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

these are broad

Broadies are pretty indestructable. Unless the compost was too wet they usually come up when they are ready to.

agoodbook - your redcurrant is glorious! How old is the plant, do you know? I'll be lucky to get 10× blackcurrants this year, plus a few rasps as my total berry haul. Most of my bushes are new, and 2 of my 3 blueberries committed hara kiri for reasons unknown. Plus the 'amazingly prolific' apple tree I inherited on the plot never did get much blossom. So my fruit haul pretty much depends on my many tomatoes!

I didn't actually make it to the plot today, I thought that the ground would be too wet after yesterday's downpour. But today was dry and bright, so hopefully I'll be able to sneak a few hours there early tomorrow, and finish my path.

Hopefully we won't get too much more wind damage over the weekend. It is looking to be blowy!

Hope it's not blowy round my parts (oi oi!), as I have just put up my er, blowaway greenhouse this afternoon. Nope I did not think to check forecast...

spotted when we took over the plot we inherited this and another 2 redcurrants, a blackcurrant, a gooseberry, a young pear tree and 2 diseased apple trees, all planted in thick grass and weeds in a really small area. The currants sad - We think they were two or three years old. First season, we cut away all the grass, weeded and fed them, pruned them. and we got just a few berries. We then made a fruit cage and dug them up,replanted and gave away one of the redcurrants and added another blackcurrant and gooseberry ( so we now have 2 each of them ) Since then we have mulched with rotted manure each year. First year good ish crop , but the birds found a hole in the net.... Two years ago from 2 redcurrants, I think we got approximately 10-12lbs of currants ( I am still using them up!) Last year was a good year as well, but again, we had a blackbird, who managed to nibble and spoil quite a few until we found him, but still got a good 6-7 lbs. They take forever to pick!

6-7 lbs? 10-12 lbs ? and

Don't know that I'd k ow what do do with all of that, but it is a challenge I long to tackle!

Oh no, my envy has made my typing go all shite.

lies obviously. My typing is always rubbish

spotted - I made redcurrant jelly, and I make a lot of jam ,(almost any mix of the berries I have) and the rest is frozen, so at the moment at least once a week we have 'compote" - which is a random mix of raspberries/redcurrants /blackcurrants and brambles gently cooked ,which is then put in a pot in the fridge to put on porridge/yoghurt/icecream etc :).
It makes me smile ( and wince!) to see those tiny plastic trays of berries at over £2

On another note - all my new sowing of runner beans are through - all 12 that I needed. I bought some plug plants last week- 6 plugs. I finally this week decided to get them properly potted up separately - I have 30 "streamline" runner beans, which are now surplus to requirements !
And my first cucumber has germinated, and the first courgette. Bringing them into the warm helped - its just too cold !!

I inherited three redcurrants, a gooseberry and rhubarb. The redcurrants and gooseberry were very gnarly and old, I did nothing to them last year but still got a couple of pounds of redcurrants, enough for two jars of jelly, which will last ages. However we decided to take two of them out this year as they were taking up so much space, we also decided to get rid of the gooseberry but there was a big bit of root I couldn't get out and it has grown back into a beautifully compact bush. Pruned the remaining redcurrant hard too.

3 visits to the allotment for me today and one for DH. I popped in en route to school to get DD, who decided to go to a friends house so I went back. Then later DH offered to go up and strim the edges while I took DD somewhere else, I specifically told him just the edges and centre path, but no, he had to strim one of my new lavender bushes which was a bit hidden in long grass in the middle of a bed and a big area I wanted leaving, as I discovered when I went back after dinner. Oh and a cat had shat on and dug over my just germinated carrots .

Other than that mainly weeding, planted out broad beans, will plan to get back up there tomorrow. Oh and discovered celery is notoriously difficult to grow.

There's a LOT of muck in there, I wonder if they were a bit damp.
My neighbour says leave well alone and they'll come up when they're ready.

I have been busy in the garden today, repotting etc. Leaving some bigger seedlings out over night. But nervous!

Accidentally snapped the top off one of my beans. Fingers crossed it copes!

Yay! 24 hours in a warm propagator and all my courgettes have germinated, after languishing in the greenhouse for a fortnight.

I've lost all my butternut squash again

I think tomorrow I'll sneak off to the garden centre while DH is out running, he'll never know!! I fancy some cucumbers and more squash to kill!! Maybe some other things as well.

The pallet gardens are starting to grow, so salad crops soon. The blueberries seem rubbish after a bumper crop last year, there are barely any flowers the first year I left them in the conservatory to long and nothing pollenated the flowers

I still need a big tidy up, so I might organise a bbq so I'm forces to clean the house and garden!!

