Late Winter Bits and Bobs.

[Geoff]

Nice to have some dry weather for a change even though the wind was rather cutting. Had a long overdue big bonfire, that overdue it included the Christmas tree and wrapping paper!

[oldherbaceous]

Old Codger brought a sack of Christmas wrapping paper over the allotments yesterday, when I was having a bonfire…..must be a new seasonal thing, Geoff!

[oldherbaceous]

How’s the back been today, Westi?
Greatly improved I hope…..

[Clive.]

Dare I admit that I managed to get four short rows of Casablanca potatoes in this afternoon. On some lightly sloped ground in front of the big north wall..

Good to have some dry at last...courtesy of the East wind....blooming cold in it but gorgeous out of it..in the sunshine..


C.

[oldherbaceous]

Same here, Clive, a real biting Easterly but, in the glasshouse, it was shirt sleeves..

[Westi]

I did post but again lost. I must use Full Editor but it's natural to use quick reply. I will update tomorrow!

[Myrkk]

Sounds like everyone is getting busy. You always sound so organised and fruitful with your labours in the garden. Haven’t got into the swing of yet, but did plant my rhubarb. Nothing has dug it up so far.
Happily the sun seems to cover most of the width of the garden and it still has a bit to rise. Sadly it is a morning sun garden so no sitting out in it at night without a heater, but I may be surprised. I look forward to having a well tended garden in a few years where I can just think about what I’m going to plant and not what I have to move / dig up.

Glad you are past the investigations robo, they are most unpleasant.

Found a lovely plant nursery, non veggie sadly, but prices are a fraction of the big garden centres. Got some Pulmonaria for under £5/plant, was quite chuffed with that.

[Westi]

Didn't go down today as alternating days until my back behaves, but it is much better. I experimented on how I get home from the plot & tried going over the over bridge via the ramp, rather than the stairs & I think it was better even if longer & I had to dodge a few mobility scooters & bikes. I have completely frazzled my brain with looking at electric tricycles, not helped by the fact that Raleigh & Babboe have all been recalled, but no idea what the problem is. Currently looking at Bakfiets but limited technical info on their site; example it refers to electric battery but not whether it is a lithium one.

Going down tomorrow but yesterday I potted on all the little brassica's into their bigger pots, moved & heeled in the last leeks & dug half their bed. Will do the other half tomorrow & pop in the spuds. I am skipping first earlies this year as I managed to get Jazzy & will just have a little dig around & take some smaller ones as needed as they are nice & waxy. I also plan to plant the new dahlias & do a bit of direct sowing of some salad crops, Kohl Rabi, Carrots, Celeraic etc as time allows. Soil temp is fine & beds dried out but still lots of showers in the mix for quite a while. Aiming for a very early start to enjoy the peace & quiet before I start as the road out the front is near empty on Sundays until the shops open & usually no-one down.

[Clive.]

Back to rain today....

Pleased now that I grabbed the moment yesterday and dragged the big Wolf 3 tine cultivator through a line of dug ground so it could dry in the sun and east wind to enable me to quickly push in a double row of Bunyard's Exhibition broad beans. The ground by afternoon was just warm, felt with back of hand, in yesterday's sunshine. Should have done the same at home but home gardening seems to be suffering from a lack of enthusiasm

Blooming cold wet rain now, wind still in the East.

Plan is to attempt a little more curtain hanging...now a small supply of yet more classic Swish fittings have arrived to hopefully fit the old brass 'Screeeech' track

C.

[Westi]

I was overoptimistic with my to do list but did get the spud bed dug & planted some Jazzy,s. Got way more Jazzy's than expected so I moved the paths a bit to leave a wider bed along the fence thinking I will plant some of the extra's along here for digging up completely as earlies so the others aren't disturbed & then use these beds for extra sows of spring onions & the like. Dug over the 2nd early bed but only roughly & needs raking. As for sowing only managed a re-sow of the carrots in the cold frame.

The crossing over the bridge via the ramp was not as successful today & had to stop & sit on the benches in the woods for a break so a long journey home; so back to searching for options on wheels. However Mr is also looking for an off road mobility now decision made to give up the car & he says we could keep his little one which does about 40 miles on a charge & I can use this with appropriate add on accommodation for the dog. Off roads aren't cheap but go miles & he can continue his photography & bird watching in rough areas & pretty sure it will still end up paying for itself quickly with the savings from the car issues.

[peter]

I'd used my pole saw to remove overhanging hawthorn and honeysuckle above where a tenant wanted to put his diddy greenhouse some weeks ago and promised to dig out my shredder.
Finally dry enough on Saturday to do the deed, I think he was worried it'd never happen, anyhow, when I'd dragged the 5HP beast up he said that looks impressive.
When we'd finished he was amazed how quickly it dealt with it all, the piece de resistance was the 8' straight bit of hawthorn, averaging 2" diameter.

Prior to that I went to the opening of a new allotment site by our town council, I'll try to remember to post the local paper's article when it comes out, lets just say for now it went well and was dry and sunny.
Fully organic, which I hope doesn't spread to my site as we have a bindweed problem.

[oldherbaceous]

Well we have had rain for nearly 36 hours, now Clive, so the sun and drying wind Friday and Saturday, have lost the battle again….with a lot more rain predicted over the next 10 days, I would say we will be well into April before we are working the land here!
Then there’s the coming snow…..

Hope you get some transport sorted out soon, Westi….

Sounds like a good job done, Peter….

[oldherbaceous]

Something that i’ve noticed, and is a real shame is, most new members post their first post, get a warm welcome and a few answers, then don’t even come back on the forum, or may look once but, never reply! I know this used to happen occasionally, years ago, but nothing like it does now…..

[Westi]

Complete brain drain today following up car mishap. Nearly 3hrs on the phone with the insurance people as when I rang & notified them the police were releasing the vehicle so they could assess it, the claim number they gave me was not registered so back to square 1! Anyway outcome is it will likely be scrapped based on what the guy at the garage said. Sending Mr off in a taxi tomorrow to collect our belongings from it, they declined to bag them up & put them in a taxi to us even though I said I would take responsibility as after all the taxi drivers are all DBS checked!

OH I've thought the same. I don't think we can compete with the FB sites where you don't have specific headings to post under but just post anything, even if not gardening direct but in the general sphere with recipes etc & can post any size pics. But I do think FB has a specific flaw where you are just a registered by any name of choice like ours but no other data like general growing area so they get bombarded with info not specific to their conditions. KG itself posts on FB already but not on a members forum. Maybe a cull of the multiple topics on here, most not used; to something more generic. Allotment, home garden, flowers, recipes, rants, bargains etc? (Without the hiccups like last time though)! The pics could remain limited size as the clever young things know how to crop etc. & we do OK considering the age ranges of our core contributors who eloquently describe a problem without a pic.

[Compo]

The difference is you can pop a quick pic on face book and a few words easy as pie. Most posters will just find this too fiddly I would think. I guess there is a case for the forum to go on Facebook? There I have said it

Best Wishes

Compo