The 2015 Allotment / Veg Patch Thread Part 3 already!

[agoodbook]

Just seen the other is full , so here goes - we are heading for summer now! Welcome to everyone old and new :)

here is a link to the previous thread

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/gardening/2350947-The-2015-Allotment-Veg-Patch-Thread-Part-2?msgid=54546739

Ah I love this thread. And another newbie, welcome Budding

TheDiet - amazing news re the allotment! Shame about the timing though. I'd start to insist, politely, that you have it now. Either with him 'advising' you as PP have said, or in your own. You could also say that you want to find out what has been where, in previous ears to help with crop rotation, find put what diseases if any a have been on the plot, find out what does well, etc etc...

Plumping amazing harvest! And it's been eaten! Yum. And lucky DS2.

Well, like Rooster , I too have started planting out cucurbits. No fat baby (but maybe next year, if reports are good... I can imagine my DC would love eating 'fat babies' ) Nope, I planted out the 1st of my courgettes and squash.

It was yesterday evening, I popped down the plot, and it was beautiful weather so I thought it would be busy, but I was alone. I hadn't thought that my fellow allotmenteerers were the type to be out out of a Friday night! I planted out 1 Marina di Chioggia squash, 2x Rond de Nice courgette, 1x early Gem courgette and 1x white custard patty pan squash. Those ones went out as they had been utterly hardened-off and needed planting or potting-on. There are more to follow, as you know...

On which note, Shove - I love the idea of a glut thread. I want to need it! I already have a glut board on Pinterest, it's mostly filled with recipes, for tomatillos, which was also year's gluttiest thing. And blackberry stuff, as we had such a bumper year, and it looks to be similar this year, hurrah.

Oh, cross posted with mink's lovely advice there. Is your pest still being awful, mink ? Poor you,he sounds truly dreadful. I hope that it isn't denting your enjoyment too much.

plumping thats great about your ds! I know how hard it can be to get veggies past their lips, hope I have the same results

I'm assuming yes, but worth asking is it too late to plant cucumbers? I found some more seeds that will keep to next year but figured I could get away with container gardening this year and ready the veggie patch for next, so those and lettuce I was going to start in pots today?

Glad I covered the raspberries yesterday, the wind here has picked up so I'm hoping its just passing through. Still dithering on whether to cut all the canes back now and forgo the crop for this year in the hope they'll thrive for next year!

It's very windy and wet today here as well. No gardening getting done today I think but I could go shopping I've no compost fancy a soil scoop, I've been using plant pots but I'm breaking them, cut a milk carton to resemble a scoop but it was too flimsy so I might splash out £4 and buy 1 from Home base.
No plants, no siree I have no room for any more plants I have 25 pots 2 hanging baskets and a 6 feet x 2 feet vegetable patch with 20 potato plants, 20 beetroot 1 rhubarb plant and an assortment of flower bulbs that I missed, so no I do not need any more plant I live in a new build with postage sized front and back garden.
So no more plants.

glorious day here today, if a bit windy.
did some cutting back on the toms now the first flowers are out (cut off all leaves below first flowers). fed everything with comfrey juice (oh my, I fear the smell will never leave my nose again).
had a big bowl of ice cream with strawbs from the garden. best. thing. ever.

oh and my honeysuckle looks good this year, some birds take care of the aphids.

Very windy here too. So I got peace on the allotment.
Peace and peas, finally!
Only 3 Barlotti beans tho.

Some of the caulis have either snapped in the wind or been attacked by cut worms. I suspect the latter

I mulched round the courgettes with grass cuttings because they looked sad. It might help and/or I might just get lots of grass growing there.

And I can see my first globe artichokes of the year

my beetroots are loking a bit sad., the leaves are drying up. any tips?

sad beetroot

I've lost a few beetroot found the leaves still attached to each other but nothing else I've put down beer for the slugs 1st night I caught 20. Second time I put it down only got about 3 xxx

Evening!
no plotting for the last couple of days, but hasn't the thread moved on!
Hello to Budding slugs are the pits, aren't they...
The Diet - it will all come good in the end -I agree with everyone else - try to catch him and get his 'advice" on what to do with all your little seedlings :)
Its been very sunny here, but very windy - hope all is holding up well. I hid most things in the greenhouse today as was out at work - just put everything back out, given them a good soak- its still a bit too breezy for my liking, but don't want to soften them up!
mousmous - can I see brand new little leaves in the centres? the brown ones may be wind/cold damage but as long as new ones are coming along, they should be okay, hopefully
mink - peas at last ! but only 3 borlotti - you may have time to resow ....

yes some (very small) leaves are fresh.
hope the comfrey juice helps

Hi, yeah I intend to fill in the barlotti gaps.
Still got a big empty bit on the lot too. Sure I had something planned but I forget what.

