A "flower" planting day.

Today was a "flower" day so I started off some Limnanthes Douglassii, marigolds, tagetes and sunflowers in the tunnel in modules.
After that I felt it was time to plant out the strawberries along the edge of the path in the tunnel.
Then it seemed a good idea to try out the irrigation system. I thought one of the hoses might be blocked because there was no noticeable flow when I turned on the water butt tap. The mains worked a treat, but then I realised that the drip hose on the LH bed was unholed for the first 10 feet......doh! So I found a brand new seep hose in the shed and installed that. It works fine. Now it is rigged up again to the back roof water butt and when it next rains all the water from the back roof will end up in the tunnel. (I checked the downpipe fitment that routes the water into the butt and it was partially blocked.....that explained the lack of water to the tunnel when it rained the other night.)

Also in the shed was another downpipe fixture which I'll install on the pipe that takes the water from the front roof. I have a spare water butt to rig up under that one and will join that into the system too. I really don't want to be using mains water if I can help it.

Polytunnel update!

A fruitful day spent gardening at home as DH was poorly in bed and I had to man (woman?!!!) the phone. I had intended a plot day but I had more than enough to do here so it wasn't really a big deal.

I felt that the path down the middle of the tunnel needed edging as the soil was rather higher than the path and was spilling continuously. I didn't want wooden edges as these eventually rot (the deep bed wood was rotten already after only 3 seasons) and it encourages woodlice.

We have a large number of tiles left over from a building project here so I used them to edge with. I am pleased with my efforts even though it is obvious that I didn't use a line.....!

I have installed the irrigation in both beds. The one in the RH bed (not the hose laying on the top) is a seep hose which I have buried. The one on the LH bed is a perforated hose which I have laid on the top of the soil. The bit of hose which is laying on top of the RH bed is a hose from a butt which takes water from a small area of roof. This hose will be moved around as needed. I had a job to keep it all adequately watered last year and hope this will solve the problem.

I turned in all the manure I had spread in here after Jeyes Fluiding the beds last week. In another two weeks time I will plant the strawberry runners which you can see in the rootrainers here into the beds along the path edges. They should produce an early treat for me when working in the tunnel.
This summer the tomatoes will go along the back wall, on the very right. The cucumbers will go in the far left corner. The lemon tree (which has lost a lot of its leaves over the winter but has 4 lemons coming on it) will be moved around to wherever it isn't in the way. And the fig, in the big pot at the back. will go somewhere outside when it warms up a bit. I think it is time I found a permanent place for it in the garden. When I get on with re-modelling the front garden i should find a place for it against the house wall....south-west facing.

When I walked through the plots with the dogs this afternoon I saw that Chris had spread the manure we moved to his plot. So his hungry soil should be much better this year.

A full day of gardening, at home and at the plot.

I am so stiff I can hardly move! That's because I have gardened with my lazy body all day and now I've stopped it's hurting. But I have got such a lot done that I don't care. It'll be ready to go again in the morning so I'm not bothered.

Firstly I did the greenhouse beds with Jeyes fluid. Then I spread the bagged manure all over them.
Then I sowed my sweet peas, verbena bonariensis (want them for the re-modeled front garden), and started the shallots off in modules. They need a bit of help as they are rather late going in (should have done them in October!). They are the ones I kept from last years crop to start off this year. They are about an inch diameter and I got so fed up with peeling them for pickled shallots (DH's favourite) that I decided to plant them rather than eat them.
I have a few more (about 100!) that are even smaller and there is no way I'm going to peel them. I think I might plant them too just to see whether they grow a bit or whether they will just make hundreds more tiny babies...!
After that I finger weeded two more of the deep beds. The first bed was the one with the onion sets (Radar) planted out last Autumn. They are only about 10% up. I think the others will have rotted. I will get some sets of another variety to augment them later...in March I think. I can't really justify leaving them in the bed as they are so sparsely scattered. I'm tempted to move them all up to one end.
I chose the Radar ones to be cropping just when the last year's main crop of onions run out....looks like we'll be disappointed.

The other bed that got "cleaned was the leek bed. I pulled out all the ones that were going to seed, and the biggest ones for soup tomorrow. I left a few finger sized ones for another day. That bed is now ready for whatever comes next in the rotation....I think it'll be runners.

DH mowed the front lawn and I mulched the strawberry bed, cleaned yesterday and already being used by grateful cats as a latrine, in an attempt to stop the cats' attentions.

This afternoon I went to the plot and hoed a bit more and cleared the bed ready for the spuds. I'll put the first earlies in that bed next week when the moon is waning!!

I also started sieving the compost ready to go on that bed. It is lovely stuff.

And I tidied the shed out. It needed it. I can now lay my hands on whatever I need at a moments notice.

Now I deserve a cuppa and a sit down before it is time to start on dinner.....!

Polytunnel revamp picture

Here is the result of my work these past few days dismantling the wooden-framed deep beds in the tunnel and reverting to just planting in the soil. I now have an area of about 10ft square bare soil. I will order some of the compost that the local council sell (apparently they supply Isle of Wight Tomatoes so it can't be bad). It is £35 per huge 700L bag and that should be enough to spread all over this area to give the soil a bit of a boost. I shall also disinfect the soil with Jeyes Fluid. I need to do this as the soil has been used for 3 seasons now, and I can't face digging it all out. It is also time to wash the tunnel plastic inside and out. This improves the light transmission a lot. I use the car wash brush on it's full extension. I get very wet doing it so I'll wait until the east winds have gone.

