Johnplotman's Journal

Rain,rain,lovely rain.

Spinach.My favourite veg.

Need i say any more after the day we had here.For the first half of the day it just bucketed down.Paradise for slugs and snails.I opened windows earlier especially in the greenhouse but the coldframe remained closed.After lunch things improved with the rain stopping,but no sunshine.I could feel touches of potato blight,[Phytophthora infestans] in the air.Were things not bad enough without that.The beds in the tunnell were given a watering later in the day.The feeling this minute is that gardeners are fighting an uphill battle with the weather.Evenings almost gone.

Grass almost cut at last.

Onion bed and potatoes.[Roosters and Queens]

The rain held of this evening and i finally got to attack the grass for this week.Got a large section of it cut almost until near darkness and will get the remainder finished first thing in the morning.[hopefully]Now that has got done,will leave more time in the veg area.Plans for tomorrow there will be to dig the final section of potatoes [roosters and British queens]then to give the bed a good clearing over [old bits of stalks etc] and to see whats next on the list for there.That job will take up a large section of the day,with the bed in question being app 7 mts long.Any stalks without a mark of potato blight on them will be checked over once again finally and prepared then for the compost heap.Hopefully i will get to do some final work on the onion bed and lift all there as well.

The picture of the finished job today Saturday in the veg garden.Nearly all went to plan.Both remaining  Rooster and British Queen potatoes lifted.Still some Kerr pinks in tubs.The beds were cleared and worked on.Finished just before lunchtime .Later i attacked the onion bed,first to lift them from the groung,weed the bed,and set up some small platforms to assist when ripening the onions.Just an odd shower,but content with the garden work today.Gave a quick check in the tunnell for watering,then the greenhouse for same,and that ended the day. 

Windy washout today.

Chinese cabbage brightened a bleak day.

Another poor day with wind,plenty of rain and just bleak touches of sunshine.Had the usual look around the garden at 7.30 am and it looked in a poor state with branches down,nets off some of the brassicas and no heat going to loss.Checked the heat in the usual places and the greenhouse still came out the worst at a poor 9 degrees.Impossible to leave doors open with the state of the weather.Found it hard to improve a good section of the day only just with the wind easing.Now at 6.50pm the sun is staying out and looks like a wonderful evening.Maybe there is light at the end of the tunnell for some gardening.

Garden work today.

Front veg bed harvest.

Had the usual walk through the garden around 7 am to give a quick check and investigate how much the slugs and snails had devoured.Could be worse.The temp was below 8 degrees.Opened all up around 11 am as the weather improved.Not a bad day after that until around 7 pm when the rain payed another visit.From shortaly after 5 pm it was into the veg bed.The main plan was to dig the front potato bed and see how much the blight had effected it over the summer.Having removed some stalks during the time of the blight trouble i expected the worst.Having finished digging the area in question i was content with the outcome despite the setback.Nothing more done in the garden from 7 pm thanks to rain only a brief final check on the greenhouse.

Weather still on the poor side.

Here we hoe,here we hoe,here we hoe.

Nothing impressive about todays weather.Some very slight touches of sunshine,along with light showers.Walked down the garden at app 7 am to have a brief look on things and check inside the tunnell.Doors remained closed at that stage thanks to the weather.Greenhouse and tunnell waited a few hours before it was fit to open them.Throughout the day the remaining weather did not look the best.This evening the temp in the tunnell was back to a lousy 13 degrees.Nothing was done in there this evening.Going to look through some garden notes from earlier in the year from app 8.30 to 9.30.The scarecrow in warming up for Sunday. 

A complete washout.

Hoped to be opening up as early as possible this morning but weather has changed all that.Back to study for a few hours this morning and then hope the day improves.Did not get much better by 11 am so neither tunnell or greenhouse opened today with the state of the weather.Time for the raincoats.

A day of mixed fortunes.

Outside tunnell door today

Started off cool but by app 11 m the day got brighter.Checked over all sown winter veg.Organised the tunnell and moved out some remaining lettuce.Checked out the tunnell to see how things were there before giving the veg beds a watering.Feed the tomato plants in both greenhouse and outside and all was going to plan until the note book i had in my pocket fell into  the bucket of water used in making up the tomato feed along with a watering can.Could be worse.After dinner i prepared some fresh potato skins[NO P5 K27] that my friend left into the house to be put into the compost bin at the tunnell door.The bucket and blender was washed out and then the shed was given a quick sweep out.Nothing planned for tomorrow yet.Time to have a quick walk down the garden before heading up town.

Garden work earlier on today.

Marigolds in the tunnell used at companion planting.

Completed some garden work this evening despite all the rainfall throughout the week.Started by doing a quick weeding and mowing of the lawns and on to the veg beds around 6 pm  First the tunnell was watered and then a light weeding.Looked through the outer veg beds and started with weeding the onion bed.I checked over the turnip beds before looking through the root bed.All remaining brassica weeding to be done tomorrow.With the evenings closing in fast that finished all by app 8.30pm.The plan for tomorrow will be drawn up later.Hopefully to check through some winter veg and organise the coldframe tubs in the morning.  

