The 2015 Allotment / Veg Patch Thread Part 2

[agoodbook]

the previous thread is just about full, - well done spotted so welcome to everyone interested in growing their own veg!

Previous thread is here
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/gardening/2282529-The-2015-Allotment-Veg-Patch-Thread-its-here?msgid=53650520

Must have been a wishful thinking typo, wish I could grow broadband as we are on something that's probably about the speed of dialup.

My broad beans on the other hand are looking good!

Hail? Oh no! I think that Chinese broccoli is aka kailan isn't it? It's quite like the rapini/broccoli raab thing that I'm growing. The chop suey greens sound interesting, I think I'd like to get more into the oriental greens.

Also interesting is your turf mound for squash! It's so high! Is it just a pile of upside down turves (?) that you'll grow straight in? And does lady wee work, or does it need to be male wee? I need to accelerate my compost some how. My dp doesn't come to plot, and there is no way I am carting bottles of his urine about.

And you have sown your courgettes then, and they are at the 'can go outside stage'? Hmm. I still haven't done mine, I decided against using Smallest Zebra's windowsill. But I did move the conservatory about a bit so that it can just be a sea of seedlings, as lots need potting on tomorrow, and that will take up more space. So can prob squeeze a few/20 small pots in too.

Ooh, and in other conservatory news, all my borlotti beans are up.

mink I always feel sorry for there reduced to clear plants and have been known to buy them out of pity. I don't like to think of them not being given the chance to reach their potential!

I buy them out of pity too. But tgen I eat them in the end

Mound- yes upside down turf. And yes any wee works just men have a better hose attachment

And courgette. They coukd go out. But I have also planted direct at this time of year with good results. If there is one thing grows on our allotments it is courgettes. Barrel loads of them. Literally.

Barrel.barrow. barrow loads

I'm still doing the in-out-in-out dance with my courgettes.
I'll probably plant some out next week.
I don't know why i'm so protective - last year we had so many courgettes that I couldn't give them away. I had to come up with lots of new recipes so we could eat them every day without getting bored.

Think that is why I am being a bit callous with my courgettes.

The courgettes I've sown this year are coming up weirdly. I can't really explain it but they just look different to usual. only one bean has come up so might have to try chitting some more

What are good things to do to accelerate compost?

I'm not planning courgettes because everyone I've ever known plant them has ended up with a huge glut. And the kids don't eat them unless they are hidden in something anyway.

Compost- water, wee, turn it or garota and lime in alternate layers. Make sure it is somewhere warm and sunny.

^ I don't do any of the above so mine never does anything

You can get a compost turner tool thing - it's like a three pronged spike. If you turn the heap it prevents rats and mice setting up home as well.

DH does all our composting. He makes masses of the stuff, I'm fairly sure that having a good mix of green and woody stuff as well as turning it is the key.

He also usually has two or three lots on the go at the same time - if I put stuff in the wrong one he gets all huffy, apparently it's all done to a scientific plan

Haven't read the thread for a few days, so a lot to catch up on later. I have had several visits to the allotment this week and have put in a load more onion sets and all my potatoes.

I can't remember who it was that advised me to deal with the grassed over areas of my allotment by covering them in cardboard and compost, which we did about 6 weeks ago, it is working pretty well, so thank you. I planted the potatoes through the card today, soaked it with water then used a bulb planter to make holes, dropped a spud in and filled the holes with compost. I will bank up as necessary with bagged compost/topsoil, but am hoping that having put them in fairly late we will have missed most frosts now (am in the south). By the time it's harvest time the card will be fairly disintegrated so I will soak it, dig it in and then put some more over for the winter.

Found tiny baby slow worms under the edge of the card, very sweet.

I love slow worms, haven't seen any yet this year.

Here are a few pictures of the veg garden today.

• got here - very busy couple of days- sadly not allotment orientated and hello Rooster - thats a very tidy plot :) and you are all well ahead of the game - I have not sown courgettes or squashes yet up here - Its a frost forecast again for tonight. So I am doing the greenhouse to house dance with tomatoes. Sadly, I think the sweetcorn which was doing well has been got by the frost in the greenhouse, so I am going to buy another packet of the same variety and have another go - ( I was told by a seasoned sweetcorn grower that I had sown far too early anyway, will be doing theirs next week ) And fretting to get to plot tomorrow and check on my potatoes - just its been pretty cold, and rather windy the last few days so I am hoping they are still tucked up underground And so much for rain all day- barely a spit ! Getting to be a bit too dry here... violet are you growing those roots in wine ? I am going to have to requisition the spare bedroom windowsill now - my beans are here , there and everywhere , I sowed them about 4 days and my greenhouse is full of all the brassicas/leeks and a lot of flower seedlings all pricked out.....never enough space- even the little greenhouse outside i( just the shelves, no plastic) is full of stuff hardening off - caulis/cabbages/beetroot the 1st sowing of leeks/sweetpeas and spare celeriac which I can't seem to palm off onto anyone ..