The instructions say to saturate the soil with a solution of Jeyes and water, leave 7 days, then turn it in. Then you can plant in it 14 days later. If I do this soon it'll be ok for planting in well before I actually need to.

I have spread all that I had left of last year's potting compost (I keep it in the green bin), and tomorrow I need to re-stock it. I also need to install the irrigation system using that motley collection of hoses and drip hoses.


I had a bad head today so my gardening efforts were confined to finger weeding two of the garden deep beds. I do this sitting down, and it was very pleasant in the sun. The garden is fairly sheltered from the wind so it wasn't too cold.

I was amazed when weeding the asparagus bed to find the spears showing already....! I won't be cutting them this year as these are crowns I raised from seed and they need another year to build up their root system before I can start harvesting them. I can wait! (You can see bulbs coming up in the bed too. The soil was from an old flower bed and these volunteers are still coming up. I don't have the heart to pull them out.)

I also finger weeded the strawberry bed. I'm hoping for a good crop from these this year. I will start the Rumtopf again with them. We are eating last years now and I must say it is all worth the work. If they are not finished by June I will bottle what is left so we can use the pot again.

Tomorrow I will be paying a visit to the garden centre in the hope of finding everything I need. I hate shopping and one trip will have to do.

Ramblings

We have been back from Cyprus for a few days now, but are really only just getting over the trip back. I think we may have experienced some jet-lag as we have had that wading through treacle feeling that jet-lag gives. I find it hard to believe that it could be real jet-lag after just a 4 hour flight, and only a two hour time difference, but we have not felt great. Perhaps it is just our age!!!!!

I did feel an urge to do some gardening, even though it has been a very chilly wind for two days. I am a bit soft from spending mornings sitting in the sun(64deg) around a beautiful pool, under palm trees, but didn't want to get cold so this afternoon was spent in the polytunnel re-arranging things. I decided that I would abandon the deep bed arrangement in the tunnel this year as it is so difficult to keep it adequately watered. By just having ground level beds I can set up an irrigation system that will be gravity fed from the water butts around the house, and mean I don't have to carry water any more than necessary.

I have almost completed the task and will post photos of the finished article tomorrow....hopefully. The new arrangement will have the back 2/3 of the tunnel as one huge bed......10ftx10ft with a narrow beaten earth path through the middle to the back door of the tunnel. The first third of the tunnel will have the staging either side of the door.

I will soon be able to get in there to start the new season's seed sowing. I am itching to get started as I read my new issue of Kitchen Garden Magazine whilst on holiday and got very enthusiastic about the coming year on the plot and at home. I was able to give it much more attention than usual as I had time to read. I made notes on post-it notes (the yellow neon ones) as markers for things I must do. As it was the March Issue I have time yet to get it all done.

I bought a recipe book from Cyprus and read in there that Purslane is very much loved in salads in Cyprus. I bought some seeds from a garden centre out there and hope they will grow here for me. I will sow some in the tunnel and some in the back garden. I looked them up when I got home. Apparently there are two types....Summer and Winter. I think I must have the Summer one...it is not hardy so it will have to be sown every year. I'll have to save seed.

One of the other blogs that I read daily (Musings from a Stonehead) has warned that he will be posting less frequently now that his busy time on his croft is coming up. It is a sad fact of blogging that when there is more to blog about there is less time to do it. My blog has been rather quiet during the winter as little is done to report on with an allotment in winter. Now the spring is almost here and work starts it will be more and more difficult to find time to share the experience......!

Update on nothing much

Long time no post from me! This is because nothing interesting is happening garden wise. I have been to the plot to dig some spuds, and spent some time re-organising the polytunnel beds in my home garden....but nothing really worth photographing yet.

When the weather improves I'll be going to the plot to finish clearing the final part of the plot ready for a productive year next year. Tuesday this week will be the first Anniversary of my plot, but I will be in Kent so won't be celebrating at the plot until the first fine day thereafter!

Here and there

Friday, March 10th, 2006

It did rain a bit this morning so I concentrated on the polytunnel and the veg garden at home instead. Then I was pleased that the sun came out so I could go to the plot to start the digging.
The soil is wonderful. I only need to single dig it and remove the weeds and it will soon be done. I did about 2'6" in 1 1/2 hours; not brilliant but I'm quite pleased with the progress. Tomorrow I'll go again and do another 2'6"...that'll be almost half of the patch for the first earlies.
I was rained off for about 10 minutes....to be honest it was hail, followed by rain. But the rest of the time was sunny. I sheltered in the shed which is on the plot....they have given me a key to use, which is very generous and trusting of them. I'm so grateful that there is shelter for when it rains, it means I don't have to run back to the car.....which is quite a way away.
In the polytunnel I have started seeds for mint, parsley, basil (in the propagator), sweetcorn, peppers, parsnips, cucumbers and melons (in the propagator), marigolds, summer savoury (to put out next to the broad beans to deter pests) and leeks.
In the veg garden at home I have prepared four of the deep beds ready for planting up soon. One of the other beds already has garlic and onion sets in, and the calendula and strawberries which edge them are doing fine.