind is disgusting this is by fellow plotters it really annoys me

Sad when the vultures move in like that (we have a vulture on our site)
I'm living in cloud cuckoo land I know but I would like to think that those who just stripped the plot make a decent donation to parkinsons.org.uk

Primrose wrote: Perhaps I need to eat more blood, fish and bone sandwiches !

Vampire !!!!

Covered in snow yesterday and rather damp today, so I am hoping for better things next year, meaning next week, though it looks even wetter. But all next year's crops are planned and the seeds ordered - just waiting for spring now.......

Hoping to get down to lottie tomorrow weather permitting.

We have been really hit by wind gusts & torrential rain in little bursts with more expected tonight. There was a huge wee storm on Friday - our full & heavy recycling bin took a trip across the road, luckily stayed upright or there would have been one hell of a mess. We went down to the quay later and the children's area is all fenced off with the back fence disappeared and big branches all over the area but looks like no damage to the slides & stuff. Further branches down over the quay and lots of dingy's on their side in the dingy park & spoke to a friend today who was traveling in it and it was down to 10mph on the bypass - but whole thing over in 10 minutes but it is a repeating pattern.

I do hope I secured the netting down extremely well as it is very time consuming de-tangling it & funnily I'd prefer digging out my wonderful compost from the back bin and spreading it around - might even find some spuds if lucky like Primrose!

Went up the plot today for a short while. Took the kitchen veg waste bin to add the compost heap.Allegedly due for chemo next week but as Mrs S has both bronchitis and tonsillitis she has managed to pass a snotty runny nose on to me so not sure if they will want to proceed since it knocks my immunity out

I'm hoping for a bit of milder weather as I have a fancy to build two more raised beds, both 4.8mt x 1mt x 1mt of the same type as shown in my year review thread as the April post
Whilst the wood wont be cheap the most expensive part will be the soil to fill them, approx. 10cu mt