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.

Ok, think I've got the soil thing (strange mental block going on there for some reason) thanks Bowlers and Monster.

zebra my leeks were like that too. and I'm another that that won't be planting courgettes this year. I love their beanstalky quality, but they really are the gift that keeps on giving and I don't think I can look at another one after last year.

I have these seeds:
Spinach beet
Chard
Spring onion
Nasturtiums
Echinacea
Carrots
Turnips
Cayenne pepper
Mooli
Lettuce
Beetroot

Not sure i can fit all that in at all. I would also love some fruit bushes (v envious of your goji berry and kumquat bushes!) and def getting some rhubarb. Might try potatoes too.

Right, off to do a spreadsheet and a spot of googling.

May I join your merry band?

We've just got an allotment after a 2 year wait. Unfortunately it looks like this.

It needs a little work!

Ooh, more people, excellent! We have a lovely variety on here already don't we - from beginners like moi to professionals like Delicious, and agoodbook with 35 years experience. People wih allotments new and old, people with veg patches ijnthe garden, and costa on the Algarve too! Welcome welcome everyone!

EauRouge I do indeed have that book, and lots of his seeds! Since I have been into gardening, so just over a year, all my xmas hand birthday presents have followed a theme... So I got that book and seeds from his range last April, and I did cucamelons which flourished, and were indeed lovely with Pimms, and the tomatillos which also were very bountiful and great with Mexican cooking which I do like but don't eat that much of. I preserved loads, froze more and could not really give them away. I'll do more this year, but fewer of each. Thing is, I don't really k now to what extent their success was down to the really hot weather.

I also did the James wong amaranth/callaloo, and the Inca berries/physalis. The former never really grew much, and the latter I think I started too late so the fruit never ripened. I'll def do try berries again but earlier as I do love them and I do have seeds, and I'll probably try the callaloo again as it is so pretty and again I have the seeds!

OMG have just spotted OYBBK here too! Our reresident MN weather guru! How exciting

I've been seed sorting too. I am a twonk so I have made a spreadsheet listing all my seeds, and when they should be sown. And tonight I think I shall browse for More Seeds as there are still a few bits and bobs that I want.

Tomato wise, I have some Gardener's Delight seeds from last year which I shall do again as they seem quite reliable. I also have Tigerella seeds, plus Black Krim and Black Cherry, all of which are new to me. Oh, Plum toms too (Roma), tho i think they need a lot of heat, dont they? I think I also want something yellow and something tumbling, for hanging baskets. Any suggestions from anyone?

Most callaloo in this country is grown from birds poop. As the seeds are often included in birdseed.
My James Wong success was in the Wild White Strawbs. Got a harvest in the first year of growing them. And they are lovely.

My recommendation for yellow tumbling toms; Millefleur [see link]. I usually chuck a few toms on the polytunnel floor and they propagate themselves when they are ready. Saves me the hassle.

www.realseeds.co.uk/tomatoes_vines.html - another excellent seed company.

Hello, can I join too?

We got an allotment last year and are mostly cultivating weeds and rocks, plus two beds of red onions and garlic. I've just dug some stray raspberry shoots out of the back garden and three unhappy currant bushes that I hope to plant in when the weather looks less intimidating.

I've also just got some strawberries into one of the raised beds in our front garden and am contemplating what to do with the vast amount of seed my mum has posted me.

Not sure yet whether globe artichokes will grow well up north, or tomatoes for that matter.

you daft thing spottedzebra! I will do my best when I can to warn of impending frosts of doom and the such like!

Another newbie moving in! I've had my allotment for ... oooh, 5 days now It must have been tended pretty well last year, I've found 4 boarded beds and another three probable beds, a wheelbarrow and a shed.

I had my first proper (without children distracting me!) look this morning. I harvested some purple spotted beans (any ideas?), dug over a bed and found a dead rat halfway under a compost bin. So, from first harvest to first dead animal within 30 minutes ... what the hell do I do with the rat? (No, no irony with this user name, none at all)

Um, no idea about the rat, maybe bury it in the woods?

And I think they're runner beans. Maybe plant some and see what happens (imagining beanstalk up into the clouds, though I suspect magic beans are more likely to be glittery). Are they quite big?

Rat - dig a hole and bury it.

Those are indeed Rubber Beans. Put them in a dish in an airing cupboard and once they are so hard that you can't indent them with your teeth, put them in a paper bag until April. Then sow.

Ok, my spreadsheet is completed. (Being temporarily couch-bound has it's uses .

If anyone can use the following seeds, please pm me with an address and I'll post them to you:
Radish (Mooli Mino Early)
Turnip (Purple Top Milan)
Onion (Spring, White Lisbon Winter Hardy)
Beetroot (Detroit 2, Crimson Globe)

Dh says he's going to turn the front garden into a drive. He got [anger]

That's a lovely photo of beans Stainless

Runner beans. Lol. Boing.

