First on the list was to prick out the remainder of the sweetcorn. I'd saved the seed last year and thrown a handful into 3 margarine tubs. I'd not expected much to germinate but about 95% did leaving me with 75 seedlings to pot on. I only need about 30 for my 3 sisters bed.
Next were the 90 leeks, that I'd ordered from Dobies. I don't actually recall ordering 90 but that's what they sent me. All of these went into recycled vending machine cups. They actually make good second stage flower pots. They're about 1.5" at the base and 2" at the top and about 3" deep. The sides are also ribbed like roottrainers forcing the development of a good root ball. The leeks will go out on the allotment in about 4 weeks - assuming I've managed to get the bed dug by then.
Then it was onto the tree seedlings - I lost count of the number of beech saplings then didn't bother to count the oak saplings but I used the best part of two builders barrows of soil/compost mix to pot them into 2L pots.
With it being too hot in the greenhouse I moved outside to sort the bean frame out, first burying the 4" soil pipe I'd extracted from the allotment down its center. This means I can now stick a hose in one end of the pipe and leave it to water itself without any evaporation problems, as the water disappears directly into the compost layer 3" down. By the time I'd finished the frame it was still to hot to plant the beans so I went back into the greenhouse to pot on the 15 greyhound into 1.5L pots. They should have good enough root balls to go out on my parents-in-laws allotment in about 3 weeks, when I can try the anti-club root mix the blind guy used on Carol Kleins Grow Your own Veg. Having placed these outside and covered with a net to keep the pigeons off I headed inside to start dinner before returning outside to start planting those beans. I've had mixed fortune in the past with germinating runners but this was seed I'd saved last year and had 31 out of 32 germinate - problem is the frame only has 30 poles. Like last year I'm going to double plant and the second batch, planted 3 weeks later have almost caught up - trouble is I'm not sure which are the french climbers and which are the runners as both trays were planted at the same time and I forgot to label them.
I'd intended to go to the allotment Sunday but with temperatures rising I decide to leave it till later and try and catch up on a few more jobs - which always take longer than expected. First up was to remove the flower pots from the water butt of Jeyes fluid that they've been soaking in for the last 6 weeks - just one of those things I haven't got around to. These were the last of the pots I'd acquired either from Freecycle or from Colin at work. They were also supposed to be the last that needed sterilising but typing this reminds me I have a load of seed trays that need doing.
I then decided to start fixing the milk bottle frames. Where I'd attached them to the brackets last year I'd only used a single screw, and the battens being softwood had twisted as a result. I'd therefore decide that bolting them with two bolts at each end would be better. It was at this point I discovered that the bolts I had were two short and a trip to B&Q was necessary to acquire ones of suitable length.
I'd promised to take some closeup pictures so you can see how its all put together. The first is some of last years bottles on their batten. Now I cut the base on these so they're hinged on the non-handle side, although John says to cut them with the hinge on the handle side. To be honest the bottom flaps are more trouble than they're worth so I'm dispensing with them this year - I'll let you know if this makes any difference.
When you're preparing the battens to support the bottles they need to be a tight fit through the handle - even so with 4 litre bottles you may still have to secure the bottle to the batten through the handle. I haven't done so yet but if I do I'll add a photo later. For short spans - up to about 4 feet softwood battens are ok, but longer than that they bend and twist severely under the weight of the bottles so you need to use hardwood - a lesson I've learnt from last year. The row of 4 litre bottles - I thing there are about 20 in total is 78 inches post to post. The batten is about 65mm wide and 23mm thick, with the corners chamfered off. As you can see from the photo all I have to do now is fill them with compost. I'm adding a 5" pot of 30/70 mix perlite/vermiculite to a 2 gallon bucket of fresh compost/used compost mixed 50/50 this year. I'm adding 1 scoop of fish, blood, and bone to this, and 10 5ml spoons of slow release fertiliser. This should improve on last years results - which weren't that bad; but I'm still very much on a learning curve with this growing method.
Having erected the row of 4litre bottles, which will get sown with carrots, and parsnips - this years trial veg, I headed off to the allotment - the time now approaching 17:30 and the temperature starting to wane. Some people think I'm a little insane but no so insane as to try digging a weed infested in the heat of the afternoon sun - especially as it felt more like June than the end of April.
I managed to get another couple of feet done, before giving the potatoes their second soaking in as many days. Normally I wouldn't water potatoes but they're in a raised bed and we haven't any any significant rain in 6 weeks so they need it. It's interesting to note the difference in growth rates of the different varieties. Most of my potatoes went in with in 3 days of one another, the chitted Maris Bard (first earlies) first then the main crop Maris Peer and Pink Fir Apple. Now the Maris Bard, on the plot at home - trench planted, are only just starting to show through, as are the Pink Fir Apple, but the Maris Peer are a good 4" through in most cases - there are a couple that are lagging- and I shall have to earth these up next weekend. The Charlottes and the remainder of the Fir Apple didn't go in till last weekend, the result of having to do DIY and then change the steering box on the wife's Landrover.
Hopefully next weekend I shall get some more digging done - otherwise I'm going to be looking for space for 90 leeks.
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