How do you get those multi-pics Rooster? Very impressive. Here's a baby slow worm.

OMG Rooster you're growing cats in the greenhouse? They look amazing!!

I have a fine crop of cats - they take up a lot of shelf space!

whoknows the multi pic thing is an app called pic frame. You can create a similar collage on the Pixlr website, it's hand for blogging or sharing images

Ooh, mink ladywee works on compost, you say? Right. I am going to try it. Dare I piss in my shed though? It's minus most of a roof and 1 wall -the one that faces the path between allotment site and stream. I could terrify either a passing pigeon or dog walker.

I've never actually seen a slow worm. And I'd really like to. It'd be worth getting the compost good and composting for that alone.

Shame about your corn, agoodbook , but good to know that there is still plenty of time. No frost forecast here tonight, 1st time in 4 nights, but looks like we'll have another one tomorrow. My blueberries are not looking too pretty. I've been fleecing them, and putting them against a house wall, bit they seem to be dropping their leaves. Anyone know why they would do that? The frosts have only been very very light so I don't think it's that. They're in ericaceous compost, and they get mostly rainwater unless there is none and they're bone dry, then they have to have some of our very hard tap water. Could it be that?

mm - tough spotted the tap water really wont help , but they usually cope for a little while -have you any ericaceous feed ?

My blueberries stay outside and unprotected all year round (they're about 5 years old). They also get a fair amount of tap water as they're alot closer to the tap than the water butt, they're fine and crop pretty well, so I'm not sure, sorry.

Hi all.
I made an appearance nearer the beginning of the thread, whining about my seeds not germinating and have been reading and lurking since then. Thanks to agoodbook for responding with a bunch of questions. I used them to Google what I should be doing and made lots of notes so I'm better prepared next time. The seeds that I do have were moved to a warme, sunnier position and lo and behold we have some seedlings! Yay!

I'm still flummoxed though about why my tomato plants are so small and miserable. I went to car boot sale on the weekend and a stallholder there had the most amazing, bushy and healthy plants. I was truly envious.
I do feel a bit of fake here as I don't have an allotment. Just my back garden that has been covered in 85% paving blocks. But my carrots and onions are in the ground and my beetroot and spring onion.

Besides that, there's a lot of containers filled various seeds.
I

Hmm, I actually fed them a couple of weeks ago (Ooh, maybe it's that?), and they've not had much tap water at all. Odd. I've googled and it mostly suggests 'stress'. Well, I am stressed now. I want my plants to thrive! I could try giving them another feed, or maybe feeding 1 and seeing what happens to the others (3 bushes, 2 varieties). They've still kept their flowers on, which is good I think. But they'll need to keep some leaves.

Rooster I love that people are talking about running put of space and you've filled your greenhouse with catbeds+cats. i don't have a greenhouse, but if I did, I'd have cats in there. My cats are getting on a bit now, 1 prefers to stay inside but the other follows me about like a lamb, and loves it outside. But he has been very good this year, and not sat on, knocked over or eaten any plants. Progress.

Ooh, I bought a cherry tree earlier, a Lidl's special. I'd wanted an eating cherry (tthe pic suggested they'd have a Stella ), but there was only sour cherry so I bought that. Had better check it's self fertile...

Hellooo , TheDiet - you're not a fraud at all and you're very welcome. It's still very early for tomatoes, isn't it? You'd not want them too bin yet unless you have somewhere else to put them. Are they just small ie young, or are they ailing do you think? If the latter, post a pic here so that the clever people - ie not me - can diagnose them.

Have your seeds germinated yet in your garden? I saw my first ones up today, turnip. Jolly exciting. I've not tried carrot, although I'd love to next year. Not done onions or spring onions yet either - they are also on the 2016 list! Yes, it's a long list.

I always recommend cardboard and planting through so glad that is working for you Whoknows

I have four days now to concentrate on gardening at home - we have done loads of weeding at the community gardens and it's looking good there.

I put my first sungold tomato into the polytunnel this week, I always buy one because they are so lovely - but any sideshoots can be rooted and can make new plants so I will grow those alongside the parent up one of our large nets that we are going to make next week. Tomato heaven.

And we started prepping our next Hugelkultur bed yesterday. We have so much spare wood material that needs to be moved, and loads of spare soil so we are going to make a 4ft tall wood under soil bed and plant it up. I made one about 4 years ago at my allotment and the number of worms in that bed this year is phenomenal.

So this weekend, it is potting up and seed sowing. Lovely.

Oh - the quickest way to get compost is to turn it. Regularly. If you have a 50/50 mix of greens and browns [or more browns than greens] you can have usable compost in a month if you turn it every two days. Keep it wet at the start to kickstart the process.