What have you done in the garden today?

MrsC wrote:Oh - and the Basil seeds that I planted last week have already started to sprout!

Mrs C

I could never get on with the basil...

sparhawk - if I can manage it then they must be pretty idiot proof!

Quite like eating it too which is handy seeing as we'll hopefully have some more soon.

Mrs C

Planted spinnach, chard, and six varieties of lettuce. In cells in a tray of course, not outside. No bare ground in sight around here but it's heartening when we drive into town to shop or doctor's appointments (200 meters less elevation makes a big difference. At even just 100 meters less you see some bare ground).

Oh, and that tray of onions/leeks I had planted? Little green loops poking their noses up!

MrsC wrote:sparhawk - if I can manage it then they must be pretty idiot proof!
Quite like eating it too which is handy seeing as we'll hopefully have some more soon.
Mrs C

Well, I can get them to sprout, go on to about 4 leaves then thats it, have tried a couple of different varieties perhaps just not found the right one yet...

Oh nearly forgot, planted a few more sprouted peas into cardboard tubes, got rid of more cat residue

Managed to do some rearranging, swapping pots for boxes.

Put some tomato & cuecumber seeds to sprout, also some sweetpeas.

So a very good hour

Sparhawk basil needs a min temp of 20degC. It totally unforgiving if you do not water it a lot and use rich compost. It takes about 8 days to germinate but I plan on 3months before the plants are really big enough to attack.

My propagators full and I still haven't done Basil or courgettes and cucumbers :scratch:

Sparhawk - maybe I spoke too soon as my basil seems to have stopped growing and has now been overtaken in height by the coriander!

The onions are starting to sprout though and the tomatoes are also coming up. Another propagator filled with chilli seeds today. I do love the fact that spring seems to be here!

Mrs C

I guess this count as "in the garden..."

So far today CM and I have felled 3 BIG trees and logged them up and stacked them in the wood store to dry out, I have snedded off the twiggery and saved what is reasonable for burning or crafts, and made a pile for shredding the rest...we have also burnt some very tangled hawthorn and had some fun doing so...

We have also coppiced 3 stools of 25 year old hazel... so have some lovely straight thick poles for firewood and construction and a lot of bean poles as well as some supports for my planned bender and for den building courses.

I have also wheeled another couple of barrow loads of compost nto the last of the raised beds...but I gave up on that as it felt a bit too much like hard work.

having a coffee and a sit down now, but ready to go out and do a bit more soon....

Also full of spring over here in France CW.... I moved 16 barrow fulls of compost this afternoon (Fowl paradise) Zoe very happy :cheers:
Cup of tea at the moment and maybe an hour of hedge laying before it gets dark.

Worked over several of the "sand" beds with my favourite tool....


Wolf Garten Soil Miller

It breaks up the soil and puts air in and dislodges most weeds. It breaks up compost and mixes it in. It is stuck on a long handle and so has the same action as a hoe.

Perhaps we need a good tools thread?

Do you use that with a pull-push action? It looks if it fits onto the wolf handles (I love this range of tools; they're very versatile)

Yes Dandelion it does fit on the handles ... I have a really long one..and is a push action primarily as its got a swivel hoe under it...but you can bring it back under the soil.

I would very much like the narrow push pull weeder.....birthday soon!

Wood Troll wrote:Also full of spring over here in France CW.... I moved 16 barrow fulls of compost this afternoon (Fowl paradise) Zoe very happy :cheers:
Cup of tea at the moment and maybe an hour of hedge laying before it gets dark.

You should have seen the hens go mad in my new raised beds! 1.5 m3 of dug soil/compost in each, four of them in total...hen heaven! was about 15 loads in each...my poor old back!

Today we have been working clearing a new paddock area on the edge of the wood nearest the pool, so were "around" the hen pens all day...so the hens felt safe enough to be in the wood, rooting around in the leaf litter, all day...

I had to keep fending Treacle off from the fire....daft hen!

