What have you done today in the Garden?

Thanks CAYU--It is indeed a scourge. It is something that I have to deal with each year. I am thinking about eating some of it. That would be a good way of getting back at it! hahaha.

Well, there are some folks here that DO eat it. When Napoleon was here, his troops would eat it. I guess that it would fill an empty belly.

 

Sjoerd, I did not know it was edible!?

Are you familiar with Good King Henry? I am trying to start some seeds of it.

 

I saw your thread on that. I do not know it by that name...but I shall look into it later on.

 

This plant is on the red list here because it is disappearing so rapidly here. The plants that are growing are doing so down south in our country.

I have grown a similar plant to this but for show...an Amaranthus with long, red hanging tassels.

Good luck, meid ...with your seeding. I think that they will germinate for you just fine.

 

A very full days gardening for me. Up before 7am to water the plants in my greenhouse. Loaded the car with plants for the allotment, then spent a rather glorious seven hours there, weeding, planting, watering and sowing. Everything is in, well, almost everything. Tomatoes, beans, squashes, brassicas, salads, onions, peas, and lots and lots more. Then home to potter in my own garden whilst Mark fired up the BBQ and my mum and little girl sat in the evening sunshine, drinking cocktails and nattering to me. A perfect summery Sunday.

 

EJ--That sounds like a good old-fashioned gardening day.

Got the trenches dug for the leeks.
Got the strawbs tucked in with the mulch that protected the various beds over the winter months. --I don't like to waste any more stuff than I have to. It will eventually make it into the compost Dalek after there is no other uses for it.
I watered my shootables as well as the kapucijners

We are catching a record number of slugs this summer--so I refreshed all the containers with beer.

Tomorrow evening late, we will plant out all sorts of things that are on the window sills here at home currently.

I had a quick look in two of the bee hives to see how they were faring. I wanted to actually lay eyes on the queen in the small colony and in the other hive, I wanted to see if the bees had begun filling that honey super that I placed the day before. They have built out the foundation about half way and in the frames that were already built out--they were filling with honey already. That colony is hard-working.

 

Planted tomato's and peppers today. Trialing one variety of Toms that I am calling Corwin. Seeds were given to me by and 'old' man who claims they came from a Native American woman at his church. If they are anything like he says, I'll be looking for folks what might like to trial them for themselves. Hoe'd out the cabbage and kale. Asparagus bed needs weeding, again, still.

 

EJ--sounds like a lovely day!

Sjoerd: ok, I googled 'kapucijners' and found out they were a kind of pea. Next I googled 'shootables' only that took me to some VERY strange websites indeed. So I have no idea what you were doing in the garden today.

Question for you re the leeks. A friend just gave me some tiny leek transplants....they were about the thickness of a thread. My daughter & I just planted them 10" apart. Should we have put them in trenches instead?

Congrats on the bees..sounds like they are coming along.

FBG: Good luck with those new tomatoes 'Corwin'. It is always fun to try something new. Hope they work out.

 

I weeded the tomatoes today, and saw that the cherry tomatoes had set some fruit! I also thinned carrots (baby carrots with green beans for dinner tonight) and pulled dill and cut basil to make herbal vinegars.
Husband, bless his hard-working heart, is mulching one of the front flower beds, and now I'm out to dead-head roses and see if the zinnias are coming up.
Later: I discovered that dead-heading roses in a high wind is not a good idea. I decided to stop the blood loss and go inside. I now look like an advertisement for Band-Aids, and the roses are happily dropping petals all over the place!

 

MG....your garden is so far ahead of mine! Our tomatoes are not even in yet. We could still get frost in this area. I love the picture of you being an ad for Band-Aids!

 

Those are really seedlings at that size,..i take it that your friend had just thinned out her seedlings,..the usual would be to around 1 1/2 inches apart,..so just carefully drop each seedling into a hole and fill with water,..then when around 8 inches high and pencil thickness,..make a deep hole with a dibber water the ground the day before lifting them,..trim off the root ends,..and leaf tips,..make a hole big enough to drop the Leek into,..do nothing else but pour water into the hole,..the water will settle the roots no need to firm in the soil,..i used to grow Leeks when i had the Market Garden,..the older gardeners always told me,..remember as the Leek grows keep gradually removing soil from around it,..as you would with an Onion.

 

Hiya CAYU-- "Shootables" are what I call plants that can shoot easily. A very technical term, eh? chortle.-- Plants like spinach, onions and brassica's are what I am talking about.

There can be a whole "science" to planting leeks if you want to go that route--some say, "cut the distal 1/3 of the roots off and it will stimulate more growth of the leaves". Others say, " cut the distal 1/3 of the leaves and this will stimulate more root growth".
There are even those that recommend cutting both before planting.

I have tried all three options and have not noticed appreciable difference in harvest-able outcome than if I do nothing, and just drop the plantlets in the hole.

I water the leek in and then leave it grow, gradually earthing them up as they grow upwards. Eventually You have quite a bit of "plant stalk" underground...and this is what you want--a nice, long, white bit.

 

Wow. So much useful info here that I've just been lurking. Thank you.

 

Thanks Philip & Sjoerd. I will watch my leeks & figure out what to do!

Sjoerd...I am still confused about "shootables". Does this mean plants that grow quickly? Or easily from seed? Or does it mean plants that tend to bolt?

CJay: I could sound like (dare I say it?) Trump by saying "I like the lurkers!"

 

Planted up the cut flower garden today. I can't hardly get in the garden so I am working in the front yard that I repurposed into a flower garden for my farmers markets...We were able to til last night so I also got carrots, beets and swiss chard in today.