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

We had a bit of a busy day on Saturday, DH and I. Twas great!!

My broad beans survived the roofers being in and walking all over the beds in the back garden, I have no idea how but all except 1 seed has sprouted!! The peas however, didn't come up at all and there were no signs of seeds sprouted or not when I replanted that trench on Saturday. So I just went in thickly with newly bought seeds. The mangetout on the opposite fence have come up though.

My windowbox pots were a bit mixed too. Spinach came up although not strongly (nor as much as I expected given the amount of seeds I planted). But radishes and salad leaves were non-existent. So I chucked those pots and started again with fresh compost (from a bag this time - too much fennel sprouting from soil) and fresh radish seeds. I also abandoned ideas of salad for a while and put in dwarf peas and dwarf French beans in other 2 windowboxes (beans are regular crop, peas are an experiment this year).

But while we were in the GC, we also bought a few new herbs (needed thyme and saw a lovely creeping margoram), and I got a tray of oak leaf lettuce, calabrese and Brussels sprouts. I am planting out all the lettuce (I have 7 planted, and 5 more to plant next week to slightly stagger eating), and I planted out 5 each sprouts and broccoli, with 7 left in the tray that I'll offer my uncle. I don't have seed anymore for those, and not enough space for 12, but a few would be nice.

And I made one more attempt at courgettes using the last of my seeds, sowed 3 pots at 4 seeds to a pot, in the hopes of getting 1 plant. I am happy to buy at GC, but we'll see if I can manage them this year (some years they work, others not and the seeds are a couple of years old).

DH did lots of tidying up, cutting back hedges, planting other bits and pieces, and making decisions to use the garden better this year!!

We literally finished the last thing with the first drops of rain coming, and got indoors 10 seconds before the heavens opened!! Which was great for bedding in all the new plants

holly I don't think most dogs will dig up seed potatoes but (a) she's a labrador and (b) she was abandoned and had to make her own way on the streets for quite some time before being rescued, so she's a bit of a scavenger!

I do have to net my tomatoes against furry four-legged scavengers though!

Will try and post a pic of the fence. It's really not very pretty at all, but I've got a honeysuckle to cover it so we won't have to look at it for long!

Awwwww cupcakes, your dog sounds lovely. My BIL has a rescue greyhound who was absolutely obsessed with food when they first got him - to the point of literally destroying slippers, wallets, bags, and even the entire kitchen in search of extra things to eat. He's calmed down a great deal now, and can even sit and wait to be fed for ages - but they still can't leave him unattended with anything to eat. It's amazing how they bounce back once they find a loving home, but I think they always have a bit of that urgency around food.

biddy - I'm keeping my fingers crossed for your courgettes!

Hi all, can I join in? I don't have an allotment but I have a polytunnel and now a fruit cage that just needs doors sorting, and this year I'm growing veg on top of what used to be a slurry pit in a previous life and was then filled with horse manure/straw/wood pellet bedding.

I'm starting to think I've bitten off more than I can chew! Last year I only had the polytunnel to look after.

I do moon-phase gardening, does anyone else do this?

Hello IAm, as a fellow newbie to the thread welcome, they seem a friendly lot here.
What's moon-phasing? I think I could guess, but how and does it make a big difference?

Hi VioletWellies
MOon phase gardening is about the water table mostly, so different quarters of the moons cycle affect different plants in different ways - and takes into account the constellation the moon is as well, so for instance when the moons in pisces it's considered a "leaf" time and a good time to sow lettuce, cabbage, spinach etc. but a poor time to deal with Fruits, Roots or Flower plants.

Kew Gardens did a long study on it (biodynamics) and concluded that it works! Increased yields, stronger plants, better disease resistance etc.

What I like about it is that I do a bit of gardening most days by following this calendar, rather than trying to do loads at once. But I am lucky not to work, and it wouldnt be possible if I could only garden at the weekends.

And in fact today my book advised against planting or sowing anything at all this week as the new moon is coming up, but to attend to compost heaps or weeding instead, so I've spent a happy afternoon monstering the docks in the fruit cage.

welcome IAm - those veg are going to be turbo charged growing on an (ex) slurry pit!
I have read and heard about moon -phase but not seen it in action! Please let us know how you manage it.
BiddyPop - i normally put 2 seeds per pot for courgettes, and then pluck out the weakling,( or replant them as i'm soft ) but not really had problems with germinating, though I do leave sowing until its a bit warmer-( in the greenhouse) they soon grow on,
peas do seem to be a problem with some, with me its mice, but maybe sow in plugs/trays to see? I have used old seed with a lower germination rate, but never not had any....

