I'm sat here a bit scared folks - I have a big wind problem. No I don't need charcoal tablets - but I would like to dash home and bring in all of the tomatoes and cucumbers that I put outside yesterday! The wind is so strong today and gusty I'm terrified of going home and just finding a few pots with snapped stems with the plants being whisked off to oz! My pooooor baybeeees!
I've had a busy busy weekend. Got to the allotment on Saturday. As we all know, I am struggling a bit with the allotment, but I have some new rules I think. I shall firstly take care of what I have planted already - so the first job each visit is to weed and maintain the stuff that is already there, and secondly I will only dig a bed just before I plant it up. This way no bed will be waiting for weeks and weeks and getting all horrid and weedy again (like they are now)... so that's what I did. I weeded all through the potatoes and onions and the beans and I could NOT resist seeing what was happening with the potatoes while I was at it! LOOOKIE LOOOOKIE
I also planted out my leeks I have grown in a bucket 2 rows - I didn't dibble them in , I kind of made a trench and plopped them in along the length of this and then filled this in... We will see if this works or not! I seem to have read a post somewhere about Amish farmers doing their leeks this way and them getting a good crop... oh well they have 2 chances. I also thought it was time for the Brussels sprouts to be planted out. Not sure if these will come to anything as I have pretty much neglected them. I've bunged them in next to the leeks and thrown in some broccoli too (shop bought plants! Couldn't resist them) I netted the Brussels and the broccoli and watered everything and then went to my Mums to get changed.
Guess what people! I had a play date with a new friend. Another garden/vegetable mad other person who I made pals with on the Grow Your Own website. I had a lovely late afternoon coffee and natter and cheese straws were all consumed, cats were petted, seeds were looked at, allotments inspected and elderflower's were picked! I had a FAB time. Its great to get together with another enthusiast and have a proper full on veg chat. My husband seems to get a glazed look and I'm wondering if he is listening or thinking about football or the crack on the ceiling.... :0)
Sunday I hoofed it to Morrison's on the quest of the flower buckets. I got 32 for £3.96! WOW now that's a bargain. Now you could ask at your supermarket as some seem to give them away some sell them and some dont do either and it seems to vary from shop to shop, but Morrison's are consistent and seem to sell them at every store. I few holes in the bottom of them with a hot nail and BOB is most definitely your mothers brother and FRANCES is his wife! A perfect home for a tomato or a cucumber... So that's what I did for most of the rest of the afternoon.
I also started the "Armpit challenge" featured on the GYO website. Basically the idea is to see who can get the most producing tomato plants from ONE seed. You do this by planting up the side shoots or armpits as they are fabulously also called! My Tigrella tomato plant had 5 armpits potted up, my Marmande four and a Gardeners Delight just the one. I am going to photograph all of them at various stages and monitor and record how may fruits etc they all produce. I think that these three plants will be the only ones I keep at home. The others can go to the allotment.
Mind you.... That's if they have survived the wind....
Chat soon X
PS: Saw a lovely film last night - WIN WIN about a lawyer who also coaches the local wrestling team. Loved it.
big wind here too,, but I lost my cabbages o some bloody baby rabbits!!!
ReplyDeleteKeep at it with the allotment, it'll be worth it in the end.
ReplyDeleteI worked on a farm in France for a few weeks a couple of years ago, and they planted their leeks in trenches. I didn't see what happened to them, but they showed me pics of previous crops and they were the biggest leeks I've ever seen!