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

Just returned from a visit to my brother-in-law in Exeter. Very envious at his allotment, as everything is at least 3-4 weeks ahead of us in Yorkshire and growing with that wonderful profusion that the conditions in the south west can provide. Also, while not exactly hot it was positively balmy down there by comparison. .

Returned to Sheffield to find my greenhouse had registered a minimum temperature of 3 degrees. Bah, humbug.

It has been the coldest May up here that I can remember for a long time!

On the positive side of things, I harvested the first of my caulis, which have grown from cricket-ball sized to football sized in a week!

Yes - I am delaying delaying delaying planting the squashes out here in Derbyshire/Notts. Did dig up a shed load of leeks last week though - they have usually been and gone by now.

Alternative - I am reassured that you are delaying.

I have what I can describe as "allotment panic". It's when you know in your heart of hearts that it is too early for a plant to go out, but you see other people putting it in and have a fit of panic that you are wrong and that you need to put it in the ground immediately!! Must. Hold. Nerve!

shove - me too with watching what everyone else is doing- I should be old enough to know better :)
I justified putting out stuff in that it is well hardened off, but now worry about the wind tonight. I do have a fair amount of back up squashes, courgettes and runner beans, just in case- though it does make for extra work .
I may have to go and move all the rest of my plants that are still on shelves at home waiting - looks like it is going to be wild, and I don't want them blown all over the garden.
It is just a weird year for weather

I've planted out squashes before mid july, before the end of the school year - and the kids have come back to pumpkins...so don't stress.

I have a commission for a schools event on July 1st, so have to sow seeds today for some primary 'transition' pupils to make paper pots, and plant up to take home. I will be sowing a collection of squashes for them as well as some lettuces and I will also be taking cuttings from tomatoes, and rooting them for them to take home to grow in the summer. They can have a choice then and I can leave the rest with the school to use for their own students.

Morning all!

We were away all weekend (at a dog show - DDog got a 1st and a 2nd place! ) so no gardenning sadly. I did manage to sneak up and have a quick look yesterday and now I'm panicking about space. I still have leeks, onions, sprouts, purple sprouting and French Beans to go in and nowhere near enough space! I might have to sneak some into the flower beds. DH will never notice.

Maybe I can sneak some bits in when the potatoes come out? But I've done maincrops so they'll be in aaaaages yet. Hmm.

My Mum's got some borage on the go. Loads of it. But she has a 2 acre garden so she's got plenty of space for it.

I know I have no space, but as we have something that munches in the night I'm working on the theory that there will be room soon, I'm going to fill my (only) flower bed with red cabbage.
The cauliflower seeds I put in the same time as the red cabbage have done nothing..., well not quite nothing, one seedling germinated. How long do I wait before putting something else in their patch?

Just out of interest would the beans /squash /corn sisterhood work if I was to strimmers, mulch with paper feed sacks then plant into piles of horsemuck/topsoil mixed? It's not for this year (I have no corn or squash) just a little idea...

I was to strim what is it with autocorrect, why can't it leave me alone?

So, today I planted out more tomatoes, and some tomatillos. And some borage. ToughZebra or FoolishZebra? And it was drizzling as I planted out the Mexican tomatillo! The bees really really like the flowers. One was buzzing around a flower as I was plopping the plant into the hole.

And the old chap who gave me the leeks told me that I'd planted them in on shady a spot. And that my corn is too far apart. Well, I'm not moving the leeks so they can like it, or er, die. But the corn is good news as i have some more coming on that I'd have had to squeeze in somewhere, so it can go with its siblings.

But I've still not yet planted out any cucurbits. No squash, courgette, cucumber or cucamelons. Well, the last are about 15mm still. I am still midst hardening-off of my courgettes and my squash. I think I need to get a bit tougher with them now.

I took some seeds to plant with me too, but I bought them all back, didn't get a chance to do anything with them.

Congrats to your dog, Cupcakes ! Yes, I too am eyeing up my spuds, wanting the space that they occupy. I did 1st earlies, but planted them quite late. So I have no idea when they ought to come out. Does the foliage collapse a bit when they're ready?

Alternative your school event sounds lovely. I want to sneak along.

