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

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...

I bought two stellas and one morello from them 4 years ago - the morello is the most amazing tree and the stellas have struggled to produce anything.

morellos [their sour cherry] and most sours are self fertile, and most places have cherries out nearby at the moment so have no fear! Ours is by the canal and gets commented on by passers by on the opposite side of the bank.

And I make sour cherry jam each year with them which we have with summer puddings. Love sour cherries!

Ooh, Alternative I read about Hugelkulture - sounds fascinating! One day...

My tree is a Meikers - translates from the Dutch or Fleming as May Cherry. Know anything about them? Or is it a mislabelled Lidl's special? I absolutely love cherries, whether sweet or sour. I comb Polish shops and sections of supermarkets, as they often have lovely cherry-flavoured delights for me to eat.

Just a few pots here as we are in rented but strawberries and peas going well, broccoli have just sprouted and ditto with the lettuce. Really hoping for some nice easy crops as have 3 under 4 DC who I would love to appreciate crops from the garden :-)

spotted I must be mad, I squash my plants in so the cats have enough room. They've also got a couple of beds in my potting shed.
They do love it in there and in the past they've chosen to sleep on top of seedlings, at least with the cat baskets my plants are safe.
On the plus side I no longer have the problem of mice eating my seedlings!

They do make me laugh when despite multiple beds they squash in together.

I don't think I have enough browns, generally. I do in my heap (turfs stripped off the plot while clearing it) but not in the bins which are mostly greens. What are good browns apart from paper and cardboard?

Have you got a shredder?
We shred woody stuff and add that to the compost.

Only a paper shredder, and not much woody stuff to shred. I'll have access to a lot of fallen leaves (which count as browns, I think) in the autumn.

Leaves make lovely compost.

I've just asked DH who does all our composting he suggests sawdust, woodash and teabags.

Oooh, my list has teabags under greens. If I can count them as browns that might help (also if I quintuple my tea consumption ).

Onion skins, unbleached paper (or bleached too if not fussy) and packaging. Leaves are great though, good if you can layer/mix them with the rest of course.

Coffee grounds (though I think it is acidic - might make a better mulch than compost.

Managed to get up and do a couple of hours at the plot this morning - finished digging and covering with rotted manure the bed for the squashes and sweetcorn thank goodness, but it is dry - please rain!!
2nd sowing of peas is just starting to poke through, but no beetroot yet.
Frost has taken its toll - my early asparagus has taken a hit :( (hopefully the other varieties are fine as not up yet ) and a buddleia next to the shed -potatoes not out yet. Next door, and next door but one's plot have lost their tomatoes in poly tunnels and greenhouses ( bubble wrapped at that ) and cauliflowers - I'm glad I left the fleece on my broad beans.

Just earthed up my potatoes. Can't wait to be eating new potatoes drenched in butter.
Yesterday I planted some lettuce and spinach seedlings, so far they remain unscathed although something has been nibbling my radish leaves.

My cauliflowers have germinated, no beetroot or celery yet. No carrots either, I think I need to resow as I planted them a couple of weeks ago.

It's quite cold here, at night it is still dropping to zero or just below. I have broad beans, cabbages and courgettes ready to go out but I might wait until after the weekend.
I bought some poppy seeds to plant in the herb garden, I never have any luck with poppies but I've prepared a space so hopefully they'll grow.

SpottedZ, my seeds do seem to be germinating now. The veg seeds are doing better than the flower seeds though. I think only half of the flower seeds are germinating but a container with 5-6 blooms instead of 20 is better than a container with none so I'll settle for that many. I keep telling myself that I'm a beginner and so will learn as I go along so I don't end up too disheartened by things that go wrong.
I have made my mistakes and I am learning as I'm going along and as I've read up. I realised I was over watering my seeds and that's why some trays of runner beans and broad beans just rotted away. I also didn't provide enough warmth and planted some seeds too early. Some of the flower seeds did germinate but are just leggy and floppy and I put that down to leaving them on a lower shelf and not filling the compost up to the top of the container which means they didn't get enough light. And then, living in Yorkshire means I should have kept them indoors a bit longer. I also realised that I left it too long to prick out and transplant some seedlings which meant the roots got all tangled and damaged in the process. I could go on.... but I'm learning and enjoying it and for all my failures I do have lots of carrots that are looking fine and dandy. Yes, they're probably going to be forked and stunted because I planted them indoors and transplanted them but who cares. I'm sure the DC will enjoy pulling up mishappen carrots a lot more. I can imagine them giggling themselves into frenzy.
I also have onions, potatoes and runner beans that look okay-ish. And my beetroot, lettuce, radish, spinach, spring onion are pushing their little heads out of the soil so looking forward to seeing them grow. My courgette has yet to germinate and planted sweetcorn and peas yesterday. I might just buy a couple of tomato plants to make up for the seeds that didn't make it.
I will definitely take some pics of the 3 that remain and post them here for all your opinion.
One of the main lessons I've learnt so far is to not check on seeds too much! :) They seem to grow much faster when I leave them to it rather than fussing over them every day, straining my eyes for a bit of green poking up from the brown soil.

morelles are the right kind of cherry to make schwarzwaelder torte.

gave up on my tomato seedlings and bought gardeners delight, moneypenny and beafsteak plants at the gardencentre.

