Allotment /Veg patch thread 4 "Lettuce and Peppers and Pears OH MY!"

[agoodbook]

as per Cupcakes :)
come and join in the harvest !

previous thread here
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/gardening/2386388-The-2015-Allotment-Veg-Patch-Thread-Part-3-already?msgid=55842529

DDOG1! Awwwwwww, she's so adorable! I am dead of cute! She looks like she's been 'helping' at lot.... and loving it!

book - no pics this week - I lost a coin toss with DH about who had to clean the fridge, so I was too busy protesting 'best of three?' and moaning quietly over the dettol. I definitely have Phaseolus coccineusitis - the dreaded runner bean sickness, peril of all allotmenteers who have foolhardily set sail with too many plants on board ship.

I "invented" this raw food salad last night - and by "invented" I mean "incompetently put a load of stuff together and then got surprised when it was edible". I just bunged a bit of white cabbage, carrot, celeriac, kohl rabi, fennel and apple in the food processor with the grater blade, then added some cider vinegar and mustard seeds. It was like an aniseedy coleslaw and it tasted really good, despite being the most virtuous thing ever. I shall name it Shove's Six Slaw.

Awww, look at CupcakeDog !
I need a dog. It will run, nay gambol about as I play in my fantasy orchard. Of course the mystery Brit who won £35m on the lottery was not me as I didn't enter so the reality of dog/orchard owning is still far off. Instead I have to content myself with 2 idiot cats, although one does run very pleasingly up the garden for a cuddle.

No gardening for me this weekend -we were out a lot. But I have come back to most of my tomatoes still being green, and a few going off. Anytime any food comes out of the freezer, it is replaced with something tomatoey. In fact we're using up freezer food just so that I can cram more tomatoes in there.

I'm definitely doing fewer tomato plants next year, and it's entirely possibly that I won't keep all my armpits. I am also definitely NOT doing tomatillo (the taste is barely distinguishable from that of a green tomato -who knew?!), inca berries, cucamelon. All the James Wong faddy stuff. Oh, and stinking asparagus pea of course.

But I will master beetroot next year. And baby spinach, which I still buy tonnes of. I'm in a planning mood today. I may also get up to plot and plant garlic. I am hoping that the sunny weather will have ripened some raspberries - how late can autumn ones fruit?

That slow sounds lovely, Shove. And slaw is so now, too!
Poor you re runner bean sickness! Will you do same ears again next year? I'm also doubting my borlotti. The yield seems paltry, vs good old runners that you eat all of. I know i could have eaten some of by borlotti earlier in fact I did, but it's too late now. I don't think I have enough room to waste on things where I chuck loads away.

Same ears? I mean same beans!

Oh, and Yay for krone ripe tomatoes, Shove. But odd that some were mealy. Must be the weather, as you say. Gardener's Delight are usually so reliable.

More, not krone.
I give up.

Didn't get much through the summer, but now my little carrots are nice and cbubby (and sweet) we've had a great glut of tomatoes the last few weeks. DD's pumkin is huge and starting to turn orange, and my little butternut sqashes (3) are also taking shape.

The apple trees are doing pretty well considering they were pruned back hard last year, too.

Ooh is your DD keeping her pumpkin for Halloween?
I want to try carrots next year too. Maybe in a container as my soil is 40% stone and another 20% slug.

She might as well keep it. Do tbey get frost damage, shoyld we wrap it in something?

Lol, my carrots are 20% slug, sadly. :/

I have potatoes growing too, but put them in late and so have not dug them yet. Anyone know how long I should leave them? The onions I put in at the same time are pretty tiny.

Zebra - SACRIFICING ARMPITS? Will you be able to harden your heart enough to do it??!

That's interesting about tomatillo. I'm crossing it off my list, along with asparagus pea. That's one thing I love about this thread - learning about what is and isn't worth doing. In the spirit of that, I'm trying scorzonera (black salsify) next year and will report back about whether it's worth doing. DH is intrigued by the description that it 'tastes like oyster'. I am vaguely repelled by the idea, but intrigued enough to want to try it! (Being a vegetarian since the age of about 12, I have never tried oyster so will have no point of comparison!)

Spinach is well worth it! I planted about 7 small plants of perpetual stuff (a bit more like a chard) and every single week all summer I have had more of it than I can handle. It comes back and back and has been amazing in resisting all slug and caterpillar attacks. If you eat the leaves quite small they are very tender. I thought I would need a big ole bed of it, but just a few plants has gone a long way (ditto for my rhubarb chard). Definitely, definitely worth it in terms of bang for your buck, in that a little row tucked away somewhere gives you plenty.

