All systems go, Bits and Bobs.
Moderators: KG Steve, Chantal, Tigger, peter, Chief Spud
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alan refail
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We were promised a balmy 10C overnight. In the event it just nosed down to 9C
Cred air o bob deg a glywi, a thi a gei rywfaint bach o wir (hen ddihareb Gymraeg)
Believe one tenth of what you hear, and you will get some little truth (old Welsh proverb)
Believe one tenth of what you hear, and you will get some little truth (old Welsh proverb)
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oldherbaceous
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I've got a nice show of black potato tops.
Kind Regards, Old Herbaceous.
There's no fool like an old fool.
There's no fool like an old fool.
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retropants
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oldherbaceous wrote:I've got a nice show of black potato tops.
Oh no!
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oldherbaceous
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Well, these things happen!
Kind Regards, Old Herbaceous.
There's no fool like an old fool.
There's no fool like an old fool.
It was frost-less here this morning 
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Motherwoman
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Frost on the ground here this morning and that's at 6.45am when I walked the dogs so must have gone down a bit very first thing.
It's at times like these I'm glad I'm always late planting things... the only spuds of mine just showing I earthed up yesterday. And my beans are still underground in their trays in the greenhouse.
MW
It's at times like these I'm glad I'm always late planting things... the only spuds of mine just showing I earthed up yesterday. And my beans are still underground in their trays in the greenhouse.
MW
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peter
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Tired but sstsified.
Finished digging last year's cabbage plot, then rotovated it, Merry Tiller Major drive belt shed most of itself, leaving a wire reinforced rubber band with some chunks on. Got a spare out of the workshop and carried on with a rough dug strip next to the leeks, then last year's squash plot two, which was as it was when I took the covers off.
Success, the ground is just right for the Merry Tiller!
Finished digging last year's cabbage plot, then rotovated it, Merry Tiller Major drive belt shed most of itself, leaving a wire reinforced rubber band with some chunks on. Got a spare out of the workshop and carried on with a rough dug strip next to the leeks, then last year's squash plot two, which was as it was when I took the covers off.
Success, the ground is just right for the Merry Tiller!
Do not put off thanking people when they have helped you, as they may not be there to thank later.
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I support http://www.hearingdogs.org.uk/
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Clive.
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Got a few at home jobs caught up this weekend...
Last of the Leeks went for compost. Merry Tiller Major out for a run here too with the finger tines on. Radeo Peas sown.
Early Onward Peas now have their posts, wire and sticks...the wire that was over them transferred to the Radeo row.
First wigwam of black seeded Runner Beans sown...Boston May Fair time, the historic time to sow beans around here. It's really said to be when you see the first person returning from Boston Fair.
Lady Christl Potatoes earthed up. A few Gladioli set. Lawn mowed.
Tidied the top of the using side of the compost heap so we could actually access the compost..assorted canes, sticks, rotten posts etc from last year needed a sort.
Tomato compost mixed, half multi-purpose and half riddled from our compost heap with a dash of fertiliser added. It's now in the 6 pots that are set in the ash substrate of the old greenhouse ready for Tomato planting any day. Only 6 plants this year in the increasingly tired greenhouse.
We went for a drive this afternoon around the near Wolds calling at a small local garden centre to see how it was fairing...we stocked up on Growmore.. partly in an effort to help their till.
Mum planted her Sweet Peas out on our return.
Good to make some progress.
Clive.
Last of the Leeks went for compost. Merry Tiller Major out for a run here too with the finger tines on. Radeo Peas sown.
Early Onward Peas now have their posts, wire and sticks...the wire that was over them transferred to the Radeo row.
First wigwam of black seeded Runner Beans sown...Boston May Fair time, the historic time to sow beans around here. It's really said to be when you see the first person returning from Boston Fair.
Lady Christl Potatoes earthed up. A few Gladioli set. Lawn mowed.
Tidied the top of the using side of the compost heap so we could actually access the compost..assorted canes, sticks, rotten posts etc from last year needed a sort.
Tomato compost mixed, half multi-purpose and half riddled from our compost heap with a dash of fertiliser added. It's now in the 6 pots that are set in the ash substrate of the old greenhouse ready for Tomato planting any day. Only 6 plants this year in the increasingly tired greenhouse.
We went for a drive this afternoon around the near Wolds calling at a small local garden centre to see how it was fairing...we stocked up on Growmore.. partly in an effort to help their till.
Mum planted her Sweet Peas out on our return.
Good to make some progress.
Clive.
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oldherbaceous
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Nice to see one of your lovely posts Clive, we really have missed them.
Glad you managed to catch up a little, it always seems that extra busier at this time of the year.
Will you be so kind to pass my kind regards onto your Mum for me please, thank you.
Glad you managed to catch up a little, it always seems that extra busier at this time of the year.
Will you be so kind to pass my kind regards onto your Mum for me please, thank you.
Kind Regards, Old Herbaceous.
There's no fool like an old fool.
There's no fool like an old fool.
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oldherbaceous
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Very wet here this morning, so having a large greenhouse is a real bonus, as there is always something that needs sowing or potting on.
Kind Regards, Old Herbaceous.
There's no fool like an old fool.
There's no fool like an old fool.
