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Daphne

So how is the season so far?

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Well I found out via sky news 🙄 that the company is furloughing most of us. Received my email 2 days later so I’m off officially until the 1st of June... and then only working 12 days that month.....so.... my allotment will be looking fabulous!! 😂😂

I’ve been going down every day this week so far...weeding and planting seeds in the greenhouse. It’s been really nice. 
 

I’ll need to eat the veg as I’ll be so poor come summer 🙄

 

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As mentioned on another thread I managed to barter a bag of compost for a Donald Trump novelty loo roll and now my peas have started to grow! They  are a Victorian bush variety, supposedly low growing and I'm keen to see how they yield. I have peppers, cues, toms and baby corn still to plant but am restraining myself as our windowledge space is limited for germination!

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Christian!  Nice to see you again! 

I’m short of commercial seeds so I’m seeing what I can grow from veggies I have.  Sprouted some carrot and parsnip tops but think these will be more decorative than productive.   I have a precious butternut squash that I think might be more useful.   And potatoes.   And I planted some halved tomatoes.   Anyone got any ideas of other things I can try?  

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PW I have some baby carrot seeds that I can post to you...not sure if they are still in date but should be fine. Also will have some cues left over if you grow those? I'm waiting for runner beans and baby corn seeds to arrive but suspect that I won't have room for all of those in our pots so happy to send your way. Apparently the veg shop in the village is getting some seeds in too but not sure what she will be able to get.

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Hi Christian, bad news on the furlough, what a rotten way to find out.  However, every cloud has a silver lining, so they say!

Patricia - not exactly one of life's essentials, but you could try sowing melon seed, I did it once (by accident) it was in the compost bin, but it did work.  Also avocado for the fun of it though you probably won't get a fruit, but something to entice a grandchild with? My late FIL once tied a tin of tomatoes on an ailing tomato plant being grown by his SIL!  Pineapple top? Would a courgette work I wonder.  Orange/lemon/other citrus though they might not bear either. Cape gooseberry - I know this works as friends do it, though you may need some heat. Is it too late for garlic? If you get any ginger with a knobbly 'eye' that will work as I do it, in pots, in sun. Sorry this isn't the most practical list, I am struggling to think of seedy veg that are about now.

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Looking smart Christian, sorry about the furloughing.  OH said he'd never heard of the word until this year. 

Good luck with the experimenting (potatoes will be fine) Patricia.

I was going to sow the parsnips over the last couple of days, but it's been so windy (nearly blew me in the duck pools while I was refilling them yesterday) and while today was not quite so bad, it looks like tomorrow will be better.  So I just prepped the bed - my Zen garden playing with the rake!  Have been tidying up the beds, cutting out the sides, and adding compost gradually.  Not many weeds, but where I'm moving the paths, there are quite a few healthy dandelions there.  I will cover them with cardboard and compost when I get to that bit.  Otherwise it's pricking out and potting on.  

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Thanks everyone! It’s better than the other option - redundancy....

 

another couple of hours at the plot yesterday. 2 more 1/2 beds weeded and ready for planting! Got some more carrots seeds in and 2 more rows of beetroot❤️ Plus more peas! The greenhouse is doing well - all my sunflowers are up but the 13 pots of squash seeds are slow to germinate, but getting there. I must learn to stop digging in the pots to check for a root 😝

 

Im on the hunt for leeks seeds and have posted on the allotment fb page so fingers crossed...couldn’t find them in the shops anywhere and won’t got out looking now....

 

Patricia, what do you need? I have so many packs of seeds....could post to you? 

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Yep we saw our first one on Monday. We were out for our walk and we’re saying ‘surely they’ll be here soon with all these southerly winds’ and right then one flew overhead 😍 I always speak to the first one and tell him it’s good to see him back and we’ll dine for making the journey (yes I think I am mad 🙄)

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Not seen any yet, but I've been putting water in the old wheelbarrow which is used as a weight for the black polythene.  OH uses it for washing the roots before bringing bits inside, but the mud had dried out, so I know they like collecting the mud from there.  We have a little wagtail at the moment.

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Well underway now. Early potatoes are all up and some of the main crop are showing. 1 Kg of onion sets in. First dwarf beans and first beetroot sown, as are the carrots and leeks. Tomatoes are a few days short of potting-on. No rain for three weeks though and already our water butts are going down. Mowing is about under control after the very wet spell which meant we could do nothing, but as it's a Bank Holiday, then Sunday and another Bank Holiday we won't get much done for a while; we try to keep the noise to a minimum. Only problem may be late frosts and insufficient fleece?

Heard the first Hoopoe a few days ago, but haven't seen one yet.

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Just bought my tomato plants; they will be going in later when I've added some fresh compost form the wormeries to that trough.

A neighbour, who has an allotment, also works at the local nursery. They are giving away loads of plants to local care homes and retirement centres. She's also bringing home stuff which will be going out of date, so I have onion and garlic sets, and yet more rhubarb!

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Thanks for the offer of seeds, folks! For some reason I missed this thread.  I’ve decided to focus on potatoes ( got some beginning to sprout anyway) butternut squash, ( from the squash I have) tomatoes and salad leaves.   I found a packet of both which came last year from a magazine and were still in date.  So that will do.   A neighbour has offered beans.   Soapy, carrots are a disaster here so I’ll leave them to you!  

My geranium and Busy Lizzie plug plants have arrived and are now on various windowsills.   I’ve got the begonias and dahlias on the way.  So progress!  

Be careful pruning that vine.  They can bleed to death at this time of year. It’s happened to a friend whose husband ‘helped’.  The poor vine is bleeding sap all over the place.  She thinks she’s lost it. 

Anyone in Oxfordshire, I’ve heard that a nursery near Wallingford, Purely Plants is doing mail order and delivery as is Yarnton nurseries and our favourite, Soapy, Notcutts, ( but not the tea and cake unfortunately)

It’s amazing how so much better you feel growing things.  Confirmation that life goes on.  

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To stop plants bleeding, put some dried cinnamon on the wounds - it seals the ends and has antibacterial properties too.  That's what was recommended for orchids when trimming roots or removing damaged leaves - but don't splat it all over as it will dry things too much, a little on the end of a paintbrush or cotton bud is fine.

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:dance:

Getting ready to put our raspberries in before the heat hits.  They've been heeled in the greenhouse and growing!  Going to slice the turf (OH strimmed it almost to death) pull it back - bit like open heart surgery with the ribs!:vom:  Then spread out the roots in the gap, put the peeled back turf down to firm them in, then cardboard over the top and a big mulch of compost. That worked well with the hedging and trees.  It's like tucking them in with a blanket!

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