Johnplotman's Journal

An early seed start.

New seed trays prepared.

Frost has already payed a visit and will again tonight so greenhouse work will be on hold until another evening.The bottom section of the garden shed tidy up will be finished tomorrow evening be it hail,rain,or snow.I changed plans around a little and from 3 pm i washed 200 mini flower pots and filled them along and an 84 module tray with very damp compost so i could move them inside to heat and have all ready for an early start to tomato plants around mid December.After a hot cup of tea some life came back to my fingers.Jack Frost may have wanted to help me wash them.It looked like that with the cold of the weather.Now that all washed pots and trays are inside in the heat of the seed room,problems with cold temp are not a worrie.Another of the trays of saved seed were prepared,stored,and put  away until very early Spring time.Tomorrow evening plans will be for the garden shed work.

The importance of a garden diary.

The garden diary.

A garden diary will play a vital role both on and off the veg garden.Why are records such an essential part of garden planning among veg especially because they provide invaluable info for future years.The best sowing dates for the area,successful varieties of veg used,the amount required by the household and how to avoid the gluts and also for filling gaps after some harvested veg.At feeding times,how much they need,did they give me trouble,was i effected by much pests on a particular veg..Another thing that will be noted are times of sowing from seed,when am i due to move them on.It will be already on a tray marker but what happens if that gets mixed up.Just check the note book.How long will i have to wait before i can harvest them.When do i feed the ground for the following crop.That is just some of the important points to remember in the vegetable garden all helped on with the use of a note diary.

Frozen vegetables from the garden.

Food throughout winter.

Another disaster of a day here with weather.Cold,wet and windy.I went out to the garden shed this morning to move out the frozen veg saved during the year.The old freezer is near an end.I will make room for a second hand fridge freezer that will suit perfect for the job.Arrived a little sooner than expected this morning.Now i can save seeds in the fridge part and have them and frozen veg in the one area.All at hands reach.Time to give the shed a quick sweep out.In the picture you have some Spinach,cauli,carr,tom,beet.s.corn.

Seeds ready to visit.

Ready to grow.

Changed the plan around a little because of a very cold morning that registered -2 here at 7 am.I intended to do some weeding in the tunnell at first light but having to try and hold as much frost off from entering,it was not opened only for a very brief spell afternoon.It may not have been much help then but better than nothing considering the weather.I went on to weed some of the bottom beds in the veg garden as planned with the help of a hot cup of tea and then flew into the seed room to add some of the final touches such as charts being hung along with some small tables added.Ready now for some waterproff covering for the tables which will be collected tomorrow.Some of the trays of saved seeds will be taken in from the garden shed tomorrow evening.One up against the weather.It did not win at this job as it has done during the year leaving the traces of leaf spot etc in the veg garden.Time to get ready for my new seed visitors [At last].

Vegetable garden jobs tomorrow.

Getting wrapped up.

After last nights cold spell we had a nice day today but no heat lost.Had a quick walk through the veg garden early and hope to attack a few jobs there tomorrow.One row of tubs needs some weeding at the bottom end of the veg garden and left ready for some manure.The covers on the top beds were fixed back in place earlier in the week after the wind,and all going well tomorrow in the afternoon hopefully  the cabbage bed [January King] in the tunnell will be given a while also for a quick check on weeding.The winter turnips are coming on well in the opposite beds also in the tunnell along with another tub of Christmas potatoes.On Sunday i might get to give the garden shed a quick sweep out and do a little cleaning up on some of the shelves.

Vegetable garden missed again today.

Vegetable gardening.

The wind has settled,the rain did not appear again,but a North wind that would go through you.At lunch time today i pulled the covers back on some of the vegetable beds after they were given a tour of the garden by the wind the night before last.The sun was out and a good day apart from the cold overall.Unable to get much work done today in the veg garden.Planned to attack from about 4 pm for an hour but will have to wait another day.Away from 7.15 now until after 10 tonight.Plan to look ahead over the weekend at some tomato seed that i hope to get started at the end of December.

                                          Crop Rotation.

