Spring proper, 2022, Bits and Bobs.

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oldherbaceous
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Now Monika is back with us, thought I better start the new thread….don’t want her disappearing….. :)

I don’t think I have ever known the ground as dry as this, at this time of the year…
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peter
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Our main track is in its midsummer condition, set like concrete with cracks in and the grass barely growing.
Initial cut of the year was about six barrows heaped full, today a week after last cut just one and a half barrows, and that included my three side paths.
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Monika
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Thank you, OH. We all know we can rely on you!
We had 4.5mm rain last night but nothing more forecast now. It will still mean a lot of watering, especially to keep the vegetables in pots growing. Dry Aprils seem to be becoming the norm now.
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My potatoes are emerging, still no rain.
I've managed to mulch all the valleys with mowings from the main path over three weekends, that's on top of the things layer of shredded composted hazel and stuff.
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I do wonder about the value of mulching ground when it,s already so dry.
Wont any mulch just further prevent the rain from venturing far enough down to reach plant roots where it's really needed. I was always under the impression it,s better to wait until the soil was moist and then mulch to keep the moisture in.
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Fortunately we got a night of unpredicted light drizzle. It will help the little plants a lot but I tried to dig the planned sweetcorn bed & couldn't even get the fork tines all the way in. My plan was to fill the water butts & then lay the hose in that area to run a bit but someone kindly drove over my hose connection & none of the others I had fitted so have to wait for a new delivery & go for take 2 with that plan.

As what usually happens with a bit of bad luck it attracted more, when I went over to the other plot found the rats had got under the brassica netting & had a picnic of my happy little plants. Did a direct re-sow in the gaps & trying to be positive hoping I might avoid the usual glut but you just know they will all catch up! I didn't hang around for anymore, the mucking round with these were took longer than expected so had to go so hopefully missed the 3rd.
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Primrose wrote:I do wonder about the value of mulching ground when it,s already so dry.
Wont any mulch just further prevent the rain from venturing far enough down to reach plant roots where it's really needed. I was always under the impression it,s better to wait until the soil was moist and then mulch to keep the moisture in.


I'm on clay, it's moist under the mulch and set hard where exposed.
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oldherbaceous
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How in the title, 2022 has appeared when I didn’t put it in, and even stranger, it’s not on all of the replies…. :?

We did get a little rain today, not enough to get down but, made everything look a lot fresher.
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We have had 10mm over the last two days (and more to come on Friday, 'they' say). It has helped tremendously. I took the opportunity to sow our bee-friendly hardy annuals so that they could be watered in.
The leeks are almost ready to plant out, so that is a job for the weekend. Is there anything easier to plant than leeks???
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Your PA is very efficient OH! ;)

Well despite Fort Knox precautions the rats got in & took the rest of the Calabrese - looks like I will still have a glut! They moved a stone in the corner somehow & got under the netting that way. That stone is now a big heavy brick & the fence that side smells of peppermint oil. Apparently any strong smell deters them - hmm? Maybe some of Mr's socks? When these sowings are up I will put the solar vibrating thing under the netting with them as well.
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Westi. Somebody told me that oil of peppermint tablets can be a deterrent to rats. Not quite sur how you,d use them thiugh - either dissolve in water or just leave a couple crushed and sprinkled nearby.

We had a little rain shower this afternoon - barely enough to moisten the topsoil but welcome nonetheless.
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Thanks Primrose I will keep that in mind. I will be well cheaper than the oil for sure. Maybe if I can find the runs I could just drop some Polo's down the hole.
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Well, the tomatoes (already flowering) and sweet peppers are in their final positions, the leeks due to be planted tomorrow, the broad beans growing and flowering very well (come on, you insects, do your stuff!), so it must be 'spring proper', as OH says.
The only bugbear are the marauding blackbirds, mostly parents looking for food for their young, digging up any open soil in the garden and thus disturbing any seedlings. Everything has to be netted. I know, it's nothing compared to visiting rats, badgers, deer and and any other larger creatures ......
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oldherbaceous
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Ooooops, forgot to open the little back greenhouse this morning, just noticed it now and the poor plants were very unhappy…given them a good drink, so hopefully they will pick up….
Kind Regards, Old Herbaceous.

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I today threw out my 3 year old overwintered experimental pepper plant. It was still bearing lots of fruit and blossoms but the peppers this year have all been tiny and all deformed.
Every autum after fruit bearing has finished I,ve pruned it hard back, stripped back some of the roots and changed half the potting compost.

Interesting experiment but think it,s probably best to grow fresh every year. I didn,t change the compost last year. Perhaps exhausted compost was the reason for fruiting damage.
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