Kitchen Garden Forum

Well, I do hope i'm not tempting fate but, it must be time for another Bits and Bobs.....

It certainly looks like spring proper, OH!
23C today for the second day running and over 30C in the greenhouse. Had to cover up all the seedlings because they were flagging. Nearby moors are on fire, well, the fire appears to be out now but will be smouldering for days or weeks now and could break out any time if we don't get any rain soon.

Went the allotment this morning to find some scrote had taken the double adaptor off the tap now 36 plots
have to share one outlet for the hose pipes

It's of no comfort Robo but our water pressure is so low that if two people are using hoses, there is virtually nothing left for a third.
We have three tanks each with a tap and a ballcock to fill the tank itself. If I am using two watering cans, I can nearly empty a tank in about 20 minutes, despite the water flowing in!

Never too early OH! The hose has been wound out, & just enough warmth to get the kinks out of it & I couldn't face more can watering as planting plan has things in at places & other beds are still waiting. Can't fathom the new drip bags for the tunnel - I think the markings on them might be Chinese & I should read left to right though! I turned it down today (or so I thought) & it emptied before I even left.

After a number of weekends plot 17 is finally looking cultivated and tidy - till the damm bindweed emerges
My two 6'x6' concrete bins got emptied of; 1 shredded tree, 2 a layer of composted stuff then shredded tree, all on the fruit patch.
Six rows of spuds in today after a day of rotovating yesterday. My RTT3 cannot cope with half breeze block sized dried out clay lumps, even has trouble driving over them and plain cannot chew them. The knackered Merry Tiller, has an oil addiction, engine on the way out even have to stay upwind, but it just chews anything given a few passes and regular additions of engine oil!

oldherbaceous wrote:Well, I do hope i'm not tempting fate but, it must be time for another Bits and Bobs.....

I go along with that OH.

Primrose wrote:
Peter. That looks like good solid clay. You could set up a pottery business there! I guess that needs an awful lot of frost or digging to break down.


oldherbaceous wrote:
Impessive stuff, Peter, a couple of frosts would be rather handy to crumble the clods, for you.


Peter wrote:
Fortunately for me when the soil dries a bit I are mostly using this.

Ummmm....

One section OH, dug s fortnight and a week ago, it did the rest.
Need to save some pennies and re-engine the Merry Tiller.

Just pulling your leg Peter....

You have put me to shame, with what you have got done in the last month.....

I visited a local garden centre this morning where the more tender plants and seedlings are stored under an enormous overhead glass canopy with open sides.

The local birds, probably the pigeons, had obviously had a field day in the early morning before any humans were about About 50% of the cabbage, kale,broccoli, sprouts seedlings in their trays had been stripped of all greenery right back to their stalks. Obviously a loss of profit for the business involved but I took some comfort that it's not only we gardeners who battle with this problem on our own plots.

The lighter coloured patch in my last photos is now under plastic weed membrane.
Path edges dug back , ends of the sheet rolled around scaffold pole or angle iron and tucked into the |/ at the path, carpet on the edges across the plot and the join between the two lengths, then various random weights; poles, logs, pallets, etc applied strategically.
Haven't cut any planting holes yet, but did broadcast chicken manure pellets and growmore before sheeting.
Ran out of time really today, her indoors was 50 today, so had to do some non-allotment stuff.

Our new girl is now almost fifteen weeks old and plaguing our fantastic gentle tolerant seven year old qentleman .
She's brought him out of his isolated kind of autistic shell - crated too much and not socialised as a pup.

Is she a graft?

Beautiful dogs.

I put up two bird feeders, recently. One for seeds, one with suet balls.

Firstly, there is plenty of take-up. The birds appear to love them.
Secondly, yesterday was the first time birds were feeding when I was up there. Jackdaws eating the seeds, big birds compared to the feeder!