When planning your rotation ,remember some points like

1 Cabbage families can suffer from clubroot,so try and leave about 3 years before returning to the same ground.

2 Lime brassicas bed in Autumn before planting,to put off clubroot.

3 Potatoes must not have lime as this will bring on potato scab.

4 Let leafy veg follow legumes to give them extra nitrogen.

5 Never use fresh manure on root crops.

Just some of the ways with organic gardening.

Another step closer.

Getting near the finish of the seed room.

After a very wild night with wind my biggest fear,yet again was for the greenhouse roof and tunnell.At some other similar times of wind throughout the year it could not pass without leaving a mark or two.The same happened yet again.I went down to the take a look at the tunnell at two different times during the night.At 2 am the greenhouse and tunnell were fine.It was at 5 am that i noticed 2 bits of branches stuck in the tunnell down near the base.I will get better pictures another time.Apart from that all was ok and a first light i took another quick walk down the garden and noticed 3 of the covers on the raised beds gone for a visit to the hedge.The wind must love paying a visit to a lot of gardens.No matter what happened i was still a far cry from all the damage with the flooding to other parts of Ireland.

For the last couple of hours i made up another timber frame to hold the drawing of the layout for the garden,done from some more timber left over from an old press that i used for the new seed table top.Nothing planned yet for the garden early tomorrow evening.

Tuesdays poor weather.

Crop rotation chart.

No mention about the weather only cold,wet,and a little windy.Nothing managed to get doing out in the vegetable garden,the greenhouse or garden shed this evening.I put down some new floor covering in the seed room.Handy to have,and can be washed out every night.Over the next few evenings i will sort the washing of seed trays etc to put into place there.This evening i looked through the companion planting chart for a brief while to check on some of the beneficial and the antagonistic garden friends,what repels or deter in some ways and the help with vegetables in improving the soil.I took a picture of the chart this evening that contains a mixture made from 110 vegetables,herbs,and fruits.The names are fairly small to fit all on the chart..

Growing vegetables.

Time to look ahead.

Earlier this evening i managed to dig the soil in another one of the beds in the vegetable garden.The day has held up well.Touches of an odd slight bit of sunshine with a few light showers.I dig most of the vegetable garden in late autumn and early winter.The frost makes the soil more crumbly and workable for seed sowing in the spring.Finally i firmed down the surface of the bed i was digging at,and leveled it off with a rake.I hope to spend some time working on the floor in the seed room later on.No plans for tomorrow evening,but hope to start putting notes together,from during the year in the vegetable garden.

Tunnel given check over.

Compost bag of potatoes for Christmas.

From 6pm to about 7.30 i started to bring in some of the pots from the greenhouse to the seed room in case of the worst.The temperature has gone below 5 degrees and damp is in the air.I brought in the compost bag of potatoes sown for Christmas into the seed room just in case the greenhouse roof gives way to the wind.The doors on the tunnell were given a quick check and all is well there.Tubs and pots have been blown around the place but nothing serious so far.We are very luck not to have suffered like other areas of Ireland.Work will continue in the seed room tomorrow evening now that the weather is not sounding great for the coming week.I added 20 more pictures of notes to the seed room album.Some fairly new,others saved here for years.

A windy and wet weekend.

Leaf mould to feed the garden beds..

The vegetable garden was not entered today.Plans for seed gathering for an hour or so were abandoned.The weather is terrible.I had a quick look in the garden shed to collect some notes and not a step further.The only good thing i saw today,thanks to the wind and rain was some more fallen leaves for the leaf mould bin.Not to much more of them to fall.Maybe next week at the first opportunity i will get to give the bottom lawn a real fast mow.With this type of weather it is more like the clouds that need a good mowing.

Vegetable garden attack.

The first of the seed room pictures.

Started poor for the first half of the day and the vegetable garden could not be approached.I done some looking through veg charts and spent an hour in the seed room hanging some garden pictures.Things changed a little in the afternoon and the veg garden was attacked.The rain had stopped so it was all go to dig out the final legumes[peas and beans] bed.I was happy getting some long awaited vegetable work done.It may not have been to long with all the bad weather we have been having,but it was long overdue.At some stage tomorrow i hope to gather some more marigold seeds in the vegetable garden.If i could only build a glass house over the complete garden.

Vegetable study notes today.

My garden is lucky to be on a hill.