Beetroot...on the one hand those are much bigger than my spindly seedlings. But beetroot do like a lot a lot of water. Are they getting enough?

mink - I go past plug plant sales ( quite a few today!) and stare, wondering if they have anything I have forgotten/not thought of!
I have inherited some globe artichoke plants, which I mulched and trimmed a bit in Feb/March. There are about 3-4 heads on them - when to harvest? They look quite small (golf ball size) is there a way of telling when they are ready? Never grown or eaten them before!

everyone seems very productive - Ive been trying but nothing seems tidier!!

I have now got salad to harvest - loads of rocket and other salad leaves. AM I right in thinking the more I water rocket, the less "hot" it is?

I've covered my compost heap to make a corguette mountain - I only have 2 plants but I am a bit scared.

I treated myself to a cucumber plant from Asda for 79p which is now in the greenhouse!! DO I need to do anything to pollinate the greenhouse? Or do things manage to fly in anyway?

Ive also brought some overwintering plugs for the garden - just to see how they get on. (I'm a bit scared of cabbages and cauliflowers and Brussels as that seems like proper gradening)

My potatoes in pots seems to grow faster than I can cover them!! literally the leaves reappear the next day!!

I always seem to jinx the weather - it always rains after I have watered the garden!!

I am of all the plant sales and of plants for 30p!!

Great, though blustery, day at the allotment yesterday. No-one on my site ever goes down on Saturday so it is always peaceful. I planted out my courgettes, lettuces, sweetcorn, kale and cabbages, sowed some spinach, kohl rabi, carrots and beetroot.. and realised that I still have LOADS of space left. Argh!

I also dug up a runner bean seed. It had sprouted and was developing, just not through the soil yet. So rather than something being wrong with the seed, there is simply something wrong with me - impatience!

I'm making a fruit cage out of some aluminium poles that I pulled out of a skip. I have postcreted in the four corners, and ordered some netting. When it comes, I am going to fasten it on with cable ties. I haven't yet plucked up the courage to buy them, as my friend says that any woman currently seen buying cable ties is instantly regarded by staff of the store as a fan of 50 Shades. Sexist! I can genuinely say that my reason is much more 50 Sheds.

Postcreting turns out to be surprising fun. Which is good, because I have about 20 stakes for espaliers that I need to fix into place over the summer...

shove - 2 market plant stalls and a small independent veg shop were selling the plug plants yesterday, and we have a local nursery do them as well- the plugs tend to be in a corner, and you sort of have to look/ask for them - anything like that near you?
I have loads of extra space as well, so I am going to plant out a flower section - I have set off and pricked out lots of bumble bee friendly stuff/cut flowes, to plant right in the middle so the bees come right onto the plot ( hopefully) . Luckily we do have a bee keeper on our site. :)

Postcrete-ing, Shove ? Blimey, that sounds professional! Unfortunately I wo t have enough fruit this year to warrant a cage, but I do need to do something for my cavolo nero which remains mysteriously growing shoved in under an old plastic cover. It'll probably be canes shoved into the ground though .

How do you get the post upright, do you use a level? I can't even get a plant upright in a pot when I pot it on, they're always on the wonk. Yikes to the cable tie association, I bought some the other day too. I think you should brazen it out, or just buy them from ebay.

Also jealous of all the plug plant sales. I really need to think what will go in over winter too, I guess I'll have chard and cavolo nero. And maybe some leeks, but they'll possibly still look like chives. I'm a bit tempted by those flower sprouts, a sort of cross between kale and Brussels, anyone seen/tried them? Or poss I'll do some green manure... Anyway, talking of plant sales reminds me that I saw an offer for cucumbers from organic plants dot com. ( Story was it you looking for cucumbers?). That is if you can't find any of the asda bargain that Karate scored! Actually there are some in Lidl from Thurs too look! Clearly I've been Googling for inspiration. I've not bought many plants for spring/summer, I've raised most from seed. But I might buy stuff in for winter.

