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

Morning!
Spotted - the weather has been so foul, I'm surprised any work gets done at all.
I have been down for a quick hour today- I promised I wouldn't be long as my DGS kindly passed on the horrible, snotty head cold he had earlier in the week. But the fresh air has helped to loosen the sinuses :)
But cold this morning - had to scrape the windscreen.
So re-covered the broad beans with fleece - well the 3 that have dared to sprout ( I had another 2 sprouts laid on the ground - I think flattened and snapped off by the wind and old fleece) - I may have to sow some more. My garlis is being very lazy - can only see 1 just starting to poke out of the ground , so fingers crossed there.
I cut down the last of the asparagus and picked sprouts and sprouting broccoli for tea. I had so many sprouts, I swapped some for a red cabbage :)

ooh , and yes to hoping all is well with shove

I actually managed to get to the allotment on Saturday - it was dull but dry in the south. Actually things don't look too bad. My normal garlic is through, no sign of the elephant garlic as yet. (In fact I was looking at the bed and thinking the grass was growing before I twigged that it was actually the garlic!).

We harvested a few weedy leeks and some very small beetroot (lesson is that I must must try to actually thin them out next year!).
Then dug in my summer green manure. My winter green manure is doing well from the first sowing, on the bed sowed later on nothing much came up at all so covered it over with a tarpaulin to ignore it for a bit.

Hope you're feeling better bookbook and thanks for the words of wisdom about asparagus upthread.
ethelb I don't think young dogs and gardening are compatible. They're too bouncy!

well, I am hoping that having braved the shops to do some much needed stuff for the 25th, I may be able to slink down to the plot tomorrow. That is as long as it isn't raining, and hoping it isn't a quagmire either. Must get some sprouts and spinach picked...

oh, and thanks cedar - not too bad now!
My green manure is looking quite good, after that sharp frost nearly did for it. Hoping to dig it in spring

afternoon/evening!
Hope everyone is well out there
I got to the plot today - first time since Sunday. DH came and we finally got the grass cut - surely the last cut before spring? fingers crossed.
Finished tidying/weeding the asparagus bed ready for a deep mulch, picked some spinach for tea. And then it started to drizzle, and then went dark. The days are so short at the moment.
Its all quite lush and damp , and my soil is on chalk, so fairly free draining. Hate to think how everyone else is coping.
My mushroom spawn arrived in the post - read the instructions and have put it away until March - it's best when the temp is between 10º and 20º, and I can't guarantee that until then , so no point really. Some quite good instructions with it, including how to make well rotted compost

I've the old sparrowgrass, to no result.

Today being 41 it was time to drive stakes into the corners of the raised beds and tie on some shade cloth. No amount of watering can counteract blazing sun, though as it happens, cloud has rushed in and it's trying to rain.

DH has just rung me to say the car showed 38 when he left the house, passed through a torrential downpour about a mile down the road that lasted for about five minutes and lowered the temperature by 6 degrees. This is temporary, I can assure you, and it'll be back at 38+ within the hour.

The plants will be OK, I'm only concerned for echtdog and the goldfish. Echtcat has decamped for under the house for the duration.

afternoon!
Oh echt - 41º- my friend in Adelaide has had a warning of highs today of 44º - goodness knows how you cope!
Has your asparagus been in long? They don't like wet roots, which I cannot believe you could have a problem with,and they don't like wind rocking the roots either.
I have not done any plot today, life gets busy around about this time, but I am hoping to get there tomorrow to do a bit and harvest a bit. To make up for not going, I did my Christmas clean of every bird feeder - (and I have a few). The weather has been so damp/wet etc that the seeds have just been turning into sprouting concrete in the feeders, no matter what I do. Tomorrow is the chinese puzzle of putting them back together :)

Excited to hear about your mushroom spawn. Where did you get it?

We've just been down to harvest kale, cabbage and the horseradish. I got 750g of the stuff. Any ideas for recipes which require more than tbsp of it at a time.

Here it is:

Afternoon!
ethelb - I'm sorry, but I've been cooking a long time but I don't have many recipes for horseradish. Its hot stuff. Though horseradish and beetroot makes a nice accompaniment to salmon/mackerel/sushi if you eat fish? Can you do a swap with someone?
I ordered my mushroom spawn from Kings seeds via our allotment society- I was a bit of a wuz and just ordered the simple white cap mushrooms, though they do have shitake/oyster and chestnut available as well. I bet they are available from most places.I just took a punt as they say I should get between 5-8 lb of mushrooms , and the spawn cost £4.65 , so should be quids in if they sprout. I'm pretty sure that shove bought plugs to put in rotting wood from a specialist, but mine are going in boxes in the garage!

Bookbook thanks for the heads up on the mushroom spawn.

So far today we have made:
Ale and horseradish mustard
Horseradish vodka
Horseradish prepared and frozen
Horseradish prepared and jarred

I will be giving away/freezing the rest!

Afternoon all.

Got into the greenhouse for a bit today, potted on the peas and broad beans that germinated when the seed tray they were drying out in got soaked after a pane of glass blew out. Also sowed some quince and asian pear seeds, and some other stuff I had lying around. Tidied up a bit. then went to the allotment, mowed the grass and loads of greenery, dug over a bed, removed loads of perennial roots, turned two full compost bins [it is all rotting down lovely] and had a marvellous time with the lovely sun and warm air around.

