Kitchen Garden Forum

I can hear Monika shouting, hallelujah……

So here we go into another growing season so, if you garden on a large scale, or very small, or if you are a very experienced gardener, or just starting out on a lifetime of gardening pleasure, may I wish you all a wonderful growing year.

Thanks, OH. We have a week's leave. Could be a good time to get started on the outdoor stuff.

time to get the tomato seeds started then!

I must admit, it hasn’t seemed very Spring like out there today…

I was tree planting this morning...and for certain there was no need to worry about any roots drying out.......

C.

Wet & cold down here today but have had some nice mild days & officially it is Spring Equinox today, so perfect to start the thread. Nice to see Monika's name still popping up!

Eureeka! Thanks OH for making it official!
Yes it has seemed a very long winter, not helped by all the gloom and doom happening on the national & international scene.

But one thing made me laugh this morning as I got dressed looking out of the bedroom window. Two wood pigeons were kissing, courting and then copulating on our front fence. More kissy kissy beak clicking then Mr Pigeon flew off, dropping a great big crap on our car windscreen as he departed !

Morning Primrose, you never cease in making me smile and long may that last……
Another drizzly morning here…..been doing a very satisfying job, been cutting down and digging out a large, multi rooted bramble bush….it must have covered an are of about 12 square yards…all done….

All in a day,s work OH! You,ve earned your morning elevenses! Those bramble roots certainly know how to burrow themselves in. I,ve found that even years later when you thought you,d got everything out a sly shoot starts to resurrect itself again. A bit like removing raspberry canes which seem to have the same stubborn survival instinct!

Just had 3 Crumpets…..xx

Well I reckon that just added back all the calories you just expended digging!

Chuckin' it darn 'ere.........as forecast. but I got the last raised bed weeded and fleeced over and covered with chicken wire to keep the cats out. A lot of Hairy Bittercress in there, my foraging book says you can eat it as an early spring green salad, it is minging, so I'll not bother, which is a pity as I have tons of the stuff.

Managed to mow half of my lawns this afternoon during a dry and windy break in the weather. I did plant 3 rows of early potatoes last Saturday when it was drier but the ground has been soaked again so I will have to wait until the weather dries up the soil before I can finish planting. I picked up 4 large bags of sedge peat compost yesterday from my long time supplier (has been supplying me for over 50 years) but they tell me that next year will be the last year they can extract the peat from the moors. I think (along with many others) that I may stock up next year. Another old Somerset tradition stopped by the regulators, I just hope that it will be all worthwhile.

All the best

Barney

John Boy posted something conflicting on peat extraction somewhere which made me go Hmm? They used helicopters to top up peat on a depleted areas by digging it from other areas that had not had any removed? Appreciate the un-used beds will have the depth to tolerate a bit of a dig but a bit contradictory to contribute to the air pollution by putting up a helicopter.

Twas nice on the plot & quite productive with weeding & stuff but my triumph moment was finally retrieving the black plastic covering the old compost bed that got buried well deep under top ups, but it was my super thick plastic I got years ago from an old neighbour who worked at the airport & it was wrapped around plane engines in their box & in perfect condition. The old hose was a surprise as the first wee peek of it looked like a snake, but even more surprising I have never had a hose like that! ?Hmm again!

We had a v strong wind here last night and I,m glad our "blow away" mini greenhiuse was firmly strapped to the house wall. We,re still trying to figure why strong winds should always trigger our outside front security light to come on. Last night it was triggered so many times yet there are no tall trees or moving branches within its immediate range which could cause this. Does anybody have any ideas please?