2023 - What I did today

Having cleared the veg patches of dying stuff P has dug over the bare land. I haven't subscribed to 'no dig' yet. Then turned my attention to the fruit cage. I need to reconfigure the raspberry supports, the old ones broke last year and the rasps are rampant. How is it they grow well everywhere they're not wanted and die elsewhere. Anyway, the 4 tier strawberry 'potato' tower needed a haircut and soil topped up, so I took it apart. Now I know where the nice strawberries went , I found mouse nests under two of the layers. No mouse thank goodness. Never did get round to redoing the raspberry supports but at least I ascertained that I need more kit. P dug out the errant canes which are in a bucket of water to eventually fill gaps. Strawberries look really tidy.

My job of the day was to clear a small bed in front of the black and white shed. In spring it will be full of daffodils but today it was full of periwinkle, and weeds. Going to plant it with herbs like rosemary, lavender and thyme as I have several of each looking for a home.
Did some washing - mainly bedding - and I found a ladybird having a snooze on a sheet this afternoon. Made me smile.

My job of the day was to clear a small bed in front of the black and white shed. In spring it will be full of daffodils but today it was full of periwinkle, and weeds. Going to plant it with herbs like rosemary, lavender and thyme as I have several of each looking for a home.
Did some washing - mainly bedding - and I found a ladybird having a snooze on a sheet this afternoon. Made me smile.

I found a ladybird on me and it was biting me. They don't half pack a punch, luckily they don't sting. It didn't make me smile.

Dug up a few more potatoes, about 9' to go and ideally will finish tomorrow as I want to plant garlic out there as some in pots has sprouted about 6inches.
Picked the last of the soisson cfb for drying that were fairly dry already despite lots of rain up to a day ago. Then picked raspberries, beetroot and tomatoes. The tomatoes have done very well considering they were infected with leaf mould from early July. the Vegetable Expert (Hessayon), who I know some are not impressed with, reckons about 8lb a plant under glass. I was pleased to get just about 6lb. per plant. The 2 roma, that were not infected with the fungus did best at 9.7lb per plant with some green tomatoes still on with a chance of ripening. The gardeners delight also did well as usual at just over 8lb a plant and plenty of small tomatoes still ripening with all the mild weather.

After a short spell of limbering up by pulling out montbretia I was ready to tackle the brambles at the end of the garden. I know I moan about them but its very satisfying hacking your way into a bramble patch. At this time of year the new shoots are dropping to the ground in search of somewhere to put down roots. They're easy to pull out at this stage and, if you were nearer, you'd hear me cheering or saying Gotcha, you little divil.
I had to stand in the Three cornered leek patch to do this and the smell of garlicky leek was quite overpowering. Made me hungry!

All fish boxes in the polytunnel have been emptied of plants & weeds. Then covered them so I can reuse the compost in beds, as I make them. Emptied my sweet pea fish boxes that was still in the old garden. Very depressing being there again. Made me realise how much I miss my polytunnels. Dug a little bed ( is it a bed if only one plant is going in it? )and put the edging rocks around it. Laid some slabs outside the little lean to shed because it’s very muddy and I go in there every day.

Planted a clematis and some tulip bulbs in the little bed I made yesterday. Just need to add the layer of mulch. But rain came on too heavy. So me and the boys did a runner.

My job of the day was to clear a small bed in front of the black and white shed. In spring it will be full of daffodils but today it was full of periwinkle, and weeds. Going to plant it with herbs like rosemary, lavender and thyme as I have several of each looking for a home.
Did some washing - mainly bedding - and I found a ladybird having a snooze on a sheet this afternoon. Made me smile.

Small bed now planted with rosemary, lavender, thyme and cyclamen. I've put some large planters in front of the bed to stop the dogs from wandering there, They're convinced that something lives under the shed - and they're probably right! One winter, 2 rabbits emerged and played in the snow! Haven't seen them since!

In addition to planting the little herb bed, I've cleared out more tomato plants in GH1, planted 2 bunches of "shop" spring onions, repotted some FREE orchids, done a little weeding, pulled up another courgette plant and found some edible treasures!

Yesterday I did get round to revamping the raspberry supports yes I needed some more parasene stakes and clippy thingys which I went to fetch today. Now I've got enough bits to revamp another row.