Kitchen Garden Forum

I spotted a wren flying into the ivy growing up the wall of the extension at the back of the house today and it had nesting material in its' beak

VPM
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Quite a hard frost first thing the last 2 days.

Planted out the broad beans this morning from modules.

Bit hard to concentrate for long, as we have had a Spitfire flying around the last couple of days, with people filming it from two helicopters accompanying it.
It's been in and out of Lydd Airport, which is only a stones throw from the allotments

A fine gardening day today, spent most of it at the allotment.
Result, four 30' rows of potatoes planted, earthed up and hoed between. Also this year's cabbage patch weeded and hoed flat.

Nice & sunny but wind still brisk down here. Got spuds in, pulled back most of the black plastic thinking the weeds might start then can get it back down again & nip them in the bud.

No butterflies but several bumble bees, Plum beauty is still flowering & bees enjoying it so maybe a crop finally! Broad beans being nibbled by something which is probably slugs or snails although saw no evidence but not mush else available for them. And joy of joy found one teeny little asparagus shoot which I tucked back under the mulch quickish!

Then went & depressed myself & watched Country File weekly weather.

Westi

Yes, I heard that forecast too............

...but today was sunny and we had 535 visitors...and a MG car club event, a Jaguar club visit...and some lovely other marques of classic cars too.


Clive.

I see today that "my" Early Onward Peas sown into the kitchen garden South facing border on 10th April are just popping through.

Clive.

My peas are just poking their little shoots up as well! Usually the mice get them & I have to do a 2nd sowing! Found several little mice nests under the black plastic but don't look like they have been used too long - another casualty of the awful winter

Westi

Lovely day today

Planted 175 onion sets and sowed two rows of Onward peas.

Went for a walk across the fields this afternoon and was surprised to see a bat fluttering around near some trees, in bright sunlight. Perhaps he fancied a change of diet from moths

Cannot remember the last time I heard a Cuckoo, and as for Jackdaws they seemed to have vanished from our area.

PJ, we have found that the bats fly during the day when the evenings and nights are still very cold. so maybe that was the reason. Insects must be very thin 'on the ground' at the moment.

Got home at five, changed, dug the Merry Tiller out of the shed and rotovated the last bit I'd dug by hand. It had just dried into spade sized clods and despite four passes hasn't broken down as much as I'd like. I also went through the remaining undug bit, bouncy bouncy it was.

I put the last few maincrop Potatoes in at home this evening...it too was a bit heavy going just on the North side of our our Southern boundary fence. Our soil has baked a bit hard too after digging. The more clay like ground at work frosts down far better.

I see the field on the edge of town that got wind blown has greened up as the sown crop has come up.
I had feared by how smooth it looked that the crop might come up in next door field.. ..

Clive.

Monika wrote:PJ, we have found that the bats fly during the day when the evenings and nights are still very cold. so maybe that was the reason. Insects must be very thin 'on the ground' at the moment.

Thanks for that Monika. It probably explains it then

Have 2 lots of the schools' netting soaking in Persil in the bath, after which time I'll be pegging them out onto the law to scrub with the brush, rinse and then dry on my whirly gig dryer

Then tomorrow I can sow carrots, parsnips and beetroot and use nice clean(ish) netting to protect them with It is a bit late I guess to start to sow but the weather has been so cold, I didn't see the point in starting them of any sooner.

VPM
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P.S. And to be honest, I didn't really fancy washing netting in the cold air

I have had the plot since October last year its only a half plot but its been used for a tip for the last eleven years, the other half to my plot has been untouched by the last two allocated users and has never been used for eleven years, this week the council kindly decided I could have the other half making mine a full plot, I have been all week trying to dig and rotavate it before planting all my late potatoes in it, I was having a break this morning when one of the guys from lower down the allotment came over talking, mainly about the rotavator asking how it was managing the hard ground he then said why don't you raise the wheels when using it as I may find it easier and it would perform better, what a burk I feel I have had the bloody thing for 5 months and kept wondering why the wheels where spring loaded, in fact last night the bar holding the wheels down came out the wheels sprang up and I went full length flat on my kisser and the penny still did not drop