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.

The Zeblings are asleep and hopefully uninjured, and I have just settled down to watch Gardener's World. And that's the closest that I've got to gardening today. It has rained, all day, heavily so I've not dared to go to the plot. I might tomorrow, (those spuds!), early - and be prepared to get muddy.

Actually I tell a lie, does remembering some tomato seeds in the airing cupboard and finding them to be ridiculously leggy and yellow count as gardening?

I'm slightly wishing that I'd planted shallots now, Cedar -tthey're so expensive to buy but so delicious, aren't they? As it is, the only alliums that I have are chives and garlic -my leeks seem to have stopped growing. Ok, died. I think I'll re-sow.

Rained all day here today as well.
spotted there is time to plant shallots even now- I put some in about 2-3 weeks ago ( possibly a bit early) and they are just showing signs of sprouting. They store better and longer than onions I heard, so decided on them for this year - never grown shallots ( or onions ) before, but the overwintering ones look good so far.
I had to do stuff today, but did manage an hour sowing seeds - seed trays of brussels sprouts/ sprouting broccoli/perpetual spinach/kale and a second batch of leeks , and will also be hopefully sowing some beetroot direct along with the first peas this Sunday - fingers crossed its warming up from now on!

Spotted - I put spuds in late may last year, and they overtook the March ones. Don't worry about them!

Family comes first. Tomatoes can always be resown.

I did no gardening either yesterday. Didn't manage to repair the greenhouse due to rain all day long. Shall attempt the three pane repair job if it gets sunny today but if not, the silicon won't stick so I'll have to do it on Monday.

Happy easter all!

Well, I got up super early today to go and plant my spuds avec bulb planter before I had to do eastery stuff with the family, but it was too wet to do anything. Well, I managed to plant about 4 potatoes and pick some rhubarb before I came home. The rhubarb was delicious in a crumble though .

Not trying to rub it in or anything Zebra but I got my potatoes in today! 31 potatoes planted. I did have 34, but the dog ate 2 and DS half-inched one to plant in his own garden. Never mind. I'll stick an extra squash in the gap or something.

DS' French beans are up. He's shoved about 40 seeds in a 3" pot. It's looking a little crowded in there.

DH asked me if I wanted a new "veggie border" where he'd left a load of wood and it's killed off the lawn. He very quickly corrected himself and said "flower! I meant flower border!", but it's too late now. He's given me ideas...

With these bunnies, I illustrate my (seasonal) jealousy of your spuds being in!

Veggie border sounds an excellent idea. And it was his idea, and he cannot renege. I think that veg is pretty anyway.

40 seeds hey, that's, umm, enthusiastic! I've not sown any beans yet, other than my Yardies. Not sown squash or courgette yet, either. Yet... I suspect that some seeds wil be sown tomorrow. Def marigolds, and probably more stuff too.

hello, and hope everyone has had a lovely Easter Sunday :)
I planted my first row of peas today - the ground has had a cloche over it to warm it up for 2 weeks, and its now covered with a fleece so it gets air and water , so fingers crossed .
I weeded all around my loganberry, and covered it with a load of compost- its just got its first leaves breaking ( and I noticed my raspberries had as well )
Dug up a load of leeks - not used them all yet !
Up thread I think cedar wasn't sure on planting/sowing - my broad beans are doing well - both the ones straight into the ground ( covered with a fleece tunnel) and the ones I grew in fibre pots as insurance. I'm just hardening these off, and they will join their brothers in about a week. They only took about 6 days to germinate in the greenhouse, and around here most are starting to plant them without cover, and getting ready for peas
No other beans yet though - you need to be sure they don't need to go outside until all chance of frost is gone, and thats a little while yethere ( we get lots of horrible wind as well, which they hate) so maybe another 1- 2 weeks if I can stop myself....
oh spotted - still too wet, it must be getting frustrating, but the weather looks set to be fine for a few days I think, so there is hope!

My broad beans aren't doing well, so will be sowing some more tomorrow. I planted them out under a mini polytunnel a week ago and they are all half eaten by something and floppy, so I'm going to plant some more in my mini greenhouse tomorrow.

whoknows - my first sowing of broad beans ( under fleece, in November) got eaten by, I think, mice - little 2" shoots left on the ground, and the beans gone with little holes where they had dug them out ! I replanted about 3-4 weeks ago in the same fleece tunnel, and I looked today and they are about 4" tall and looking good . I also did another dozen in fibre pots, and they have romped away in the greenhouse , so just started to leave them out now

I had my parents up over Easter so managed to get quite a bit done, although it doesn't look like it!! All the fence is now painted, the new patio area is weeded and covered patio Slabs are still in the car the rapsberrries are planted as are the blackberries (still two to go, but we need to move some sage first) The pallets are stapled and some are painted, but we didn't manage to get soil yeaterday, so will have to wait until Saturday now . I sowed some corguettes, aubergines, chillies and peppers indoors the conservatory is really a hot house

The back garden needs a goId od tidy up as it looks like a bomb has hit it, but we are getting there.

