Spring Bits and Bobs.

[Westi]

Stayed to the script & it was tunnel day. The staging went out but with bubble wrap protection for the plants on it, but they have been out when I'm down so have been pretty acclimatised. The toms have been planted in their spot but I had to do some proper digging in some areas in there, but all done & in, & the dog proofing up with bubble wrap clipped to it for further protection for them.

That was the end of the progress, the next bed was so compacted I had to hit the Hori knife with the mallet to break the soil & then whack the clods with some force to make an impact. Went over it about 3 times & still clods so in the end I sacrificed a large trug of water to really wet it so hopefully will be easier to finish when down on Thurs. I say sacrificed as the site has had a huge leak from a split in the pipe from the mains so no water & it sounds like they are having difficulties replacing this pipe work. Fortunately I filled the butts when last down, but will have to save it for the littlin's.

The rest of the beds in there are workable & not rock hard so should be able to finish when down on Thurs. Temp is fine in the tunnel, min temp on the thermometer was 12.3C overnight, but I only have one door open to date. I am deffo going to have to find a farmer somewhere to drop off some muck for next year to properly top up these beds as there is no substitute in any of the bought bags or even from my compost. I already have my eye on a tractor I have seen at the garage nearby a few times filling up so will hijack him at some point. The plot is only about 2 blocks away so he can still fill up & drop off or vice/versa.

[Geoff]

Moved my chrysants outside today so was able to plant my last batch of tomatoes, 18 beefsteaks, 6 each of Cherokee Purple, Burlesque (new to me, anybody grown it?) and Cuor Di Bue.

IMG_5011.JPG (3.5 MiB) Viewed 510 times

[Westi]

They look great Geoff!

My toms are way, way smaller but they have pretty much sulked from sowing & I even had to start again once. It was deffo the compost as new seeds & I asked the neighbour what brand he was using & he gave me some compost he had & they finally woke up when transplanted & grew, but compost really needed sieving. Can I ask what compost you use, just for reference for next year? I daren't ask openly on any forum as will just end up confused & overwhelmed with the multiple responses from folk who may have just got lucky!

[Geoff]

I make my own composts. Potting mix is 5 parts soil, 2 parts leafmould and 1 part sharp sand. I use a base fertiliser similar to John Innes Base plus a bit of extra potash for toms. Seed compost is less soil, sometimes as low as 2:2:1 with a pinch of phosphate. Soil isn't garden soil. I dig the beds in my polytunnel and big greenhouse every year, first trench goes into bags then I add lots of compost and rake level when I've finished, this stops the beds getting too full. These bags are the basis for my compost mixes although early in the year my seed mixes often start from recycled compost from the previous year that has grown peppers and chrysants in pots, not an accepted method I know but works for me. If you can only use bought in peat free compost I would sieve it with 5, 6 or 7 to 1 sharp sand (till it feels nice) and add base fertiliser, the lumps can go in the bottom of pots.
I had to take the photo as I think they are the best beefsteak plants I've ever had, I put it down the extra light in my small heated greenhouse from the extra sunshine this year (27% extra in March, 41% extra in April compared with 2024) and cutting down a bay tree that partly shaded it. My ordinary tomatoes are also good with big trusses of open flowers.

[Clive.]

Now, I am puzzled as I was sure all the effort going into the back field with huge ridging and stone cleaning was for carrots.....
Looking across the field from my kitchen window I can see it greening already......so I went down the garden to see and it looks just like Spring barley coming up.? not in four rows but five rows atop of each ridge. the ridges were diminished at drilling but they are still ridges with wheelings each side...

C.

[oldherbaceous]

That sounds very strange, Clive!

[Westi]

Thanks Geoff for the compost advice. I never use sharp sand in any of my compost creations except for carrots & parsnips, but reflecting on the amount on compaction in some areas of the plots it probably would have helped those areas being applied over the years.

