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

Evening!
Thanks cedar - not a big fan of strawberry jam, but have seen a recipe for ice cream that looks good :)
One of the great things about being self -employed- I took a management decision today, looked at the weather ( rain for next 2 days) and decided I needed to spend time at the plot.
So today DH and I have:-
picked about half the redcurrants on one bush - now in freezer ( about 9lbs)
harvested one row of shallots - the overwintering ones - now drying naturally at home , but I have had to cover them as we have had a bit of rain, and more due, but really pleased - they are quite big!
Harvested garlic, now drying, best ever since I started
sown a row of peas
planted another butternut squash
picked yet more strawberries
I am so pleased - here are my first ever shallots. So many, I had to use more space to dry them than I thought !

I've been attacked by slimy critters. Or to be exact, my brassicas have. They were doing really well but now they look ravaged. I went over tonight to discover a slug party on my plot. loads of big fat slugs everywhere and slimy silver trails over my leaves so the snails are getting in on it too. I will post pics of my disasters. my sunflowers have perked up and my raspberries have suddenly cropped loads. so I have picked an frozen them. I also have 3 courgettes growing on one of my plants but they are only about 3 inches long. should I pick them all at once when they are a decent size? How best to cut them off the plant? questions questions! my runners also look pitiful. I hope they perk up. On the plus side, my sweetcorn is looking fab.

Hi Linski could it be caterpillars on your brassicas ? They hide underneath Have you had many cabbage whites around ( I must admit - we haven't so far).
Courgettes - just pick as and when you want one - there will be more :) I tend to use a pair of secateurs to cut them off - makes a nice clean cut .
Could you perhaps give your runners a foliar feed - that might help, and a bit of extra water if it hasn't rained recently wont hurt

nope definitely slugs and snails. I found 6 slugs just chilling in the soil and the leaves are covered in silver slime. i've had them covered since planting and have had cabbage collars on. But I have also had loads of grit around them which has clearly not helped. The rain has been bucketing down here for a couple of days now so i'm ok water wise. I also found a cheeky slug sitting inside my water bottle cloches so he was hurled out as well. they have only been planted a couple of days so im just being impatient I think. what is foliar feed? any recommendations? your shallots look fab!!!

I've planted my runners in a wigwam formation so there is a massive space in the middle. do you think I could plant some more peas in the middle? thank goodness I have this thread for advice!

Foliar feed - just a feed that gets absorbed quickly into the leaves. I make my own, but you can buy it. I think its mous that makes comfrey tea - same thing! I drown weeds in a net in a bucket of water , cover and leave for at least 2 /3weeks, Then dilute so it looks like weak tea, and spray/water onto the leaves.
I wouldn't plant peas inside your wigwam - when the runners get going, there probably will not be enough light and runners are greedy plants as well

no idea where the kedney bean seed came from, dc planted it (in cotton wool) at school and we plated it into a nice big pot at home.

WOW at the harvest book

Still not a drop of rain here, I would love some, but not tomorrow as it's my day off work. Having said that, the lack of it has meant minimal slug and snail damage. Loving seeing all the photos.

Haven't been to the plot today, but picked another couple of kg of cherries, they're starting to go over-ripe on the tree now, think I might have to make jam, but de-stoning them is going to take ages (I have got a gadget, but t's messy). That's my plan if it does rain tomorrow, otherwise they might have to go in the freezer.

green fertiliser is great (and free) some weeds are great for it, borrage, alkanet, comfrey (all the same plant family) or nettles.
chop the plant into small bits, squeze into bucket, fill with water. loosely cover and leave for 2-3weeks. it's ready when it smells like shit

dilute 1:4 (roughly) to feed once a week. the put some more chopped plants in and cover again with water for next week.

thanks agoodbook I will keep you posted. keeping my fingers crossed that I don't end up with just stalks by tomorrow.

