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Post by derekbrooks on Jan 26, 2011 22:36:24 GMT
The ground was frozen over Christmas,Sweet pea and when it thawed out it needed weeding so I can,t always do jobs at the ideal time.
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Post by derekbrooks on Jan 26, 2011 22:53:53 GMT
A dry day today so I thought I had better get on with the digging.Couldn,t go on the allotment this morning because Rosemary needed the car so I forked the manure into all the chrysanth beds and one of the borders alongside the back lawn.I only put manure at the back of these borders where I grow a row of dahlias and spray chrysanths because I grow annuals at the front and these don,t want manure. Went on the allotment this afternoon and weeded where I am growing runner beans and sweet peas. 10 of my dahlia tubers are growing which are on a propagator in the kitchen.Can,t resist looking at them every time I go past.
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Post by Tel on Jan 27, 2011 20:17:03 GMT
A dry day today so I thought I had better get on with the digging.Couldn,t go on the allotment this morning because Rosemary needed the car so I forked the manure into all the chrysanth beds and one of the borders alongside the back lawn.I only put manure at the back of these borders where I grow a row of dahlias and spray chrysanths because I grow annuals at the front and these don,t want manure. Went on the allotment this afternoon and weeded where I am growing runner beans and sweet peas. 10 of my dahlia tubers are growing which are on a propagator in the kitchen.Can,t resist looking at them every time I go past. I am not on my own then.
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Post by derekbrooks on Jan 27, 2011 23:17:45 GMT
Another dry day so I went on the allotment this morning and started digging the trenches for runner beans and sweet peas.Didn,t have time to finish them but I have a full day tomorrow so I am hoping to finish them then.The trenches are just a spades width and a spades depth.I fork over the bottom then put a layer of plant material in the bottom about 4 or 5 inches thick ,such as dahlia stems and old bedding plants before replacing the soil. I just had a spare hour this afternoon before it was time to go to school.I went in the greenhouse and sowed the first flower seeds (lobelia,salvias,petunias,asters and penstemons) and 3 varieties of tomatoes.Realised that I have no seeds of cherry tomatoes so I will get some this weekend.
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Post by derekbrooks on Jan 28, 2011 22:49:33 GMT
Frosty this morning so I didn,t know if the ground would be too hard for digging.It was only a bit frozen on the surface so I was able to dig the other trench for runner beans/sweet peas and put the green material in but didn,t get time to put the soil back.
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Post by derekbrooks on Jan 30, 2011 23:28:00 GMT
Didn,t have time to go on the forum last night because we got home too late from a party.Yesterday afternoon I managed to put the soil back in the last trench so the trenches are finished now.I then spread out the manure on the other beds. I have 4 boxes of dahlia tubers ,2 are on propagators in the kitchen and 2 on a warming bench in the greenhouse.All the tubers that are growing were in the kitchen because the temperature must be a bit higher so I swapped the boxes round to get more growing.I will keep doing this till all the cuttings are taken.There are 2 cuttings on an Alf Ramsey that are ready for taking.I said on Friday how I can,t resist keep looking at them.Good job I looked tonight because I found 2 slugs on them. This afternoon I went on the allotment hoping to start forking the manure into the beds.I thought it was a bit too frosty though so I decided to sort the copmost bins out instead and I also did a bit of sorting in the shed.There are 3 compost bays and all had some green material in .I had put some of it in the trenches that I dug last week.What I did today was to put it all into one bay.It is piled up but it will decrease in volume as it rots down.I will leave this now without adding any more material and it will be rotted down ready for use next winter.As more green material becomes available I will start filling up one of the other bays.
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Post by derekbrooks on Jan 31, 2011 23:11:23 GMT
This morning I decided that it was still too frosty to go on the allotment to carry on with the digging.I spent the morning and part of the afternoon in the greenhouse taking chrysanth cuttings.Took 198 altogether,111 disbuds and the first 87 sprays.Getting short of room now on the heating benches and the propagators.The cuttings are in half trays of 20 .There was only room for 3 trays in my home made propagator because the seeds I sowed last week are in here.The rest had to go on the warming benches which meant that some boxes of stools had to come off.The boxes of seeds I sowed last week have sheets of glass and newspaper on and are piled on top of each other to save room.I have of course to look at them every day and if the seeds have begun to germinate(which today some of the asters and tomatoes have)they have to have light and the paper has to come off and of course they take up more room. This afternoon I mixed the batch of seed/ cutting compost which I couldn,t do last week because I forgot to get some Chempak base. Just had an hour spare when I had finished this and the manure which I had put on one of the borders round the back lawn had thawed out enough so I forked it into the soil.I had done the other border before.
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Post by derekbrooks on Feb 2, 2011 23:11:52 GMT
Only had an hour spare yesterday afternoon but I forked over the remaining part of the border in the back garden.All the manure had been dug in before but the part that hadn,t been dug was the front of one of the borders where there was no manure. Rosemary needed the car part of today but it didn,t matter whether it was morning or afternoon.The weather forecast was for rain this afternoon so I decided to go on the allotment this morning and let her have the car this afternoon.I told you that I was making a flag path on the allotment but I was 9 flags short to finish it off.A week last Saturday afternoon I went to a builders merchants for 9 flags but they were closed. I,m really glad they were closed because last week I noticed some on another allotment and the owner didn,t need them.I laid these flags this morning and I am only 4 short now. After this I begun forking manure into the veg beds.I spread it over the soil and break it up with the fork and then dig it in attempting to mix it with the soil. The rain did come this afternoon so I couldn,t do much.Just sorted the small canes in the greenhouse.All the larger ones had been done a few weeks ago. Also removed the asters from the propagator that were growing.You may be wondering why I sow asters so early.It is because I want them for early shows particularly Southport.If I sowed them in March which most books say they wouldn,t flower till late September or October.
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Post by Lou78W on Feb 3, 2011 16:39:49 GMT
Derek...check your messages...I've left you one
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Post by derekbrooks on Feb 3, 2011 22:13:40 GMT
Where have you left me a message,Lou?I haven,t found it.I haven,t had an Email from you
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Post by derekbrooks on Feb 3, 2011 22:17:45 GMT
Only had an hour or so spare this afternoon before it was time to go to school so I scarified the lawns with a lawn rake.
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Post by Lou78W on Feb 4, 2011 8:33:14 GMT
Where have you left me a message,Lou?I haven,t found it.I haven,t had an Email from you If you look in your message box at the top of the screen?
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Post by derekbrooks on Feb 4, 2011 23:23:22 GMT
It did about half an inch of rain overnight and it threatened rain all day but it did manage to stay dry .It was very windy though. I went to a builders merchant and got the 4 flags that I needed to finish the path on the allotment.I took them straight there and laid them. A dahlia exhibitor in our society came to the hut last Saturday and said that he had lost a lot of his tubers.He had spent over £100 to replace them but the supplier had not sent all the varieties that he wanted.I told him that I had several spare tubers he could have if he wanted them and he said he would phone me.When I got home I made a list so that I could tell him what I had when he phoned.He phoned this afternoon then came for some.I gave him a Bryn Terfel,a Elme E, L'Ancresse, Don Hill (He gave me this variety a few years ago),and a Winholme Diane.I said he could have more but these were all he had room for. Last week I decided I would see if I could put photos on this new forum.I took my camera to the allotment to photograph something I wanted to show you but the screen was blank and I couldn,t get it to work.Since then I have shown it to 3 people and the conclusion is that I have damaged it and that I needed a new one.I often take it on the allotment and to school in my pocket without the case and just take it out when I want to take a picture.I can,t do gardening jobs with it hanging round my neck.Anyway it looks like this is what caused the problem and it had got scratched.So I have been to Tesco's this afternoon and bought a new one and I will have to always carry it in its case however inconvenient it might be.When on the allotment it will have to stay in the car till I want it.Apart from showing you pictures I have to send some to Garden News every 4 weeks as you know ,so I had to get one.
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Post by derekbrooks on Feb 6, 2011 21:29:36 GMT
Rained all day yesterday so I couldn,t do anything only washing some pots in the afternoon. Rain was forecast again today but it only did a few spots.This afternoon it was a toss up between pruning the roses and spiking the lawns.Because I scarified the lawns last week I thought I had better carry on with them.I have not got a mechanical spiker.I just push the fork in about 6 or 8 inches every 6 inches or so all over the lawns.I find it hard work,harder than digging and my back was aching when I had finished the back lawn.The front lawn is only half the size but I did that as well and I,m glad I did.Won,t have to do them again for a year.When I have forked to holes I brush coarse sand into them to improve drainage but I haven,t any so it will have to wait till I can get some from the hut.
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Post by derekbrooks on Feb 6, 2011 21:55:58 GMT
I have taken a few pictures with my new camera and put them on the computer just to see if I could post them on the forum as I did on the other forum.I use Tinypic and I tried a few times and it works O.K.except for the final step which is pasting so they wouldn,t post.Can any of you tell me what I have to do please.
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