Welcome to all the new gardeners, this is a lovely chatty thread. thank you fro the comments about the potting shed / greenhouse. i went to see it today (there's a place that sells them just up the road from where I work, conveniently) and fell in love with it. So I think that's a yes! Just need DH to demolish DD's old rickety playhouse and get the concrete base laid.

Spent an hour up at the allotment tonight weeding and watering my onion sets. A lot of the other plots seem very weed-free compared to mine, and hyet there never seems to be anyone there weeding, it's weird. I also bought yet more seeds (had to walk past Homebase on the way back from the greenhouse place) so there will be more sowing soon, courgettes, rocket, carrots and leeks.

Ooh Homebase, there's one not far from us. Were the seeds bargains?

I did some research a while back on moon phase gardening and had an increase of over 30% yield by weight. It definitely has an effect. I try to sow and transplant on the correct days but as I often mix all my seeds up randomly, it doesn't help!

So sowing celery and courgette with DS today wasn't in it's best interests?

Their even

My only 'fixed' time at the allotment is 2 hours on Sunday mornings, after that work and babysitting DGS has to come first, so sadly its as and when with sowing ( and weather permitting!), luckily the nights are drawing out now, so hopefully will beable to get there another twice a week, three if I'm lucky.
I know what you mean about other weed free plots WhoKnows - mine always has some weeds- I am a bit 'just in time' weeder, unlike all the others who hoe to weed free perfection- i only really see 4 or 5 others

This is the first year I am growing anything in my newly made vegetable patch and I think I have gone a tad crazy! I've been on The real seed catalogue and ordered peas, cucumber and lettuce, along with already bought onion sets, potatoes, strawberries and a couple quite a few of other bits (I feel a bit embarrassed as think I may be running before I can walk!)

Welcome arose - have to run now, but lots of advice upthread and on the previous one.
Its always best to grow what you like to eat , thats the most important thing

i suspect they must use weedkiller Agoodbook, well, that's what I tell myself.

Seeds were on 4 for 3 in Homebase. It's always hard to tell if you're getting a bargain IMO, as some packs have so many more in than others. They had cucamelons, which I spent ages looking for a few weeks ago before ordering off the internet.

I first heard about biodynamic gardening when I went to an open day at a big organic/biodynamic farm Laverstoke Park, it's a fascinating place, the products are fabulous too. Never considered trying it myself though, I'm very much an opportunistic gardener, I don't have planned slots but as the allotment site is only1/4 mile away I just pop up whenever I can. DH is a keen amateur astronomer, I ought to get him to make me up a phases of the moon chart. He'd probably laugh at me!

Did anyone listen to GQT this week? Someone mentioned growing things in straw bales, a quick google of that was interesting and something I might try in future, seeing as my soil is so crap.

Problem with straw bales is keeping them wet enough. Apart from that, go for it

Welcome to the new gardeners! Wouldn't it be lovely if we could all be allotment neighbours in RL?

I'm loving all of the different theories people are following - especially the moon phase gardening! I've kept a note of when I sowed everything so I might go back through and see if anything matches, would be really interesting to compare results! IAm is there a chart or website or anything I can look at?

Some evil slug / snail has munched the top off my aster seedlings

Slugs ate nearly everything last year. I didn't have much, but as soon as they went outside to harden off the slimy gets got them.

I'm sure we went to the Henry Doubleday research place with parents smallholders group in the ahem 1970s (must have been very late 70s, can't possibly be that old).
It wasn't very impressive. Raised beds I think.

WRT the slimy ones, will surrounding plants with grit help? I've got a dumpy bag of grit

Essex or Coventry Violet? I am off to Ryton Organic Gardens today as it happens. Slugs were bad last year because we didn't have a cold winter the year before and so all they did was breed. Hopefully this year after having snow on the ground for around 2 weeks, many may have died off.

Morning, and hello to all the new threaders! It is such a lovely thread, isn't it? I agree, Cupcakes -iit would be so nice to all be plot neighbours IRL.

The moon phase gardening is really interesting. I've only heard about it in reference to wine and viticulture, I've not heard anything about it wrt domestic gardening. So tell us more!

It's looking gloomy here, but the forecast promises a dry day, brightening up soon. I'll be able to carve out a few hours at the plot again. Im still sorting through my mud piles, getting the pernicious weeds out of my boggy clay. I might need to tidy up a bit, as to be honest, my plot is a lot messier than most others'. And I might sow a few seeds (chives, dill), in my wild bit under my apple tree. And maybe sort out the scummy end near the boundary and sow some borage? Will I sow veg yet? Hmmm. ...

No sign of my marigolds that I sowed the other day. Surely I didn't kill them?

Talking of chives, what are these please? They are def alliums of some sort, and they do have the smell, but the leaf is quite flat.

Oh my word - I've never even heard of moon-phase gardening! Where's the best place to read up on it?