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

So sorry, Cupcakes. What a nice way to remember him.

for you cupcakes. I'm so sorry to hear your news. Little furry personalities leave big holes when they go. He sounds like he was the most awesome dog.

Sorry to hear that Cupcakes. We had the same with our cat just before Christmas and it's tough, even when you know it's the right time.

Oh Cupcakes what sad news. As PP have said, it is so hard, isn't it, even when it is absolutely the kindest thing.

Obviously, I LOVE the idea of memorial tomatoes! I grew 2 black tomatoes last year - Black Krim and Black Cherry. Both were new to me last year, both I shall do again this year. The Krim is an unruly plant, that gave me so many armpits all of which i grew on. The fruit was gnarly and delicious, but yields were not super high, but we're nicely spread throughout the season. Black Cherry was more murky brown, and the plants just wanted to reach for the sky. The fruits were sweet, v v high yields and after I picked them all in blight panic, it was Black Cherry that lasted the longest - literally months.

Stupid question - Grouchy are you actually a Kiwi? If so, perpetual spinach is the same as spinach beet, I think. It's good, does really well for me just like chard - really low maintenance, all year round crop, nice and tasty and makes a good spanakopita.

So these blackcurrants - was that in NZ? Wow! I think that blackcurrants may be my new favourite fruit, having beaten out raspberries. But if my cherry fruits this year, that might take the top spot. So any blackcurrant tips or recipes or anecdotes you have will be most welcome.

booky you are right that I have blueberries. I have 4 or 6, depending on whether or not my dead-looking things make a miraculous recovery. Another did last year. All grown in pots in ericaceous soil, but I am a bit rubbish at ensuring I water with rain water and not my crazily hard - and hence alkaline - tap water. I also have a pink berry, new this autumn as I was using up vouchers. It's just a pink blueberry, apparently.

Afternoon - (quick dip in as looking after DGS)

Sorry to hear about ddog Cupcakes - he really did like tomatoes I seem to remember, so a good thought.

arti - I would suggest a controlled experiment on the runners beans. If you have the space or inclination, why not grow them both ways, and see which is best?

I will not be chitting potatoes just yet. I remember my very first attempt growing potatoes - chitted, and all planted in. A very old, but kind plotter came up and told me it was too early, and he went off and brought back a big roll of special potato covering used by farmers. It got very cold and I was very grateful as otherwise they would have all been killed off in the frost!

Sorry to hear about the woof cupcakes.

Black tomatoes would be a great idea.

Chitting potatoes; they start sprouting after the shortest day so Jan and Feb to chit, and in after 17th March if not later.

Spotted I am a proper Kiwi, and thank you for telling me that perpetual spinach is the same as silverbeet! I won't be growing it as I only like it in quiche.

My parents did grow blackcurrants in NZ. I think they stopped when I was 14 or so, though kept a small plot of a different kind for personal use (they grew Millest and Magnus, which I think are fairly old types, and then Dad put in the plot of Ben Something [there are so many!] later). I can ask them for their advice on growing many berries - will want to know for myself too. I do know that they thrive with heavy pruning. Dad used to take a tractor mower to them every couple of years after the growing season. Will post the recipes when I get them.

This is a very useful thread. I don't know what chitting potatoes is, but since I want to grow some I will find out!

Morning!
Grouchy - its getting the potatoes sprouting before planting them . I will not be starting mine until end Feb/beginning of March .
It helps to know the genearal last frost date for your area . I found this site quite useful
www.gardenfocused.co.uk/adjust-dates-uk.php

Well, I've been busy. Emptied the shed [we have a new bigger one coming], emptied the dalek and took around 3/4 of a ton of compost to the allotment, moved another ton of wood to the lottie to be stashed until we need it as it is still seasoning. It's wonderful to be outdoors on days like today! So fresh.

Evening!
gorgeous day, but needed to do some work in the garden. Still lovely though, and I was glad, as while tidying up, I saw my first, blue, anemone blanda coming into flower, and a big clump of the tiniest foxglove seedlings . At the plot we did get some fruit bushes pruned, a few more to go. Hopefully tomorrow I can get a bit more done - a few dry days make such a difference to the soil. I have a little bit of grass left to dig up, and just get everything shipshape before our holiday.

I miss blackcurrants. I've never seen them for sale, not even frozen since I came to Au. I would imagine only Tassie is cool enough to grow them well.

In a bid to exploit the frost-free zone I'm in, I'm having a go at chokoes. The first two fruit have sprouted but but the flesh of the fruit burned after being left on the window sill in searing afternoon sun, and it's rotting apace. I'm trying again with newly-purchased fruit. It's not the right time of year to plant, but as it's perennial, cheap to buy and will make a nice vine for the balcony.

