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

Aaarrrggghhh the dark. And the rain! It's miserable here both day and night, at the mo. Shove do you take vit D supplements in the winter as well as your light box?

So it has been 2 weeks since I picked my tomatoes and I am still inundated! The conservatory is still quite full of them, hough they are slowly ripening and I've only thrown a few out. I continue to cook them in bulk. It's odd that they've not rotted more - perhaps my house is too cold?!

Also, the quince harvest has now started. I've picked loads, given loads to a neighbour and still have loads on the tree. They're so fragrant! You can really smell them when you walk into whichever room they're in. I poached some quince last night, but they seemed to cook really quickly - I was expecting them to need a fair bit of cooking. And they didn't turn pink either, but maybe they will in their juice? They're definitely quince proper, not the japonica one. Might try making membrillo tonight too.

Not been to the plot in days, it will be swampland again it's rained so much. But I do need to pop up, as I think I'll have a few rasps (!) and some more corn ready. I guess my borlotti won't have dried out yet, however. And poor shed is in f danger of collapsing so when it's dried put a bit, I am going to go and... smash it up. I've never deliberately smashed anything, so am quite looking forward to it. Of course I am so responsible that I'm only going to smash a tiny bit, the bit that has rotted beyond all use. And the rest of the material will be salvaged.

The sun is out here today and it looks like it's going to be a gorgeous day.
Zebra tomatoes do keep really well - if you haven't done this try putting them next to a banana to help them ripen up a bit quicker. Enjoy smashing up your shed.

We came home with a little group of saved bean seeds from our plot and next door's beans. We've put them in the loft to dry out a bit for now. We were very enthusiastic about gathering them (all of us, now just me) even though I've got loads of seeds left over already! Still it will be fun to plant them and see what happens.

No gardening for me today as I have to work.

Zebra - I haven't taken vitamin D in previous years, but I think I need to. So I will get some later today! Thank you for reminding me.

I am completely miserable. It is a really gorgeous sunny day and I want to be outside, but instead I have to be indoors preparing for a weekend of multiple family birthdays. Including DH. Which means I am honour-bound to make a cake with marzipan and that white icing stuff that I can never get right. I hate cooking. It is so pointless in my case. It would be worth it if I could do it, but I can't and then it is a DISASTER and everyone goes 'Oh no, Shove has put salt instead of sugar in the cake again, ho, ho, ho'. And I ESPECIALLY HATE COOKING WHEN I HAVE CROCUSES TO PLANT IN THE GARDEN AND LOADS OF ALLOTMENTING TO DO.

YAY for quince harvest. I love that smell. I have no clue how you prepare or cook them - but sure others will be along to give sage advice. I don't even know what membrillo is

Morning!
yes , lovely here as well, and I am going down to the plot later, hopefully.
shove - you make me smile - I love cooking and baking. I think it may be a mental block, once you convince yourself, its true! I have 3 birthday teas in the next 2 weeks - all different ( they choose their own!) and cakes - how much weight am I going to put on ??
I came on to ask about mushrooms - I am toying with the idea of trying them,-(my seed catalogue is open, and I am making my order up, and they are available.:) ) Any one tried growing them?
and spotted - cedar is right -tomatoes will last for ages - I had some in a cardboard box, covered with brown paper and they lasted about 10 weeks, slowly ripening.

book - I can see how it would be enjoyable if you are good at it. Which I am definitely not! It is like a cross between feeling completely incompetent and feeling like I may accidentally kill everyone in the family with a cake so horrible it is actually fatal.

I have done mushrooms, but not harvested them yet! I did mine in a log - drilling holes then pushing in plugs of mushroom seed stuff (technical term failure) that came in little bits of dowel. The log then got wrapped up in a compost bag and forgotten about put in a dark place. Must get it out to see how they are doing. I got the dowel seed thingys from Ann Miller, and they came with very comprehensive instructions.

I love baking too. Shove - I'd happily bake for you if you come and help me clear out the shed. Clearing/tidying anything is my least favourite task, ever. And this is a dank pile of rotting spiders so will be doubly horrid.

Hahahaha! I would much, much rather clear out a shed, spiders and all than cook this wretched cake. I am so anxious about it!!

Strange thing about spiders - I do not like them AT ALL in a confined space. But they do not bother me at all outside. Isn't that odd?

When we put up an old shed at the allotment, it was quite cobweb and spider-ridden. I was fine brushing it all down and watching them scurry off when it was just four walls. But as soon as the roof went on I was suddenly scared. How irrational and strange is that??

Oh let's swap then. Honestly, I am putting off my shed so well that it would be quicker for me to drive up and bake, and you to drive down, and do it!

I don't mind spiders outside either. I don't even really mind them in my house, though I evict the big ones through the cat door in a special plastic beaker reserved for this purpose. But I have to stick my head in the shed corners, to clear stuff out, so I will be TRAPPED in there with wild spiders. I guess the fact that I am now down to 1/8 of a roof is a positive, right?

