What Jobs Are We Doing In The Garden Today 2020

Got things ready for part of the tomatoes to go into the garden, tomorrow will be the day I guess.
They will get increasingly high temperature until Saturday, then a drop of 10C for a few days.

I was wondering whether to use epsom salts on the tomatoes only or also other plants, but I ended up reading about it and it would seem that there is no actual evidence for epsom salts to be useful for gardening in general.. Last years I have used them with no ill effects, so I might put a pinch anyway.

I planted out the first batch of sweetcorn and also several of the beans in soil blocks.
Planting the soil blocks is so much easier that from pot, the sprouted beans developed faster than in the soil and look ealthier. But next time I will avoid having them sprout beforehand, it makes it quite hard to plant them in the blocks.
Now that I have a bit more space for trays, I guess the next, hemm, "kids on the block" will be glass sweetcorn, pak choi, fennel and quite a few others.. I need to check my seeds box.

 

just small green berries at the moment

 

Not done much for the last couple of days. I'm taking part in the covid vaccine trial and had my injection on Monday - it's 50/50 as to whether I've had the covid one or a meningitis one and I won't find out until the study ends, but whichever one it was I spent yesterday feeling like I'd been hit by a train Pretty much back to normal now and then sun is out here so going to spend some time pottering about and sorting seedlings etc.

Yep pretty much - the house our vendors are buying is empty so we should be able to move pretty quick once things get going again at least

I usually grow them in large pots anyway - no greenhouse and limited space - so they will be moveable in theory (assuming we're out before they get too tall ) Space is the other big (or small ) factor; I planted a much wider range of varieties of both tomatos and chillis in anticipation of actually having room for them, but I might have to start doling the out to the neighbours if we're here much longer...

 

Well, it is a good start

 

Out of curiosity, what do you use for protecting them from frost?
I was thinking of covering mine at night with some thin plastic sheets, polythene dust sheets basically, as I have them at hand.
Would that help?

 

Climbing French Beans sown, Runner Beans sown, more Lettuce, Spinach, Basil, Parsley, chives all sown.

Big Zac and Gardeners Delight tomatoes all potted on along with Courgettes and Cucumbers, still loads more to do.

Earthed up the spuds.

Cut the privet hedge bordering the veggie plot, cleared the cuttings along with some remaining weeds on the veggie patch.

Cleared out one of our compost bins, the contents were well received but the bin was well past its sell by date so will be replaced, 2nd compost bin to do later, we're replacing that one too!

Almost out of compost so another trip to the gardening club in Enfield is in order (members only).

Knackered just typing this but loads more to do in the garden....... What the heck, sod the garden for the rest of today, Going to bake some crusty bread instead!

 

Planted out cabbage, spinach and beetroot. Seeds eventually arrived from Sutton’s (ordered 14th Apr). Sown red and white spring onions, Lollo Rosso lettuce and sunflowers.

Rusty

 

Cleaned and disinfected the greenhouse and began setting up the Auto-Pots for the tomatoes; while I was at it I washed the panels inside and out. Our temperatures are still far below normal with the possibility of snow this weekend. Hard to believe. I am running the heat at night to maintain a temperature of at least 55 degrees F so I will most likely plant the tomatoes in the Auto-Pots tomorrow. Now, it is nap time, I have DONE ENOUGH FOR TODAY.

 

@shiney
Thanks, that is a pretty clever way to support them, and the result look quite pleasant too once they are grown.
I do not have much space so it is not much of an option, my beans are all mixed with other plants, but if I ever do have the space I wil certainly give it a go.
I will try and cobble up some support for the plastic sheets.
Hopefully the cold should only last a few days.

 

Just watered in the greenhouse. It's pretty crowded in there but luckily most of the little pots are being fed from big troughs in myvcapillary set up and not too hard to replenish.

Fixed the electric fence at the back. I could hear the current arcing so I decided to tear out all the old wire across the back and replace it with the leftover from the first installatiin. . I ordered some more wire that is a heavier grade and will last longer so will be repeating the process and also adding to the side fences when it arrives. That will stop those wascally waccoons from muddying the birdbath!

And the guessers say I will have to wait for another 8 days before I can safely turn on tne supply to the outdoor faucets. Freezing is forecast to be a threat until then.

And I've been shaking my head at my bargain allium. They are creating flowers about 12 inches off the ground. At most. Oh well, I only bought tjem because there were no other options, the nurseries being out of stock!

 

Finally chanced planting some tomatoes outside.
3 grafted aviditas, one grafted Lizzano and two honey-something from seed, which are the only orange ones and I really hope grow fine. My kid gave me a bit of grief for not growing Santorange instead, but it did not do well last year so I decided to try something new.
He did enjoy the planting though, I think, being in charge of the mycorrhizae and so forth. Actually his help was quite precious because the plants are already tall and fragile, so an extra pair of hands made quite a difference.

Used open pots on soil as usual, but I had to mix my usual potting soil with the "veggie gold", full of stones, which I got in bulk last month. So I had to add quite a lot of the little vermiculite I have left.
I am running out of potting soil, I might try and see if my local gardening center can drop a few bags by my door, if they ever go checking their premises for watering.
Stones aside, the problem with the "veggie gold" is that it is dry and pretty slow at absorbing water. It is full of compost and manure, but in pretty big chunks. I think it would be good to put months in advance in a bed, and let rain, worms and bacteria process it.
But at this stage the "gold" needs quite a lot of mining still, I suspect. Still, the bed in the front improved a lot after the rain last weeks, so perhaps the rest will improve as well.