Afternoon
the weather has been awful here for the last couple of days - rain and gales.( though much too warm!)
I have to get down to the plot in the next, rather crammed, couple of days to pick sprouts, leeks,parsnips and sprouting broccoli. I am just praying for a break in the rain, on Thursday pretty please to the weather gods!
My seed order turned up yesterday , so will have a quiet few minutes to go through my seed box and get all ready :)

Well, no gardening in the last few weeks, but we are enjoying various pickles and chutneys courtesy of the allotment and my new potting shed has turned out to be a great place for present storage and wrapping, have had a couple of afternoons up there with my radio and thermal mug, even though it's unheated it stays fairly warm.

I just wanted to wish you all a very Merry Christmas, I have loved being on this thread this year and look forward to carrying on next year.

two hours at the allotment today; I got given 5 bags of leaves so I mowed them and used them as a mulch on one of my beds after watering them once on the beds. Sawed up another pallet for my students to use for woodwork projects.

Lovely today - bright but cold.

I am jealous - its been good weather today, the first for ages, and I was too busy to go to the plot. Am dashing in tomorrow morning for picking, just hope it isn't raining!

Morning!

• I was just idly drinking a second cup of tea at 9 o clock- it started looking a bit ominous . So I dashed down to the plot, and got my veggies picked, and also dug up the last of a rhubarb plant which is going to a new home ( tomorrow!). It started to rain as I was putting stuff away, and then it has heaved it down since. But I don't care now! I do hope everyone has the Christmas they wish for and a very fruitful and peaceful New Year

It has been horrendous rain here but the rain stopped today, so went and had a quick look down at the plot. All okay, and my newly emptied water butt ( which holds 1,000 L ) has now about 150-200 litres in it from the last 2 days....
I do hope everyone is safe, and not affected by the flooding

Merry Christmas everyone!

Sorry I haven't posted recently - I returned from Lisbon (which was great) and was overtaken by family crises (several relations in need of more care than they were getting) and then a stiff bout of proper flu where I couldn't get out of bed for ages. But having been well enough to see the news over the last couple of days, I had to come and check whether people are surviving with the flooding, especially bookbook! Relieved to know things are OK!

I haven't done any gardening at all for well over a month . However, DH did do some (ridiculously late) planting of bulbs in the garden to cheer me up. It is very mild here, and a lot of the March-flowering plants already have flower buds. Am concerned about what happens if it gets very cold now...

well, I just wrote a post and it went dead....
Morning!
so glad to hear from you shove I hope the family crises are resolved, (though there is always stress on you once that has happened) and take care of yourself, and your recuperation - its slow going from bad flu ( voice of experience)
We did have a flash flood on Boxing Day down our little main shopping street, but no homes were affected. York is 15 miles away, and that is where my DD lives and works, but her house is okay thank goodness, and it seems to be gradually receding. Its just heartbreaking though.
I am going to the plot this afternoon, on the hope that it is dry enough to get a bit of work done - it was dry yesterday (yay!) and its dry today, so there is a good chance at least to sort out a few things

well, I managed a good 2 hours, and it was bliss - sun and no wind.
I started to tidy up in the fruit cage - the blackcurrant has started to bud, and smelt divine.
On the minus side, all of my broad beans and peas have disappeared - whether due to pests, wind or rain is a moot point - they have gone, so I need to resow and put some in pots as a back up
1 row of garlic has just nicely come up, but only 2 sprouts from the second row mmmmm- fingers crossed they are just taking their time.
I had a little time to potter as well, after picking some leeks and sprouts, so I pruned back a buddleia on the side of the shed - well on the way with new growth .

Blowing a bit too much for enjoyable plotting today - off into greenhouse to sow broad beans .....

We managed two hours earlier and nearly got blown away on our plot which is windy at the best of times.
Popped in some jermor shallots, casablanca garlic and the rest of the shakespeare onion sets as part of a what the hell moment. Its so warm its essentially an autumn sowing as forecasts suggest we will be still quite mild here for the next two weeks at least. If anything Im concerned it wont be cool enough for the garlic to clove.
One of the weirder things I found when I was down was a number of potato plants growing. Not just on my plot but on other's compost heaps too! How odd for them to be growing now!
Glad to hear you havent had too hard a time Bookbook. We were staying nr Harrogate for Christmas and the weather and flooding was apocalyptic. I feel so bad for people who have lost their homes and allotments up there, not to mention power cuts etc. it is awful.

Hello all (and welcome back Shove - sorry to hear you've been having such a rough time of it).

Hope you all had good Xmasses. Still not much gardening recently for me. Although I did hack some overhanging branches off a massive ash tree yesterday.

It's weird weather, isn't it? And I have a very very mild version of it -I hope no one reading this is badly affected. So this December, I have both picked and eaten a couple of strawbs, and seen the snowdrops in flower. My daffs and tulips are popping up too. And my rhubarb was only dormant for about a week, the crowns are covered in leaves again, so I have put off dividing them. A summer raspberry, that was cut down, is trying to flower, anf a flowering currant has managed to. And my quince trees has leaf buds looking ready to pop, yet it has not been dry enough to prune the apple tree at the allotment.

I never did get round to putting in my garlic, which was probably a good thing as it would just have rotted. Maybe after Frank leaves I will, and see if we get the 40 days of cold, or whatever it supposedly needs to form cloves?

All my broadies are still alive, although the ones at the allotment are looking much taller and healthier than the ones at home which are all gnarled and holey. The plot broadies were sown in modules, and the home ones, direct. I have more seed so will probably do more in spring, in any case.