Have just come in from being by the fire in the dark, pushing the outer twiggery into the embers to keep it safe....I love fires and woodland....

Have got the poles for the bodgers hovel/bender I am planning, some lovely curved poles from a wayfarer I coppiced and some really good poles with "Y"s at the end for support poles for various dens...and LOADS of firewood and pea sticks and bean poles...

Zoe wrote:Yes Dandelion it does fit on the handles ... I have a really long one..and is a push action primarily as its got a swivel hoe under it...but you can bring it back under the soil.

I would very much like the narrow push pull weeder.....birthday soon!

oooo I like the look of that...have several wolf tools and a long handle as well as a couple of short ones...so might get one of those when I have sorted out the year end finances....

thanks Zoe!

It would have made life a lot easier yesterday when I was sorting out the bed for the potatoes! Will seriously consider using my Mothers' day garden voucher for one of these - thank you!

I've finished digging the hole that I plan to call a tool shed (well, finished for now, I may extend it later).
Just got to decide what to make the roof out of.

A hole? what is it , a hobbit hole tool shed? Am intrigued now...

Compostwoman wrote:A hole? what is it , a hobbit hole tool shed? Am intrigued now...

When they built it, there was a gap twixt the garage and the yard. Don't know why, except to give folk somewhere to dump rubble and rubbish.
Not really a hole, but as good a description as any.

What did I do in the garden today?...nothing as I had to do 3 healings throughout the day...despite it being so beautifully warm. Tomorrow I WILL get into the garden.

Come into cool off...I'm not kidding. It is 22degC in the veg patch area. Even on the north east corner of the courtyard where it gets no sun until after the March Equinox (and was frozen a few days ago) it is 14degC.

It making it a bit complicated with the seeding. This weather is going to continue so I've seeded the Parsnips (kept some just in case) and some lettuce, beetroot and carrot.

The biggest problem is it is so dry. We have had no real precipitation since end of Feb - which was actually snow.

All fruit bushes have spouted:
raspberry, black currant, red currant & goosegog (this is the first year we've tried fruits) so pleased with that.

Unforced rhubarb has appeared.

Planted row of lettuce, kale, broccoli raab, pea, beetroots, & carrots seedlings.
Put some peas & broad beans in cardboard tubes...

Made 2 x baby polytunnels/overgrown cloches 5' x 2' x 3' from some old whippy tent pole things & polythene...

Dismantled 3 pallets.

Compost accelerated...

Zoe wrote:
I would very much like the narrow push pull weeder.....birthday soon!

Is that this one ?

It is my favorite hoe; it skims along about 10-20 mm below the surface just as a good hoe should, even on my heavy clay at the lotty, and the sides let you get close to the row without damage. Great tool.

Had a day at the lotty yesterday; the soil was dry enough to put the above tool to good use. Planted potatoes; I'm still aching today !

Planted some earlies today in one of the new raised beds...2 of them, so

a good start I hope!

Chilli-head wrote:

It is my favorite hoe; it skims along about 10-20 mm below the surface just as a good hoe should, even on my heavy clay at the lotty, and the sides let you get close to the row without damage. Great tool.

I've never really got into hoeing before; I've ususally hand-weeded (which tells you that I've never had much ground to look after!) But with our veg plot getting larger each year, and my knees getting worse, this should be one of this year's resolutions. The problem is, now I'm pulled between learning to use the hoe I've got and buying a new one!!

Yes C-h thats it....I am wishing very ahrd for one!

Hoeing is so important for me. I can not just weed. Obviously hoeing each day is idea as then nothing gets established.

How you hoe is so varied. I think it depends on your balance, height, upper body weight, eye sight etc. I skim forward using a long handled dutch hoe most of the time for weeding just-germinated weeds and can do all the beds in 2 hours.

You have to stop your self going too close to the plants if the hoe is sharp! And some plants like onions don't like it as the have surface roots.


Dandelion you could have a mad 1/2 hour in a good gardening centre trying them all out! :bounce: