27th May 2019 - Rain and potting on my seedlings

It will be no surprise to most of you that as it was a public holiday again it rained for most of the weekend - grrrrr!  I had other plans on Saturday but wasn't worried about my to-do list because I still had 2 full days; that plan was completely scuppered by the persistent rain.  I had hoped to get my beds built but I didn't have a long enough dry window to do it.  In 85 I still have a significant amount of weeding to do on my paths and the area behind my compost bins.  I also want to move some of the pots that I have on 85 into 86, partly because 85 has started to look cluttered but also because a lot of the pots in 85 were never meant to be there long term anyway.  I also need to weed and mulch my fruit cage which has become quite messy in the last couple of weeks.

Mr L got a battery powered circular saw to cut the boards to size (I had a little go with it too but left it to Mr L to do most of the cutting!).  As you remember they are all 13' long and so I've cut them into 9' and 4' lengths'.  I will end up with 6 beds across the top of the plot. 

I will need to do a little bit of work to weed the edges of the plot again before I place the beds.  The edges are always a challenge because I can't put membrane beyond the boundaries of my plot.  It's irritating but necessary to therefore keep it trimmed (or trained) to ensure that it's neat and tidy.

With the bad weather I did manage to get a few bits done in the polytunnel, where I was hiding from the rain!  I've never been particularly successful at growing seeds but this year I've managed to get some germinated and so I spent an hour potting on with still more to do when I've created a bit more space.  I have actually managed to germinate sweetpeas, which I've never done before, and despite having some not make it after being away for a week with work, I've got some very healthy peas that I can put out to replace the ones the pigeons have been feasting on.  I also have a small number of zinnia, some cosmos, rudbeckia and alyssum.  

When I cleared the greenhouse I found some plant halo's that I'd used a few years ago.  I had 2 extra tomato plants that I'd not potted on yet and 2 aubergine.  I have never successfully grown aubergine; I've grown them in pots and in the ground so this year I decided to try them in a pot with a halo. I filled the pot as normal and then watered it.  This makes sure that the soil has settled before you put the halo onto it.  You then put your plant into the raised part in the middle, the tricky part is making sure that you have compost around the sides of the plant because as you pack it in it's really easy to drop it into the halo and it's hard to get out again!  Once the plant is in place you water it in as normal, this makes sure that the roots have good contact to the soil and are able to wick up the moisture from the soil in the lower pot.  You then only water into the halo (although you do continue to feed directly to the plant).  It will be interesting to see if this is more successful in producing fruit than my previous attempts have been.

I also managed to get some work done around the pond.  Once a year I clear the area around the pond, I know that the ground elder will come back and I'm happy to have it because it creates a hiding place for the frogs but if I don't cut it back completely the it just goes wild!  This year I also had to get rid of my planting table so I dropped all the old compost that had been in that into the area.  I've currently just popped all the gnomes in there but I'm thinking about planting some shade loving plants that might grow big enough to compete with the ground elder!  I'll keep you posted.

In the flower bed next to the shed it's a bit of a riot of purple.  The alliums are in full bloom, as is the sweet rocket which is just beautiful and very much loved by the bees and other pollinators.  I also have my winky blue aquilegia which is looking fabulous!  Both the peony are in bud and ready to open; I'm really looking forward to them opening, the white one is called Shirley Temple but I've never seen the red one open because it didn't flower last year.  I do have some supports in place but I don't think they'll be enough so I think need to do something more with them.  

In my other flower bed the bleeding heart is doing really well.  I planted two of them last year in the same bed but the one further up where it gets more sun died; the one that's left really seems to like the position and has tripled in size.  I've also got lots of foxgloves growing in both flower beds; I haven't planted them they self seeded a couple of years ago from the plants I had put in and they're already starting to flower.  I'll make sure that I spread seed around the beds again this year and I'll probably try to plant some in the flower bed in the new plot as well.

During the week this week I'm going to have to go and get some more longer screws to put my beds together.  I absolutely have to build my beds this week and then I can get on with planting the potatoes and onions that I've got ready to plant.  

Until next time...
Happy Gardening