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Post by derekbrooks on Feb 28, 2011 22:46:56 GMT
Hi Lou.I was just going to send you an Email but seeing that you have mentioned it here I will answer here.Yes the parcel did arrive today so thank you very much.I have been at Blackleach all day today and the postman had left it in the greenhouse .Rosemary was out for a bit as well so it must have arrived while she was out.I have this arrangement with the postman because several boxes of plants will be coming in the next few weeks and I have asked him to leave them all there if we are not in.Hopefully I will plant it tomorrow.
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Post by derekbrooks on Mar 2, 2011 23:13:01 GMT
Didn,t get time to go on the forum last night because I went to the veg meeting and got home too late.There was no speaker and whenever this has happened recently we have had a video. The secretary put one on about onions by Jim Williams which took half an hour.We have a business meeting after but the chairman decided that we had time for another video in between so he put one on by Cherrie Plum about potatoes.Another half hour one would have been O.K.but he should have looked how long this one took.It went on for ages and we were all getting bored so he stopped it before it had finished.Then we had to have the business meeting  Yesterday morning I had to take my car to a garage so I had a morning in the greenhouse.Took another 51 dahlia cuttings and then some chrysanths.When I got my car back in the afternoon we had to go shopping ,then I had an hour on the allotment. Planted the plant that Lou has sent me.I had left room for it on one of the herbaceous borders.It is Rudbeckia,Goldsturm.I divided it into 4 pieces before planting so I hope it will make a large clump.I hope to send her some dahlias in return.She has told me which varieties she would like.I christened my new fork by forking more manure into one of the veg beds. This morning I had to take the car to the garage again and Rosemary needed it in the afternoon so I had a full day in the greenhouses.Took some more chrysanth cuttings then put the stools of the disbud varieties outside because I don,t think I will need any more.The first dahlia cuttings are rooted so these came off the heating bench to make room for these chrysanths. Spent the rest of the time finishing the re-potting of all the pot plants. |
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Post by derekbrooks on Mar 4, 2011 21:57:11 GMT
Yesterday afternoon I just had an hour spare before it was time to go to school.I moved all the chrysanths that had been potted into the other greenhouse sorting them out into varieties.I then started potting up the next batch of rooted cuttings into 3 inch square pots Had a full day on the allotment todayas it was just the right weather for digging.I finished forking manure into a bed I started last time I was there and then did the onion bed.All the manuring is now finished.  There was too much manure on the onion bed because the wagon tips it on there as it is nearest to the road.I took some of it to school yesterday and I had to put some of it in the compost bins before I could dig the bed. |
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Post by derekbrooks on Mar 6, 2011 22:11:45 GMT
No gardening yesterday so I had nothing to report except that I got my gladioli corms that I had ordered.This afternoon I stood them in trays and put them on top of a cupboard in the kitchen as I always do. I also potted up some more chrysanths and took another 26 dahlia cuttings.On Feb 22nd I told you that my Kenora Chalenger tubers were not growing and I had planted 2 more in their place .I am pleased to say that the new ones are growing. |
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Post by Tel on Mar 7, 2011 20:35:18 GMT
Glad to read about your 2nd lot of Kenora Challenger showing signs of life Derek. |
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Post by derekbrooks on Mar 7, 2011 23:00:45 GMT
Another dry day so I had the morning on the allotment forking over and weeding the annual beds but there weren,t many weeds.Came accross about a dozen delphiniums (dwarf pacific) on here that had over wintered O.K. and I thought they were worth keeping so I took them home.Delphiniums are of course perennial but I grow this variety as annuals because they flower in the first year from sowing.I have some in the greenhouse sown last month which will flower in time for the shows.I find them very useful in the mixed vases that I do at shows whereas the tall varieties would be too big.
I had to go somewhere else this afternoon but when I got home I potted up these delphiniums and then some more rooted chrysanth cuttings.
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Post by derekbrooks on Mar 8, 2011 22:55:29 GMT
Not much gardening time today but I did finish potting up all the rooted chrysanth cuttings.These cuttings were all taken on Jan 31st.