How lovely to have a cauli, Shove! They're getting right fashionable now after years in the vegetable wilderness, aren't they?

Afternoon
Just back from dashing down to the plot - the wind is due to get up later tonight, so decided to try a bit of wind protection around the beans that I planted out yesterday . I was left a roll of orange builders plastic net stuff, so have completely gone around all the wigwams with it, held up with bamboos- so hopefully, it will dull the wind damage, and not all fall down and make things worse! I also managed to weed around all the peas that were pecked to death by the pigeons -( all starting to look a lot happier,growing away again) and do some digging.
And put more bricks on nets, and jammed the little bench under the shed so it cannot blow away. I have also put all my plants back into the greenhouse for tonight/tomorrow.

Cupcakes - congratulations on the dog show!
For a bit of lateral thinking - are they climbing french beans? Could you plant them in amongst the purple sprouting,up canes, as they will be gone before you need to worry about the broccoli. It would need a bit of thought on shading/watering mind you.
I tend to use the space after the potatoes for overwintering things like spring cabbage and garlic - also my shallots overwinter as well.

The wind protection sounds the ticket, agoodbook. How blowy are you expecting it to be? Gosh, ought into check the forecast for wind round here? My poor plants!!

violet - that may work
I gave up on the three sisters myself as first I read its quite hard to harvest beans in amongst them ( the original plan was to let everything dry on the plants for winter) and second, I manured heavily for the squashes, and then read sweetcorn doesn't like freshly manured ground - so that was my plan up in smoke
So far on the plot I haven't had too much damage apart from pigeons. But I planted sunflowers out at the plot - absolutely fine, and then a nice few more at home for grandson to watch grow - they have been stripped to bare stalks ....

spotted - for us in Yorkshire starting , its starting to blow, but gusts up to 28-40 mile an hour from about 8 onwards, with rain !

Violet - I have laid cardboard over grass, covered it in a thin layer of compost, soaked it with water and the cut holes into the ground through it and put potatoes in, that is working well.

Pretty windy here now (Hampshire), I am about to go up to the plot but not sure how long I'll stay, black clouds looming. Been away and the weeds are rampant! My seedlings all did well on damp towels in the bath, and the cucamelons I left in my propagator have grown significantly, from about a cm when I left to a good inch high now. I've got a lot still to plant out, but some of my stuff is still quite small.

Cut holes in the soggy card with a bulb planter I meant to say.

wind here is already blowing hard. ive got onions and strawberries and mini corn which are about 8-12" high. not got round to wrapping the raised beds yet. do you think I'll get away with it or will i wake tomorrow to a bare plot
I'm going to bring the hanging baskets in i think

Debs - hope its okay - its all low to the ground stuff, so hopefully it will be

The trees are really taking the brunt at the moment, lashing around, I hadn't hung my baskets yet- they are sat on buckets until they are 'full' enough to display. Just hoping it all copes really....

Congratulations cupcake and cupcakedog!

The wind is really bad here too. I got drenched earlier - properly head-to-tail drenched when you realise that you and your clothes couldn't actually be any wetter!

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for all of our gardens and allotments!

Our forecast here is about 40km/hr, which a quick Google tells me is 25 miles. No not as windy as lots of you! So am going to try to not worry too much about my tomatoes and tomatillos at the plot, my tomatoes, blowaway grow house at home, and my hanging baskets also.

Nope, not worrying at all...

June. It's June!
Ridiculous.

shove - you are up on the tops as well aren't you- so probably worse...:(

spotted - 25 miles an hour is still a pretty poor show - the public liability insurance I have for my business is invalid in wind over 25mph!

Really, agoodbook - cripes!

I'm actually quite rubbish at knowing what wind speeds, temperatures actually mean. Obviously i can understand the concept and the number but really - how windy is that I have no idea! I just can't relate to it at all. Having said that, my mum has just called saying we're going to have winds of 70mph (am sure we're not).

Hmm, planting those tomatoes and tomatillos now looks increasingly like folly. I have more tomatoes and could always buy more, and mean replacements too if needed, but no more tomatillos. The hanging baskets have now been bought in. I may also put some plants 'round the corner'.