Rooster - it may be me, but I always think carrots take forever to germinate - last year I covered an area with fleece to get an early start with beetroot and carrots - I gave them up for lost, and then after about 4 weeks - they started to pop up
Interesting that I haven't sown my courgettes, let alone ready to plant out, but my broad beans I put in direct in Feb, and they are fine ( though under a bit of protection)
TheDiet - we all get carried away - I am in Yorkshire too, and still getting night frosts, so sometimes its just best to leave the seeds to do their own thing - and be patient - as you have found :).
mousmous - tomatoes are a bit of a problem for a few this year , and yet mine seem to be thriving - but I am still babying them , coming in on a night - the dining room table is covered as I have done spare, so am giving away the overflow :)

Still no sign of my peas. So i planed yet again from a different packet.
Put in barlotti, yellow french beans, pak choi, salad crops, dill (not sure that will grow outdoors) and more beetroot.

No sign of runner beans either. The beans were out of date though.

Shallots are looking good.
And got some more digging done.

agoodbook you've given me hope re the carrots. I shall leave them alone and hope they start popping up.
Today I've been in and out of the greenhouse during the day and my marigolds and sunflowers weren't showing any sign of life this morning but now they've appeared. I'd love to set up some kind of time lapse camera.

Does anyone grow celery from seed? I've planted some, but Ive never grown it before.

TheDiet I always assume nothing is going to germinate and then I'm delighted if even half the seeds do. I make loads of mistakes but just plough on irregardless, I think the lovely thing about being a vegetable gardener is that when it goes well you literally get to enjoy the fruits of your labour.

Oh Rooster, that's an other lovely picture. And you're not mad, it's just that they've got you very well trained!

TheDiet I agree with yof about remembering that we're beginners, and I've made all the mistakes you listed. At the beginning of the 1st thread, I said my big aim would be to not cosset my seedlings too much. And I have failed on that front again. I think I treat them too 'kindly' (including watering too little and too often) and they end up a bit weak and unable to survive in the real world. I must toughen myself -aand them -up a bit!

Having said that, my tomatoes seem to be ok this year. So far they are thriving on the babying. And quite prolific. I had a lovely gentle few hours this afternoon potting-on. Mostly toms. I have over 40 healthy plantlets. And not so much room. But I did free up the small pots to sow cucurbit seeds this weekend...

mink dill is something that I have actually grown this year! I started with some in a pot, which was outside but in a shentered area, about a month or more ago. And my dill that I sowed under the apple tree is starting to come up too...

My borlotti beans are looking good. And my runner beans, most are up but they are at really different stages of growth. Some only came up yesterday, whereas another is about 10 inches, with 2 sets of MASSIVE leaves.

Not sown my carrots yet. Not even thought about it!

Celery - needs lots of water. So grow 4-6 plants in large pots, in a larger saucer/tray in a greenhouse. Take the stems off when you need it and then by the time you have harvested from all 4-6, the first one should have grown back. I save the stalk centre from bought celery and put it in water until it grows roots, and then pot up and do as above.

That's a good tip re celery

TheDiet mistakes are the best way to learn IME, and I don't think you've done that badly really. And I also find that many plants can be exceedingly forgiving! When I'm constantly nose-to-seed-tray Dp reminds me "a watched seed never germinates..."

40 tomato plants spottedzebra! Are you going to have room for that many?

I think gardening is always about learning. And sometimes just a bit of luck too!

Popped over to my plot yesterday just for a quick look not to do anything. There are definitely some carrot seeds through. Can't see much sign of a leek but I did only plant them a couple of weeks or so ago and as it's been colder it is possible they're there.

I have runner beans which will need to be planted out soon so I need to get a move on and get some supports for them. I also want to sow more pea seeds as I only did a few before because of room issues. I might try to squeeze a few more in.
I realise I have three pumpkins - variety mammoth - which I thought would be fun to grow. Just need to work out how to fit them in. I am toying with putting them in the undug border - just digging holes and shoving them in and letting them grow over the weeds. Trying to decide whether this is a good idea or not.