Summer bits and bobs.

[oldherbaceous]

Looks like it has done a really good job, Colin.

[Westi]

Bored with the rain now, time to turn it off & give me a chance to catch up with the chores! What I can have 4 days from Thurs? Result indeed & even the max temp is around 18C! Plot will probably be sodden but I'm sure I can find things to do!

[retropants]

It really has been all or nothign with the rain this summer hasn't it Westi?

[oldherbaceous]

We have had a fair bit of rain now but, it hasn’t gone down far and certainly hasn’t made any difference to the water table.

[Westi]

Still holding onto Thurs plot visit but it has been hit & miss with the weather reports. Going to be some showers but nothing like forecasted thankfully. My phone hasn't update but the local report was just on & all OK, some showers on & off but the big wave of rain is heading north before it reaches us, just some little stragglers to deal with.

Schools are back so the buses will be running so straight home in a blink as well. I'm hoping my new bus buddies will be back to their normal routine as it seems ages since I've seen them. Mind they are more interested in the dog than me, but will be nice to catch up!

[Clive.]

Locally there's a 1m wide trench 1.5m deep being dug across some established grass land for some services and it's dry right down...wouldn't have been if done last year, it would have been a flume.!

10mm rain over the day today inc' some thunder and lightning this afternoon.. a long promised greenhouse sorting and a most useful repotting session ensued..

C.

[Westi]

Wasn't exactly the weather I anticipated but I went down to the plot anyway. Lot's a short sharp rain but not continuous & I could see most of the rain clouds coming from the west. I stayed in the tunnel mostly & also noted how dry it was in there at only a few inches down in some places & the dripper hose was working. Hence I went to town in there digging deeper around the plants & watering plus adding some feed granules to my dug areas which hopefully the roots will pick up on, although they are producing well. It is going to take some work end of year to get the soil better in there, let alone the rest of the plots! I do have my compost which is looking OK but it's not bulky & dark as mainly from the sandy areas.

As I have no access to any manure this year, I will have to buy. (I actually do have access to some but I've been told the horses providing it are rescues & receiving medical treatment, so no thanks). I have found Levington's Farm Yard manure & bought a bag to see, any one tried it? I haven't opened the bag yet as I'm waiting for my plot neighbour to take it some other things down as the porch is a bit full & don't want to open it & then it spill the bag in his car? Any other Go To's you can recommend that will offer me the manure element or alternative soil improver & feed?

PS: Road fully open, over half an hour time saved plodding home!

[Colin2016]

I have been using a hot compost bin at home for kitchen scraps and greenhouse prunings.

I have accumulated 8/10 2 litre milk bottle size full of juice, which has been used on plot for spuds & brassica and at home.

Feel the harvest has been good this year and would like to think it was down to the compost juice.

As there has been no manure on the plot just homemade compost and juice perhaps this could be a solution for your manure shortfall Westi.

[retropants]

My greenhouse peppers (in pots) are the best I've ever grown in over 30 years. I'm putting this down to the vermicompost I added when potting them on. My wormery is almost a year old now, and going well. I've just added the second tray. The only issue is the tap is always blocked, so I have trouble letting the 'juice' off, which I use, diluted to feed the plants over the summer. The tomatoes (in the ground) also had added vermicompost, but they are growing near a laurel hedge, and it has taken all the moisture and goodness away from the tomato plants, sadly. The Kalettes are looking very healthy, although not as tall as they should be, hopefully the recent and ongoing rain will help here. I think the basket toms are done, but surprisingly, the Cambridge strawberries, (all varieties having been given a severe haircut 3 weeks ago) have a few flowers and fruit forming on them!

[oldherbaceous]

A beautiful day here today, can nearly hear everything having a second regrowth…..think if we have a sunny, late Autumn, there will be lots of plants coming back into bloom.

[Westi]

I have found a lot of reviews on Levington's with mixed feedback but interestingly most negative results were older when the companies went peat free. The most recent ones talk about nice dark crumbly soil. Scrolling a bit further I then found a letter from Levington's, very long letter responding to someone's complaint where they acknowledged the transition difficulties they had from peat & offered them a full refund & free compost when they had worked through improving the problems. They admitted to using council compost. Basically it reads they missed the boat with their own preparations. I think I will try a few bags. A) To just check & B) It will be put down & covered all of winter/early spring so worms will do the work.

Back down tomorrow as the sun is shining, not going to be able to do much re; sowing as had a problem. I left the winter seeds down there, nicely tucked in I thought under 2 little trugs, but I just had a sodden mess of seed packets as the rain blew in. Couldn't even read the packets even if I wanted to try them; lesson learnt; yep I'm a plonker! Mind I did quite enjoy scrolling through ordering new over winter seeds & I did keep to the same supplier as much as poss so most will be delivered together so a chance to catch up. Will trim the hedge row back instead & remove a lot of the Jerusalem artichokes that have popped up again!

[Clive.]

A beautiful day here today, can nearly hear everything having a second regrowth…..think if we have a sunny, late Autumn, there will be lots of plants coming back into bloom.

We certainly had that happen after the 1995 hot Summer, I remember some delphiniums sending up a few flowers. I also remember then it went to some record low temps at the end of December that year. It all sticks in memory as we did a years video diary that year...but only got given the camera in March...but usefully it snowed then and thus the video could start with snow and end with the Dec' snow... i also remember watching 12 hours of video recordings on a fast replay to look for snippets to edit in and ended up with a mega migraine..

C.

[oldherbaceous]

I always cut Delphiniums down to the ground after the first flush of flowers, then normally get a good second flowering….this year I kept watering them, after I had cut them down and they put some really good re-growth, now with the rain, i’m hoping for some really good blooms in about 4 weeks time.

Someone asked me if they could have 5 runner beans to put into a produce show….they only went and won first prize.

[Westi]

Nice day down at the plot but a slow start with an accident down the road leaving the whole road closed. The bus did get through eventually but I lost nearly an hour of time for chores & as I had already moved to the later bus it was a brief visit. Fortunately it was very quite down there so limited interruptions except for my neighbour giving me some just laid eggs, deffo not going to say no to these!

I just did some tie ins of asparagus that had gone on an angle with the wind, nothing fancy as they are starting to change colour. Then I sorted the strawberry beds as the runners had rooted so they were all tidied & I netted the Chinese, then time for home. Will catch up on Monday.

[oldherbaceous]

Quite a busy day for planes here today…maybe some were heading to Duxford!