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.

Spotted, I agree, don't worry about not having sown yet. I really only started mine for something to do, in order not to mope about my sans allotment status

Thanks, agoodbook! I do keep meaning to catch up with GQT.

I haven't gone with rock wool but I might! Everything has had 100% germination, except for our first toms! We're on a small scale this year, so seedling pots on capillary mats are working for most things.

Hydroponics are the way forward, Spotted. One day we'll all have pools instead of allotments!

...I've just had a lightbulb moment re. the living wall!!

zebra most certain they're chilli's but I got the idea and some of the equipment from those gardening websites. Hydro is fascinating.

amantes - waterfall I presume? and I listen to GQT on a Sunday at 2 while I am sat doing other things (folding washing, knitting or something) - quite often there is nothing of particular interest for me, but I listen anyway as you never know!
I am certainly not sowing anymore seeds only the very slow celeriac has been- the weather forecast is horrible, and I am wafting off on Friday for 2 weeks, so no point - it will still be early to sow for me when I get back.

Aww, not worried about not sowing yet because I will start soon, probably with 'chillis'. Just I had made such a fuss about wanting to start ASAP and I still haven't and some of you have.

Just getting my wellies on then I'll be back.

1 veg garden and 2 allotment plots - I thibk growing veg is my favourite occupation. Even more than eating cake

I do want a grow light though. But I'm not getting one. Not this year.
But next year if I still have the bug, I may be tempted...

Ooh, Sootball I love cake too. I am planning on a courgette GLUT this year, and that will force me to perfect my recipe for courgette cake. As well as soup, fritters, etc etc.

But wellies? Where in the world are you?

spotted - I have a very good courgette brownie/ tray bake that I found a couple of years ago when desperate - Ill try and find the link, or can copy it out
I'm with sootball I wear wellies , with thick walking socks !

Twas figaritive speak - like sit down and put the kettle on.

My aim for 2016 (reflecting on your intended purchase) is a cold frame and a potting shed. The potting shed is the old coal store which has lost it roof and windows ans DH has agreed to spend some money on it with a glass roof and shuttered vents so I can use it as a heated greenhouse. I'm rather into my tomato growing and usually have 4 varieties.

I haven't so much as sown a seed yet but I have started to chit my spuds and I've planned out what will go where.

Ah was figurative, 8 thought that you were just in from gardening, hence not UK! I wear wellies also. With insoles and multiple sock layers.

The future potting shed sounds lovely. What toms will you grow this year, do you know?

agoodbook that recipe link would be lovely when you have a mo. My glut is going to be huge you see. Said, Field of Dreams style.

sootball - so you don't dig in the dark - I was seeing a miners lamp clamped to your head!
spotted - here is the link - we have just eaten the last piece that I had managed to get frozen- its a joy at this time of year with some compote made from my own redcurrants and raspberries - thats why I love growing fruit and veg - how much would they cost in the shops at the moment?
www.smallstepsonline.co.uk/Recipes/CakeRecipes/ChocolateCakeRecipes/ChocolateCourgetteCakeRecipe

you will have a glut- I cut down to 4 plants this year, and I was still a bit overwhelmed, and I cook a lot! - DH is putting his foot down to only have 3, but we have the space :)

Ooh thanks for recipe, I have bookmarked it.

Only 4 plants? I'm doing 4 varieties, plus other summer squash. Note: I have no idea of success rate or yield. But I am very greedy and a vegetarian. I had a lovely crumble today with foraged brambles and sister's apples. It was lovely, just what I needed to see me through grotty old winter.

First year I was 'gifted' 8 courgette plants - now one of them was poorly :) but boy, did I have courgettes!
I tend to get a good sized courgette off every plant every 1-3 days - and a marrow about once a week, as you didn't see it - so for the 10-12 weeks of harvesting, I had a lot of courgettes ! - and a lot of other stuff as well......
tomato and courgette pasta sauce/ roasted courgette and tomato / courgette soup/ courgette and cheese muffins-courgette brownies etc/etc/etc/ !!

Yum. I really really love courgettes. You do more with them than you can with a bloody cucamelon (2014 glut).

I hate courgettes for the most part, I like them grated raw in salads and don't mind them hidden in pasta sauce but that's all. No one else in our house will eat them either, DS and DH don't like many veg, it's a shame as I like growing them, the flowers are so pretty. Can you taste them in the cake recipe?

Same with beetroot, easy to grow, but no one likes them, only get eaten in tiny amounts grated into salads. I get them in my veggie box sometimes and invariably give them away. I've tried various cakes with it in and all have been horrible.

The red velvet and chocolate heartache cake book has many courgette recipes. I draw the line at 3 plants though although stalker keeps trying to give me his courgettes too

Tried to post a pic of my oca (dylan keating) but it's having none of it.