I'm ace at procrastination as well as baking.

I can't tell you how tempted I am by that!! I wish I'd raised this earlier in the week, we would have had time to organise a proper swap!!

Choose a clear day and then take the roof off first! You'll feel so much better about those dark corners .

Shove you should recognise where your strengths lie and buy a cake. It will save you a lot of stress and bother.

I've never tried mushrooms although there are some wild ones growing on my plot.

I like spiders, unlike H. There are a couple of fantastic webs in the garden today. One spider has made one right across next door's garden. I can see it glinting in the sun. (While I am stuck indoors!).

Can we do the opposite of a 'raise the barn' for Spotted ? I love clearing sheds !
shove - if you want help with the cake (advice, tips, recipe) just ask - I would be glad to talk you through it, but its not worth stressing about , I'm sure your DH will be happy regardless ( and by the way, Happy Birthday to him for the weekend).
Well, after a much busier morning than anticipated, finally got to the plot late this afternoon. DH came as well , and so we ended up not doing plant stuff, but very necessary maintenance that needs both of us. So the first of the water butts (at the new end ) has been cleaned out, the rotten pallets taken out from underneath, and re done with paving slabs first, then pallets. Picked raspberries, and managed to palm a cabbage off to a neighbour, and was given a big load of cut dahlias in return . I do love the friendliness. So I am going to creep out in the morning, to go and weed :)
I love spiders and cobwebs -they are such amazing structures, they are beautiful when they are covered in frost.

I forgot!
because we have moved the waterbutt, (just a little) I have a space on one side of it to put a trellis/fence to grow something up . It faces due east , so was debating what would work there - I already have a tayberry, a loganberry, and raspberries - so what to put there?
Decisions, decisions.....

I LOVE the idea of a barn-lowering, Booky! And the great news is that... The barn still stands!
I did empty it, though. Yes, I braved the spiders that had trapped me within. And there were loads of slugs too, and slug eggs. But I've taken all the rubbish to the tip, loads and loads of rubbish. And I've put the word out that there is an empty shed for the taking, for either sheddy purposes or for wood, if anyone wants to take it away.

So I'll wait a week or so, or until the next dry spell, or until I'm in a bad mood, then I shall get smashing if no one else wants it. Realistically I am very unlikely to need/want any bits of wood, as I am quite happy growing in the ground. And I have lots of sticks and branches to use for props and bits, so I don't actually need any bits of my shed. I just want the space that it takes up, for raspberries.

booky did you decide on something for your trellis? I vote... another tayberry! As I had them for the first time this year and they were lovely. But I've never tried loganberry, that may be nicer. Have you a Japanese Wineberry?

Will hopefully get up there again this afternoon. I think it's time to consign the last of my courgette plants to the big compost heap in the corner sky, and my Cosse Violette beans too. I picked a few borlotti yesterday and podded them, and actually I could leave them a bit longer.

Bookbook blackberry?

Shed panels could be used to build a compost bin if you're any good at DIY Zebra

Afternoon!
well, had a good weeding session this morning - it was glorious and warm, perfect soft soil.
I would love a blackberry Cedar, but the man who prunes ( and supports me wholeheartedly) says no - he can't face such an aggressive thug sadly, so I'm not going to force it. I think it may well be another tayberry, though I haven't actually planted the first one yet :) I was having to squeeze it in anyway, so I may use that space , and get another one next year, when another space is clear. Am having a major fruit move round over the next year , so may well be worth doing that.

Good afternoon!
< peers out > anyone here? Hope you are all okay :)
Been busy, so yesterday just popped to pick raspberries - took DGS , who was far more interested in the chickens 3 plots down....quite understandable!
So got down today to pick carrots/leeks/sprouting broccoli and my first celeriac ever, (it smelt divine ) and a spell of weeding. Can now get on and move some more rotted compost onto empty beds for winter.
I am just putting the last tweaks to my seed order, and have a dither on tomatoes. Was not so keen on the 'marmande' , but will give them another go next year, just to be sure. But there is one called St Pierre, which is supposed to be lovely, but is a late variety, so do I gamble? hmmmm....

Hello! Just read through all of your updates. How did the baking go, shove, or did you buy one? I love to bake, but I don't think it's worth the hassle if you don't enjoy it!

Zebra how goes the barn-lowering (awesome idea, BTW).

I am also debating my fruity future. I have 2 blackcurrant bushes, but I don't really like blackcurrants and I CBA to pick them. So I'm tempted to just pull them out. The fruit bed is over crowded anyway and it would mean I could move my jostaberry over a bit so it doesn't attack me every time I head into the greenhouse.

Still harvesting tomatoes here. Think we have cured DDog's tomato fetish as he ate all the ones he could reach than had a go at the next plant, which happened to be a chilli. Poor dog.