I have grown a lot of different varieties of runner bean this year. White Lady did well but the ones that have been best are called 'Lady Di'. The beans are well over a foot long and dead straight. When I pick them, I feel like I am going in for one of those 'longest runner bean' competitions. There is something really satisfying about it! I will try both again next year (I have loads of seed left). But I will do far fewer plants. You may remember that I put in those arches at the start of the year? Well, the beans have really enjoyed scrambling up them and have definitely done better on them than on the row that I planted in a bed - I think there is more light and air and pollinators can get in more easily too. So I shall restrict my bean growing to the arches next year and use the raised beds for other things.

I've also done borlotti, but I am leaving them all as long as possible as the pods aren't very fat yet (it's been cold here, so I fear having lots of pod and not many beans). I'm hoping to be able either to freeze or to dry them for overwinter.

Peace - potatoes: the time from planting to being ready depends a lot on the type! A good sign that they are nearly ready is flowering. Can you remember what variety they are and how long it is since you put them in?

We're having good weather at the moment, but it's worth keeping an eye out for lengthy periods of cold and rain, since blight can set in very quickly this time of year!

Evening!
well - a very busy day, mostly not veg related , sadly.
Cupcakes - gorgeous DDog there!
The trouble with having too much of something, is that you adjust next season, then the weather is totally different, and you don't have enough ( voice of bitter experience with beetroot - 2 years ago, overrun, last year, not nearly enough, this year. overrun again!)
Scorzonera will be interesting shove - I am pretty sure that it was on my plot when I first had it, and it took me ages to get rid of it - I thought it was a rather annoying long rooted weed! Very long thin roots. I presume you roast it, then peel it or eat it without peeling?, or else a lot of faff. Yes please to report back!
Spotted - borlotti beans - I have grown a shed load this year to par dry and freeze to put in casseroles. They aren't as big as the ones you buy- I didn't grow them last year, and used tins and dried, and they just were not as good. But I have plenty of room to grow them without any detriment to other crops. Spinach is something I love, and succession grow the baby leaf at home in big troughs- I have one such just now. It doesn't seem to germinate very well when its warm and a bit dry. I am much more successful on the plot in earlyish spring and early autumn, a bit cooler maybe?
Peace - pumpkin/squashes can cope with a little frost, but really are better somewhere cool and dry. Potatoes really don't like frost, so why not try digging one up to see how they are doing?
I did manage to have a quick trip to harvest carrots and the last of the Cosse Violette beans - they have been a winner here this year. DH was with me so we had a planning meeting :) - worked out where my tayberry , plum and gage are going, and also sadly, a dig out of a gooseberry and a redcurrant, neither of which have performed well for the last couple of years. It does mean I have room for a white currant, ( to go with the amazing redcurrant) so I am just reading up on varieties. And measured out next years brassica cage - its going to be BIG !!

Shovetheholly I think I might start stalking you, you know so much and write so beautifully!!!

Have I got time to start some spinach off by seed now? And chard? We love both. And I'm loving the sound of your 'slaw..

puffy If you do stalk Shove, you will soon learn all about bokashi...

(And I agree, she does write beautifully and I think she ought to start a blog or similar.)

booky big troughs for spinach? Will do! It is possibly the veg that I spend the most on, so surely makes sense for me to master it?

Re beans, as well as the wastrel borlotti, I have also grown Cosse Violette at the plot -which I LOVE. The taste is lovely, and the colour makes them so easy to find on the plant, don't you think? And the kids think they are magic colour-changing beans (turn green when cooked), so we're all happy. I'll def grow them again. Then at home I also have Painted Lady runner beans - also on an arch! I love them too. They were quite early -much earlier than my plot beans, but this may have been because they are less exposed. I'll be doing them again too. I also tried Yard long beans, but they never got planted out as my plants had some kind of root-eating beastie. I may try them again, I have seed still.

All very helpful, thanks! Will dig some potatoes, and wrap up the pumpkin. :-)

Oh! A Bokashi Blog! What a wonderful idea. Please write it, shove! Please?

Glad you asked about the pumpkins Peace - I hadn't thought to do anything with mine aside from leave them where they are! So I shall sort those out today if DS gives me chance.

I've been planning out my anti-slug fortifications. I WILL NOT be beaten next year. I'm thinking of planting my runner beans, then covering the ground around them with sharp grit, then adding a few bowls of beer, and maybe putting vaseline on the canes to stop the slugs climbing them. Overkill? Or necessary?

