Sunday, 23 July 2017

23rd July - Sweetpeas and Bark

You might remember that the last time I blogged I mentioned my sweetpeas and that on gardeners world Monty Don had suggested cutting all of the blooms off of the plant every 10 days to get more and more flowers.  I don't cut them every 10 days but I do cut them as my last job every Sunday.  Last week I gave a good sized bunch to my mum and this week there were twice as many flowers again.  I have a lovely bunch of flowers on my windowsill every week and the scent is amazing every time you walk into the room.  I have never grown sweetpeas before so I'm really pleased with them.  The whole flower bed is actually really nice; the cosmos are flowering beautifully as well and I also make a point of dead heading them every week so they'll keep flowering.  I'm not so good at remembering to deadhead the cornflowers but they're still flowering really well too; I really must try and remember to deadhead them more often!

This week we had a load of bark chippings delivered to site.  One of the other allotment holders had found a company who said they would deliver for free; they don't have somewhere to store the chippings and therefore have to pay to have it removed.  Many people at the allotments use the chippings for paths or for mulch so it's a great relationship to foster.  The delivery included some logs that will be lovely for sitting on once they've dried out.  The chippings included quite a bit of leaves and some twigs and branches but it was easy to pull out the big twigs and the leaves and the resulting chippings were really good quality.  I got 4 barrow loads and put a thick mulch in front of the shed, where there is the most traffic and where the chippings that were there had mostly disappeared from being kicked about.  I've put as much as I can up to the step with the hope that a thick enough mulch will suppress the weeds that grow up between the weed membrane and the slab.  I also didn't manage to get a good thickness of chippings down the side of the shed last year when I first spread the chippings and so I made a point of ensuring that I got a good covering this time.  We are hoping to keep getting deliveries and so hopefully I will be able to do my whole plot again this year.  

I got one of the logs, it was from the base of a tree so it flares out at the bottom but it's still got a good thickness at the top for sitting on.  I might grab another couple to make a little seating area, although I'm not sure where I'd put it in my current plot.  If I get another I will make sure I have space for them and I think it will look lovely.  I think it is important to have different places around the plot to sit so that you get a view from different perspectives.  I have really enjoyed sitting on the bench at the bottom of the plot as much as I like sitting in front of the shed.  

Also this weekend I bought a new addition for the allotment.  I do have a few gnomes around the pond, they are very twee and I wouldn't have them anywhere else but they make me laugh.  This week I was in Asda and I found a pride gnome and I just couldn't resist him!  He is one of the big gnomes that they do, I wouldn't normally spend that amount of money on something like this but I just fell in love with him.  I have put him next to the bench so he can't be seen from the gate.  I really hope that he'll be safe there.

I don't think I have anything else to share this week, I have done a video but it's a bit long so I might re-do it but otherwise I'll post it and hope you don't get bored before the end lol.

So, until next time, happy gardening :-)




Sunday, 16 July 2017

16th July 2017 - Cabbage and Leeches

Hi everyone, sorry I haven't blogged for a while - there is no particular reason other than life getting in the way!  In the last couple of weeks I haven't actually had that much to do on the plot, I have been keeping on top of the little bit of weeding I have to do and I've been deadheading the flowers but it's that time of year when everything is growing happily and other than harvesting a few things I don't really need to get too involved! 

Having said that I did want to do a summer prune on my cherry tree to help shape it into the fan on the fence and I wanted to re-pot my peach tree so I have done both of those jobs this weekend.  I also had a few bits still in the polytunnel that needed sorting out so I planted out the gypsophila.  Gypsophila is one of my favourite flowers, I know it's often used as a filler in flower arrangements but when you let the flowers bloom they are really delicate and pretty so I'm really pleased to have some growing (and I grew them from seed so I'm even happier with that!)  I also had some very sad looking lettuce in a tub that I planted into the bed in the polytunnel.  I don't know how they'll do but the won't be any less happy than they were in their tub.

I was delighted to find the lily flowering in the pond, it's a bright white flower with a really yellow centre.  As you can see from the picture the duck weed had gone wild and I also noticed that one of the oxygenators had gone mad as well so I decided to pull it all out.  In doing so I also pulled out the water forget-me-not and split it into 3 plants because it had got really unruly.  I've given one plant to my neighbour, put one back in the pond and I'll take the 3rd to school for their new pond.  I had to get right down to the bottom of the pond, and into the silt to pull some of the plants up.  When I'd done I noticed that I had some small leech like creatures attached to my hand!  I pulled the first one off and it bunched itself up; as I pulled it off it pinched.  The second one had obviously been on for a bit longer and when I pulled it off there was a small cut (like a paper cut) on my finger.  The weird thing is that it didn't bleed when I pulled them off but they were definitely biting me.  I am doing a bit of research because I really don't want to have them attaching themselves to me again :-(

I had to create a squirrel proof cage over my strawberries after they chewed through the normal netting.  I worked really hard to get the cage over the strawberries, I snipped the chicken wire to fasten the pieces together and then I used my pegs to fasten it to the ground.  Once I'd done I realised that I can't get in to the flipping thing myself now lol.  I'm going to use the wood from my old fruit cage to create a frame and then I'll be able to lift it off easily.  Until then the slugs are having a field day with the few strawberries that the squirrels have left!

I harvested one of the savoy cabbage from the polytunnel.  It was my intention to use it tomorrow to make the bombay veg that I have with my beef keema and it wasn't until I was halfway home that I remembered I'm away all week.  I brought it home and Mr L said he probably wouldn't use it so I took it to my friend who will use it.  She has 2 kids who I'm certain will love me forever for bringing them a HUGE cabbage to eat every day this week!!! hahahahaha

The cabbages have done really well and I'm really happy with them.  The outside leaves have had a tiny bit of snail damage but despite not netting the polytunnel against cabbage whites at all I have had no caterpillar damage on them at all (unlike my cauliflower, which are netted against the butterflies) - how does that work?!

Finally for today, I have been busy harvesting my sweetpeas for a few weeks now, each week I get more and more.  I watched Gardeners World this week and Monty said you should remove all of the flowers once every 10 days or so to increase your yield.  I've been doing it every 7 days and get a good bunch.  This week I took them to my mum because I didn't see the point in bringing them home when nobody in the house would appreciate them if I wasn't here.  They smelt amazing and I really hope she enjoys them.

I will try to get back into the habit of writing every week so until next time...

Happy Gardening!