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

Oh Tragically really sorry to hear that, your poor DD. Have they operated today? Hope she heals quickly and fully.

Hope too that your plug plants bring a nice moment of peace and calm for you, and not more hassle.

No plotting for me today. I was my mum's Garden Bitch, basically. I was at her every beck and call. And she had a lot of both... We did weeding, planting out, moving, positioning, adjusting, refining. But she seemed happy so that's good

Sorry to hear about your DD Tragically I hope she is on the road to recovery.

I've done a little bit of weeding today, and tried to work out how I am going to get everything into my raised beds. I think I may have overplanted, still once the slugs have had their wicked way I may need the extras anyway.

Tragically - hope DD is recovering okay

Rooster - attrition - its my excuse for having far too many pricked out seedlings - last year it was rabbits, this year I just hope that the slugs stay away - plot holders on either side have spent a fortune on slug pellets and I am hoping they get attracted away from mine ! :)

Slugs ate my courgettes last year, so as I don't have a vertiginous mountain to put them on, what do I do this year?

This is them, currently on the mantelpiece

I do my courgettes in big planting bags, as they take up lots of space and I can put them in a sunny spot that can't be dug up as it is choked with tree roots, and I can make better use of the sunny beds. I have to be more diligent about watering though

Morning all! I'm very jealous of Squash Mountain. Might have to construct something similar.

Lovely weekend here - DS had a great time pottering in his garden. He now has sweet peas, cornflower and a pumpkin in one little patch, and a random mix of seeds in the other. Plus his potato which is doing very well.

My cucamelon is also tiny! It seems to have stalled (perhaps traumatised from seeing his 3 friends eaten alive by slugs?)

Tragically how is your DD?

Morning! I'm very jealous of Squash Mountain too. I wish I had space for one but I don't. Also, I never see those cloches in Poundland, and I often scour their gardening section, so i am also jealous of that.

Yy to attrition. That is why I have soooooo many plants. I need to have a good honest think soon about where I will put what, and as a result, what needs to be passed on. But currently they are all my green babies.

Morning also!
warm, but very windy today- poor seedlings are being blown all over .

I forgot to answer mink on strawberries - the runners will be fine to plant up and in a new spot . If they are a delicious variety, keep them - the new runners will take a year to settle, and probably not crop well this year,but should be fine after that, so if you have the space, leave the old ones in to pick, and then turf them out. They have a productive life of about 3-4 years

Lots of digging out horsetail today. Necessary but not glamorous.

Carrots still not showing through. Site manager came past and said it's quite tricky to grow carrots in our soil, also gave me some tips so I may try sowing some more next week and see how they go.

Trying to distinguish spring onion seedlings from weeds is proving remarkably tricky.

Tragically - thats why I sow in a straight line ( unlike alternative!) , so I at least have a chance - I have just caught sight of a faint line where my parsnips were sown, at last!
Went today to sort out the net for the brassica cage - too windy, so dug the patch to be ready for the leeks instead.
very windy tomorrow as well and warning of frost on Wednesday and Thursday night - so we picked asparagus for tea just incase :)

The wind has claimed my pop up greenhouse and my squash

Wish it would blow my allotment pest away..

My cucumbers have germinated! Although I have never, ever managed to grow them successfully hope springs eternal.

mink sorry to hear that you've lost your greenhouse and squash, is your site very exposed? (Originally I wrote sorry to hear about your wind problems but I realised that implied something else)

No sign of my carrots, like agoodbook I've sowed in a straight line but apart from the odd weed nothing at all yet. I might resow next weekend, or I could use the space for something else.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who overplants, a colleague in work has obviously done the same as she gave me 5 lovely tomato plants today and said if I wanted any more I was very welcome.

oh mink :( but still time to resow-or have you anyone near with a spare? I always do too many and give them away. Mine have not germinated yet, (sown about 5 days ago)

Rooster - just treat cucumbers like tomatoes really, but they sprawl absolutely everywhere - one year I trained one along a garden bench .
And carrots are just capricious -I've not made up my mind yet if they are worth the effort!

I have been having trouble with carrots too. Only about 10% germination so I cut my losses and sowed the whole pack of seed in a tray. May have some appear...

Also have planted all the seed I want to now, so will just see what happens! My bean plants are approaching 8", and my peas are about 1", so at least I will have plenty of legumes!

Moved all seeds etc to their new room. Have kicked the cats out in case they mistake the seed tray for a litter box.

So sorry to hear about the wind damage. I guess that's the problem of having a sunny site.. No shelter.

Where I live is notoriously windy (plenty of wind turbines on the horizon) so I guess its just as well my site is enclosed on three sides, even if it limits sunshine a bit.

I have a squash understudy. will wait till it is more robust before planting out.

