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.

So I had a new student today who loves gardening. He dug with me for an hour, then made pizza which we cooked in the earth oven, then him and another new student went and sawed and dug out one of the diseased plums.

We will be able to put community spuds and onions in the dug over bed next week. Rock on tommy!

Sounds blissful, Alternative !

ooo get me buying my 2nd early seed potatoes like I know what I'm doing . my expert allotment neighbour told me what to buy.

I am in awe of Alternative's beans and tomatoes. In fact, I've just realised I have no green beans at all, so will have to go shopping.

I have just discovered 7 potatoes chitting in a muffin tin. DS (2) must have decided to have a go!

We've had two lovely stints in the garden today, planted some more seeds and did a bit of weeding. Think I might need to invest in a puddle suit for DS though as had had four changes of clothes throughout the day! He keeps tipping buckets of water over his head

Oops! Sorry for the wonky pic.

Erm - those potatoes are going to fall out of that tray at some point.

No it's fine. They are special sideways growing potatoes

Alternative can I ask what you mean about not having to earth up your potatoes if you put them in later?

Evening all,

I haven't posted for a few weeks as I haven't been doing much, however I can report that today DH and I covered all the grassed areas of the allotment (about half the total area) with cardboard and covered it in 45 bags of compost. No mean feat as there is no vehicle access to the plot and DH had to wheelbarrow it all across soft grass from the car 100 yards away, as well as loading into the car in the first place. We had it delivered to home on a pallet. There was enough for a mulch for the rest of the plot too, which is badly in need of improvement. Only downside was I wanted to apply slug nematodes under the cardboard but the council haven't turned the taps on for spring yet, will have to get a water butt for next year. Although then I'll need a shed to collect water from .

Good evening - boy a busy couple of days, but I did manage to get a bit of digging and weeding done today ( I realised as someone said upthread I am really a 'forker' rather than a digger!)- about an hour and a half in the gorgeous sunshine :)
LetThere I should patent that chitting method. My 2 yr old DGS hasn't any idea of gardening yet but he likes water - pouring it mainly into his wellies :)
I am very poor at earthing up potatoes IlPorcupino - In theory its to stop the potatoes going green and getting a better crop, but I didn't notice any difference in mine last year - some I earthed and some I didn't!
Are you going to have any room for veg with all that fruit spotted ? :) Though I hanker after a white currant. On another note- have you factored in harvesting time - the first year we had a 'proper' harvest on 2 red currants it took me and DH hours to pick them .....without the gooseberries and blackcurrants!
how sad am I ? - we dismantled an old bed frame today , and the first thought was - ooooh- all that good wood, that will be useful! :)

hello WhoKnows - nice to see you :) sounds like a heavy days work there - hope your DH's dodgy knee is okay- wheelbarrowing across soft grass is the pits.

can I ask what you mean about not having to earth up your potatoes if you put them in later?

Yes you can.

The main reason for earthing up is that if the foliage gets frosted [which can happen up to mid may where we are] it can set the potatoes back, planting them deeper and later means the foliage breaks through later and thus won't get frosted. Plus the warmer the weather means the plant grows quicker and they soon catch up with earlier planted potatoes.

Ooh did anyone see Gardener's World tonight with that tomato seed offer thing, for supposedly /hopefully blight-resistant varieties?

Link here if you're interested: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4JmB0hKPMNqNXqMKLctw1lf/tomato-seed-giveaway

I did, but mine are all sown and germinated - my greenhouse can't cope with anymore !

Thank you Agoodbook, he is not reporting any ill effects after his exertions.

Interesting to read the thoughts on earthing up potatoes. I had been thinking about puncturing holes in my cardboard with one of those bulb planters and sowing potatoes under it to help speed up the conversion from lawn to bed but wondering how to earth up as there is only a thin layer of compost over the card. Maybe the card will protect the potatoes from getting green but I might have to protect the foliage with fleece instead.

I've only just sown my toms: they're not even germinated yet. Plus, I really really like like tomatoes. And free things. And I am going to have to get a move on if I want to equal Alternative They are meant to be blight resistant so perhaps I could chance them at the plot?