The tunnel is mostly done; the sacrificial trug of water made a huge difference into the depth I could dig to in the compacted bed. Fortunately the mains leak we had was fixed so it got another big hose water today, so it will get another dig. The bed was going to be for the sweet potatoes but I shall put something more shallow rooting in there instead & sweet potatoes can go on the other side where soil is fine. Planted the peppers, aubergines, etc into their spot, but have some more to go in but just a bit too diddy yet. All beds dog proofed!

When I go down on Saturday I have to tackle the front flower beds & grass out the front. My neighbour did a bit but the site strimmer died so not finished & it looks the Strimmer is terminal so could be without it for a while, so best tackle it before I need a machete. Not the fastest job to cut the grass with scissors but found the cheap 'A' ones actually stay sharp, are long & last a fair while. Flower beds just need a bit of a weed & edge as it's been dug & fed once. Hopefully I will get some re-sows done as well. Then it's back to the weeding & general tidying & being drier & warmer the weeds should be slower up.

[vivienz]

Moved my chrysants outside today so was able to plant my last batch of tomatoes, 18 beefsteaks, 6 each of Cherokee Purple, Burlesque (new to me, anybody grown it?) and Cuor Di Bue.

IMG_5011.JPG

Hi Geoff, I grew burlesque toms last year and have more on the go this one. They're a lovely tom - big, fat and very tasty. Early, too, one of the first to flower of all the ones I grew last year and budding up nicely now even though they weren't sown especially early. Well worth growing.

[vivienz]

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for some rain at the moment. There's some forecast for Monday, but everything that's been predicted in the last few weeks has disappeared before it reached us. I have some nematodes for wireworm to water in but they're best put in after rain. They need to go in PDQ as they've been sitting patiently in the fridge for a week already.
Asparagus and greenhouse strawberries are cropping very well.
I put in some of the cima di rapa seeds, brocolli raab 60 day, that came with KG magazine and that's very nearly ready for cropping. I took some a bit early and it's really nice - a pronounced mustard flavour but not fiery hot. As with so many Italian veg, some bitterness to it, too, in a tasty way. I've used it in a stir fry so far and it was excellent. It has also cropped pretty much in its 60 days, too. I'm off to search around to see what the Italians do with it in case I'm missing out on something great!

[AdrienneRobinson]

A couple of days ago I noticed loads of small ladybird larvae on my Bramley apple tree, so I’m really pleased as for some reason that tree always seems to get a big infestation of blackfly. They’re just black and quite small so I’m hoping they’re our native ones.

[AdrienneRobinson]

Yes I expect we’re all needing some rain! I dread our water bill when it comes! I just wish I’d got the skills to set up a water barrel to collect rainwater when we do finally get some.

[Clive.]

Had a bit of change of hobby today...I had a Hornby Dublo 3 rail 8F locomotive arrive..in need of slight wiring repair...easy, soldering iron and solder sucker...add new wire and hey presto... Bah Humbug...not so easy...a few years since I was fiddling with such things and found working in glasses made it mighty difficult..but it's done and it runs .....also distracted when a Spitfire flew by....

Meanwhile, in return for the spare seed potatoes, that came across the road, East, the other week, a few black seeded runner beans have now crossed the road back, West... That set me thinking, should I grow a wigwam of Runner Beans here once again....I wasn't going to...but !

C.

[oldherbaceous]

Afternoon Clive, I too have to wear glasses for reading and close up stuff….and the close up stuff certainly isn’t as easy as when I didn’t need glasses…the reflections make it harder, as does my dirty finger prints all over them!
Glad you got the locomotive up and running.
I think a wigwam of Runner beans will pay dividends…..especially if you can grow them up Hazel sticks….not trying to make extra work for you of course.

[Clive.]

....Sadly, no Hazel here...so it'll have to be some canes, that are still at the garden centre/nursery until I go by there in the morning

Hazel poles are in use in the big garden were there's good stock..and the Sunset beans there are coming up.... pumpkins in their pots are being a bit slow though.........

I ought to have got the work bench magnifier device, that I bought a few years ago, out to do the Dublo job...but stubborn me persevered with the specs....

C.

[oldherbaceous]

Of course, bamboo canes are quite good enough.