I just dont know what to say about the weather.Once again nature has won.A complete washout here with the wind getting pretty noticable now.I can see the poor veg beds below and they after allowing the dalm slugs come out on top again.Either the man above has it in for me and other gardeners or maybe sending on plenty of rain to have the beds good and watered for an indian summer.[I wish]

Now that plans have been changed around i will spend some time looking through garden notes on the vegetable area and after lunch to work in the seed room and hang up some garden pictures to brighten up a dull,hatefull and disaster of a day.No further garden plans out in the vegetable area for the weekend.Once again the weather has won.Nature handled the ball that was heading wide and helped score a goal again gardening today. 

Back to the vegetable garden.

Ready for feeding asop.

Headed just after 4 pm to the beds that badly needed weeding at the lower end of the vegetable garden.The day was not to bad with the weather apart from just a few light showers in the afternoon,so garden plans were not held up.I started finally to dig out the second legumes bed [peas and beans] to be used in the new year and hope to get most of the job complete tomorrow.That was planned from almost last weekend and the vegetable garden is only a little further on since,thanks to the weather but without fail i hope to attack there tomorrow.The weather forecast is not sounding the best but hopefully things will work out.Homemade compost along with the manure is ready for the job.Wait and hope time.

Another splendid day for the slugs.

Given the sky some water back.

Gardening given another washout today.Through the last week it has been cold and wet.We had some slight touches of sunshine but nothing to shout home about.I could only concentrate on the tunnel for some early evening jobs in the vegetable garden.Enjoyed the last of the chinese cabbage only yesterday and managed to weed the other bed of cabbage [January king].The green manure beds are doing well.Some of the tomato tubs have been weeded and left ready for some well rotted manure or compost at full digging time.Some companion planting notes from the veg garden will get a look through later.

Vegetable news.

Final seed pkts added.

Noting to mention about the weather after another poor day we had.Impossible to get any work done in the vegetable garden earlier this evening.The seed room will be the garden exercise for an hour of two later.Added the final lot of vegetable seed pkts to the tray to use over 2010.Hopefully at some stage later on,the garden study room will get a call for a while.No plans for tomorrow with what will be done in the vegetable garden until we see what the weather brings.

Crop rotation and companion planting.

Time to study.

That time of the year again to look through some more old charts over the year and see the next moves.The plan has always been to rotate the vegetable crops to new beds every year.Plans go by, 

             Roots to Thirds to Brassicas

             Brassicas to Roots to Thirds.

             Thirds to Brassicas to Roots.                                 

The roots will be carrots,beetroots,parsnips,potatoes and beetroot.The Brassicas will be all the cabbage family.The Thirds will be legumes [peas and beans and all remaining veg] First the beds will be given the usual feeding.

Roots bed will get no manure or lime.Only fertiliser 2 weeks before sowing or in some cases planting.The brassicas will get some well rotted manure and fertiliser 2 weeks before sowing or planting.Thirds will be given some well rotted manure and fertiliser 2 weeks before sowing or also planting.The type of fertiliser used will be general purpose.When all is in place a selection of herbs and some flowers will be chosen as guards against pests and disease.It is important to rotate so the food source for the bad pests will have been removed and this will help wipe them out over time.

Weather changes plans.

My favourite garden diary.

Did not get to enter the vegetable garden this evening as hoped to with the state of the weather.Maybe early tomorrow evening..I headed straight to the seed room then to start getting the vegetable detail pages that have been saved over the years ready for to be fitted to the seed room walls..Eventually i hope to have each family that suit the crop rotation placed together.Maybe for an hour later on i will get to have a read through my favourite garden diary by Ralph Whitlock.

The coming week plans

Down but not out.

Nothing has been finally decided as yet for the coming week but my hope will be that i get to do some jobs with the outer vegetable beds before darkness falls.Some of them need a light weeding.All the beds are slowly falling into plans for the new sowings.Now that the legume beds are empty and have been marked out i will make a more detailed crop rotation chart for the coming year.A new long herb bed of comfrey will be added in to this years plans.This will be alongside the compost heaps to both feed them and to make up comfrey tea N2 P0 K10,all a valuable quick release organic fertiliser.Plans will also be for to get some more work done with the new legume beds.

On Saturday gone by i had a little setback in the veg garden with my shovel.All is not lost as i can make myself a welcome dibber with the handle and just have a new handle fitted.So all will be back on track.

