The 2015 Allotment / Veg Patch Thread - it's here!

[TheSpottedZebra]

Yes, it's the thread you've all been waiting for, a place to chit chat about your allotment or fruit and veg patch - however big it may be. Even if it currently only imaginary or no bigger than a pot of growing basil from the supermarket.

Come discuss your plans, your seeds, your learnings from previous years and your goals for this year. All levels of knowledge welcome, from absolute beginner, to enthusiastic 2nd year-er (me!), to anyone else.

[TheSpottedZebra]

So me - I don't have an allotment but I am on the list for 2 sites. I just have my back garden, all the windowsills, and I might branch out into the front garden this year also, cos that's how I roll.

Last year was my first growing year, and I caught the bug. I had a lot of time on my hands so I probably over-cosseted my plants, so i need to toughen up a bit this year. But I'm a bit of a sop, even with plants.

I have 4 raised beds, 1 of which is solely strawberries, plus lots and lots of pots and other assorted containers. I have a little plastic greenhouse to use for growing season, and might get a smaller thing too.

I have really heavy clay soil hence the raised beds and pots -but I've been improving the soil so hopefully can plant into the ground this year. I'm not 100% organic, but I am quite gentle and nature loving so would opt for 'natural' sustainable solutions rather than strong chemical interventions where possible.

[Bowlersarm]

Hi Zebra, I'm in. I don't know how I'd categorise myself, maybe experienced beginner? I've had a very large garden complete with veg patch for about 10 years, but only in the last about 2 years have had any kind of interest in it! For the last year I've been obsessive about the garden, but find the huge learning curve daunting.

As far as fruit & vegetables are concerned, I have permanent asparagus and rhubarb, Apple, pear and plum trees. . I've recently - personally and proudly - built two v large raised vegetable beds I've spent the winter filling with organic garden/kitchen waste and just about to finish off by putting a load of compost on top. And I'm good to go.....

Potatoes are chitting, but that's it so far. In the past I've grown potatoes, leeks, carrots, tomatoes. This year I want to expand my veg selection so shall follow this thread closely for tips, thanks for starting it.

[TheSpottedZebra]

Yes, I am totally chit chatting to myself here.... but I won't stop!

Big successes last year were:

• cucamelons. Tons of them, too many. I'll do them again but fewer plants.
  
• chard - I have 'bright lights' rainbow chard which is very pretty and crops all year round but I think I'll do a bit less now as it's getting boring.
  
• tomatillo - loads of these, I guess as we had such hot weather? Again, too many really but the bees LOVED them.
  

This year I want to:

• do more tomato varieties. I could never have too many tomatoes, and would find it easy to preserve any that I didn't manage to eat fresh
  
• do more cucurbita varieties. Last year I only grew 1 type of patty pan squash - 2015 will bring min 2 types of courgette (have seeds) plus more squash.
  
• I also want to do more new things that I have not yet decided!
  

oh, and more companion planting - def borage and pot marigold for the bees and because they're so pretty.

[TheSpottedZebra]

Ooh, hello, thanks for joining! Erm, I hope that someone useful comes along to give tips, as I am useless there!

An asparagus bed sounds amazing -what year is it in ? I am very jealous of that but I don't have the room for it here, alas. Rhubarb I also loves but my sister grows that for me so I dont bother myself.

I want to do potatoes too, I've never grown them. Will they go in the new raised bed (!) or the ground itself? What variety do you have? I'm tempted to do pots in a sort of side bit of my front garden - if nothing else it will break the soil up a bit. And also perhaps in a bag?

[Bowlersarm]

You're clearly more knowledgeable than me - I've never heard of cucurbita!

This is year 4 for asparagus, so we can pick it all this year. Yum. I'm going to put potatoes in the raised bed. Got first earlies, but can't remember exactly what they are. I'm going to try Maris piper later as well because they're the ones I generally buy in the supermarket. I've grown potatoes in the ground once before and they were very successful. I've thought about planting them in bags as I believe that always works well but tbh as I have the space I may as well put them in the beds.

Are you going to grow onions? Not sure whether that's worth it or not.,

[GillSans]

Yay!! I have 4 raised beds and absolutely no clue what to do. Have managed to get courgettes, lettuce and carrots out of them but more by good luck than green fingers.

