Allotment/Veg patch thread 11 'We bid farewell to rainbow leaves but will keep plotting along'

[bookbook]

Well, nights are drawing in, leaves are starting to turn, harvesting carrying on
What a summer it has been!
Join in with the ups and downs of growing our own into autumn.
Last thread www.mumsnet.com/Talk/gardening/2951768-Allotment-Veg-Patch-Thread-10-Plotmenters-busy-into-summer-and-loving-James-Wong?msgid=71770088HERE

[bookbook]

pah clicky link
HERE

[UnaOfStormhold]

Good work bookbook, nice to have a new thread to play with!

[elephantoverthehill]

Thank you for the new thread book. I do hope the weather is good tomorrow as I have sweetcorn to harvest, strimming and weeding to do. I listened to GQT on the way home from work and liked the plot suggestions made. I won't spoil it for the Sunday listeners.

[Oncewaswho]

Hello, I was on these threads for a long time under a different name but have drifted away the last few months (tried to give up MN but have failed). I have been lurking intermittently and would like to come back

[Frouby]

Lovely thread title and opening.

Just placemarking for an update tomorrow.

[bookbook]

hello Once - come on in . How are you? :)

[Oncewaswho]

Hi Book, all good thanks. Plot has been woefully neglected over the last month with holidays, school holidays, work and weather all combining to keep me away. However I have got masses of flowers so at least it looks nice! Self seeded Cosmos, sweet peas, nasturtiums and cornflowers.

I am in the middle of my first really decent crop of raspberries - when I took over the plot 4 years ago I made the mistake of strimming the canes to the ground (in August, they were spindly and very neglected). By last year they were recovering and I realised they were autumn fruiters so they were properly pruned, weeded and manured around in Feb and it has really paid dividends. Had a great year for broad beans but my French beans have been useless, we had very late frosts and they were very spindly and overgrown by the time they were planted out, never recovered. PSB is doing well and I have a contender for world's biggest marrow .

Hope everyone else is ok, looking forward to chatting with you all again.

[tizwozliz]

Sprouts are finally looking like they'll actually produce sprouts, even the sacrificial one in the flowerbed (pictured) that hasn't been netted. Maybe it's the nasturtiums next to it, but they've also gone into overdrive this year, couldn't resist sharing a photo.

French beans and the mystery squash also pictured. Of course despite the squash having it's own 2 ft x 1ft bed with a structure to climb, it's opted to grow over and amongst the herb bed next door. Not sure if I can extract it now.

[owthathurts]

Hope you don't mind me joining in - I have been lurking on your last thread and have been inspired by everyone.

As of yet I do not have an allotment but would dearly love one in the near future. I have recently bought a greenhouse which is almost set up and am hoping to use the bottom part of my garden as a mini allotment. I will have to grow most things in planters and pots due to having a garden overcome by bindweed (literally like a carpet when at its worst - thankfully now under control but have to regularly use weed killer 1 - 2 times a week!) Plus I have a rubbish shoulder at present and can't dig etc....

Just wondering if you could give me some advice - I have bought some seeds that say you can sow in September (flowers) which I have done. They are really growing well in their little pots - heres my problem! How long do I leave them in their little pots (they really are little pots) Gardening/View+all+Offers/Equipment+Offers/summer+clearout/Seed+Tin+Propagator+and+Veg+seed+Offer_598665.htm . (pots like these)
I found it really hard to put just 1 seed in so a lot of the pots have 2/3/4 little seedlings in and are now about an inch tall. Is it better to separate them into their own pots or wait until they are bigger (maybe stronger?)

Also I thought about planting some onions - can these be done in a planter or are they better to do in the ground? If okay to do in a planter which onions are best?

Thought about buying some of these raspberry plants - are these good value?
Gardening/Fruit/Soft+Fruit/Raspberry+Plants/Raspberry+Plants+-+Yummy_MH4914.htm

Where do you buy your seeds/ plugs from?

Sorry so many questions - I really am a novice but so excited to actually grow some stuff.

Many many thanks - I love looking at your photo's it really has spurred me on to do this!

[owthathurts]

www.suttons.co.uk/Gardening/Fruit/Soft+Fruit/Raspberry+Plants/Raspberry+Plants+-+Yummy_MH4914.htm

www.suttons.co.uk/Gardening/View+all+Offers/Equipment+Offers/summer+clearout/Seed+Tin+Propagator+and+Veg+seed+Offer_598665.htm

[owthathurts]

Sorry meant to apologise for original links not linking!

[tizwozliz]

Onions should be fine in a planter, I grew mine in a couple of buckets this year and got a reasonable crop. No idea what variety I'm afraiid

[UnaOfStormhold]

Ow, it depends on exactly what you have, but in general the things to look out for are roots circling the bottom of the pot (rootbound) and running out of nutrients - limp or yellowing or stopped growing. On multiple seeds per pot, you can plant most things as a clump but obviously you'll get fewer plants. If you want separate plants you can either thin them when they're small and their roots aren't tangled or wait until they're big plants and can recover from root damage when pulled apart.

