Various Little Jobs Today

Tomatoes potted on yesterday are looking happy and I'm sure they have grown a little overnight and have benefitted from coming out of the house from behind the rear living room window where they were living on a temporary table. 

Doff 75g Natural Rooting Powder for Edible and Ornamental Cuttings 1 & 2 Pack

Arrived in the post today, I bought 2 off ebay as one cost £5.69 and a twin pack only £6.64. I'm going to need this in my efforts to take cuttings from my grapevines that are on plot 1A that I will be giving up in October. 

Doff Natural Rooting Powder contains a natural source of seaweed to dramatically increase the propagation of both edible and ornamental plants.

 

It is easy to use and helps from new roots on cuttings and graftings from soft, semi-hard and hardwood plants.

Natural Rooting Powder containing a natural source of seaweed to dramatically increase the propogation of both edible and ornamental plants.

• Use on a variety of both indoor and outdoor cutings, including new growth, brittle stems, woody stems, grafting, yound plants, corms and bulbs.
• For use on soft, semi-hard and hardwood plants
• Helps form new roots on cuttings and graftings
• For all edible and ornamental cuttings
• Easy to use rooting powder
• Also use for dipping plugs.
• Doff Rooting Powder 75g
• Use all year round.

Compressed coir compost bricks are lightweight, peat-free growing blocks made from natural coconut husks. For years when one was able to freely obtain and in fact most composts were peat based, I used to buy these blocks from the 99p or £1 shops, when they used to sell stuff for 99p or a £1 this is the last of stock of my cheap bought coir blocks.

When soaked in water, a standard ~ 650g brick expands into about 9 litres of fluffy, moisture-retentive potting soil, while larger 5kg blocks yield up to 70 to 80 litres.

Benefits of Coir Bricks

• Eco-friendly: A fully sustainable alternative to traditional peat moss.
• Excellent aeration: Loosens heavy soils, prevents clumping, and provides superb drainage.
• Moisture control: Retains water well while holding oxygen pockets for healthy root growth.
• Versatile: Sterile and naturally weed-free, making it perfect for seed starting, potting mixes, and wormeries.

How to Prepare and Use

1. Soak: Place the brick in a large container or bucket and add warm water (roughly 3 to 4 litres per standard ~ 650g brick).
2. Expand: Let it sit for 10 to 15 minutes as it absorbs the water and expands.
3. Fluff: Break apart any remaining clumps with your hands or a garden fork to create a loose, airy texture.
4. Plant or Mix: Use it as-is for starting seeds, or mix in powdered or liquid fertilizers, as coir itself is generally neutral and contains few plant
5. Or as I used too, a cheap (no longer) bulking agent to peat based composts 

Left the un-hydrated block in the bag, Middle 2 Litres of water added, Right 3 Litres of water added.

Once all water absorbed & fluffed up 9 to 10 Litres of coir. 

 

Longitudinal brace loosely added to the apex of the hoops arches, more fixing holes added later in the day when the beds were once again in the shade.  

Grass Path between beds 1&2 and 4&5 trimmed from inside Beds 4&5

Standing inside beds 4 & 5 I managed to get the paths either side trimmed, without getting any debris on my feet of legs. I also managed this before the sun started to creep down the garden. 

View from what will bed 8 looking towards beds 1 - 3

View Of The Back Garden Allotment (BGA)

Taken from the small rear bedroom window

 

Next job off the the Equigrow web site to purchase a large 50 Bag Variety Pallet of Farmyard Manure, Organic Green Compost & Premium Soil Conditioner for my 9 new raised beds. 

Calculating the volume of compost needed to fill the top half of a single raised bed as I'm filling the bottom half old decking tiles and woodchips, thus equates to 1.2m x 0.9m x 0.225m = 0.243m³ 

Thus 9 number beds equates to 9 x  0.243m³ = 2.187m³ 

As 1m³  = 1000 Litres then I require 2,187 Litres to fill just the top levels of my 9 raised beds.

50 number 40 Litre sacks equates to 2,000 Litres  and I have two sacks totalling 200 Litres of Vermiculite to add. It would be nice to have at least one deep filled raised bed thus another 243 Litres would be required or just over 6 additional 40 Litre sacks. I will also buy and add some topsoil to the fill material. 

At £207.50 including FREE delivery at anytime between 8:00 and 18:00 hours that works out at £4.15 per 40L sack.  For an additional £15 you can specify a morning or afternoon delivery. 

My order is being delivered this Friday 26th June at anytime between 8:00 and 18:00 hours because I'm currently house bound, and I can't go anywhere even if I wanted too, and it's FREE.  

Buying 40L sacks from Wicks works out at £5 a sack and they wanted to charge me £35 to deliver it from a depot that is only 0.7 miles away from my house!

I first encountered Equigrow was in November 2021 when I won their Halloween Giveaway competition, and received my first 30 Small Variety Pallet, dropped off right by the front door, some went to the allotment, and some in my storage bench in the back garden. I still have a few sacks from that pallet pile.  

Equigrows 3 products are made from complete natural substances and are 100% Peat Free

Organic Green Compost is 100% green vegetation 

Premium Soil Conditioner is 80% Straw and 20% Manure 

Fertile Mulch is 80% Shavings and 20% manure 

Ten bags went to the store in the back garden, 12 bags went in the boot and the back seat of the car to be taken down to my allotment plots aka Avalon 

Eight more 40L bags went on the back seats.