I have a big stack of seeds and 4 beds of weeds. Currently laid up with a broken foot, so lots of time for planning.

The beds are in my front garden, so my plans this year are to remove the dying acer and horrible rock garden there and bring my compost bin and quince bush from the back to the front to replace them.

I also have lots of large empty pots, but I'm a bit neglectful, so not sure whether to use them.

I have also been given 2 apple trees. Not sure where to plant them yet.

I have issues with soil. How do you get it? Where from? Please don't laugh at me.

[Bowlersarm]

Do you mean soil to fill your raised beds? When I ordered my raised bed kits online, I think they also sold soil to fill them up, but I didn't take too much notice because I just used them as huge compost containers until they were half full then just topped up with actual homemade compost. Is that what you meant?

[TheSpottedZebra]

You can get topsoil from garden centres and DIY sheds (B&Q, Homebase etc) as well as online specialists too.

That sounded like I know a bit, didn't it? I don't. I don't really know what all the different soil things are, and my dad always tell some off for calling all the brown stuff, mud. So I shall try not to do that this year.

[GillSans]

Yes bowler, that and the pots. I just bought lots of grow bag type things from tesco into them with some old top soil that was just lying around. Apparently this is bad? A neighbour advised me to order some soil, but didn't expand.

So, you just put your compostable kitchen scraps straight into them?

[Bowlersarm]

I did put loads of kitchen scraps into them but left them over the winter to compost down. I haven't put any fresh stuff in since Christmas so it should be nice and rotted by the time I start sowing seeds (hopefully)

[TheSpottedZebra]

Not bothering with onions I think - as they are so cheap to buy, and I've never thought to myself that that was a delicious, fresh onion that I've just eaten! I think I will try to grow stuff that I love (eg tomatoes), that is better super fresh (eg salads , raspberries), is quite expensive to buy, or I can't buy the variety that I want. Or is just fancy new stuff that is worth a bash. Onions don't fit into any of those just-invented categories for me!

Having said that, I did try to grow leeks last year and they were a skinny failure and I don't think I'll bother again. I have planted some garlic though - one fancy growing sort that I bought from the Isle of Wight, and a couple of eating bulbs the I bought from the market. Of course, the latter has grown well and I guess the former has just rotted away...

[Bowlersarm]

I think I agree about onions, although I do use quite a lot in spag Bol, chilli etc.

My leeks were successful; they grew well and what I really liked about them was that you just pick them when you need them and leave the rest there. They still in the ground for ages and ages.

I think I've missed the time slot now for garlic?

[GillSans]

Re soil, Would this be any good do you think?

[TheSpottedZebra]

Bowlers I read on here that you either plant garlic on (or thereabouts) the longest day and harvest on the shortest, or vice versa. Ie you can do both.

But I read somewhere else that you can do spring sowings too, and this calendar seems to concur.

My leeks are still out there, or some of them. Just they look like this ! Yes it's actual size. Don't think I'll bother with them again. Well, for a while, anyway.

[agoodbook]

joining in here! It's a biit late for me, but will just say- had a half allotment for 4 years - 5th one coming up and I love it - will be back in the morning to read properly

[AmantesSuntAmentes]

I'm growing in my front garden this year, with my back garden to become an allotment in its entirety soon!

I studied horticulture at college. I'm fairly rusty but I've always kept my hand in, in some small way.

This year's all about expanding. Two south facing plots on south facing hills, around 100m2

So far, I've picked around a million things from catalogues. Next step is to trim that down to something remotely reasonable, with my two eldest dds, who are home ed and taking on the running of the gardens as part of their curriculum.

...I might have something useful to add at some point!

[shobby]

I posted on the other thread as well so have pasted a bit of what I wrote there here if that's ok!

Keen allotmenteer here, I've had my plot since 2006, and took on the plot next door to mine as well a couple of years ago but its still very much a work in progress. Learnt so much as I've gone along, you quickly learn what does well on your soil, but everything varies so much year to year, particularly with the changeable weather!

I grow most things from seed in modules and plant them out when the weather is favourable, that saves a lot of disappointments. I'm at the point now where I have narrowed down what I really like to grow and eat, rather than grow loads of things I've never tried before: you only grow khol rabi and rats tail radishes once! I grow a lot of heritage stuff and save the seeds though.

