Hubby the Un-Gardener’s Honey Do List.

Please don’t kill my seedlings

I think I can start counting the time to my trip to the Garden Bloggers Conference now in hours.  4am Monday morning isn’t that far away.  I am getting really excited, but also nervous.  I have completed all my official work – article deadlines, pitches, visits, paying bills, meetings and organising kids.  Many of these task were completed in advance, which for me is quite unusual as I am more of a last minute panic stricken kind of a girl.

Proof it’s been really hot here.  (in Degrees Celsius)

I have spoken to anyone and everyone who can offer me travelling advice and I’ve bought everything I need to buy – including some last minute thermal underwear because today it was 35C (95F) here but in Atlanta it  was -8  (18F).  I don’t think I’ve ever been anywhere that has been any kind of minus degrees!

Oh my goodness. It is going to be cold!  (In Degrees Celsius – it’s all I know) 

So with everything else taken care of, I have to give the garden some last minute love.  I’ll give everything a feed and a deep watering, a hard harvest and mow the grass and pull any last weeds.  (All squeezed in around an 11^th birthday party for Tim the Helper),

But leaving my garden in the care of Hubby the Un-Gardener is an interesting proposition.  I love him dearly, but he is a busy guy and not a gardener and wouldn’t know his rhubarb from his beetroot.   So I have a created a list for him and decided to share it here so if loses it, then he will know where to find it.

Hubby the Un-Gardener you must do:

Water the garden regularly.  You need to move the trolley from sector to sector each day.  The timer will be set to go off at 8:30am so it is probably best to set it up the night before and then turn the water on after Tim the Helper has feed the chickens.  I will leave a map for you marking out the sectors.  You will need to adjust the taps on the hoses on the trolley.  If it goes into a garden that has a sprinkler then it needs to be on straight up and down, but if it is on one with a soaker hose then it needs to be at about 2 O’clock.  This is really important because if the tap is on full it will split the soaker hose and nothing will get watered properly.  If you have any problems working the irrigation system ask Incredible Carl.

Move the trolley every day – unless it rains

While we are talking about the chickens can you please clean out the chicken coop?  The poop can be put in the big barrel behind the shed.  You can add water if it is a bit smelly.

I also have seedlings and plants in the greenhouse that MUST be watered every day.  If the seedlings dry out then they won’t form into broccoli etc. so no dinner for you in 15 weeks.  Also keep then in the cage or the white butterflies will lay eggs and my seedlings won’t stand a chance.  If by any chance you do see caterpillars, sprinkle with derris dust.  I’ll keep some beside the seedlings.  If you aren’t sure then ask Incredible Carl.

Don’t let zucchini get any bigger than this!

Pick zucchini regularly.  I have enough marrows.  They are at the end of the long bed and in the back of the mixed garden that isn’t raised.  I’ll mark it on your garden map with a big blue X.

Pick every day!

Pick tomatoes every day.  Put what you don’t use in the freezer in a large sealed bag.  These are in the third draw down below the cutlery.  Watch out for the big spider protecting the tomatoes from the bad bugs.  As scary as he is, I like him and he won’t hurt you.

Maybe we should call him Bob

If you need carrots, cucumbers, herbs and peppers then help yourself – I’ll point out exactly where they are. Be careful picking the peppers the plants are quite fragile and you could easily rip a branch off.  Actually I’d prefer it if you use scissors.

The onions and spuds are in the shed.  I don’t imagine you will want to use the eggplant so hopefully this will be ok for another 10 days.    But please feed the kids with fresh veggies this time!  If you aren’t sure about harvesting – ask Incredible Carl.

These kids need fresh veggies

Check the tomatoes every day for blight.  See the photos below.  If you do find it call Incredible Carl immediately.  He will know what to do.  Don’t tell me until I get back – bad news like that would be quite distracting.

Blight on the Plant

Blight on a tomato

I think that is about if for this list….  I’ll make another one for how to look after the kids.  I may remember other things I need taken care of so check your text messages often.

 Love Ya…  But please don’t kill my garden.  XXX

The wonderful but long suffering Hubby the Un-Gardener

I’m sure Hubby the Un-Gardener would benefit from some words of encouragement so please feel free to offer him some advice and kind words.

Oh and for the record Incredible Carl is one person I would trust with my garden, however he isn’t always around.  There isn’t anything Carl don’t know or hasn’t done. He is a truly incredible guy.

Come again soon – There will be a full update of the trip – possibly in instalments as a lot is about to happen.

Sarah the Gardener : o )