My butternut squash seedlings are in the conservatory. I left yheir lid off the propogator and I think it was a bit chilly for them overnight, they look a bit worse for wear. :(

Evening!
Got in from work , from an incredibly gusty day to check all the babies.During the day, 3 more courgettes, another cucumber and 2 crown prince squashes have appeared. No sign of butternut squash yet. I bet they do come though, as I have sown back ups!
Even with the wind, all the beans outside looking good, just one broken stem out of about 40 .
More wind tomorrow, and the day after though.
WhoKnows - I don't have a cat , but have lots of cats which use my garden, and they are a menace- anything nicely dug and fine tilth :( - one of the many reasons I wear gloves.....

Cats are a menace - our old cat used to head towards nicely dug beds and would even sit on top of netting as if it wasn't there. I resorted to putting holly round the edges the other year to discourage her.
Beautiful day here but no time to get to the allotment. Will go tomorrow. Also need to prick out lettuce seeds and pot on squashes.
I want to get some currant bushes for next year too.

We've got cats (and litter trays, which they do use). However they do also use the garden and I try and leave some bare soil for them in the hopes they won't go in the neighbours gardens, the amount of shit I clear is far more than ny two could be producing though. It is a pain, I worry about it getting on salad crops.

We have cats too, and we are lucky that we also have a sort of ditch at the end of our garden, which we have fenced off, that they have always used as their loo. But the cats are getting on now, and getting less good at climbing and jumping, so i might have to lower the fence or cut a hole in it for easier access. Of course when they're very old, they'll probably need a tray.

A nice few hours this morning at the plot. I am loving the alone time, the peace and quiet that I get from my allotment! I dug out my path, and the couch within, between the beds. Currently I have the path covered in a few layers of damp newspaper then card. And I might top it with bark. It feels like it might get a bit slippy though? I guess I can always pull the card up if it does.

I've realised today that I've chuffed up a bit with the plot selection and my plants. I already knew that I chose poorly, and ended up with the shadiest plot of those I was shown (all are now let). But I seem to have grown only sun - loving plants - many many toms, corn, aubergine, pepper, beans and courgettes /squash. And a few greens too. And some currants. But I have planted the currants in quite a sunny spot, the big sunny bed will get courgettes, beans and corn. And the toms will have nowhere to go at the plot. But I need to squeeze some in somehow. I guess the peppers and aubergines can stay at home.

What can cope with the least sun out of toms, corn, beans, courgette, squash, pepper please?

agoodbook that mixed fruit compote sounds lovely! Hopefully next year I'll reach freezing levels of grown fruit, I doubt it will happen this year, apart from rhubarb. My fruit gluts will probably continue to be foraged brambles and plums.

WhoKnows how lucky that your chopped gooseberry grew back into a good shape for you!

Hurrah for all the courgette and squash germination! Most of mine are up now, but nothing from the patty pans. So they're staying inside, still.

Karate and Peace - for your butternut. Will you grow more?

spotted cpurgette or beans i think.
Can you bank the shady areas a bit to get more sun?

How shady is 'shady' ? spotted -
Partial shade - leafy things like spinach/lettuce would be okay,and greens .
If the area gets sun some of the day- at least 3 hours, or constant light dappled shade , then most things will cope, they will just take longer to ripen
But out of that list of sun lovers :) , maybe the beans - preferably dwarf not climbers
Can you put up some white reflection material at the back/ around them to maximise light? eg something like that thin polystyrene stuff that protects things in boxes, or an old white sheet?
Rule of thumb- if you grow a plant for the fruit or the root, it needs full sun.
If you grow it for the leaves, stems, or buds, a little shade will be fine.
Why not grow spinach/cabbage/cauliflowers/broccoli /kale maybe, still time :)

I like the fruit or root rule of thumb! Trouble is, I seem to have selected most things for fruit. And of course my beans are climbers! (Though I do have some dwarf french seeds somewhere i think, so i could bosh them in. There is an old falling down shed, right at the end, I could paint that white? That's a fab idea.

The far bed, where here are spuds (1st earlies) in about 1/3 of the space, probably gets sun from about 1pm, once it's over the big tree. I've got a bit of cavolo nero in there too, and will put in some more broccoli raab. Maybe that space just have to be overflow tomatoes, with the the caveat of a) light, and b) blight? As I have plenty of toms at home too.

Banking is an idea, I could try and do that too, on the end bed.

Thanks both. I think the reality of me picking a very shady plot, and realising that I've started, and I prefer, fruiting plants, has struck me quite hard . And I also think that I have laid out my plot fairly stupidly too. Hey ho, year 1 learnings. Suspect the apple tree needs more of a chop next year too...

I might move the rhubarb too, in the winter. That's in quite a sunny spot.

Hi all. Can anyone identify this thing...