Early Summer Bits and Bobs.

[Westi]

Seeing my neighbour is coming down with the shed tomorrow & there will be excess chatter & time taken I am going to catch the first bus down to at least get some bits done before he comes down.

I don't understand why Mr was laughing it's only 05.25....well firstly it will be grumpy me in the morning, then the critter feeding etc, then rounding up the youngest cat inside who has been responsible for me missing the bus several times by following the dog & I down the road. All of this factoring in that this bus is likely to be empty & probably running ahead of schedule for the driver to get to the terminus stop with the loo open in the garage opposite the bus stop. Wish me luck! This little shed better be worth it but has mostly been jinxed from the start...it's the 3rd delivery, but I got the raised bed for free, neighbour got the 2nd wrong delivery shed as again they didn't want to pick it up. This is at least what I originally ordered!

[oldherbaceous]

Been very busy for the last couple of hours, hoeing, amazing what area you can cover when conditions are just right….

Before that, I was potting on plants ready for the Church Fete….

[Clive.]

A little breezy from the NNE today but a lovely sunny day with blue sky and this morning the red kite was up in that sky again...they seem to love a bit of a breeze to hang about in.
On a couple of evenings I have seen the barn owl cruising about low over the meadow section of the parkland.
...and I caught a glimpse of a Spitfire yesterday that had had a run out towards the coast and back..

Planted out a few helichrysum this morning with a good dose of water into the planting hole under them, hope the breeze hasn't caught them too much. Hilled 3 rows of potatoes, Kestrel and Nicola.

This afternoon I have had a tidy along my narrow border by my lawn here...it had got a little embarrassing but things pulled out well and it looks loads better...just needs all the rest doing now.........

C.

[Westi]

Well the little shed arrived on the plot today, all built including the floor. To say I was excited was an understatement. Well they say 3 times lucky & I was lucky as the supplier could not be bothered to collect the wrong items, although they did debate a fair bit initially but I had all the paperwork & pics of the boxes with the wrong labels on them. I'm going to call it the Beach Hut as it does look very similar to the shape of the rows of beach huts down by the beach.

I put some bits in it to weigh it down for the moment, but plan is to put a fence post each side as it is plastic & as summer most stakes & stuff are in use so probably not enough weight. Other than this I had the extra time on the plot waiting & got loads done - staging out, 1st runner frame up, patch in oldest compost bin cleared of weeds & watermelons sown, sweet potato bed prepped & ready, tunnel completely weeded & cleared, dug over sweet corn bed, cleared the back fence weeds & even had time for some ball games with the mutt! I even caught the first bus; shame 2 buses didn't even turn up coming home.....45mins of my life wasted!

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[oldherbaceous]

I planted some Statice earlier, Clive….Helichrysum next week, as they weren’t quite ready!
The shed looks really nice, Westi, glad you are pleased with it!
Sounds as if we have all had a busy day……

[Clive.]

Now, that's funny as 'my' Helichrysum was ready to go out but the Statice needs a bit longer in the trays.

C.

[retropants]

very smart Westi!

[tigerburnie]

The garden is doing ok, Rabbits eating the wife's new flowers, so chicken wire fence erected, Rabbit now gone, slugs and snails are hammering the peas and lettuce, but the Song Thrushes are doing their job well enough, smashed snail shells on the path. In the greenhouse everything is coming along nicely, we have had some early Radishes, the Strawberries are just beginning to ripen, there's flowers on the Peas and the slug free lettuce are looking good. First flowers on the Chillies and Peppers, but out side the Carrots are being eaten by slugs and snails, I fear for the second year we may get no carrots or beetroots, you win some and lose some.

[retropants]

I thought I might get a few carrots this year, after last year's all got eaten. I sowed them in a large pot this time, along with spring onions and a few salad bowl lettuce for harvesting small. They took for ever to appear, a good % germinated. About a month ago, one side of the pot went bald. Then the rest over the last couple of weeks. I now have on solitary spring onion seedling. I think I'll give up on carrots.

[Geoff]

I ended up with some of my plants getting too big in their little pots so I planted the complete "Cut & Dried" bed on the 12th.
Statice, Helichrysum, Helipterum (that we haven't grown before, started flowering very early), Love Lies Bleeding, Larkspur, Penisetum (another first timer), Papaver Black Peony (another first, apparently good for seed pods, should probably have direct sown, bugger to prick out like most poppies), Hordeum, Nigella (forgot to save or buy Love-in-a-Mist so sowed some culinary Nigella, will have to see what happens) and Zinnia at the top.

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[oldherbaceous]

I used to grow a type of Poppy called, “Hen and Chickens” for the dried seed heads.
And a Nigella called, Transformer, also for the dried seed heads.

[Westi]

Hi retropants!

It seems an awful lot of people are having trouble with disappearing carrots judging by my flicking through groups on FB & my own experience. I had 2 sows appear but disappear so I dug out all the soil & I found a few slimy things but not enough to explain total eradication. Sowed 3rd time in nicely re-dug bed & very much the same result but not a slime trail anywhere. Because there are so many seeds in a packet I risked a 4th sow on Sunday. I backed these up with sows in pots & in the tunnel, away from the main bed so will see.

The ones I sowed to overwinter in the tunnel were all fine & from last years packet. I still have this pack so if any further issues I will be using these old seeds as starting to wonder if an issue with the fresh seeds for this year? They're viable as showed but just couldn't go any further with growth.

[tigerburnie]

Most of my carrots germinated, the tops were there(small) one day and gone the next, I shall try growing in containers next year.

[Myrkk]

I’ve popped some wool pellets around mine so fingers crossed. It’s mainly the brassicas getting it though.

[Westi]

A review of my runner canes following the transfer of stuff to the Beach Hut, showed they were pretty dodgy & would probably snap if a big wind. Last night I put an SOS out to the trading hut on our FB site to see if they had any left & they did & even opened just for me to get some. They are the best canes I think I have ever seen or bought. Really, really thick, no splinters, perfectly straight! These have been definitely been nowhere near China! Apparently they are locally sourced, hopefully this turns out to a successful business for whoever is growing these!