Bills 2012 garden diary

[Spreckly]

An almost hamlet between Hornsea and Beverley, Bill. What part do you hail from?

[billnorfolk]

From the rough erea Sheffield but was 9 years old when we left there .Still have a few relations up there but sadly do not see enough of them

[billnorfolk]

Friday 23rd March .
Another glorious day in Norfolk.Got three rows of Onion sets out today and took a chance with 6 cabbage and 6 caulie plants and got them out today ,they are under enviroe mesh netting so fingers crossed.Only do a few at a time to start with got some more just pokeing through which will prob catch up

[billnorfolk]

Tuesday 27th March 2012

Another lovely day on the East coast ,this will encourage the trippers to come and spend some money
A warning to watch your fertilizer was giving me roses a bit of a feed when the bottom dropped out of the box all over the lawn ,swept it hoovered it and soaked it but this is the result,
.
Well the tomatoes have bin longing to get in the greenhouse,so have bin potting them on into there final pots ,

Will have to watch the still cold nights ,have a heater so hoping it will keep the frost at bay,would be sad to loose them now
#

Did a bit of an experiment ,the tom plants i had left when i re potted them i left in a cold greenhouse to see the out come ,although still alive have hardly moved since potting them on as you can see ,the others went back indoors on a sunny window sill.

Spuds in bags in greenhouse nearly to the top of the bag still topping up with compost ,not going to take out to early this year as not a good crop last year.

Got me onion sets in under the mesh tunnel and 6 of each cabbage and Callie,some more of the same now poking through in the greenhouse.

Peas in the gutters are starting to look like peas now ,will keep em in the polltunnel another couple of weeks ,then slide em out of the gutters into a shallow trench under the mesh (keep the pea moth off) soaked some peas overnight to fill the gaps ,hopefully will catch up.


Some leeks just through in the green modules.
Will soon be pulling some radish sown in the pollytunnel on 26th Feb

Have had a couple of small lettuce from cold frame sown Christmas week


The carrots,red beat,spring onion sown on 26th Feb all showing ,and me first flowers on me Strawberries
Is a sure sign summer is nearly hear.

[Spreckly]

All your stuff looks so neat and tidy, Bill. Flowers on your strawberries, I see that Perchy has a flower on one of her plants. Ours are looking rather small and shrivelled, despite the beautiful sunshine today.

[LittleBrownFrog]

We have flowers on our wild strawberries, but none on our main plants yet - I need to cover some of the wild ones, otherwise the chickens/children will devour them as soon as they appear!

[billnorfolk]

All your stuff looks so neat and tidy, Bill. Flowers on your strawberries, I see that Perchy has a flower on one of her plants. Ours are looking rather small and shrivelled, despite the beautiful sunshine today.

Thank you spreckly,have loads of time on my hands at moment ,have given them a good feed and watering as they were a bit wrinkley a couple of weeks ago and have picked up

[billnorfolk]

We have flowers on our wild strawberries, but none on our main plants yet - I need to cover some of the wild ones, otherwise the chickens/children will devour them as soon as they appear!

Chickens cant get to them but little fingers can bless em

[p.penn]

I am so impressed Bill

I like your little mesh tunnel - I really ought to grow sprouts and red cabbage again this year but the butterflies are just awful and haven't the energy to make something special for them at the moment!

[billnorfolk]

I am so impressed Bill

I like your little mesh tunnel - I really ought to grow sprouts and red cabbage again this year but the butterflies are just awful and haven't the energy to make something special for them at the moment!

Thank you, that is the problem i had last year ,even in the polly tunnel they decimated the sprouting broccolie used to catch 4or 5 butterflys every day in there but still got to them .I have made a mesh door now so cant get in .Butterfly net is fairly cheep and a few canes and short lengths of hose pipe so you can make a frame and hey presto done



They were last years make a little higher would be fine for sprouts and dont need such a small mesh net to keep out butterflys,the small net i use keeps out everything

[Funky chicken]

Hi Bill, I've been looking for enviro mesh to cover my plants but the amount I need comes to £60, any tips on where to get it at a reasonable price?
Thanks

[billnorfolk]

Hi Bill, I've been looking for enviro mesh to cover my plants but the amount I need comes to £60, any tips on where to get it at a reasonable price?
Thanks

It must be a big erea to cover ,how long and wide do you need it ,if you let me know will have a look for you

[Funky chicken]

I need three lots of 5m x 3.6m and then one for the sprouts so probably the same size again, I've found 20m x 3.6m for £60. But I will re-measure tomorrow because it seems a lot now I'm writing it down.

[billnorfolk]

That is an awfull lot of net and price is about right ,you dont need to cover every thing ,brassicas,carrots ,onions and peas are the main things.If you concentrate on butterflys you dont need such an expensive net as enviromesh .It does keep onion fly carrot fly and pea moth at bay ,so maybe you can get away with not so much net as you first thought

[Funky chicken]

Thanks Bill, I've measured again and I've over estimated the sizes but it's still cheaper to get the big pack. Thanks for the tips, really helpful and loving to see your progress.
Cas