Kitchen Garden Forum

Lovely and warm here, showers forecast for this afternoon….and the Swallows are now here in Milton Bryan!

Johnboy used to love the first sighting of the Swallows!

Can't see a thing up here, thick fog, Autumn has arrived I think.

Lovely day here too, first choc ice of the season with afternoon brew.

I feel quite guilty now, Burnie……hopefully you will get a brighter day tomorrow!

Had a couple of hours over the allotments after lunch, and managed to get my bean canes up and 70 runner beans planted too, so very pleased, as it started raining heavily just as I had finished…..

Warm and dry up our way today....much better than the grey cloudy day suggested by the forecast..and no rain at 11am as was listed..in fact blooming hot at times..except if in the East and then North wind...

I put a couple of bean wigwams up quickly this afternoon...May 4th is said to be bean planting time in this area

C.

Bit the bullet today & decided to clear up the front compost which was fairly overrun with weeds, mainly bindweed which was getting out of order. As you know chasing bindweed is one of my favourite jobs so wasn't too upset. Managed to chase it back to the fence line & with all the digging the compost is looking nice & ready for use so the beans, melons & squash will get a bigger top up.

The front rhubarb that side which was completely entwined in bindweed & had nettles everywhere was cleared & I found the really long canes hanging off the fence but completely hidden; so that was good as thought they had been nicked & my hazel poles are looking ropey. Finished it off by weeding all the beds down that end so pretty chuffed with myself. The strawberries in particular look good with loads of small fruit & flowers, but the onions are not happy as the birds have pecked the stems & stressed them into flowering & they seem to dying back since I nipped the flowers off & the small bulbs are getting their papery skin. Fortunately managed to find some sets online.

Beautifully sunny here today. The pond aka puddle is looking decidedly green and horrid so not surprised the frogs haven’t visited, really must get to it and give it a facelift.

The plants are enjoying the foray into the sun as I harden them off but it does get decidedly cold here in the evening. Think that might be over in a week or so though.

Having to open the conservatory doors to allow some heat to escape but that allowed the next door neighbours cat in and I found it in the middle of all my plants :/

Well we got no rain, thunder or lightning, but some spectacular pics on the local news & online. So thought it a bit opportunistic to share the pics of the Electroculture stakes I bought. No info regarding how many plants they protect etc but sent a message to the supplier for more information. (It was a long list of questions so not anticipating a quick reply)!

`oooo, interested to hear more Westi

How do you use these please westi?

Rain all day here and still raining now……but a little sun tomorrow!

Bright and breezy with a bit of warmth from the sun, potted the chillies and peppers on into their final pots, now hopefully tucked up warm in the greenhouse.

retropants I have no idea of the finer details like distance between plants, will they cover more than 1 plant, do you need more for bigger plants etc.? Pretty much the same lack of information all the folk pushing this method of growing are encouraging. So I went back online to contact the seller for more info.

Contact the seller on 'A' is not direct through a link now & they have a clever computer that intercepts it trying to help. (Wonder if training A.I.)? Anyway got to the end of the weird questions & they are going to contact the seller who apparently has 3 days to respond..or what happens? Couldn't ask that question as the clever computer got bored & stopped the conversation!

Nice day as it turned out & got in the zone easily. Weeds have really enjoyed the rain & short bouts of sun so I had to do finger weeding as the proper intended seeds were in the mix & also up but way smaller. 10 beds cleared, & I had to put another slate in the compost bin as so many weeds. Even snuck in some re-sows.

Why was I so relaxed...? The neighbour took my last autumn sacks & shed clear out to the tip & engaged the dog for ages with loading! He was the first outside family person she met & besotted with him & he back so I just let them get on with it as both very happy in each others company.