Kitchen Garden Forum

alan refail wrote:Will spring 2012 turn out to have been one of extremes? Hottest March, wettest April. Is this month aiming for the coldest May title?

It's not as cold here at nights as it must have been elsewhere, but daytime temperatures are rarely above 11C. Fortunately some sun is forecast for the rest of this week.

Ditto that for South Wales as well , lets hope we get some Summer!

A bit later than some years... We enjoyed some Premiere new Potatoes this lunch time. They were in pots in the unheated greenhouse planted March 10th but have been outside for the last week.

Clive.

I haven't sown our carrots at all yet because the ground must be really cold still. BUT, folks, the forecast for next week is for temperatures in the upper teens and little wind (albeit still from the E/NE to start the week)! Looking forward to getting things planted and sown.

Wind from the E/NE...guess that means that we get to stay cool out East here.......

I got a few jobs done at work this morning...moving a few things from the frames so that more from the back greenhouse can make it out to the frames....bit of a log jam....

Yesterday it had dried enough on the top that we could walk on to hoe and weed...but we then had 7mm rain overnight.

I spent some time sorting through the Courgette, Squash, Butternut and Pumpkin seed packets...the propagator is now filled with batch 2 of these sowings in 3.5" pots. The successes of the first batch are growing on in the back greenhouse. I did chance some Courgettes outside in a very sheltered corner with wall behind....

Back home I sowed a few short rows of Lettuce working from the path and 2 rows of Parsnip Countess.

...and tonight on return from greenhouse closing at work I called by the stables and picked up 3 bags of "horse" for the compost heap.

Clive.

Not a sign of germination from the various seeds sown last week.
Plenty of slime death trails from slugs & snails hitting the slug pellets.

Planted my three 30 foot rows of Desiree maincrop potatoes, mowed all paths, strimmed the car park avoiding the cowslips.

Enjoyed some sunshine.

It was a miserable old day here yesterday, weather wise. Had a couple of lawns to cut, but they were still a little too wet really, and kept bunging the mower up, making for rather hard and annoying work....

Much the same out there this morning.

My gardens are taking a lot of keeping on top of at the moment....

I've designed an installation for Tate Modern but am still looking for a title, not happy with Batten Burgh, any ideas?



It's actually my Winter greens bed if you are wondering.

Geoff wrote:any ideas?

"Stick 'em up" or "This is a stake-out"

Deforestation, encompassed!

I see when I went in to work this morning that the Runner Beans are pushing through....not sure they'll like the temp' they are coming into...I had my top coat and woolly hat on.

We hosted a visit from BBC local radio today.....so the Sweat title of this thread fits. the live broadcast started at 1pm and I had to sweat it out to 2.20pm before a microphone came my way... Anyway, I tried to answer the questions as they were fired at me, without a chance previously for any talk through of potential content....
I managed to get a mention for my young colleague Sam and his lawn mowing but failed to get a mention for our loyal volunteers.
I feel I may have some explaining to do on Wednesday when they are in next.!!

Clive.

They must be totally amazed how you keep the gardens looking so nice by yourself, Clive.

It's been an odd sort of day here: neither hot nor cold - just middling and dry

Managed to pot on all the pumpkins and Winter Festival squash and moved them and all the other squashes out of the greenhouse cloche onto the greenhouse staging (phase 1 of hardening off) and then moved the tomatoes from the house into the greenhouse cloche.

Once they've been in the cloche overnight for a few days I'll move them onto the staging and then I'll be moving the chillis and peppers out of the house and into the cloche - once I've repotted them all first that is.

VPM
x

Sun came out for two minutes earlier.
Any road the rain stayed away.

Planted three hundred onion sets, pre-hoed the area. Weeded a goodly patch alongside the sets, moved my brassica cage and started to clear where it had been.

Finished off with lots of sowing in the greenhouse.
"Humax" general.purpose compost very.nice our of the bag, a mix with BOTH sphagnum moss peat and recycled stuff.

To vegpatchmum,
It's hard work isn't it? Backwards, forwards and sideways trying to give everything what it wants/needs, I'm getting quite dizzy

I like Humax compost, Peter. It's good stuff.

Planted 56 leeks this morning (Musselburgh and Blue Green Autumn). I wish all plants were as easily planted as leeks - make hole, drop in, water - Bob's your uncle ....

I also prepared the carrot bed which looks very much like your greens enclosure, Geoff. I will sow the carrots later this week when the soil has warmed up a bit. It certainly was very pleasant today, at last.