Garden problem calls back.

Leaf spot.[Mycosphaerella brassicicola returns.

Discovered in the brassicas section this evening that one of our hateful garden enemies called this way.Luck enough it was only noticed on two leaves of the same head of cabbage.All caused by Leaf spot.[Mycosphaerella brassicicola] no thanks to our troublesome wet weather.All circulation of air around them had been fine.Both leaves have been removed and destroyed.A similar problem struck in the tunnell last summer thanks to the rain again,only a lot more serious.The one night i cant get anything done in the garden.Hopefully to return home around 10pm this evening to investigate further down the garden with the flash lamp.Who knows maybe a slug or two need a late beer.

Rain strikes back.

Some young home grown veg for Sundays dinner.

Nothing done in the garden this evening.A complete washout and getting darker by the minute.Back to the books.

Jobs on Monday.

Comfrey sown earlier in the year.

Opened up at app 8 am this morning.Not over warm by no means.Had a walk around the veg beds and took a few quick notes for jobs this evening.First to be done was at the peas area.Tied them up at little higher.Walked around and removed any loose or damaged leaves especially on the brassicas.Gave the beds a watering also the tunnell and just as i finished all, down came a shower.No need to water in the greenhouse.Later i prepared a bucket and lid to be on the ready for an infusing of some fresh comfrey [symphytum officinale] leaves .[N3  P0  K10].To be prepared around about Wednesday evening.

Sunday rush.

Sun call back this way,we need you..

Away most of the day.Nothing done with the garden but to open as usual at app 7.30 am.Not near the garden again until closing up all, just after 8.30 pm.Heading back for a quick walk around before darkness,to make sure all in the veg garden especially,survived without any problems.

Mainaly in the greenhouse today.

Slug calling for a roung on the house,with lots of beer.

With the state of the morning the greenhouse was the only place entered.All due to the wet weather.Managed to take in some of the white tubs from the coldframe .Sowed some lettuce seed [winter density]and managed to return them to the coldframe along with a complete close up there .Still spilling it was back into the greenhouse to check over some work.Tomatoes were fed and watered.All empty flower pots were gathered up and dropped in to the wash area.Nothing else got done in the garden until after lunch.With the weather having improved it was out to the veg garden to get some jobs done.I gave compost bin 3 a light shake up before adding some of the usual fillings [grass cuttings,paper,skins,etc] Trimmed the nettle [urtica dioica] bed and that was also added. Weeded some of the first winter veg sown app 3 weeks back.Also thinned lettuce where needed.Closed up all around 6.30pm.

Friday jobs in the garden.

Winter sowing in Tunnell.

Finally the remaining winter seeds in the tunnell were sown along with the trays of winter cabbage.Earlier on today the weather was fair.Opened the usual areas at app 8 am and the skies looked like been full up with rain again.By 10 am down  they fell and we had some heavy showers until app 2 pm.From that the rain held off but no sun appeared. Done a little later than usual this evening the list for the tunnell read,Cabb,Jan King 3]  from trays.Sweeds,virtue.]Cauli,All The Year Round.]Broc,rabb ,60]Cabb,Durham Early.]Cabb,Wintergreen.] from seed.All details on chart.Some of those seeds will be shifted to outer beds when large enough to move.Closed up coldframe and greenhouse just after 8 pm.The cold frame will be organised for some Winter density, lettuce and some rocket also.Darkness crept in fast tonight and the ship was abandoned around 9.15 pm.The plan for tomorrow will be to first off,finish the cold frame sowing.Gave a quick check over all and that finished this evenings work

A most enjoyable day.

Olga and Sean visit Johns garden.

Delighted earlier to have had the company of Olga [Ternie] and Sean [Spider] visit my house.Mary [Sparrow] who was unable to  attend sent on apologies.We walked down the front garden onto to the main garden,two small gardens and on to the veg garden.I was delighted to chat to both Olga about flowers and  Sean about veg.We all exchanged some tips on gardening and and spoke for a while on ways out of problems and how to avoid some of the worst garden enemies.Hope Olga and Sean had a great time down around where i live and that they both enjoyed the walk around.Started rather dull but by app 1 pm the weather brightened up into a glorious day. 

A little nip in the air today.

Nothing much done in the garden today before 6 pm apart from opening up the usual,tunnell,greenhouse etc around app 7.30 am.Had a brief look on the slug traps to see if any had payed a visit.This evening i got to give compost heap 2,a quick shuffle up.Looked around the tunnell and gave the last touches to the winter veg bed.A cool day today with an odd shower.

All new names for the winter bed were written and marked to what area they go.Any trays started from seed for the job were stud in place.The main move with sowing,planting will take place at some stage tomorrow.

Monday rush.

Friend calls back for a invasion on the garden enemies.

