Get them out for the glads!

Checking back on some old diaries I noticed that I would normally be planting out my gladioli corms from about now. This year i'm cutting back on flowers to concentrate fully on my veg....unless a certain Mr. B from Hull has managed to propagate some spare dahlias for me? If you fancy showing gladioli then plant a dozen corms a week from now for the next three weeks.....there aren't many better showbench sights than a vase of show glads.

Having planted my Cedrico tomatoes and Bonica aubergines a couple of weeks ago I made sure I didn't water them again until they looked absolutely desperate....and that was yesterday. This forces their roots to go off in search of moisture and will ultimately give you stronger plants. The aubergines in particular are looking very strong.

I got lots of essential jobs done over the weekend to get me back on the right timescale. I managed to get 15 bags of Casablanca potatoes planted and 12 bags of NVS Sherine, both white varieties. Each seed spud was planted into a black polybag with a handful of calcified seaweed and a handful of Tev04 (or Vitax Q4) 'scuffled' amongst the bottom couple inches of the peat. My coloured varieties for 2011, Kestrel and NVS Amour will be done this week.

I also managed to plant my remaining 22 Pendle Improved leeks into their final stations, having given the bed a top dressing of dried blood a couple of weeks ago. For now there are no collars on them as I prefer the plant to concentrate on getting some good roots down into the bed which I have rotavated really well this year and the soil is lovely and friable. I will put DPC collars on them in a couple of weeks and start the 'drawing' process. Before the roots get too far into the soil I will put a stout support stick next to each plant, say no more than two inches away, that the leek and DPC will be tied to in order to keep the plant perfectly upright and the barrel nice and erect.

And talking of erect I was most disappointed to learn that I had missed 'World Naked Gardening Day' on Saturday as I was pre-occupied with Man U winning the League yet again and consigning Liverpool to the tag of 2nd most successful team in English football history. So tonight I took the opportunity to mark the occasion with a quick streak around the plot and a bit of a 'dibble' in the potting shed.

At the weekend Wayne Rooney famously shaved his chest to leave the number '19' embossed in hairs on his torso. I prefer to leave the entire tangled history of Man U daubed on mine! Furthermore, the history of Arsenal is on my back and the history of Liverpool is on my arse!