Trev62-An intermittent gardening blog!

Members adventures in the Vegetable Patch all year round
Trev62
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Re: Trev62-An intermittent gardening blog!

Post by Trev62 »

Today, we cleared another bed and planted it up with onions, it took all afternoon but that is another task done. Tomorrow will be spent weeding, they seem to be growing extremely well this year........unfortunately.
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Spreckly
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Re: Trev62-An intermittent gardening blog!

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I have a bare area on my lawn, which normally grows well. It has not been walked on, can`t understand it.

Yesterday Chris, who does the heavy jobs in the garden came, by arrangement with my picky neighbour, to take off some of the branches which overhang my veggie plot. The leaves of this tree, a magnolia, are the size of dinner plates and block a great deal of light. This tree is at the bottom of the garden, not visible from the rear of my neighbour`s bungalow.

When Chris discussed the job with the neighbour, he spat his dummy out, to quote Chris. I have asked for several years if this tree could be dealt with, without success, Last year a friend in the village spent many hours planting veg up, nothing did anything at all. I have explained this to my neighbour. So now the tree, which has three trunks has lost the top of one trunk, and from the ground , the rot is visible. I am waiting for an ear bashing from next door.....

The internet declares that overhanging brnches are the reponsibility of the tree in question. When Ted was alive, he cut back any overhang, since then, it has not been touched.

The hedge on the other side belongs to my neighbour with six dogs (semi detached), and her garden is not touched from one yer to the next, so I now have problems on both sides. Twenty years ago, these trees were small.
Trev62
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Re: Trev62-An intermittent gardening blog!

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Sounds like an uncomfortable position to caught in the middle of Spreckly, it makes me glad we have no direct neighbour's.

Today we pulled another load of rhubarb then set to weeding around the rhubarb, the garlic bed and both strawberry beds. The geese and ducks thoroughly enjoyed tucking into the weeds.
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Mo
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Re: Trev62-An intermittent gardening blog!

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My rhubarb is very spindly this year. Maybe it needs dividing, I'll have to google.
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Trev62
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Re: Trev62-An intermittent gardening blog!

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Mo wrote: 12 Apr 2024, 08:52 My rhubarb is very spindly this year. Maybe it needs dividing, I'll have to google.
We had the same problem previously and it was down to not enough moisture and nutrients. We added plenty of compost around the plant bases and recovery slowly begun.
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Mo
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Re: Trev62-An intermittent gardening blog!

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Lack of moisture is hardly a problem here!!! All our road edges are running streams. Not particularly dry last summer either.
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Trev62
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Re: Trev62-An intermittent gardening blog!

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Mo wrote: 13 Apr 2024, 09:36 Lack of moisture is hardly a problem here!!! All our road edges are running streams. Not particularly dry last summer either.
Ahhhhh, the good old English weather, I tend to forget about it whilst dealing with ours. Look on the bright side, Spring is here and Summer will soon follow. Get your bucket and spade ready for the beach! :-D
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lancashire lass
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Re: Trev62-An intermittent gardening blog!

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Mo wrote: 12 Apr 2024, 08:52 My rhubarb is very spindly this year. Maybe it needs dividing, I'll have to google.
Mo wrote: 13 Apr 2024, 09:36 Lack of moisture is hardly a problem here!!! All our road edges are running streams. Not particularly dry last summer either.
maybe the surplus water is the possible reason for spindly stalks - rhubarb need very fertile soil and with all the rain we've had, nutrients may have washed out.

Dividing the rhubarb and putting lots of compost / manure in the planting holes would be a good idea
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Mo
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Re: Trev62-An intermittent gardening blog!

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lancashire lass wrote: 14 Apr 2024, 11:00
Dividing the rhubarb and putting lots of compost / manure in the planting holes would be a good idea
I googled and it said November is the time to do that.
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lancashire lass
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Re: Trev62-An intermittent gardening blog!

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Mo wrote: 14 Apr 2024, 11:20 I googled and it said November is the time to do that.
Actually you can do it in late winter (February / early March) while it is still dormant / just about to start growing (easier to see the leaf buds when splitting so that each root piece has at least one) though as you say, probably too late now (having saying that, at my first allotment plot, the neighbour had planted a row of rhubarb on the actual dividing footpath (the previous tenant used to have both plots made into one so the original footpath had disappeared) and after I asked him nicely, he dug them up and moved them mid-summer and they still thrived) Still, if you heavily mulch round the base with compost and give some nitrogen feed this year, it should help to build up reserves in the roots for strong plants next year when you get round to splitting it.
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Re: Trev62-An intermittent gardening blog!

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Raspberry bed was weeded today, the peas were strung up and the first tomato plants put in the ground outside. We also started preparing another bed where all the beans will go, weeds removed, soil turned just needs levelling and tilling.

Bad news is the Colorado beetles have shown themselves early this year (removed over 100 from our plants today) so I have had to put our new action plan into play, I sprayed all the potato plants with a neem oil mix which I will repeat before the rains arrive next week then it is out with the DE.

It will be interesting to see if this plan works as well as what its proponents say it does. Fingers crossed >fi<
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Re: Trev62-An intermittent gardening blog!

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So, here we are in May, hammering it down with rain again at present but things have moved on.

All the tomato plants are now in, various types of beans planted, completed the sowing of all the carrot and beetroot seeds. Butternuts, melons and courgettes all now in the ground (cucumbers, gherkins etc. still to do along with some more leeks and onions which we have grown from seed). More aubergines planted along with all the peppers.

I still have another bed to prepare but it is too wet to even contemplate that at present.

Pleased to say the neem oil seems to be working a treat on the potatoes, very few Colorado beetles or eggs after spraying them (twice so far).

Harvesting the rhubarb still along with some lovely strawberries.

The cherry trees are full of small fruits as are the gooseberry bushes, hopefully we are on for a better harvest this year. The mulberries are also looking good so some nice wine will be put down at a later date.

Herb wise most of the seeds we put in are coming through so hopefully that will continue and we cut our first parsley this week which is now hanging to dry.

Lots more going on but the above is a quick up date.
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Mo
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Re: Trev62-An intermittent gardening blog!

Post by Mo »

I never get cherries. The birds take them before they are ripe.
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lancashire lass
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Re: Trev62-An intermittent gardening blog!

Post by lancashire lass »

Mo wrote: 03 May 2024, 21:48 I never get cherries. The birds take them before they are ripe.
yep, I'm the same (usually the pigeons knock off a lot before they ripen and the blackbirds finish off the rest) I've told Lucas that he isn't doing his job ...
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Re: Trev62-An intermittent gardening blog!

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I undertook the first cut of grass we grow for fresh hay, it was done over three days using a scythe that I spent many weeks bringing to a finely tuned cutting implement. )t' We gain a better cut and amount doing it this way than we used to get using a strimmer. It is currently sitting in several piles under tarps to protect it from the rain after a good couple of days drying. The sun returns tomorrow so we will spread it out again to air and ensure it is totally dry before bagging and storing it.

Our Jerusalem artichokes are just beginning to show so all was not lost with them as I had feared. The neem oil spray certainly seems to be having an effect on the potato plants, very few Colorado beetles or eggs are being found, I hope it is just not a coincidence. All the potatoes will get a dusting of DE next week as well.

Everything else seems to be coming along nicely especially the weeds and the more we pull the less food we have to give to the geese as they love them.
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