I've sowed in a straight line (and I am planning succession sowing so the line is only about 40cm long, and I have little plastic markers at both ends) but I'm still buggered if I can tell the difference between spring onions and grass (my #2 weed, just behind the horsetail). I'm kind of assuming if I can let them grow a bit bigger then the differences may become more apparent.

Sorry to hear about the pop up greehouse and squash. It looked glorious while it lasted.

Oh, what a shame re Squash Mountain, mink .Good that you have an understudy waiting in the wings though. After all that chat, I only sowed my courgettes/squash a few days ago and nothing is up. Now I am fretting that I'll be a n but late! Few people at the plot have planted out squash/ccourgettes or beans yet. There are lots of structures appearing, but it must be too windy or early to plant out. I put my mum's runner beans in yesterday, and my borlotti are ready to go now too. INot sure whether to chance it with the yard longs - they still don't look too great, so maybe it's time to give them up as a bad job and concentrate on other beans. Have just sown Cosse Violette too, tho it's too soon for them to have germinated.

My plot still feels really bare! I planted out some sorrel today. My potatoes are growing, slowly. But the ones at home in containers are flying! My growing learnings so far are:

• marigolds take AGES. So buy in plants or start off from seed sooner
• grow fewer toms. Really.
• get timing of planting out right. Currently I cosset my seeds and seedlings, watering them, keep u g them warm, giving them light. Then i plant them out too late and the roots are too tangled to untangle, so i just have to rip them apart. Then i seek to just shove them in the ground. So maybe a bit more care and attention at planting time.
• Probably too soon to be sure, but I suspect there is a reason why no one grows asparagus pea a 2nd year...

Oh mink so sorry to hear about Squash Mountain. I hope Squash Mountain V2 does better!

Carrot woes here, too - very little germination (though I have a few). DS planted some in a massive pot and they're growing really well so at least we'll have a few!

Zebra we should definitely do a collective lessons learned! So far I've basically got "slugs are the enemy" on my list.

Managed to sneak out into the garden after DS was in bed and dig over another patch ready for some more salad. I've also got some swede seeds which I'll chuck in - hopefully they'll catch up!

I found a baby toad whilst I was digging last night. We had a little word about the slug problem and he hopped off so I'm hoping he'll return with his friends.

Plenty of time for squashes. I've only just sown most of mine and will no doubt have to do another batch in a fortnight or so.

Anyway - today I have dug over a bed so that I could plant a fig in a space vacated by a manky streetlamp that was on our community gardens. Fig is now in [and planted in a sunked recycling box to keep the roots boxed in] and the rest of the bed is filled with chives, oregano, potato onions, flax, echinacea, one strawberry [we want to see how many plants it makes in one year] and some sweetpeas planted at the base of a hazel tripod.

Knackerd now! I've brought my netmaking stuff home to make some more nets for the polytunnel. My aching feet - I need a hot foot soak.

Help! Took the lid off a propagator today and there appeared to be white mould in several of the cells! The one that looks like spider webs. I have put it on a sunny window will to dry out but I'm really confused! Its the same soil as I have used previously.

Hi honeysuckle - have the seeds germinated? If so, you should leave the lid of anyway- only use the lid until they pop out. It may have got very humid- they do need ventilation.
spotted - ha too many tomatoes :) - you do get a lot of tomatoes off one plant!
and all gardening is about learning humility

Ouch, hope dd is ok tragically

Sorry to hear the wind is ruining things for others.

Twiddling my thumbs waiting for the paperwork to go through - getting very very impatient! I'm also conscious that every day away is another day for the weeds to grow...

Ah well. I've orders some plugs to arrive mid-July, so have until then to get the plot at least mainly cultivated. Think I've missed out on spuds this year though. A friend of mine has some seed spuds she's not planted so might just chuck'em in and see what happens - it's been quite a cold spring so far, so maybe if it warms up and we have a warm autumn, it might just work...

Think I've missed out on spuds this year though. A friend of mine has some seed spuds she's not planted so might just chuck'em in and see what happens

Don't worry about that - I put some in last year at the start of June and they overtook the ones that went in in March. Have no fear!

I hesitate to put stuff out too early because it's usually the wind that does for them during May. I wait until June when I can. Only non-tender stuff out at the moment. Brassicas, sweet peas, broad beans and peas and beetroot. The rest - just hold on a couple more weeks.

I only put my spuds in the week before last, but they had been chitting for ages. They are starting to come through.

Plot inspectors came round today while I was at the allotment. Rather depressingly as they approached mine I could hear them saying "this section's a nightmare". I think they mean the soil, apparently those a bit higher up have much better quality soil. Anyway, I think my neighbours are going to get a warning letter, they've hardly been up this year and when they took it on last year it was pretty well solid grass, worse than ours.

Planted out some Morning Glory today in a raised bed with trellis, and made my first rhubarb harvest, also found enough potatoes from last year for a nice potato salad this evening.