[bookbook]

Welcome owthathurts - :) whereabouts are you?
No problem growing things in planters. Onions should be okay, just don't choose a giant one , and make sure you have a reasonable depth of soil and space for them to grow.
Seeds are easily available in lots of places - I get most of mine through the allotment society as they are much cheaper but I also use Wilko , b garden centres, and online to get the varieties I want. Aldi and Lidl do them in the spring too. The raspberry looks lovely , its expensive as such, but a quick google shows that most of the dwarf raspberries for containers are that sort of price
Regarding your little flower seedlings. They are only an inch? I would go on how many 'true' leaves there are. Once they have got between 4 and 6 leaves, then I would very carefully separate them and pot them up into bigger pots ( not massive ones, but maybe 2 or 3 sizes bigger than they are in now). Don't forget to handle them by the top leaves, not the stem, to reduce chance of damage.

[owthathurts]

Thanks for getting back to me - I am at the bottom of south east so soil is very chalky.

I had a go at separating some of my little seedlings this afternoon - (yes they are about an inch tall) some were just too delicate so have let them for now. Others are quite robust so have put them in like a cardboard plant pot.I have no idea what I am growing as my stick labels washed off in the rain! So they are going to be a surprise.

So far I have bought my seeds off Suttons but worried that I am over pay on prices.

[goodenoughal]

Hello. I was here a while back, with my overgrown allotment that I've just taken on. I've had a productive summer and got way more from my plot than I'd expected - and now I'm looking forward to getting more cleared and sorted over the autumn/winter ready for next spring!

Anyway, I have a question about walnut trees. Does anyone have one? I know there's an issue wuth juglone and growth beneath the tree canopy but how have people found this in practice.

I'm looking at a Broadview walnut (hardy and relatively compact).

Any advice/experience gratefully received :)

[IckleWicklePumperNickle]

Thank you for the new thread Book.

I wasn't very active on the last one.
I'm a bit behind at the plotment. With being back at work and deciding to sew the youngest clothes, and to throw Scottish weather in the mix. It's not been great time wise the last month.
Hopefully it will get better now

[bookbook]

Afternoon !
Hi goodenough - nice to hear that the plot has produced for you :) I have no knowledge on walnut trees - has anyone else?
ow - join the club - mixed up labels, missing labels, labels with writing washed off - we all do it!
Ickle - hello again - no doubting that life gets in the way!
Well, no plot yesterday, I was out - once again thunderstorms and heavy showers .
Today, managed a good go - ground still very wet mind. Weeding and harvesting mainly - trying to get ready to put on the last of my well rotted horse manure, before ordering another load to rot down for next year. The green manure ( mustard) has finally decided to germinate as well, thank goodness. It was decidedly autumnal - grey, cold , breezy , and started to drizzle as I did the raspberry pick. I brought home sweetcorn for tomorrow - NDN but one has lost a lot of their cobs from rats nibbling away, at them - up the stalks too! so I thought to bring some home just in case. The purple and green beans are almost over now - just a few left to pick over the next week, but nothing set recently by looks. Runners still okay, but the sweet peas need digging up , they are turning brown. Purple sprouting broccoli just getting going.

[Cedar03]

Thank you for the new thread! Welcome Ow and Once

We've had a trip to the plot this morning. Picked yet more beans! Hacked back the blackberry plants and cleared a bit more of the overgrown section. Cutting back brambles and digging out a bit more. It began to rain so we retreated for lunch.

We've got beetroot, beans and spinach for tea. And the tomatoes which had blight have mostly ripened up - lost some to the blight - but have had a decent crop after all.

[Cedar03]

I know nothing about walnut trees.

[tizwozliz]

Couple of scotch bonnets picked this weekend, sum total of the crop which was disappointing. The plants flowered really well, but didn't develop fruit despite my best efforts at pollinating. All got rather infested with aphids as well towards the end.

[owthathurts]

I have been having a think as to what type of planters I could use and came up with an idea - I have 6 wooden apple crates, if I were to line then and make drainage holes at the bottom do you think I could use these to plant some veg etc whenever the time is right?

[Newtssuitcase]

Hi all.
Feeling very annoyed today since I went to pick some of the sweetcorn which from the outside looked great, lovely large fat cobs, some plants with multiple cobs. They're rubbish though. None have fully pollenated. I'm not sure why. They were planted in a block of 18, fairly close together (although having watched a couple of youtube videos I think they could have been closer). Does everyone pollenate every thread by hand? I did sprinkle some pollen onto every one just in case the wind didn't do it for me but I didn't realise you had to cover every single thread. .
Hey ho, back to potatoes. Bought a load of September planters yesterday so they will go in later when it stops raining. Presumably I'm ok to plant them where my earlier crop came out and then I'll rotate the bed in the spring??
Also came back form the garden centre wth garlic to plant up for the first time.

[Newtssuitcase]

They'll be fine Ow. Four of my planters were pallet crates that some garden slabs arrived in. More gap than solid. I lined them and then stapled willow screening around the edge and they are now home to some very happy rhubarb, my herbs, carrots and the last of the peas.

[owthathurts]

Great idea! Was thinking that I would have to paint them.