I got some dead tomato plugs for 10p from Wilko and two of them seem to have rejuvenated, and two of my tumbling toms look like they might survive now the rest are a lost cause
I don't think I'll get much done today but DH is off Tuesday and Wednesday so hopefully a few more jobs might be finished!!

Happy gardening everyone

We are shifting compost from home to the potato trenches today - our dalek got so full that we literally could not put any more in it over winter so it is all going over into those trenches...our lottie being thick clay. Which means the spuds are mainly going in.

Broad beans - really the best way to do these is to sow direct. You get a much more sturdy plant. If they get eaten, chit them in damp compost in a sandwich bag first, as soon as you see roots, put them in the ground. Same with peas. Both are fine from now on outdoors. I do some early but my mains are always sown direct into their final positions.

I am half way through removing the grass from my garden. Taking longer than expected. Mostly it is trying to remove excess soil from the turf and rescue worms that is taking the time. I don't want to lose too much soil and also don't want to have too much volume of turf to deal with so I am trying to dry them a bit then bash them to remove excess soil.

The turf is going in bags just now I need to find somewhere to stack it too compost down.

Have repotted my patio medlar.
Have toms plugs to pot on.

And the garden to plant up.

Phew. Bit tired.

Woh and i have lost about 8 cauis. 1 row has wilted. And four have disappeared from other rows.

Trying to work out if it is warm enough to use nemaslug.

Stack the turf where you will want it in a year's time. If it is upside down, you could plant some squashes into it in 6 weeks time.

I found a load of self seeded hellebores today - and they are under my favourite black hellebore so after mending the greenhouse glass I am digging them up and potting them on.

All the compost got take to the allotment today, and 2/3 of the spuds are in. Yippee!

I am trying to decide whether to take the turf to the allotment. More room for it there but it might just spread pests and diseases.

I like the squash idea though.

reading this and realised I never got round to buying broad beans. pah.

The watermelons have started growing, about 3 cm high so far. I've lost part of my dining room floor to pots and seedlings .

I have had an interesting afternoon at the allotment - cuprinol on sheds, planks , gates, me :) and luckily a little more digging in the extra new bit.
I also have another gate, ta -da ! which is proudly sat between gate posts, but no netting on either side yet so its a bit lonely by itself

meglet - my dining room table is also in use - sweetcorn at the moment, and tomatoes coming in overnight from the greenhouse- we eat at ours, so we have to move stuff onto the floor, then put it back :)

Mink - I did Nemaslug last week, I used a meat thermometer to check the soil temperature, it was about 9C.

I found me some new babies today. Self seeded seedlings from my lovely black hellebore. 12 potted up and in the greenhouse. Yippee.

Had a nightmare with the greenhouse so have decided to go back to glass. The plexiglass is just 5mm too narrow to fit properly. Pah.

So tomorrow I have a group at the gardens and they will be sowing seeds for us and for their own allotment and garden so tomorrow will be seed crazy. And they will be making butter which always makes people who have never made butter before smile.

ooh alternative - I have some hellebore babies as well- really pleased as one has flowered this year, and its a deep purple like the parent- I thought they were unlikely to turn out the same, ( promiscuous I heard it called on GQT!) so like you really pleased.
Wow about the plexiglass , that must be very annoying .

Hooray, hooray, spring is finally here! We've had nothing but rain, sleet, and hail in my part of the world for months - and I honestly had a good (joyful) cry at the sight of the sun at the weekend.

Thinned my overwinter peas and broad beans, and managed to HARVEST (!!!!!) some broccoli and early salads. Managed to get new asparagus crowns in also. This was a lot of work as I have clay soil - it took 4 bags of hort. grit, 2 of compost, 1 of manure and one of sand to loosen it up before I dug the trenches. It was a proper workout.

The covers had blown off my cabbages and caulis and the damned pigeons had got to them and torn them to ribbons. I think the cabbages will come back as the heads are intact and I might get some spring greens. But will I see the caulis or should I give up now?

The potatoes have been planted. I repeat: the potatoes have been planted.

Hurrah! A lovely few hours snuck at the plot in the glorious sunshine. And I planted the potatoes, albeit very poorly. I used the bulb planter, but the ground is so claggy that the mud got stuck in the planter so I had to force it out with a stick. Yeah, i guess the ground isn't that dried out yet. Well, they are in the ground at last. If nothing comes of it, hey ho - it is my worst bed, and spuds are cheap. I'm glad to be shot of them, really.

shovetheholly goodness me it sounds like you've been so busy - that's loads to get done! And you got a lovely harvest to take home wih you too! Shame about the cabbages and cauli though.

You too, agoodbook. Your plot sounds like a palace! What's the gate for - for decorative effect, or to keep people/beasties out?

Alternative hope you had a lovely seed sowing day. What did you all sow? I agree re the butter - the transformation seems so magical.

further to my previous moan about not buying broad beans, my allotment neighbour wandered over with his surplus beans today. so we now have beans .

spotted well done on the spuds. mine are still sprouting in the shed. hopefully they'll be ok by Sunday.