Kitchen Garden Forum

Not a fun day to be out & about, but managed a quick early shop. Was a freezing wind but the rain & hail thankfully waited until I was home. Tomorrow looks OK so I can get back in the zone with sorting the tunnel beds ready & putting up any structures required for each bed (no gargoyles)! Also need to do some pot ons & sowing in there. The rest of the week looks hit & miss though, but might get lucky as it seems to change quite a bit.

Thought we'd have a sodden match today as I was preparing the container bar. Dark slate clouds to our west, a flurry of hail and a strong shower.
All changed by kickoff time, bright sunshine with lighter coloured clouds.
A good crowd and thankfully after being thrashed away last week, a convincing win.
Bishop's Stortford 49 - Leicester Lions 12.

Still too close to bottom for comfort.

Sounds like yesterday didn’t turn out too bad then, Peter!

Do you still go for your really long dog walks?

Sadly no, my older dog is not as mobile as he used to be.

It’s so tough when they start getting on a little in life…..i’m starting to know that feeling!

Convinced that time was racing by and how far behind I felt things vegetable planting wise were, I have just put in 6 short rows of Biztro shallots in the big garden...I pulled a bit of Winter dug ground over yesterday in front of the north wall and miraculously it stayed dry overnight...there were a few sharp showers yesterday..but it stayed ok to step onto... with another quick pull through with, this time, a middle sized Wolf 3 tine cultivator.

Then I went to add an end of row label...and in fact found last years label...dated 23-3-23....amended it to 24-3-24... and was amazed that I was not as far behind planting as I had thought.!!

At home, I must get some broad beans pushed in..I did get as far as, yesterday, shelling out the saved seed from last year..so getting there.....

C.

I was saying to one of the old boys over the allotment, that we had a late start last you too, but he couldn’t remember…..we also had those very late frosts in May, last year and they caught and stunted a lot of the stuff I had planted out….hope we miss them this year!
Just been and taken another load of horse muck over the allotment.
Sam and Lily have gone to a Lambing day, at Watergate Farm Hockliffe…..a lovey extended family, that I have known all my life…..

That must make me an old boy...as I can't remember either..

.. I have just now got two short rows of Bunyards Exhibition pushed in here...

It's certainly a bit all over the place...Roses are a couple of weeks up with level of leaf and ornamental cherry blossom seems well on too.

C.

It's not really very sensible for me to do any gardening right now, not even a little bit of kitchen gardening. We're moving from Kent to SW Scotland in three weeks time. Then it's an AirBnB for a month and then goodness knows what.

But Scotland is a bit behind SE England in terms of seasons so if we find somewhere even a bit more permanent we should be able to get at least some culinary herbs on the go. And if we do miss the planting season we could excavate the indoor hydroponics kit from the various removals boxes.

I miss my indoor hydroponics garden. Oh well, no doubt we're better off than many. I keep reading horror stories about people being able to heat or eat but not both and even about some people having to turn off their fridge because they can't afford to run it. Scary!

Lovely day, lots of weeding and cutting down and another bonfire. Seems to be a nice bright full moon for Easter, strange that.

Prepped 2 beds & sown some bits in one of the them in the tunnel. Slowest job was digging out the water cress, which was well rooted & spread, but saved some stems with roots to start a fresh bed. Slimy things were in abundance & I even found a small rat/mouse skull. Still got 2 beds on the other side to prep but despite the huge temp fluctuation the few overwintered salad crops are doing well & took a lovely big Cos.

Last plastic membranes taken off plot 2, & re-sowed the carrots & some parsnips in the cold frame, again a mass of slimy things evicted. They have also been a bit busy in the onion beds, but luckily being Sunday the shed was open & managed to get some sets to fill the gaps - obvs gone back to my regular slug deterrent which is eco friendly but not organic, but at least they bury themselves to die so no risk to other critters. Catching up, but from your posts I might not be as behind as I think!

Anyway my biggest achievement is the net tunnel structure is still standing! Net cover will go on in the next couple of weeks..weather permitting!

Gosh Westi, you have done well….wish I was making such good progress!

You are way ahead of me also Westie, I spent last week at St Ives and visited a couple of NT gardens which was very enjoyable and the weather was good. It was nice to see the fields of daffodils and cauliflowers.

I managed to do a little rotavating yesterday when it was windy, dry and sunny but today it is wet, cold and miserable. A neighbour of mine who was a good countryman and kept an excellent vegetable garden had a severe stroke at Christmas and is now living away with his wife at one of his daughter's home. Last night I heard my sheepdog barking downstairs about 11.30 but took no notice as he often barks at passing foxes but awoke in the morning to learn that five police cars with police dogs had attended an attempted break in at the neighbour's unattended home. There was damage to several windows. Luckily another neighbour (who works for the Police) had seen torches shining around the house and had rung the Police who caught the two Scum parked in a car in the verge outside the property but did not have enough evidence to arrest them. What 'low life' we have in society who attempt to rob a sick man's home. Perhaps I should not think this, but I do have some sympathy with Tony Martin's approach.

Let's hope for peaceful times and drier weather

Barney

Glad you had a good time at St Ives, Barney….a lovely part of the Country.

There are some awful people about, they have no thoughts for anyone, apart from themselves.

That's just dreadful, Barney. I am most certainly not trying to excuse them, I would take the Tony Martin approach too. But I don't have a gun or even a pistol these days. It's just that I wonder how desperate some people are getting with this cost of living crisis, food banks and all that.

No, it's more likely they were just bad lads. And, if I may have an opinion, the govt is making a complete backside of things. They don't know how ordinary people live, and the have and not-have divide is getting so much worse. We, as citizens have to face up to it and protest about it. Maybe that just means a different govt, or maybe it means something else I don't know. It's crazy.

The English people have been kind to me for many years but I am glad to be heading for the hills now - back up to Scotland.