I am going to try the gqt tip of sewing chamomile from teabags to keep the weeds in the saffron bed down.

Bought some lidl seeds yesterday.
Still to get barlotti beans.
I am also wondering how long cape gooseberries last (still going from last season) and can they go outdoors? May find out on BAC final next week.

I may start my toms, cape gooseberries and a few other bits n bobs in a fortnight. Too far north to rush these things.

I order some veg as plugs anyway. Helps beat the slugs and get by the short season. and I am lazy plus i pick up whatever b&q are selling as straggly rejects. Bit of water and they are fine!

If you peel courgettes, no you can not taste them in cake. They make good bread too.

I got my seed potato order yesterday,along with onions and shallots. Although I did mean to order two lots of potatoes but only got one which means somewhere along the line they got missed off. Still it will be a good excuse to go to the garden centre and buy some more!

We're having to invest in a new shed for the garden this year as our current on is knackered and leaking. I had a fantasy about buying a really fancy one until I realised how much they cost. So we'll be going for a normal one but it will be a bit bigger so that hopefully we can mkve around it it. Rather than stand at the door and shove things in!

whoknows as mink says , no you can't taste them, it just makes a very moist brownie! and the same with veg muffins , and courgette and cheese muffins.
And we love beetroot here - hot and cold
You are up against veg discrimination with DS and DH then. My lot are pretty good - the odd dislike which is fair enough, but my son - in law !!! it has taken 10 years of patience- he never ever complains about veg soup though!
He used to ask what soup it was - and unless it was leek and potato ( fairly obvious spot!) it was 'soup de jour'
mink I was just about to say yes to cape gooseberry going outside, then realised I was mixing it up with Kiwi fruit. I am toying with the idea of one of those, but I will need to see if I have enough space .
Cedar03 - I am on a local fb selling site, and sheds/greenhouses etc often pop up for sale second hand on those- I've had a load of second hand chicken wire which was a godsend last year with the rabbit explosion we had :)

Ooh mink any gape gooseberry tips? I tried them last year but started them way too late and they are ly flowered, let alone fruited. I'll start them off soon, I think. I overwintered 1 plant from last year too, to see what it did but mine is just in a sheltery outside spot, not in a greenhouse or 'owt (mainly as I don't have one ), so i dont hold out too much hope...

Toddler asleep on my shoulder and tea on the side. I can finally type! I laughed at the plant by torch light as I have done that last year when I desperately has to plant up some plug plants and bedtime had over run.

tomatoes, I do a tumbler like 100s and 1000s or tumbling toms, a plum like Harlequin, a round cordon like gardeners delight and a yellow variety as well. I've found all do well in the greenhouse and I always plant the tumbling tomatoes in hanging baskets or upside down buckets. They thrive from being plants near marigolds.

I also love courgettes and squash, they do very well in my garden although I will move the larger butternut squash and pumpkin down to the allotment plot this year. I'm particularly fond of patio courgette plants as they don't tend to develop quite so fast and rarely turn to marrows. I also like yellow courgettes and round courgettes.

Onions I have red baron, stuttgart giant and some beautiful shallots and garlic. I grow mixed lettuce and beetroot along with spring onions. Also companion plant carrots, three varieties to cope with various different pests and to extend the growing season.

Spuds (second early, main crop and salad) go on the allotment to keep them away from my tomatoes.

Next year I'll be a bit braver in terms of cabbages and swedes. I tend to only grow what we eat, I have a FT job until June which will limit my time, and our soft fruit is mostly left to fend for itself!

I'm undecided what to do about tomatoes. I used to do them every year in the garden, kept them as far as possible from potatoes but they got blight every single time. I did a few at the allotment last year and they were fine, but they are the sort of crop I'd rather have at home for grabbing a few of whenever I need them and they look perfectly ripe.

Thanks for the thoughts about courgette cakes, unfortunately I'm low carbing so I can't indulge too much in those. I am up against it with DH and DS, DH was brought up on mushy, salted, boiled "traditional" veg which his mum used to make hims sit at the table fr hours till he's eaten them and it has put him off for life. I can get him to eat them raw, or stir-fried or etc, but not as a plain accompaniment or the main part of a meal, or even in curries. When he cooks he tends to just forget to do veg altogether. He does eat a lot of fruit and salad though. DS has ASD and sensory issues and is very picky about food, he too won't eat plain veg, but you can get away with stir fries and veg in pasta sauces, curries etc.

I'm not perfect in this regards either, I dislike the courgettes plus the sweeter veg (sweet potatoes, parsnips and squashes). The difference with me is that I will keep trying different things till I find a way I like them, beetroot is the closest I've come to defeat and I will eat it grated raw. I am on a mission to get all of us eating more though!