Vegetable garden Sunday check.

Time for a small break.

Had my usual Sunday walk through the garden and spent a brief while in the veg area taking notes.No problem weather wise with the sun shining.Cool but no worries there.The tunnel doors are open to allow in some clear air.Now that the bean beds are all empty and allowed to rest to prepare for the next veg i will spend most of the time in the bottom section of the vegetable area over the next few weeks where some beds are still in use.No more work will be done today until evening time in the seed room.We lost in the second round of the all Ireland club football c-hip just by a whisker,earlier on today but i still have the seed room to return to and the garden so all is not lost.Maybe do better next year at the football.

Vegetable garden work today.

Tunnel given a clean up.

Plans earlier looked a little on the wet side.I started from just after 5 am in the seed room to do some work there and had hoped to head for the veg garden at first light.Rain upset the plans then but by 11 am it was all different.The weather had some nice sun and no more rain for the rest of today.May have been a little cool but that did not upset things to much.I headed first to finish preparing some more of the old bean stalks to act as a valuable green manure and having all dug in i then moved on down the veg garden and started to remove some more clay off the new legumes areas.By lunch time i headed for the tunnel to do some weeding and to check over the winter vegetables there.Before i touched a thing i first gave the floor a much needed washing and sweeping down.In some of the beds,they needed watering and it felt just like working on a pet summers day.Overall i was content with the jobs done there today and will have a walk through the veg beds at some stage tomorrow morning to thing about the next move done in the vegetable garden in the coming week.

Get me my rain coat.

Rain called back yet again.

I thought we might be lucky even for the first half of the day to allow me work in the vegetable garden.Things have not just gone to plan now,no thanks to another washout here.I will head for the tunnell at first light to check over the beds and see how much the rain has attracted of our slug friends.Any that got into the tunnell wont get out again,and this will have been their last drink we hope.Now that the plans are changed a little all i can do is head to the new seed room and continue from there.The seed table is almost fully complete apart from just a few touches here and there,having been work on from just after 5 am.Hard to say what further jobs will be on for the weekend in the vegetable garden just yet.Picture taking yesterday at dinner time.My friend thinks rain is coming.

Work with the broad bean beds.

2009 Vegetable plans.

All eyes will be on the broad beans [Vicia faba] beds for work in the vegetable garden tomorrow.If we are lucky with the weather the plan will be to first off,cut the old bean stalks down and chop them up.As the beds there will not be needed for a few weeks they will be returned and dug in to feed the soil.The fact that the old stalks will be a great form of a green manure will give the ground a top feed for the incoming crop.Some of the beds where the new beans will be sown in that area will be dug out to app 30cm deep and similar wide to start feeding that section with kitchen scraps etc.

The picture of this years vegetables beds.All notes for the year in the garden diary.

Vegetable manure arrives.

Time to feed the veg beds.

Have nothing much to say about the weather,only that i dont think it could be much wetter after the torrential rain.The vegetable garden has plenty of mucky beds apart just for the tunnell.Today at lunch time the first load of cow manure arrived [N7 P3 K6] to supply some of the beds on Saturday.All covered before rain can wash away the goodness.Nothing else was done in the veg garden apart from one brief look in the greenhouse after 5 pm.Late last light i managed to paint the first wall of the seed room and hope to do the same again later.Away until app 10 pm and hope to use up some of the time looking through vegetable notes..I will add the 2 seed room pictures so far later.

Vegetable's for todays dinner.

Vegetable supply today.

No improvement with the weather,still cool and dry.Earlier on this morning i gathered some of the last row of broad beans for dinner.With them along with earlier in the year harvested potatoes and to finish with home grown rhubarb then the weather was not thought about as a hinderence.Some beds are coming to a close but winter sown ones are making up for them.Nothing was done in the garden today apart from gathering the beans at first light and a quick look in the tunnell with the help of some light to throw a eye on things this evening.Plans for later on tonight  will be to spend 2 hours or there abouts on a vacant room in the house that will eventually be changed to the indoor seed room.Over the last few weeks not much evenings have gone by even if it were only for 10 minutes work there.Weather is defeated at least this way.We wont find the few months time going to start off.Nothing planned as yet for tomorrow only to collect some spinach for dinner at first light in the morning

Almost another poor day.