Another lonely few hours there today. I planted put my new Aldi fruit bushes, then I cracked into the last big bed that needs weeding. Goodness me, it's like a totally different planet! The soil is so different to the solid clay that I was dogging for my fruit - it's all lovely and friable. Should not take me too long as the weeds come out quite easily, even the dandelions... It is utterly lovely and does not need digging really.

Yup, def still having veg too at plot, although I would be quite happy with a whole plot of fruit. I need to check in on what seeds need sowing when really, as I have Ben so focused on clearing that I'd hate to have missed my chance to have stuff. Plus I never quite cracked successional sowing, I will do so this year.

When should courgettes and summer squash be sown, do people think? My ground is still v v cold, I'm not sure that I'm ready to sow anything in the soil directly yet. But weeds are popping up left right and centre, so maybe I should chuck in some beetroot or something, just for the craic...

WhoKnows -45 bags of compost That is loads! Can I be really nosy and ask how much that was?

Courgettes and squash - I will be sowing in about 3-4 weeks time - they dont want to be ready to plant out until there is no chance of frost -and frost is forecast for tomorrow night
I still have the crib sheet I made myself the first year of growing veg - it was a very simple thing - months along the top and down the side all the veg I wanted to grow. I then filled in with a tick when things wanted sowing and a cross for planting planting. That way, I could look down the column and see what needed doing , and so on .
Also I have a book called allotment Month by Month, and that reminds me what I need to do!
and remember- its not cut and dried - things put in a bit later often catch up due to the nicer(!) weather

It was £142 for 45x50L of mushroom compost. So about £3 per bag. Not cheap, but not something we plan to repeat, and the plot really was in quite a bad way, the soil is very clayey. We used approx 1 sack per square metre (plot is 75sqm, so we excluded paths, a raised bed and the bit with the compost bins in).

Who knows...yes do it. But put them in mid-end april, not mid march. Trust me on this! They will catch up.

Zebra...dogging for your fruit? We must talk later.

whoknows - I cant say any of my potatoes went green - I read up so much when I first started that you end up believing everything, and nothing ! By going by the book, I nearly lost my very first crop by planting them when recommended in the book, rather than when was best for my area :) , and I've not had great success since what with blight and eel worms/slugs - this will definitely be a make or break year for me and potatoes!

Good plan, I want to give my cardboard a few weeks to start killing the grass and rotting down and I will have more time for gardening once the school holidays are over.

I've got that Gardening month by month book too, it's good but it is massive and I don't pick it up very often, however I have cut out a very good planner from a magazine, must check it tomorrow, Imam in the habit of leaving seed planting too late. Also planning to get sweet peas planted out tomorrow, maybe edible peas and broad beans too.

Dogging for fruit? Now do you see why I need those free seeds?

Wow, WhoKnows - you're serious about improving your soil aren't you? You know, I rather wish that I'd kept a tally of how much I've spent /and spending. I keep on saying that I am not spending too much on my plot, a) as I am poor and cheap, but b) as I want to be sure that I'll have the time to stick tk it,bbit I seem to spend a bit here, and a bit there...

Not been to plot today, have been doing family things. But I forgot to say that I had and ate my 1st plot harvest yesterday - some potatoes that I found in the ground. And very lovely they were too.

My 1st lot of tom seeds are just starting to peek out of the soil - jolly exciting. Now I need some warmer weather -llike yesterday would be lovely, but like that all the time. It is BITTER today and might frost tonight.

Much busy people on our allotment today. Put my shallots in.
Now I need to hold back and wait. Lovely though the weather is the ground is cold and it is simply to early to get carried away.

Will get the nematodes ordered for a couple of weeks time.

I put some extra shallots in a couple of weeks ago, and now worrying that its been so cold and they won't survive
Absolutely bitter wind today- so different to yesterday. But - I was at work and tomorrow looks better , so I will be there in the morning :)
Yes , sowing seeds - I did crack and do some summer cabbage and cauliflower seeds in the greenhouse- they have just nicely germinated. They are in addition to all my usual stuff, with having extra space I decided to do extra greens for summer and wasn't too worried if they didn't survive - we shall see ! I don't normally do summer cabbage, more a salad lover at that time of year :) )