WhoKnows - that apron trick doing a grand job! And every fruit has its downside.
Rained a bit yesterday , rained a bit more today - its raining now ,and due heavy rain tomorrow afternoon. Hence the harvesting here :)

Just checked and we are forecast rain tomorrow. Jam it is then!

Having a massive stress about my plot. I have a deadline today for a book chapter that is refusing to obey my instructions to jump into shape. I am at that miserable stage of just trying to get it roughly right, but I have so much to do that I can't get to my plot.

Which is a problem because I'm off to Berlin for a week to see a couple of friends for a week later on.

Aaaaargh! I'm just going to have to trust to hope for a week or so, aren't I? If the slugs have eaten everything on my return, I swear there will be nematodegeddon.

shove
egg shells and coffee grounds - snails/slugs hate it.
sprinkle liberally.

Hello everybody - I've just spent a lovely 30 minutes casually reading all of your updates and inspecting pictures! MIL is out of hospital and doing well, but we had a crazy weekend so not much gardening so far.

DS and I harvested (and ate) our first cucumber yesterday. Yum. We've also had 2 tomatoes (DS ate one, DDog 1 nicked the other). My raspberries are a disaster (please see seperate thread if you have time!). Strawberries are providing a few nice fruits. Lettuce has gone mad. Cats keep digging up my asparagus despite me covering it in spiky rose clippings. DDog1 also drank out of mum's comfrey juice bucket and now his breath smells rank.

Lots and lots of rain here over the past few days, not good for my washing pile but brilliant for the garden. Whilst we were away visiting MIL my lovely neighbour watered the plants for me and has done a brilliant job.

I managed to NOT pot up some armpits yesterday. But I've discovered 2 growing in the ground that I must have dropped and have now rooted themselves.

Steady drizzle this morning, annoying as it's too wet to be out in it for long, but not wet enough to be really doing any good.

Cupcakes - glad MIL is on the mend. I find random tomato plants in my garden, I think they have grown from seeds in the compost bin.

Shove - I am not feeling as though I can keep up either at the moment, I've had a couple of really busy weeks at work and I just seem to be up to my eyes in stuff to do with the DCs, who are 9 and 11. Spent most of the weekend at the theatre with DD who was performing with her dance school, this weekend it's their school summer fair on Fri eve, which I will have to spend that afternoon setting up, open day at DS's new school on Saturday, out in the evening, and we've got a family day out planned on Sunday. The weekend after it's the Year 6 leavers party. The one after that we're away. I haven't sorted any childcare for the holidays .

Whoknows - My word, you are BUSY! I keep remembering what my friend says - breathe, have a cup of tea, then sort out one thing (in my case, one paragraph).

It's tough to fit in the allotment when things get manic. But it's also my major stress relieving thingy, so I get very miserable when I can't get up there because of work for that reason too.

I've bitten off more than I can chew with this chapter - instead of doing something simple like a sane and reasonable person, I've got myself mired in the relationship of the philosophy of mind to space. And it is horribly, nightmarishly complex beyond the capabilities of my brain to process. I am now just focused on panicking digging myself out of the massive hole that I've dug myself into. I feel like I need an intellectual mattock to do this, and I only have a tiny, rusty, crooked nail.

Cupcakes post is a reminder, though, that all this isn't what is actually important in life. I'm so glad your MIL is on the mend. What a horrible, stressful thing for you all to go through. I hope that she's settling in at home and not too frightened by everything that has happened.

PS I realise this sounds crazy but are you absolutely SURE those are raspberries and that something else hasn't just snuck into your bed??! I've never seen anything like it if they are!

holly I think they are! What else might they be? I'll try and get a pick of the plant from a but further back later so you can see. The whole lot was there when we moved into the house so who knows? But the fruits I've tried have tasted very much like raspberries...

If I had an intellectual Mattock I would lend you one, but I'm too sleep deprived to be able to help really!

