2022 - What I did today

No allotment this weekend (good thing we're on the untidy, young families site...). Some seed sowing today. Including four pots labeled "Magic Beans": speckled, striped, beige, and black. Looking forward to growing Scarlet's mystery beans from two swaps ago since I missed doing them last year.

Not a lot done today. Prepared ground for carrots then covered early potatoes that are showing with fleece as could be a couple of frosts over the next week.

Other than that just watching the birds through the window. there are 2 ring doves pecking away under the bird table. They visit quite often but I've never seen them on the table where the grain is. Sparrows come and go as do robins and chaffinches. A blackbird has been going in and out the hedge with building material (unaffected by the current shortages). Not seen her so often the last couple of days so may be she has finished the build.

I did manage to get outside for a while. I've sown some seeds, but had to go back to baggy sowing for quite a few things as I'm so short of compost.

I've also planted out my surviving onions (multi-sown into modules). They were starting to look a bit desperate to escape the modules, so I've just had to put them in anywhere I can. Most of them have gone into the poor clay soil between my fruit bushes, with some going in a no-dig bed I've made with cardboard and compost. I could have put them all in there, but I want to have a patchwork garden rather than everything of one kind in one place. The clumps are a bit too close together, but it will have to do.

I planted out some rather sad looking kale from some modules too. I have to say, I'm not loving the Charles Dowding modules. The individual modules are so small that they dry out so easily, even when it's not all that hot. I think the bigger module sizes are overall better, though they do take up more space.

Weeded and top dressed my blueberry containers with ericacous compost. Noticed that one of them has disappeared. I pruned them all in winter so I know they were all there then, but one has gone. I dug around but no sign of anything. Very puzzling. I'll get another one this week hopefully.

Took some cuttings from a blue surfinia petunia I bought from the garden centre. There were six good shoots so hopefully most of them take. The cuttings I took from my overwintered white one a few weeks ago all took.

Sowed some seeds - Thunbergia, a courgette and some french marigolds to replace the ones pulled out by the blackbirds when I left the tray out today.

Did some more GH shuffling - moved the onion sets (in modules) and the Babington leek seedlings out to the table, moved the trays of CFBs and courgettes from GH1 to GH2 (still no sign of life but I'm hopeful).
Pulled up the Lamb's lettuce and gave it to the chooks. Not really sure why I grew it as lettuce proper grows just as well overwinter in the GH.
A bit more path raking and pile turning. My aim is to clear the main paths from top to bottom of the garden so that they don't need mowing.
Declared war on Sticky Willy today - he seems to be back with a vengeance and he's a nightmare to get out of the dogs fur.
Spud caught a mole and carried it back to the house! Lunch maybe? I put it in a bucket and went to the far end of the garden to hurl the body into the bushes. Needless to say, it didn't go according to plan. The flying mole hit a bramble cane and bounced back into the garden! Second try was not much better but it did, at least, drop the far side of the fence. I'm sure some creature will find it and clear it up.

Finally managed to deal with the stagnating seedlings this afternoon.
Spent an hour removing debris from the seed trays after a storm yesterday - honeysuckle and rose leaves were mushed and embedded in amongst the seedlings!

Potted up the tomato seedlings ...........and about time too. I've been apologising to them for weeks.
Having rummaged around in the tool shed for the garden umbrella stand, I decided it needed a bit of organisation as I'm still not sure what is on the shelves at the far end. At some time, I'd scrounged a load of cardboard boxes to use inside the chicken coop, under the bedding. My plan was to move this cardboard into the chicken food and equipment shed. Of course, to do this I had to organise the chicken shed first to make room for the cardboard. Now that this done, tomorrow, I may be able to see what is on the shelves - I know there's a lot of pots - but there are pots everywhere.............one day I'll sort those out too.

Today I got off my backside and did what I had planned to do yesterday.....and the day before that......and the day before that!

I have two paved runs about 4 metres long with about  300mm of grass in between, Today I stripped off the grass and set small stones into position. Tomorrow I will mix up a cement mix (probably 3 of sand to 1 of cement) and brush it in dry around the stones. I will then either wait for it to rain or go over it with the watering can with rose fitted. (Probably the latter as I am an impatient sod!)

Most of the weekly sow list until I ran out of pots and space!

My Sunday consisted of a fairly early start and I knew I had a day of alone time in the garden (Jay still in bed, and teenager sleeps until tea time). I moved all my seedlings to the unheated greenhouse, do or die. The conservatory emptied of plants - straight into the same greenhouse.

I straigthened up the base for the greenhouse, gathered masses of pea shingle from around the old pond and poured that around the base to stabilise it. Measured and checked that the base was square and level, and triple checked. And checked again.

Backfilled some of the soil.

Picked up dog muck, moved a very large container to its new home outside the conservatory, strimmed grass that had grown around it, fed all the weeds I'd pulled to the chickens, planted strawberry plants, shifted some more concrete. Baked two lemon drizzle cakes - one for me, and one for our friendly neighbour electrician that helped us the other week. Cooked a roast dinner. Got help from the teenager to do the pots and clear away, she hoovered and mopped, I tidied the front room. Then.... relax. Beautiful day