Kitchen Garden Forum

Just had a mid-term garden catalogue come through the door. thumbing through, I though I would order some fresh LONGOR shallot stock. That is until I saw the price. £13.99 for 15 sets, plus £4.95 P&P a grand total of £18.98. Say £19.00 that's just over £1-19 each. Are well, back to using my own stock.

Wow! That is pretty cost prohibitive Shallot Man! Do they know something we don't about failures in set production to explain these prices?

I saw four woodpigeons jumping about in my cherry tree today. They were going along the branches picking the little green cherries and spitting them on the floor!!! B******s. They did fly away when I dashed out clapping my hands. It's a pity the tree is too large to cover.

I sometimes tie pillowcase sized bags I've made from fleece on some branches, but in wet years you get quite a lot of rotten fruits. If it stays dry they work well keeping both birds and wasps off.

Compost delivery at association shop, four pallets worth,
Planted gifted elephant garlic in barrel at allotment and pulled brassicas as they'd finished flowering.
Repaired and renovated 3' × 2' wooden cold frame, replaced all the screws with slightly larger ones after gluing the vandalised bits together, then wood treatment. When that is dry I'll refit the phone box plastic panel that was thrown into the site years ago - vandal proof they couldn't break it but they could kick it out of its phone box frame.

Showers arrived so fitted replacement automatic roof vent opener to greenhouse, also new louvre vent opener, then sowed seeds, weeded border., nipped out between showers to collect ornamental grass and lavender seedlings from their parents pots on the terrace and potted up loads.
Sowed more seeds, no staging left free.

Goodness peter you know how to graft!

Got a few jobs left to do on my plot if you're passing!

It is lovely to see the greenhouse bursting with future promise....

Checked my elephant garlic today. The plants look very healthy from a distance but when I was up close I was disappointed to see that half of them have a seed head developing which is disappointing as they,ve been well watered despite our recent drought.

Only my second year of growing it and I can't recall what I did with the seeding ones last year. Should I dig them up now or let them go on growing ?

Impressive day at lottie, sunny & bright and 19 degrees for a bit.

Along with the weeding & finding seeds popping up as expected finally, and to take off the edge off the disasters I had a bee swarm go right over the plot. I had one before that came from the hive on the end plot on the row (now gone), but this one came over the hedgerow from the field. Maybe the farmer has a hive or two in among the rape or they were wild bees. Either way watching nature on the move was amazing - the screams further down the row tell me they weren't as impressed as me!

Westi wrote:......lla bee swarm go right over the plot. ......- the screams further down the row tell me they weren't as impressed as me!

Idiots, bet they were flailing, swatting and running.

A swarm is laden with Honey and looking for a home, they don't sting.

Unless


One or more of their number get squished or sting in retaliation to being swatted, thus releasing the comr-and-help-me-sting pheromone.

I noticed that we-all appear to find it convenient to add to a generalised thread rather than start what might be a topic-tensive thread though in the few years I've been on this forum I have never been accosted by topic-adherence-police.

I looked for the latest threads on the topic of this years, or the latest compost misery and found nothing. Is it a dead issue ?

Last years economy purchase was the most balanced i've had for years.

Want to talk ?

Well Richard - it is general chat! We just prove the topic heading absolutely correct!

Don't bring up compost or poor germination - yep it's a dead issue - most of my ruddy seedlings have not thrived as expected & are well dead - is it compost or seed? Thread started off we had poor germination but we use different compost & seed suppliers. Some clever person may have an explanation - weather? No April showers?

Promise I've had to cut the seed heads of my elephant garlic ,mine were watered regularly most days

Hi PP,
You're typo amused me because when I wrote to you just now and just read through before submitting and Hi PP had been changed to hippy by this Fire thingamajig!

Lovely mild evening and morning. Lots of moths in the moth trap to identify this morning.

Oops predictive text strikes again Johnboy,. Good job you checked it we'd be wondering what you'd had for supper