Nothing much was done in the tunnell this evening only to give the winter crop bed one more quick weeding.All seeds prepared and ready with the plan to be drawn up later.Names to be taken in the garden diary.All sowing will be done in the next few evenings.No watering was needed in the garden only the leafmould area that looked a little on the dry side.Spotted the return of the frog that stayed in the tunnell,and other areas of the garden last year a lot of the time.Maybe the frog wants to feast on some more slugs.

Sundays early stroll visit.

Tunnell check at 2 am and 4 am for any unwanted garden foes.

Opened up as usual arouns 7.30 am but later then managed to take a glimse from app 9 to 10 .30 through a veg garden before the harvesting was due to be done this week.Through talking about veg growing etc in conversation with a few friends after early church,[8.30am-9.15]was only when i discovered that the garden had been situated just a short 3km from where i live.Picked up a few tips on the veg end there and then returned to take a fast check over all.Nothing else for the day except the Meath v Mayo game.

Saturdays attack on jobs.

Compost bin harvest from earlier journal.

Weather fine,cloudy but no problem.Opened as usual around 7 am.Checked on tubs in coldframe to see about moving some more of the winter cabbage to final place in the garden.Walked around the veg beds to removed any leaves if spotted with blight.Nothing noticed there so then on to weed the tunnell beds.Only needed in places so not as bad as was expected.The lawns were given a trim.After a lunch of some home grown broccoli,and potatoes added it was back to the garden around 1.30 pm.The beds with all brassicas were checked over for any loose leaves and given a small feed.Into the greenhouse to check over tomatoes before washing out the floor.Cleared the old potato stalks from front of compost bin and ended with some nice potatoes.Gave the tunnell floor a quick washout and that completed the garden work today.Nothing else planned to do there this weekend but have to wait and see what the humour will be like for gardening tomorrow after a long day there today.

Sunshine arrived today.

Onion bed given a little hand to assist ripening

What a fine day today,with no rain [great] some sun and a touch of heat in the air.The opening up of the greenhouse tunnell etc was done around 7.30am.Had a brief look around to see if any slugs had caught the bait.2 were sitting pretty under a rhubarb leaf.Done a complete outdoor watering in the veg area starting around 4.30 pm and checked out the tunnell also.[Done tunnell only yesterday evening but just incase] Headed for the onion bed to spend time there weeding and also with any leaves that have not toppled over naturally to help them on which sometimes happens with this weather. Some needed to be bent over by hand to assist ripening.I gave a walk around the potato beds to remove any slight touches of potato blight [Phytophthora infestans] noticed.Hard to put off the past weather without some visit from our blight friend.

Thursdays journal.

A pleasant suprise.

No problem with weather for both yesterday or today.Never got any work done in the garden on either days.Had a brief walk around the garden first thing this morning and again at lunch time to check on jobs to be done later in the week.Just some brief jobs needed doing this evening and to be completed before 6.30 pm.Watered the tubs,hanging baskets,tunnell and greenhouse,coldframe.On a final note this evening when opening a parcel from my relations who had returned earlier in the day from holidays [Lanzarote] i was given a nice suprise.Some annual and fruit seeds.Delighted with the gift.

Garden work today.

Sunflower in veg bed.

What an almost glorious day we had today.No complaints thankfully about the weather.The usual opening of the tunnell etc was completed shortaly after 7.30 am.Had a quick check around to see if any of my friends the slugs feasted on the veg.No sign of the enemies under any of the traps,[leaves of cabbage and rhubarb leaves] Nothing much was interferied with by our main enemies last night in the garden.So that helped a little.Noticed some of the turnip leaves in the tunnell had a visitor [just a little touch from 1 slug ] so i put down a trap there.This evening all potatoes and tomatoes were given a spray of dithane 945.Done some weeding at front tubs in the veg garden and gave the compost bin outside the tunnell door a little shake up and watering.  

Bank holiday poor weather.

No garden jobs today.

Chinese cabbage [spectrum] ready to plant.

Just a brief walk in the garden today to open up the usual places.[tunnell coldframe etc] Done around 9 am.Temp had dropped back to just above 10 degrees in the greenhouse. Following an early lunch it was time for the Sunday stroll and,to visit my friends house.Nothing else on this evening only to leave the chinese cabbage trays in place and ready for planting in the morning,and also to close up in the garden around 6 pm or their abouts.

A cool day with showers,wind,and evening sunshine.

Im singing in the rain, just singing in the rain.

What another strange day.Starting cold,wet,and windy.I started in the garden shortaly after 8 am to try and get back on track with garden jobs.All early work was done in the tunnell mainly because it was wet and quite nippy.I weeded the veg tubs there and gave the tunnell its usual watering.Around 11 am i weeded some of the veg beds.Then i clipped the small hedge in the centre of the garden.After dinner all the hanging baskets were checked for watering.Despite a wet start off still they needed doing.Gave a usual check on things around the garden before finishing up a little earlier than usual.With weather permitting tomorrow the plan will be to have a usual Sunday morning walk around the garden,open greenhouse etc and later in the day to visit my friends and maybe get to throw an eye on some gardens there also.