Book room time.

At least it did not rain today with an odd slight touch of sunshine at times.The garden is a mud bath in places as for the veg garden,parts of the mulch on it are similar.That did not stop me taking an early walk for a look over the veg garden especially.In bed 4 the last of the broad beans will be removed this week along with any remaining lettuce used there as a filler.If all goes to plan along with the details on yesterdays journal i hope to start the extra compost bin for weeds only.The compost bin at the tunnell was given a quick look over and will be given feed from the house [skins etc] just for a short while longer,until the bed is prepared and then used for feeding the legumes area.Not a lot of work was done in the garden shed this evening.I headed to tidy up the garden book room and get things back into shape with each section for the vegetables.

Suprise time.

Seed arrived.

My friends have arrived to the house thanks to Olga.[Ternie.]I have been keeping a close eye on the post expecting the parcel and just last Friday that was answered.I was delighted to see some herb seed of Basil thyme,parsley,along with sweetcorn of a different flavour to our own.The tomato seed pkts were made up of pear shaped yellow,orange,black and with the yellow,of the usual shape also some brands of tea..I will give the full details and names to my journal another time.The seed pkts have all been left into their areas in the herbs,fruits,and other brands.Im waiting in interest to introduce those seeds to my garden and get them all happy with each other here on Irish soil.

Thanks again Olga,[Ternie]     John.

Resting day almost.

A nice find.

Whatever was done on the clouds,they gave us a lovely day today.Either empty of the rain or gone for more.The vegetable garden was given a rest today after the usual morning look around there.The day did not go wasted without some type of garden work getting done.After lunch i went for a long walk with the dog to view some other vegetable gardens not to far away and to see the latest ups and downs on some of them.Before i left the garden first off i took some veg garden notes in my pocket to take a look over now and again some of the time so it was not a lost garden day.On the way home app 2 km from home i noticed some garden rubbish alongside a skip.Old bits of trees etc and what attracted my eye was the sight of two stone pots ready for dumping with the load.Having looked a little closer,they both are fairly old,in need of a good cleaning and old paint removed.Both have lovely stone designs on them.Home like a rabbit to get the car and return to collect my findings.   

Cut and come again lettuce [salad bowl]

Lettuce [Salad Bowl] for 2009.

Happy with this years supply of another of my vegetable friends,the lettuce.For many weeks just by regular picking of the cut and come again leaves from the salad bowl type i supplied the house with plenty of lettuce just from a few tubs.In parts of the garden i used another type with the companion planting but  as lettuce does not have to stick to rotation it came in real handy for filling areas after lifting veg from other beds.Had my usual early morning walk down the garden around 8 am a little later than planned to see how the winter food supply was coming on with this spell of real poor weather.Has brightened in to a nice sunny day so i wont complain.We had a good win in the first round of the Lenister club football c-ship yesterday.Hope to go to look around some gardens after lunch.

Jobs in the vegetable area today.

Cabbage [January king] through winter.

Today started both cold and wet.I walked through the vegetable garden for a quick look around 8.30 am and did not manage to do much more there until after 11.[Garden charts to write up] So the first thing attacked then on returning was to do the remainder of the weeding in the tunnell before heading to give compost bin 2 a quick shake up as planed.After that i headed to the area where the legumes [peas and beans] will be planted in 2010 to prepare the beds for digging down to app 30 cm wide by 30 cm deep and  hope to get done at some stage during the week.In this area i will enter a layer of kitches scraps,skins etc along with some of the tough stalks unable to be thrown in the other compost areas because to tough but will break them up as much as possible to go there.Old flower pot compost will also be entered provided they have no sign off damage of any kind.On top of that layer i will leave some clay before doing the same again until well up.When all is finished things will gradually sink a little and this will leave the job easier for watering during the dry spells in the summer.[If we ever get one that is]Plans for another area will be to also add a special compost heap which will only be made up of most of the weeds and not another thing added but themselves,all done before they run to seed,and when all weeding is complete the bin will be covered up and left for app 1 to 2 years until ready to be used as good food for the ground all done organically.    

Jobs in the veg garden from 4 pm.

The water cushion.