Oh, I completely forgot we could do pictures. Here's mine before and after the weed clearing.

Luckily I live in the countryside, so there is a near endless supply of free horse poo. They also have free soil improver at the local council recycling place but you have to go and fill your own bags. Might be worth checking your local councils if they do a green waste collection.

Can I join in as well? I am a novice who as completely ignored the new raised beds(2) for want of confidence and guidance. Hoping this thread will give me the kick start I desperately need. agoodbook has recommended a good book that has been reserved at the library.

Bury the rat! Of course, so simple it's genius There is a cemetery near the allotments, I could bury it in style?

I'm more proud of the picture of magic rubber beans than I am of the beans - probably because I put more effort into the picture than the beans. Will definitely keep for seed, thank you. I'd been planning to grow runner magic rubber beans.

Please don't bother looking in my local library for allotment books. They are all by my bed. I've reserved that Andi Clevely book that's been mentioned as well as a couple of the DG Hessayon Experts series. Just to keep me occupied in case any of the seed company websites go down.

My plan at the moment: dig. Lots of digging, lots of manure-ing, some hacking and slashing so my plot takes shape. Buy some seed potatoes to put into the first 2 beds I get cleared, and work out what I'm going to plant in the next couple I clear. For cost reasons I think I'm going to have to raise a lot from seed, so I may need to bodge together a cold frame (greenhouse seems a tad ambitious).

As shown by my inability to recognize a magic rubber bean (no runners for me ever again) I probably won't be offering much useful advice for a while, but hopefully sharing the experience will help me and others keep motivated.

Oh i just love this thread.

I'm a newbie too having just moved to the country and therefore finally have some garden space. My husband and fil are currently building me 6 raised flower beds which i'm beyond excited about.

So I have a question, I've looked through the seed mags and think I know what I would like to grow but where would I find out about what veggies should share beds together - if that makes sense?

I've heard that growing garlic near roses stop the roses getting diseases so I think i'm going to do that tomorrow (I was given some garlic bulbs from Father Christmas!!!) - has anyone else heard that?

Companion planting.

www.organicgardening.com/learn-and-grow/companion-planting

Thanks DeliciousMonster - really useful

Ooh, more new peeps - excellent! I am so extremely enthusiastic about my growing so it's lovely to have people to chat to about it! I went out today and bought more things - good old Poundland came up trumps with things like more plant pots and seed tray things, plus... potato bags -hurrah! Then I went to The Works and bought a new RHS book on growing fruit and veg in pots. Of course all the cheap buys mean I can spend more on lovely new seeds... I'm hopeful that here might be a seed swap/potato day near me next month, but I can only find details for last year not this.

DeliciousMonster - Wild white strawberries, are they the same as pineberries? I'm tempted by them this year. Well, I am tempted by everything but especially by them. How did they grow, yield, taste? Will you do them again? Thanks too for tomato recco...

I LOVE that rubber bean pic, Cat, it looks so pretty. What a lovely thing to find! Yeah, ignoring the rat. Are you really bodging a cold frame? Out of old windows or something? Impressive. You're a proper allotmenteerer already!

EauRouge my council does that compost thing too - so I don't really compost at home (apart from I have been burying veg peelings etc direct for a few weeks, in trenches, for beans). Instead we get a weekly food waste collection which is then cooked at v v high temps. Then we're entitled to 2 free bags of compost and can buy more.

My seed order has arrived, ! I get them through my allotment society, as we get a good discount. I do have to get some varieties elsewhere though. My mantra is to grow things for flavour, rather than crop quantity or how it looks. I have grown up children and grandchild, so as we are eating , the question is -is this better than last years? :)
I am trying to decide whether to grow jerusalem artichokes this year - i am promised that new varieties are not as windy - shall have to decide fairly soon as they are perennials, and will need thinking of the right place- anybody like the flavour- are they worth the effort?
This year I am growing climbing borlotti beans instead of the bush ones - they were a pest trailing over the ground while they were drying on the plants and got very grubby and muddy I've got Lingua de Fuoco - they are pretty as well as tasty!.
Last years true successes were
short rows of peas,( about 2-3 m long ) sown every 2 weeks- i had peas for weeks after everyone else's had gone, without the big glut but enough to pick every day - our favourite- Hurst Greenshaft
Purple French beans - Cosse Violette was hands down winner , though the green Cobra were good as well
Runner beans - best after 4 years of trials - White Lady - very long and kept tender and stringless , and froze really well.

Has anyone built a compost bin or potato tower out of pallets? I've got a whole stack of pallets but not really sure how to get started. Can anyone recommend a website with plans?

Building a compost bun out of pallets

Any good?

Compost bun

yum!