I had a rough year last year with work stuff going on so didn't get to my plots until July, so had a massive clearance job to do, it was a huge job but looks loads better now and I took the opportunity to replace some of the things like my old raised beds which had done well to last 6 years when they were made out of old pallets.

I confess I still haven't got my garlic and shallots in yet, the weather has dictated that, it's been either flooded or frozen so I'm waiting until that improves, they will catch up! Next month I will be looking at starting some chillies and peppers from seed, and tomatoes at the beginning of March. I find planning and deciding what to grow the best bit! And then there is all the 'vegetable porn' in the seed catalogues.........evil temptresses they are!

[PoppySausage]

Hello! Getting twitchy, looking through seeds, planning... Looking forward to reading all of your ideas and tips

[EauRouge]

Me, I'll join :) I got my first allotment last summer, a very overgrown half plot. All I've done so far is cut everything down and cover it with cardboard, carpet and horse manure. Most of it is grass but there is also a lot of dock (massive ones) and some brambles so I might have to roundup those.

I did find some useful things under the weeds- a couple of raised beds and the remains of a fruit cage with three goji berry bushes. The footings of the fruit cage are still sound so I've bought some new posts and netting and I'll get cracking on that as soon as I can persuade DH to help me out.

I've been growing fruit and veg in my back garden for years but I've never had an allotment. We have really heavy clay soil and the allotment site is fairly exposed but I've had a good nosy at what everyone else is growing so I've got some ideas.

Here's what I'm planning to grow-

Strawberries
Raspberries

Potatoes (I've been told by the other allotmenteers that late crops never go well, but I might build a potato tower and see how it goes)
Sweetcorn
Courgette
Butternut squash
Sunflowers, for the seeds
Sweet peas for cutting (I promised DD1)
Tomatoes, haven't decided on variety yet
Peas
French beans

Zebra, you've got James Wong's book as well then? I was going to give cucamelons a go this year, they look just right for putting in Pimms.

Is everyone else's allotment as nice as mine? The other allotmenteers are all lovely, they are falling over themselves to give me tips. There's one that's had his plot for 37 years! They call him Mr Allotment. I was told 'when Mr Allotment digs, you dig'. Priceless.

[AmantesSuntAmentes]

Your Mr Allotment reminds me of my grandad and inspiration. He grew veg religiously, for nearly 70 years! Started post war and just kept going

[Costacoffeeplease]

Hi. Can I join in? I live in the algarve, so conditions are very different here but I have 3 polytunnels (to keep the cats out ) and have tomato, onion, broccoli, peas, carrots and sweet corn seeds in. I grow the onions because it's quite hard to get spring onions here which my husband loves! I grew some veg a few years ago, then had to stop as I had spinal surgery, and now I can't bend at all, so he has built really raised beds (waist height) so I can start again!

I'm planning on a few more varieties of tomato (cherry, plum, beef and regular) herbs and maybe some strawberries. We tried runner beans before, but for some reason they seem to be impossible to grow here, I don't know anyone who's managed it - and we're not allowed rhubarb!! It's not indigenous and they're worried it will take over like Japanese knotweed!!

I also have a kumquat bush/tree!

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

I have a little unexpected free time today so I'm sorting out my seeds for this year for my veggie patch :)

I have from last year:
loads of broad beans (can I plant them now in pots and put them in the cold frame?)
carrots
climbing french beans
early tall peas
some sweetcorn - but its two years old so I'm not sure if it will germinate.
Cauliflower mix

I have lots of different soft fruits and rhubarb in the ground.

I've decided against courgettes I think this year. They take up so much space and I never quite grow enough veg to live completely off my garden so have to have the odd veg box and theres always millions of courgettes in those.

I used to be really good at salad but for the past two years I've been hopeless, countless sowings coming to nothing and I don't know why!

