Kitchen Garden Forum

Tigger wrote:In your dreams boys.......

No Tigger.

James Martin at your mercy, leather straps.....


Sounds more like one of YOUR dreams to me.

Well here in Somerset it has been blowy and it has been cold, but not too cold to get out on the ground and thankfully not too wet, we have had a sprinkling of snow on the Mendips but none here on the Somerset Levels, lots of hail.

What did I do? Rotovated my spud patch with my newly refurbished Merry Tiller (see tools and mahinery section). I also did a lot of tidying up and finally got my raspberry rows finished, and manured. The kettle was constantly on, plenty of hot cuppas and Radio 2 but hardly anyone else on the allotment field, it is scandalous really that some plots have not been touched for over six months, me thinks the committee will be sending some letters out, makes me think about taking on a half plot and just putting fruit on it, what will the missus say.....dreaming of punnets of strawberrries!!

Hope to get up there again tomorrow weather permitting

Compo

Nice to see a lot of folk about early this morning, 14 guests and me.

could be they are all late?

I never thought about it like that Richard.

I've just come back from over the allotment, and i have to say theres an Easterly wind blowing, and it really feels quite chilly.

Hope it doesn't catch the Apple blossom thats just about to open.

It's an Easterly breeze here today too...and we are nearer to its source .....but I found a sheltered spot to work in this afternoon and working from a couple of scaffold boards I got a few seeds in..the ground is working down very well..as long as I keep my weight off it

This time last year, I seem to recall, it was dry as dust and I was watering in the bottom of seed drills more like June/July sowings.

I checked under the Carrot fleece this morning and they are starting to come through...just over a fortnight since they went in....but I'm not counting my Carrots 'til they are in a tray on the Hall steps

A single row of Premiere tateys are showing through....they are looking like they are wondering how they deserved to be set outside when some of their colleagues are in the warm of the greenhouse

Clive.

Well, this morning we had 3 inches of snow on everything so I couldn't do any of the gardening jobs I had planned. It had melted by lunchtime though leaving several rhubarb stems broken off with the weight and lots of squashed daffodils.

Like you say, last April was about the only summer we got. I suppose this year is more normal so we can hope things warm up soon and that summer isn't a wash-out like last year.

I seem to have been doing most of my gardening in the greenhouse as the garden hasn't been warm enough to sow anything yet with all the frosts. I've quite a few things in modules ready to plant out when it warms up a bit.

Gosh that wind is still cold out there this morning, never mind.
Just put the kettle on again, any one fancy a cuppa, and yes Lizzie if you insist i'll bring it up to you.

Bit of a traffic jam in the front garden today.

.....and it looks like it is gravel raking tomorrow..



Clive.

Enjoyed GQT today for the encouraging week's forecast and the debate about peat. Peter Seabrook pointed out that
1)peat free composts are inferior
2)properly managed extraction captures carbon as it regenerates
3) left to themselves peat bogs emit loads of methane
4) peat free composts don't compact and are heavier so take more packaging and more fuel to transport
5)horticultural use is not the biggest use 6)extraction provides a valuable income in a weak economy like Lithuania.
He believes horticulture has been an easy target, he didn't actually mention JB's friends at the Soil Association but I think they were implicated. In summary he will carry on using peat as it works and doesn't damage the environment.
He has been a refreshing change on the programme, last week when discussing green manuring he said he hadn't the time to grow anything on a veg plot that he couldn't eat.

Clive, what is the red car, background, above the green softtop MGB convertible?

Is it the MG badged Austin 1300 ?

Dear Clive, nice to see you had a few friends round for drinks.

Dear Geoff, i still use normal potting compost i must admit.

MG1100 I think...? from the 1100/1300 range..




It stood out well today as my favourite...although I reckon a W reg blue MGB GT looked the business too.??..




My poor Skoda was sulking in the courtyard

Aah, my first car was a Mk-III Austin 1300.

By the uprights on the bumpers there that is a Mk-I or II.

If memory serves me correctly it was the same as the austin, but had a slab of wood for a dash and some badges.

Or did it have twin SU carbs?

That one could do with its hydolastic pumping up a bit though.