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Geoff
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I have been sent a strange little book to pass on to somebody who collects all things with a local history connection, the co-author lived nearby. It is called "Gardening for Amateurs" and was published in 1886. Unfortunately it deals with flowers so there are no vegetable oddities to pass on. It is heavy going because of its literary style for a slim little book as you can probably gather from the introduction below, which I thought might amuse:
There is probably no more healthful of interesting recreation than gardening, especially for those whose time is chiefly spent in a sedentary employment. When the mind has been actively engaged during the greater part of the day, it is highly important that the body should come in for its share of exercise in the evening, for rest simply means “change of occupation”.
It is quite true, there are some men who allow business to occupy the whole of their time, to the exclusion of every other thing. This however is an utter perversion of an existence, and where anyone has become so enthralled, he may be said to have entered on his term of Penal Servitude for Life. “Be diligent in business” is no more imperative than “Consider the lilies”. The wonders and beauties of nature have doubtless been placed within the reach of man, for his enjoyment and edification.
There is probably no more healthful of interesting recreation than gardening, especially for those whose time is chiefly spent in a sedentary employment. When the mind has been actively engaged during the greater part of the day, it is highly important that the body should come in for its share of exercise in the evening, for rest simply means “change of occupation”.
It is quite true, there are some men who allow business to occupy the whole of their time, to the exclusion of every other thing. This however is an utter perversion of an existence, and where anyone has become so enthralled, he may be said to have entered on his term of Penal Servitude for Life. “Be diligent in business” is no more imperative than “Consider the lilies”. The wonders and beauties of nature have doubtless been placed within the reach of man, for his enjoyment and edification.
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Primrose
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Geoff despite the somewhat old fashioned wording ,it is lovely to consider the reflections of a bygone age and reflect how things have changed and the speed of today's life compared with the times of our grandparents and great grandparents. I suspect it will be ever thus but if some of our ancestors were to return to earth today I suspect they would be utterly overwhelmed and bewildered by the speed of it. I often am myself!
It,s a comforting thought though that they would have been battling with their vegetable growing problems in just the same way as we are today, but I do wonder how they dealt with slugs and other similar problems before slug pellets were invented!
It,s a comforting thought though that they would have been battling with their vegetable growing problems in just the same way as we are today, but I do wonder how they dealt with slugs and other similar problems before slug pellets were invented!
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Geoff
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There are some bits about pests but not the frightening concoctions I’ve read in some old books. Slugs are tackled by hunting them down by following their slime trails. I did find this bit intriguing:
The Black Grub, as it is usually called, is found in greatest numbers in heavy soils. The first time I had opportunity of examining this pest was some ten years ago. While conversing with a gardener on horticultural matters, he chanced to say that he could get no vegetables from his garden, owing to the ravages of a grub, which ate everything while in the young and tender state. I expressed a wish to see it, whereupon we entered the garden, and I requested that he would turn up a few spadefuls of soil, in order that I might examine it carefully. Their presence was certainly unmistakeable, for in every spadeful of soil he threw up, we found two or three of them. They were about as long as an ordinary caterpillar, of a dark slate colour, and extremely bulky, having every appearance of being formidable enemies to all plant life. ……. My next acquaintance with this enemy occurred some years afterwards, when looking over a garden which had previously been grassland. The owner of the garden had got young Lettuce plants, several of which presented a very sickly appearance. On examination of the plants in question, we found that at the root of each, this Black Grub was busy, eating the very life out of them by degrees. We determined to see what would kill them most readily. We buried them in quicklime, out of which they soon crawled, seeming to feel no bad effects. We next put them in a vessel containing finely powdered salt, with the same result as before. We then determined to try paraffin, but all to no purpose. My friend getting out of patience with such varied and futile experiments, resolved to set fire to the paraffin, in which they were immersed, and of course, with satisfactory results. We however, proved beyond doubt, that any application to the soil would be useless for their extermination, and that the only plan would be to gather them out one by one, and either cut them in two, or consign them to the fire, as they seemed to be very nearly akin to the fabled giant who was accounted invulnerable, except in the heel.
What do you think his dreaded enemy was, leather jackets, cutworms?
The Black Grub, as it is usually called, is found in greatest numbers in heavy soils. The first time I had opportunity of examining this pest was some ten years ago. While conversing with a gardener on horticultural matters, he chanced to say that he could get no vegetables from his garden, owing to the ravages of a grub, which ate everything while in the young and tender state. I expressed a wish to see it, whereupon we entered the garden, and I requested that he would turn up a few spadefuls of soil, in order that I might examine it carefully. Their presence was certainly unmistakeable, for in every spadeful of soil he threw up, we found two or three of them. They were about as long as an ordinary caterpillar, of a dark slate colour, and extremely bulky, having every appearance of being formidable enemies to all plant life. ……. My next acquaintance with this enemy occurred some years afterwards, when looking over a garden which had previously been grassland. The owner of the garden had got young Lettuce plants, several of which presented a very sickly appearance. On examination of the plants in question, we found that at the root of each, this Black Grub was busy, eating the very life out of them by degrees. We determined to see what would kill them most readily. We buried them in quicklime, out of which they soon crawled, seeming to feel no bad effects. We next put them in a vessel containing finely powdered salt, with the same result as before. We then determined to try paraffin, but all to no purpose. My friend getting out of patience with such varied and futile experiments, resolved to set fire to the paraffin, in which they were immersed, and of course, with satisfactory results. We however, proved beyond doubt, that any application to the soil would be useless for their extermination, and that the only plan would be to gather them out one by one, and either cut them in two, or consign them to the fire, as they seemed to be very nearly akin to the fabled giant who was accounted invulnerable, except in the heel.
What do you think his dreaded enemy was, leather jackets, cutworms?