[agoodbook]

well, to start ! ! I have been gardening for 35 years at home and have apples/pears/summer raspberries at home, and always grown tomatoes and french beans.
Had our name down for 4 years before we got our allotment and they freed up space by halving them when one came up. So we got the call one late January and went to look. It had been badly neglected. Two rows of raspberrries left for oooh- maybe 5-6 years without any control, thistles/weeds/ lots of area of grass with sad fruit bushes poking out.
So made a plan to just go an hour a day and dig, husband pruned all the raspberries and come March just threw seeds and potatoes in and hoped for the best as we cleared it.
Then looked to see what everyone else was doing, where the sun came, where the wind came from (up in the Yorkshire Wolds- quite windy and cold!)
We had been left a shed (dilapidated!) so arranged where the compost bin and manure bin would be. We got an enormous water container free to collect water from the shed roof.
Following year we planned the deep bed for asparagus, and next to it the fruit cage, and started moving the raspberries which were bang in the middle, and the fruit bushes out of the grass.
So still a work in progress.
Biggest nightmare – pigeons ate all my sprouting broccoli the first winter – I had sort of netted it, but hadn’t realised how tall it grew and they decimated it.
So each year we now put up a mobile cage, tall enough to stand up in, and that takes ALL our brassicas
But we now have an explosion of rabbits – this last year they chewed through everyones netting, so now virtually every area is bounded by chicken wire! – I lost a lot of young plants :(
A journey indeed .
That’s a bit of a long one – back later after I have seen what everyone else is doing!

[DeliciousMonster]

Morning - can I join?

I am an organic hort teacher/community garden manager/allotment and garden owner - I do alot of food growing.

Salad - is a cool crop and doesn't like it too hot. So grow it early in the season, and in the hot summer, grow it in a shady space. Sow little and often [a pinch each week or two].

I read on here that you either plant garlic on (or thereabouts) the longest day and harvest on the shortest, or vice versa. Ie you can do both. Half right. Sow on the shortest day and harvest on the longest is ideal. But you can sow between Mid Sept and Mid Dec, and if you really have missed the boat, sow before the end of Jan. Garlic grows best over winter, and if there is no frost it doesn't split into cloves [last winter no frosts and last summer, no cloved bulbs which reinforced that theory]. During the winter it puts roots down, and then after the Spring Equinox is starts to bulk up. It doesn't work the other way around, as all you will get are roots, and no bulk.

Soil - is 25% air, 25% water, 45% minerals and 5% hummus [or organic matter]. The minerals are sand, silt and clay and the perfect loam [for growing food in] will be a mix of 40% sand, 40% silt and 20% clay.

To avoid spending loads of money on soil, don't fill your beds up immediately. Try lasagne gardening, where you put a layer of kitchen scraps, then a layer of cardboard, then old compost, newspaper etc etc [google it] and when your plants have root balls the size of your fist, you break through the lasagne and plant it, and backfill it. Over the first year, the components break down giving you a lovely loamy soil and you can do it again next year [adding well rotted compost as a layer itself] and saving you load of money.

My top tips are:
Hedge your bets, sow small amounts of different varieties rather than loads of one so that it extends your range and seasons.
Grow organic seeds, the more local the better, as they will be from stronger stock and as they are saved from plants that are growing in your region, will be more likely to be successful in your region. Most seeds in the UK didn't originate here, they were forced in some well maintained, polluted hothouse and we wonder why things fail over here.
If you can't grow organic, local seeds, join the Heritage Seed Library, or grow Franchi seeds. HSL seeds are grown by themselves or by Seed Guardians and this means they are suited to the UK, and taste much better; and Franchi are also the only family owned seed merchant, are based here in Harrow and many of the seeds they sell originated from parts of Italy that have the same climates as we have.
Grow healthy plants - if a plant is not looking good, get rid of it. It may spread disease, and if it is ridden with bugs that automatically reduced it's resistance. Spraying with all sorts of rubbish to keep it limping on is a false economy. Much easier when your seed is vibrant and fresh and local.
To get better ranges of seeds - swap them! Package up your excess, and participate in local or online seed swaps. For the price of a stamp you can really extend your range thus hedging your bets [see first top tip].

[Bowlersarm]

Some great tips from the experienced.

I'm feeling very chuffed with myself DeliciousMonster after reading your post, as I did the 'lasagne' thing without realising it was an actual thing. It just made sense. .

I might try and get some garlic in before the end of jan then, as we use so much.