Trev62-An intermittent gardening blog!

[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.

[Spreckly]

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]

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.

[Mo]

My rhubarb is very spindly this year. Maybe it needs dividing, I'll have to google.

[Trev62]

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.

[Mo]

Lack of moisture is hardly a problem here!!! All our road edges are running streams. Not particularly dry last summer either.

[Trev62]

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!

[lancashire lass]

My rhubarb is very spindly this year. Maybe it needs dividing, I'll have to google.

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

[Mo]

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.

[lancashire lass]

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.

[Trev62]

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