2023 - What I did today

They should be ashamed of themselves - selling plants in that condition. How long have they been out for delivery?

Supposedly only a day or two, notification of despatch early 15th, delivery late 16th. Those scraggy things cot £9.99 for 15. They were parched when I got them so I gave them a good soaking but they've deteriorated since then. I'm planting them out today and P will keep them watered. Time will tell.

They look a bit underfed to me too, probably outgrown those modules a bit. Maybe you should've paid the extra £1 for them to spray it with that magic Maxicrop seaweed feed 

Perhaps, but shouldn't have to!

A CFBs planted albeit a little too closely together. They're all for drying Meuch and Coco.... (lazy housewife) so I'll hope for the best.

Cut to the ground the tulips and poppies. Husband trimmed the weeds along the path. Bit of weeding. Harvested red currants, broad beans, and a few mangetout (the leaves finally ravaged by pigeons). Left without watering in hope that the forecast rain amounts to something.

They should be ashamed of themselves - selling plants in that condition. How long have they been out for delivery?

Supposedly only a day or two, notification of despatch early 15th, delivery late 16th. Those scraggy things cot £9.99 for 15. They were parched when I got them so I gave them a good soaking but they've deteriorated since then. I'm planting them out today and P will keep them watered. Time will tell.

They look a bit underfed to me too, probably outgrown those modules a bit. Maybe you should've paid the extra £1 for them to spray it with that magic Maxicrop seaweed feed 

Perhaps, but shouldn't have to!

Exactly! If they had been taking care of the plants properly they shouldn't have to feed them before they're despatched, it's just a way for them to get an easy upsell like sweets at the supermarket checkout. You can get controlled release fertiliser which feeds for up to 6 months so they are obviously skimping on the fertiliser a bit.

I'm interested to know what the roots are like on those geraniums. They look like cuttings that have been taken, plunged into the modules and sold after a week or so.

Another barrow load of soil added to bed 2. Planted up another hanging baskets with a tomato.
Moved more house contents.

I'm interested to know what the roots are like on those geraniums. They look like cuttings that have been taken, plunged into the modules and sold after a week or so.

They don't look very healthy at all, hopefully there'll be a refund of some kind.

I'm interested to know what the roots are like on those geraniums. They look like cuttings that have been taken, plunged into the modules and sold after a week or so.

The roots were to the bottom of the modules but by no means root bound. When watered the root ball was very loose. When I got them the compost was very dry,  loose and fluffy.  Some of the stems were under a slim pencil width.  I was very careful removing them from their modules as it think, had I been a bit impatient, the plants would have pulled out of the compost  which proves the root ball wasn't too robust.

They're now planted out and watered with a dose of Miracle Gro.

I had a day with the cucurbits. Potted up some Giant pumpkin seedlings, planted some Cha Cha squash and Griller courgettes.
I had a spare courgette so I scraped a hole in the grass mulch in the old pond and was delighted to find that the soil was damp there so I bunged the courgette in the hole alongside its siblings in their ring culture pots.

Went to the allotment at naptime. Did some weeding, removed the last of the poppies, harvested some flowers and fruit.

Received a seed order today in which one of the seed packets was empty. Oops. I've emailed, so hopefully it will be sorted. Sowed seeds from the rest of the packs.