Headed straight for the veg garden to do some weeding as planned in the tunnell.I almost did not have to walk down the garden,maybe i could have tried sliding.The first four tubs and one of the main beds in the tunnell were weeded and the floor given a wash down.Some of the remaining turnips were lifted for storing and just had time then to break up some of the old veg leaves,and collect the house compost bin before adding both to cook.Darkness called so that finished the garden jobs except for a quick look in the greenhouse with the help of lighting.Plans for tomorrow will be to head back to the veg garden to weed some beds outside the tunnell and to give the second compost bin a turnover.The corner of the bottom garden is like a water cushion as it is the lowest point of the garden.

Swimming time.

Saving seed from veg garden.

Another poor day we have had.Fine,no rain falling today but swimming pools left from yesterday.I had an early walk today in the veg garden and things are starting to look on the poor side now with all this bad weather.Leaves by the bucketfulls and the garden like a sponge.Let some air into the tunnell at lunch time for a few minutes and done some quick collecting on the French marigold seeds in the vegetable garden.All did not go to plans after lunch,so as i will not be around this evening until after 10 pm,no garden work will be done in the shed or greenhouse.Tomorrow evening as early as possible some light weeding will get done in the tunnell.Hope to look through some garden books later at some stage.

Another washout today.

Rhubarb bed given a rest.

The slugs and snails could nearly be heard cheering in the tunnell with the state of the weather.The rain fell in bucket fulls for most of the day along with a slight breeze and feeling cool.I had a quick look in the tunnell and the veg garden just before 8 am and checked on the rhubarb bed.Plans for the weekend if weather allows will be to give the empty rhubarb bed its usual food supply around this time of the year.First to be done will be to mulch the crowns with a layer of well rotted manure of garden compost and this will give the plants a continuing supply of nourishment and will help to keep down weeds on the new year rhubarb bed.This evening i will do some more seed sorting in the garden shed and maybe to check on some of the peas and beans for viability so as not to waste time with them.

Tuesdays garden jobs.

A quick seed check.

Had one brief walk around the garden early this morning at first light to see how much more trouble the earlier rain caused.In the vegetable garden which has no shortage of leaves,some of the beds are in need of a light weeding.That will be next on the plans for there before to long.One thing that was not missed and that was to give the tunnell floor a quick washout at dinner time today and also allowing some slight touches of air through to dry things up.It may have been cold but no disease will be allowed to stay for a visit.The garden was not touched then,until this evening where i hung some of the upper kitchen doors in the garden shed.Time allowed to have a quick look over some of next years seeds and to place all in their seperate sections made up of brassicas,roots,others,herbs,fruits.Some of the saved seeds were also included.Other opened packets that had seeds already taken from them earlier in the year and suitable for more sowing have been left to one side to mark on this years date so no slip ups can be made with timing.The garden shed will be given a similar visit tomorrow evening for the same.

Kitchen goes gardening.

kitchen goes gardening in the shed.

Another poor day with touches of rain,and a right nip in the air.Plenty more leaves falling at a rapid rate now.The garden in places,is like a swamp and weatherwise things will get worse.Today from dinner time until around 4 pm i managed to start some work on an unwanted used kitchen that i was given for the garden shed and this will come in very handy.Some cleaning up and fixing an odd hinge here and there with the top row and it will be fine for the job.All seeds,trays,small pkt fertilizer,etc will all have their own area.Hopefully tomorrow evening i will get to do some more work on them.Nothing planned in the garden yet as with both darkness and bad weather it is hard to decide to far ahead.

Halloween garden damage.

Greenhouse rocket.

On a sad weekend,with nothing touched in the garden i decided to take a walk for a look around the veg beds this evening and to also have a look around the other section of the garden to see had any damage been caused last night.With the day itself at least the rain stopped,though a little cool,but mucky in places.Having walked up and down the garden for several times late last night trying to keep an eye on the tunnell especially from been hit by any bangers from  nearby.With plenty to be heard though i felt i was pretty safe by then.That all changed when i opening the greenhouse door to find a visit from a rocket through the roof which had to be done later in the night.Along with that some tubs were damaged.I did not mind them,but it was the greenhouse that annoyed me the most.A little repair needed and hopefully something sorted out tomorrow evening.