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Post by derekbrooks on Mar 9, 2011 23:04:54 GMT
The nice dry weather has come to an end.It has been showery today and rather windy so I spent nearly all day in the greenhouses.
Potted the shallots from three and a half inch pots into larger pots and put them in a frame.
Pricked the tomato plants out into individual small pots (yoghurt pots).I have 4 varieties and I potted 10 or 12 of each.Many of them are for growing at school.
The onion plants were in cell trays and I also transfered these to yoghurt pots.
Potted up the first rooted dahlia cuttings into three and a half inch pots.
I had sown some celery and parsley in cell trays several seeds in each.Thinned them to one per cell but planted some of the removed seedlings to other trays.
This is the time when the majority of the flower seeds are sown.Some were sown before and some wont be done till April but all the rest will be sown this week.Today I sowd African marigolds,rudbeckia,cleome and bedding antirrhinums.
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Post by derekbrooks on Mar 10, 2011 22:27:16 GMT
 Shallots potted up into larger pots |
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Post by derekbrooks on Mar 10, 2011 22:36:05 GMT
 This is the large tuber of Kenora Challenger that I told you about and is growing |
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Post by derekbrooks on Mar 10, 2011 23:03:30 GMT
It wasn,t my turn to do the health walk this morning.I normally only do it every other week but today none of the other leaders could do it so I had to deputise.This meant that I had only about 45 minutes before it was time to go to school this afternoon.I just had time to sow 7 packets of seeds -alyssum and 6 varieties of French marigolds.All seeds that are sown in January and February go into the propagator but at this time of year some are O.K.just on the greenhouse bench.Those I sowed yesterday went in the propagator but it is now full so I can,t sow any thay need a higher temperature until some of there have germinated and can come out of the propagator.Those I sowed today will germinate on the greenhouse bench.
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Post by derekbrooks on Mar 12, 2011 22:08:17 GMT
I had ordered 3 blueberry bushes from Dobies for 2 elderly ladies(well,older than me!).They arrived yesterday and I delivered them this afternoon.I took my tools expecting to be planting them but the first lady who was having two of them said she could plant her own.So I went to the other lady who is 90 and I did plant hers for her.I dug some peat into the soil ,which must be acid for these plants,and also mixed some bone meal with the soil I took out before I replaced it.Don,t know why someone of her age should want to be planting new bushes.!
When I got home I sowed some more flower seeds in the greenhouse-calendulas,3 varieties of lavatera,annual chrysanths and love lies bleeding.I know that these are hardy annuals that can be sown outdoors but I prefer to start them off in the greenhouse and prick them out like I do half hardy ones.
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Post by derekbrooks on Mar 13, 2011 22:28:02 GMT
Took another 70 dahlia cuttings including the first Kenora Challenger I have taken 256 up to now.I have got enough of some varieties so I won,t take any more.There are just a few varieties that I am a bit short of.I have only took one Bishop of Llandaff and 4 Trelyn Kiwi so I need more of these. I have a lot more seeds to sow but I haven,t much compost left (I use the same compost for seeds and cuttings) so I decided to make another batch.I normally use peat,sand and a Chempak seed base. I had no seed base though so I used a multipurpose base.I measured the amounts of peat and sand as usual but then it's a good job I looked at the instructions because multipurpose base makes 22 gals of compost whereas seed base only makes 16 gals.I therefore had to seive another 4 gals of sand and measure another 2 gals of sand. |
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Post by Tel on Mar 14, 2011 10:10:31 GMT
That is a lot of dahlia cuttings in such a short time Derek.
What temp did you maintain to get cuttings so quick ?
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Post by derekbrooks on Mar 14, 2011 22:39:46 GMT
I,ll try and measure the temperatures tomorrow,Tel
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There was too much manure on the onion bed because the wagon tips it on there as it is nearest to the road.I took some of it to school yesterday and I had to put some of it in the compost bins before I could dig the bed.