Leeks are nearly ready I think. Very excited by the prospect of leek & potato soup from my own veg.

Had a quick look at the purple sprouting yesterday - despite being deccimated by caterpillars I can see some little purple shoots - so maybe I'll be lucky and get something from them after all!

I need to spend some time clearing and digging over the plot - hopefully it'll be nice this week!

I'm here. Have been doing weeding, weeding and more weeding, or to be more accurate, couch grass root removal. The former grassy area that I cardboarded and grew potatoes in this year was chock full of couch grass roots and I decided the only thing to do was clear them by hand, loosening with a fork first. Took about 6 hours in total and ended up with at least 4 wheelbarrow loads of roots to clear 3x2m, but it's looking good now. Weeds have taken over all my other cultivated areas too, but much less pernicious ones so clearing all those next. I am going to cardboard the rest of the grassy areas again this winter and try and clear a bit at a time once the top turf is broken down, that worked really well for the patch I have just done.

collapses in heap

Well, I managed to make and ice the cake. The result looked a bit like something a small child would produce in a school cooking lesson (or one of those Pinterest vs real life pictures with the caption 'nailed it'!). I made a big marzipan version of our very fat cat in the middle and then marzipan mice around the outside (well, they actually looked more like marzipan bunnies). Fortunately, DH loved it (well, it made him laugh) so THANK GOD IT'S OVER!!

(Next year, I think I will follow cedar's advice and just buy one!).

Thanks for the offer of help book - if only I'd read it earlier I'd definitely have taken you up on it! I can't really blame school, because I know loads of great domestic cooks who are entirely self-taught, but I do wish I had learned how to do the basics of things like pastry and cakes back when I was a kid. It's not having even the first idea what stuff is supposed to look like at each stage that's the killer!!

Hahahahaha! Oh poor cupcakedog and the chilli. I did laugh, though!!!

I haven't done anything at the plot - including harvesting. Hoping to get down later today and tidy things up a bit. I really need to get back on top of things before they get out of control, so I think a fair few hours this week are called for.

Well done on your mammoth weed-clearing efforts whoknows. You really will have weakened those nasties - it's well worth the hours, though back-breaking work.

Evening!
Cupcakes - no point in growing stuff you don't like. We do like blackcurrants, and it is a pain to harvest them. I am jettisoning a redcurrant and a gooseberry in my fruit cage, and putting in a white currant instead. I harvested jostaberries for the first time this year,( enough for a very small crumble ) and they look like being a good addition.
I have just started digging up leeks - the first variety is trying hard to go to seed ( I bought them in plugs -Jolant I think) My main crop are not due until later in the season. Love leek and potato soup here as well :) and poor, poor DDog !
WhoKnows - hope you have a good sense of satisfaction in getting rid of the couch - it gets everywhere, doesn't it?
shove gets the gold medal award for baking above and beyond the call of duty :)
all the waffling from me hides the fact that I didn't get to the plot today (had DGS) but have to get down there sometime tomorrow - the cauliflowers are ganging up on me , so cauliflower cheese and cauliflower and blue cheese soup beckons :)

Ooh, like the sound of your cauli plans Book. Unfortunately no one in our house likes it except me, the same is true of a lot of other veg.

Well done on the cake Shove, I like baking and do it quite a bit, but cakes are still a bit hit and miss for me.

Cupcakes - I got rid of two redcurrant bushes on the basis that they were taking up about two square metres and had grass under them (they were the former residents of the 2x3m patch of couch grass I was clearing earlier) and that there is only so much redcurrant crop that we need. I've kept one which is in a tucked away corner. I happened to be looking at the allotment on google earth with a friend today and could see how massive they were at one point.

Managed another hour of clearing weeds today, much easier as it is ground that was clear previously and has just been been neglected for the last couple of months (or to be more precise, since the DCs broke up from school in July). Luckily my plot is in fuil sun at this time of year so it was lovely working with the warmth on my back.

Evening
A bit cooler today - had to wear a fleece, even while working, doing the manure heap/compost heap challenge. That is - barrowing 4 loads of manure onto plot, leaving a nice empty area in the corner, to turn the compost heap into .- At least they are next to each other !

evening!
has anyone grown alpine strawberries? I have been offered a great big load of them . Reading up, its lucky to get fruit to harvest, but they are great ground cover ( is that shorthand for 'weed' ? )

I grow alpine strawberries at the plot - was given a few plants and they have spread under my espalier trees saving me a job of weeding! I think they are worth it. The fruit are small and far from luscious in texture, but they have a very different, slightly sharper and more vivid strawberry flavour which is great in things like cakes (since you're a fabulous baker, I think you would appreciate this!!) I don't have any problems getting plenty of fruits from them, though slugs do like them so I do down straw, the same as I would for normal strawbs.

Oh, and fantastic work on the manure store! It's good to get it piled up this time of year - makes me feel 'ready' for next season!