Cupcakes* - so nice to hear MIL is doing well. I had a quick look at your thread - the nearest I have ever seen of that is on an American site, showing pictures. I think if the newer flowers are like that when they ripen, it may be worth pulling them out and starting again, but for now, maybe a good feed, just to see if it helps...
link showing it here
www2.ca.uky.edu/agcollege/plantpathology/ext_files/PPFShtml/PPFS-FR-S-9.pdf

shove and WhoKnows - in the grand scheme of things, an allotment is a joy and stress relief. BUT it will still be there for you when you have time - weedy, chewed around the edge but there - I angst about it all the time, worrying in my head about the things that need doing, and how much is ahead to do, but when I get there, it is never as bad as I think it is in my head!
shove - I will also send positive thoughts for your chapter!

Just seen Agoodbook's photo. I am now officially inspired to put some shallot sets in this autumn and will see if I can pre-order some.

Shove, taking a couple days/a week's break from the allotment could be quite helpful. Everything will look HUGE when you go back. Good luck! Can you call in any favours from fellow allotmenteers?

I just got back from 2 hours of weeding and only covered 1/3 of a quarter of my half plot! It is looking a lot better than last year when I lost the battle to the weeds, but it is like painting the Forth Bridge sometimes.

Lettherebecupcakes are your tomatoes and cucumbers outside or inside?

Today I discovered I had beans!! French beans, about 7 of them. Ok feeding the family may be a step away. I also harvested 5 courgettes with some tatty courgette flowers attached. I've pulled a load of raspberries which are lovely and a couple of lettuces and a radish from my garden. They were all delicious. I'm still getting a massive kick out of seeing everything growing. What's the best way to harvest French beans? Is it best to just pull them off the plant or should I be snipping them? My sunflowers are looking really good now so they have weathered the rain. Tomorrow is supposed to be a sunny day so I hope they perk up even more. Next project is to finish the bed I'm in the middle of digging, then I'm going to pull out all the rubbish in the compost bins so I can start a nice clean heap. So much to do. It would be so nice to have some time off work just to work on my plot. This flurry of nasty weather we are having has given me an idea of how miserable winter will be. I am definitely in need of a shed. Any shed advice for the newbie??

Linski - french beans already! - mine are only just starting to flower - you must have green fingers :) If they are ripe enough, a little tug on the stalk ( with a bit of a twist) will pull them off easily - if not, they're not quite ready.
Sheds are a very personal choice- you can spend as much or as little as you want . Enough to hang up your tools , maybe a bench and enough room to store things ( nets/hoops/canes etc ) And guttering so you can harvest water into a butt :)
ethel - I am also amazed as its the first time I've grown shallots (or onions!) - it was a net of 25 sets of 'Jermor' - about £5 if I remember - which was recommended as a good one for overwintering .When they have dried, I will weigh them . I put some more in in spring , a different variety, so it will be interesting to see the difference.

Ta da!

Today I have made 9 jars of cherry and cinnamon conserve, spotted my first baby courgette, and realised that the raspberries that never seemed to ripen were in fact fully ripe but apricot coloured. They were delicious. Also installed and filled my water butt, so no more waiting for the tap to come free. It's unlikely to capture much rain by itself but at least I can use it as a water store. Still no rain to speak of here, a few very short showers today, the ground is getting very dry.

Linski, I've decided not to have a shed at my plot, it's only 5 mins walk home and I keep an emergency umbrella in my bench storage box, which has been a really good buy.

Shove - I agree, the allotment is a major de-stress thing for me too. Last year I didn't keep up with the weeding and often went several days at a time without going up there, this year I have gone probably 5 days out of 7 since about March, even if only for 15 mins and it has made a huge difference.

Emergency umbrella! Why didn't I think of that?!
Lovely looking jam WhoKnows
Pleased your MIL is on the mend Cupcakes.
I know what you mean about the weeds taking over - I spent a couple of hours on Sunday mainly weeding and there's still loads more to do. Horsetail everywhere! I need to make time maybe tonight to pop over as we're away at the weekend so won't have a chance to do much . I do find it strangely satisfying to spend time removing weeds though.