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Whilst there isn't much going on with planting or sowing just now (with the exception of the salad crops), I have taken the opportunity to help a friend out in his garden.Ìý The lawn; oh my, the lawn!Ìý It did have grass here and there, but it is mainly moss.Ìý With such a proliferation of non-grass, I would normally be tempted with starting from scratch, but who knows?Ìý With a bit of effort, we may well sort this out.Ìý I have raked a good deal of the moss out, and then using a garden fork, I have aerated everywhere by simply digging in and lifting a centimetre or two.Ìý We then did a good bit of weed and feed with the understanding that we might have to start from scratch after all.Ìý Let’s see…

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He has a few fruit trees, including plums, apples and pears.Ìý In the past, he has always had a good crop but fairly small fruit.Ìý So we spent some time removing some fruit where there was several hanging in a cluster.Ìý I am sure he was crying at one point thinking about what we were doing, but he will be happy with the results, I am sure.Ìý Unfortunately, he has had an attack of Sawfly grubs on his gooseberries - whilst the fruit is still there, the leaves are all gone.Ìý Hopefully, we will catch these nasty little grubs next year with a spray of fairy liquid and water.

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One thing I love about his garden is the now wild sweet pea wall.Ìý Left to their own devices, the sweet peas have re-seeded themselves year after year.Ìý The plants now cover a huge area of his back wall and the smell is gorgeous – but alas, the colour range is now pretty limited.Ìý We spent some time cutting the flowers and removing any that had flowered and were starting to go to seed.Ìý I reckon he will have a good harvest this year.

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His veg patch is very small, but I had a few leeks left over from my planting, so we put those in.Ìý He has also just sown some swedes, and planted a couple of broccoli and sprout plants.Ìý There is nothing wrong with continuing to sow such veg and spinach beet will still come on a treat.

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Back to my own allotment – I am looking to pull up the shallots as they have yellowing tops now.Ìý I will keep at least one bulb from each cluster for next year’s planting; once you start to grow shallots, you should never have to buy sets again.Ìý I have sown more radishes in my gutter system and all is looking well.Ìý Trying to keep on top of my tomatoes is a time consuming task; it seems that if I leave them for a day or two, the side shoots take advantage and become huge and triffid like.

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Well back to the weeding – great weather for them!Ìý Really, harvesting and weeding is the order of the day just the now.

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