Oh Shove so jealous of you wih room to spare. Can I come and visit and bring with me some tomatoes and courgettes and squash that are look for a home? And some brocolli raab that are coming on thick and fast and are really really delicious? Opposite my plot there is an untended plot that I have been eyeing up, and deciding what I'd put where when I expand my growing empire... But I noticed that it has now been weeded, a teensy bit, so I guess it's not untended at all. Boo.

Cross posted with agoodbook who also has room still. I'll be right round....

karate - totally forgot to say - just leave the greenhouse door open - the insects will find the plants :)
and at 'proper' gardening!

spotted - you would be most welcome! - maybe a bit far to pop and do some weeding though?
level with spirit level, small stones around the post in the bottom , put in some soil , tamp down hard all round post, keep checking level and keep doing the soil /tamping until hole is filled ... thats how DH does it , and its always deeper in than I think is necessary, but really glad when it gets windy that it is!

Morning all. Busy week here - I'll not go into it in detail but food wise, I have planted out plenty more cucurbits [someone asked my varieties earlier - there are around 30 I reckon - goldrush, shooting star, fiorentino, rugosa fruilana, patty pan - all courgettes; plus cucumbers muncher, marketmore, small white and squashes queensland blue, tromba d'albenga, potimarron, sugar pie; those are the ones off the top of my head and I know that's only about half of them].

And still not planted up the polytunnel but we were supposed to have the hut roof done and that's been delayed so maybe next week. but the beetroots in there are getting to the stage where we can harvest soon. We have had white fly in there this year so I have been catching ladybirds and ladybird larvae to come in and munch them.

Off to an open gardens event later - with a farmer's market, plant sales and my friend is one of the gardens opening and she has bee hives; which is excellent as we found a bee hive nestled in the eaves of the hut which will have to go for when we have the roof done [week after next]...so will call the bee keeper people to have it removed. We were only saying last week we wanted our own hive.

Afternoon all. Thanks so much for the continuous advice and interest. You're all so fab to talk to.
I took on board what you wrote and went to meet Benji at the allotment. I think it's about time I gave him a name now. :) I told him I'd be going away in a few weeks on holiday and that I wanted to get some things going before that so would he be okay if I started working and he was fine with it. So I got stuck in.

The thing is, although he has good intentions and want to give me a plot in a decent state, I can see he's in no condition to tackle it himself and it will just delay things for me. He's in his eighties and had a stroke 8 weeks ago and as you all know, diggjng and weeding is hard graft. I'd much rather do it myself.

I can see how much the plot means to him. He told me that after his wife died he often came at 5pm and just spent time sitting around till 11pm. I don't want to bulldoze my way in by getting the council to intervene and he's being ever so nice to me by leaving me so much stuff; his rickety greenhouse full of an array of tools, a wood burning heater, 120ft hosepipe, a stove, seating, a petrol cultivator etc. So I'm going to try and work with him for a couple of months. He can give a bit of advice and I told him I want him to keep a key and still feel free to come and spend time here after the handover and that he's always welcome. He, in turn has said he'll water stuff whilst I'm on holiday. I think that will work out for both of us for now.

Right, so I started digging and weeding and this is what half of my soon-to-be vegetable plot looks like. The soil is full of fibrous roots and little bits of grass etc. I've pulled out all the perennial weeds and most of the larger weeds but there's still a lot of little bits of grass and roots left and the soil is a little clumpy. Not fine and crumbly. Will this be a problem? I plan to turn it all over once again and rake it through lightly, add some manure and then start planting. What do you all think?

Diet Benji sounds lovely. I wish I had someone in RL to talk about gardening not 1 person is interested, so I'm just doing what I think is right and keeping my fingers crossed.
I'm very impressed with everyone who has allotments my small garden keeps me busy I don't know how you time mange an allotment xxx

Diet that sounds like a really considerate plan.

I'm after some advice - how do you all net your brassicas. I've just done mine but it was a torturous experience that involved DH and I wrestling with the netting and I'm sure there is an easier way.

I ended up putting up a linkabord frame and tying the netting to that - but I'm sure there is an easier way.

I'm wondering if I bought netting that was too small as I've had to cut and bodge it together