2024 - What I did today

Grub hunting

   

Grub hunting

I know a couple of robins and a wren that would be interested in those.

Grub hunting

I know a couple of robins and a wren that would be interested in those.

Sorry Mark, all grubs have been devoured, so until the next pot, I'm out of stock. The birds cleaned their plate very nicely. They had no objection to a cooked dinner.  l poured boiling water over them to kill them, in case they crawled away. Cruel perhaps but very satisfying.

Potted up some Taunton Deane perennial kale cuttings and planted out a couple into their forever homes. Also a rooted sage cutting.
Sowed beetroot, Angelica and caraway seeds.
Pulled up some grass that was encroaching on the flower/veg beds.
Sieved Hotbin compost and fed the Hotbin with lots of banana peel.
Watered a clump of frogspawn as the water level in the old pond has dropped and it was stranded in the mud.

Washed inside of greenhouses with Jayes fluid.

Planted the 4 pots of Bijou mangetout (from the germination experiment) into their final resting place. The ones I planted there a couple of weeks ago are still healthy, untouched by frost or whatever we've had since then.
Sowed some Beetroot in front of the peas.
Watered the frog spawn.
Weeded one of the rhubarb "beds".
Raked dead grass out of bed and spread it on the path. to dry out.
Spotted a Ladybird on some mint. Good News.
Spotted lots of ? Cabbage White caterpillars on some White Comfrey - Bad News. I've already found them chomping away on some Oriental salad leaves in GH2.
Blueberry bushes are flowering.
An All round good sunshiny day.

Dug another hole for a polytunnel leg.

Sowed leek, kale and DFB seeds.
Chopped the tops off more raspberries and cut down dead canes.
Sieved some Hotbin compost.
Watered the frogspawn as the pond is almost dry now.

Got the Red Duke of York potatoes planted in the big 50 L pots. The mixture is 20L of last year's compost, 20L of turf stack compost, 5L bagged compost, 5L coffee grounds and 300g vegan fertiliser.

No maincrop this year, Cara yielded well but the taste wasn't great, and we've found a source of nice, very local potatoes instead.

Weeded a bed of forgetmenots, daisies and other sundry weeds ready for some sort of veg growing.
Took up some pondliner that had been covering grass, and cleared the dead couch grass from underneath. Recovered it, until I'm ready to sow summat.
Watered the tadpoles but its raining now so I probably didn't need to bother.
Sieved more Hotbin compost.