DS chucked some kale seeds in a pot last week and they've germinated. Will anything come of them?

My Sutton's Catalogue has arrived so my plan for this evening (whilst DH is out doing agility with DDog 1) is to sit with a nice cup of tea, a piece of cake, and plan, plan, plan! Can't wait.

Morning! No gardening for me last weekend. The most we did was pop over and harvest a few things. We still have beetroot, spinach, chard, spring onions and a few peas growing. Weather is lovely here so its a shame I have to go to work. I could get a lot done otherwise!

I want to grow the purple beans next year and I have some french climbing beans as well as a runners left over from this year.

The next priority is to investigate fruit plants - strawberries, blackcurrants and more raspberries.

Cupcakes my friend swears by the copper rings around the base of plants for getting rid of slugs. I might invest in some.

I'd forgotten about copper, cedar. I shall edge my pit of gravel with copper rings.

Hahahahaha! You guys are so lovely. Maybe I should call my hypothetical blog The Bokashi Bin? On the grounds that it might be a bit stinky and fermented in there . On that note, I emptied my wonderful magic bin of bokash last night and it is interesting how it smells different in the cooler to the warmer weather. I guess the fermentation must work differently.

(I can't believe I'm writing in public on the internet about the smell of rotting kitchen waste!!)

puffy - yep, yep you can plant perpetual spinach and Swiss chard now (check that it is perpetual spinach and not other varieties which may not survive the cold - the perpetual kind it is actually a kind of very hardy chard in reality. As book says, true spinach is quite temperamental and liable to bolt in warmer weather and to die in the cold). Swiss chards aren't quite as tough, especially the lovely bright coloured ones - maybe avoid rainbow varieties as a winter crop unless you're somewhere very sheltered. However, the yellow-stemmed one (Bright Yellow) and the Rhubarb chard are a bit tougher, so if you're somewhere a bit on the chilly side (like me), you can either cover them with a cloche or you can let them die back, and they will spring back into life and give you food early next year. Both have AGMs so have good taste and yield!

cupcakes - do you have a cold frame? I have found that it is much easier to beat slugs if you put in plants rather than sowing directly - I think I remember book saying something similar. I suspect that seedlings may need to get to a certain size before they can really withstand sustained attack. I am now growing almost everything in tiny pots or modules, then planting them out, and I am finding it is quite a lot easier to keep the buggers at bay. Could be a solution?

Cedar - the purple beans are lovely. There are some striking black ones too!

Zebra - I might give Painted Lady a go!

book - I have absolutely no clue how to cook scorzonera. I do watch Masterchef sometimes (I think this is like a displacement activity, some kind of mental compensation for my dreadful cooking) and they sometimes test contestants by giving them salsify to cook. And the answer is always to boil it in acidulated water. I have no idea what acidulated water, but I suspect I may have to find out if this stuff germinates next year!!

I thought you had to boil salsify in water with milk in it? Or is it flour? Something to keep it white, I think.

I grow everything in pots and transplant - I finally got the plants established on my FOURTH attempt - thought I was doing OK but then the slugs and snails started climbing the bean poles and eating the beans themselves.

Lettherebecupcakes your dog is gorgeous!!!

Hmm. I'm not feeling the love today. Ddog has eaten my sutton's catalogue.

Well, good evening everyone!

shove - just for you a link to cooking scorzonera ! www.riverford.co.uk/recipes/view/recipe/salsify-and-scorzonera-ideas

puffy - yes to perpetual spinach, I grow it, the seeds are also called spinach beet - I pull it all through winter

I tend to agree that I have had much more success germinating and pricking out. Having said that , at the plot I don't seem to have too much trouble, but this year I planted out some spare runners in a patch of bed at home near my raspberries. Good strong plants with about 8/10 leaves. Just stalks were left next morning !
The only things I direct sow are beetroot/carrot/parsnip/swede/peas/broad beans
The swede this year are rubbish, just not filled out at all - the first row got munched and regrew, but no real round root. I sowed a second row, and they are just the same, but didn't get munched , ah well...

Hello everyone,

Thanks for the perpetual spinach idea, I will definitely get some of that going. I have been very slack recently, went to the plot for the first time in over a week today and came back with more courgettes and runners us a head of celery, I've been really pleased with the celery plants.

On the subject of direct planting, I've had no luck with any veg direct planted this year, but flowers have done well. My best flowers have been these California poppies, grown from seed into the ground, one that I planted late last year has been in full flower since mid May, this photo was taken this morning. not as many blooms as there were but still looking great and I haven't deadheaded it once.