Kitchen Garden Forum

Moving away from the weeding side of things as all the little plants have really perked up & need to go out. Fortunately most of the area's for planting have been fed, prepped & covered. I do have an excess of plants as another one of those scenario's where there was no shows for weeks but as soon as I re-sowed the whole lot came up. I'll plant them all just to see & the food bank will be grateful if they do all show.

It is probably good timing to leave the weeds & compacted areas as weather is showing some light rain for about 5 days on the trot, from the week end & if that eventuates it will certainly help when I get started again. Next priority will be to get the 2nd runner frame & the French bean wigwams up. I have watered their areas but little impact as still can't get the canes in deep enough even using the Hori knife to make a split wide enough to support the fat end of the canes even by flooding the holes I had made. I might get lucky as I found an old broken spade handle which looks OK so thinking I will try smashing this into the holes with a broken paver. This will be fine for the canes if it works but might need a gentler touch for the actually planting holes or the whole lot will probably fall down on me!

Good day today & made a dent in the list. Planted: Sweet Potatoes, yellow melons & watermelons, cucumbers, spinach, red lettuce, more peppers & runner beans. Could have done more but spent some time making the ridges for the sweet potatoes & mounds for the melons higher & deeper, well not just making the ridges etc, but also decided to use what Strulch I had left to cover the soil to limit weeding & keep the moisture in. I put up a lower height runner frame in as well next to the higher one that I just can't reach the height to reach the beans. The lower frame is going to be like a walk through tunnel with 3 rows of canes hoping that instead of the tops just waving around they will go horizontally across.

Plan when I go down on Wed which is supposed to be a drizzle day; will be getting the leeks, sweet corn & kales in & uncovering the pumpkin & squash beds. My guess is one more visit after Wed I will have all the plants in which again is perfect timing as then near a week of drizzle which in turn will make the weeding easier & hopefully loosen the soil a bit & fingers crossed can not have to water which will technically buy me about 40mins.

I've pre watered my tomato planting area, which will be under cover, as it is so dry and dusty. I'll do this a couple more times, to really get the moisture deep down. Basket tomatoes, a couple planted out and some salad bowl lettuce finally big enough to transplant, just got to hope the slugs & snails don't find them. Sweetcorn almost big enough to go out, Cobra beans will follow in a week I hope. Peppers etc in the green house are desperate to go into their final, big pots, but I've not got the space for them yet.

Have you tried the Slug Gone dried sheep’s wool pellets Retropants? I’ve got all my lettuces planted out surrounded with the stuff and they’re doing great (so far anyway)! I’ve got it round my brassicas as well - still do a slug hunt at dusk though!

thanks Adrienne, I'll take a look at that stuff!

My friend gave me some wool sheets a couple of Xmas' ago. It was basically a squished square of wool that you cut to size to go around the plants like a collar or make bed edging or whatever you want. It was quite pretty with all the different colours of wool & about a 2 centimetre thick. I used it for the tunnel crops & seems to have worked. I know she bought it in Dorset but don't know where as not seen it advertised. I have seen sheets for sale but not as thick as these.

Currently thanks to the dry I've not encountered too many slimy things but I'm sure they are just waiting like us for some rain. It's either Thundery rain or light showers tomorrow, but Thurs is sunny so I hope some good showers tomorrow as it will be easier to work the soil & get some more plants in...& get the stakes in to cover these plants!

We are just looking at a very black sky but so far only had a few drops of rain but it’s looking hopeful!

We got quite a bit of rain today & not just light showers as the odd deluge thrown in the mix as well. Builders got well wet & sick of climbing on the roof to secure the skylight but whatever the gear is they secure it in needs to be dry, so putting tarps on & off but got there in the end & screed is down as well; funnily with some wee paw prints in one corner but not an issue as flooring will go on top.

It is going to be nice not to have to water the plot tomorrow so I should be able to get quite a bit more done with this extra time, not to mention it should be quicker planting out with the damp soil. I am going to just focus on getting as many of these in as possible so won't be netting anything on this first round. That will be another day as no nasties around yet, but you can bet it will blowing a gale or something!

No rain here still….things are really struggling now….loads of shrubs are losing their blooms before they have properly opened

We have some rain billed to occur on the 4am and 5am hours...I see it has been upgraded to dark cloud and two rain spots at 90% chance of... There are a few more spots showing for Friday overnight into Saturday.
I have been busy planting out again, with water under in the hope of then getting a little overnight shower..as long as it knows when to stop , when it starts....

Back field that has been irrigated seemed to have suffered a slight hiccup yesterday evening as the hose drum device looked to be lying on its side with a wheel in the air..?? When I checked later in the evening all looked to have been righted once more..

C.

Just enough rain to damp the car roof this morning, whilst tallying with the weather radar, there was a fraction more at the big garden, 1mm....and a puddle or two on the driveway...
....enough to make previously 'invisible'' seedling weeds sit back up and laugh at you

C.

where'd my reply go?

The forum hasn’t started the disappearing replies again, has it!

Missed the showers again but, Saturday is looking promising at the moment….
I did water some clumps of Perennials at the Big house this morning, as they had completely collapsed.

Hi retropants! I've had loads of mine disappear over time, but have found if you go to full editor & preview the post is saved to send again as it is usually that someone has posted the same time as you on the main feed. Saves a load of cussing; well in my case anyway!

Not a bad day & the impact of the rain was definitely evident as I could just put my pointy steel thing in easily, (it's probs got a real name but it's a hollow steel thing with a point I bought that was supposed to stop the canes getting wet & perishing but not really fit for this as canes just bang against the edges & snap anyway or you have to get creative covering the top opening or it fills up with water)!

Anyway got both the early & late leeks in, sweetcorn in & the other beds prepped down this side for when I go down next. I didn't finish as much as I wanted as I just couldn't leave the leeks uncovered, it seemed wrong but having experienced leek moth /miner there is not a happy outcome even though a bit early for them my brain said don't risk it. Of course netting out coincided with a sudden breeze! My back won't allow me down tomorrow which is the last sunny day for a bit, but only light rain on Saturday & I have my little fold up raincoat in the tunnel so will go down & finish the planting on Plot 1 & the minimal weeding left on this plot. Plot 2 is much more ready, lot's of weeding of onions but not too much planting!

Cooler this morning (which I welcome) and two days ago I planted out my runner beans. I'm pleased with my onion sets that have benefitted from some rain we had last Wednesday but my seed sown onions have not done well in this dry weather. Potatoes and tomatoes are flowering so I don't want any late frosts. I had a pleasant surprise when planting out the beans, I noticed a newly born lamb in the field, it wasn't planned as the sheep will soon be going to market but this one and her lamb will be spared for now.

Barney