Cupcakes sorry to hear about your dog.

Nothing to report here as no chance to go to the plot. Am probably the only person who has been pleased we've actually had some frosts here as maybe my garlic will split properly.

My seeds have arrived though and I have ordered dwarf borlotti beans, not climbers as I assumed. I shall report on how I get on with them later in the season.

I've never heard of chokoes echt what are they?

I didn't get to the plot today - I got sidetracked painting fences with cuprinol....:)
echt when my friend comes over, she gorges on my raspberries ! She can get them , but they are incredibly expensive I believe :) And chokoes sound interesting!

Chokoes! I have no idea what they are, but I love the name!

I have a question about stakes. I'm doing a row of espalier fruit trees, but I haven't yet put in stakes and wires due to laziness so in actual fact, what I have at present is a row of weird, deformed fruit trees around 3 metres apart. I'm going to start with the postcreting and staking this weekend, using Gripple wire. How frequent do you think the stakes need to be? Another way of putting this question might be... how infrequently do you think I can get away with? (The Gripple wire and tensioners will do a whole row with just two tensioners at either end, so this is really not a question about tensioning but about support/stability).

I'm surprised you can't get blackcurrants in Aus, echt. Maybe they're not popular enough to bother importing them from Godzone.

I'm kind of jealous of people who have stuff to do in their gardens, not that I have energy or anything right now. DH's Aunt gave me a subscription to Gardeners' World for my birthday and the first edition arrived today. I'm looking forward to reading that!

Evening!
Once your garden gets going Grouchy there will be things to be done. In fact not long at all really to spring :). My fence painting needed doing before things in the beds start to come through, and I won't beable to get near them - it has been ongoing since October, along with sheds and water butt sorting - a bit tricky with the amount of rain!
shove - I haven't ever done espaliered fruit, but my common sense would tell me a stake as near to the main upward trunk as possible, to support the horizontals at the trunk, and then one half way between the trees. But I am happy to be told different .

Good point, books. I've decided to make a spreadsheet (this makes me happy as an organisational nerd) with the crops I want to plant, when to sow/harvest etc.

shove We're trying espaliered apples in our garden, and the guys who did the heavy labour for us set them up before planting, so here's a photo of what they designed. The frame is just resting against the fence (as well as being deep enough in the garden to support the trees) and the boss recommended keeping them pruned more or less to the size of the frame as apparently they'll produce plenty of fruit that way. Our apples are Cox's Orange Pippin. Hopefully that's clear enough for you to see what they've done.

Here's a link about chokoes:

www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/08/28/1062050612273.html

In "Unreliable Memoirs", Clive James said: "It looks like an albino avocado and tastes like cellophane. Its only advantage lies in its cheapness. You can't stop chocoes growing. It takes a flamethrower to keep them down."

They got a bad rep during the war, like Woolton pie, snoek or powdered eggs in the UK.

My good news is that one of the fruit I bought on Thursday has sprouted - the heat of the garage seems to have worked.

Bookbook raspberries are stupidly expensive here and I refuse to buy them until they hit rock bottom. As we only buy seasonal fruit and veg, waiting can be a penance, though it reminds me of being child, when all produce was seasonal.

Hahahah! What a wonderful description - "tastes like cellophane"!! (As a side note, I made a Woolton pie for a friend's vintage birthday and it was surprisingly nice - hopefully the same is true of chokoes!!).

AT LAST I managed to get to the plot on Saturday. Cabbages and cauliflowers are coming on nicely, kale is still going strong, and chard is positively loving the mild conditions. Still harvesting good-sized celeriac too. And - excitement, excitement - unforced rhubarb shoots! I can't WAIT for them to be big enough to eat. On the downside, germination of my overwintering broad beans is a bit pathetic and all my peas have been snaffled by a mousey so I need to plant some more in the greenhouse soon.

Did some quick weeding and then my spring poo run. A great big steaming pile of well-rotted horse manure has now been deposited! I probably shouldn't be delighted about such a thing, but I am. I feel much more ready for the new growing season now.

Pruned my medium-sized Bramley apple in the garden yesterday. It's a vigorous grower that tends to send up loads of watershoots, so I'm trying a new pruning regime which involves taking half of those out in the summer and the rest in the winter. Apparently, this is supposed to calm it down a bit - we shall soon see. I also took out several hefty branches as it was a bit congested and I'm trying to work around to that classic bowl shape without shocking it too much. It's much close to bud break than I'd like - and this is in my north-facing, shaded garden. I am hoping desperately that it doesn't flower too early - this happened a couple of years back, and not only were there no insects around to pollinate it, but a severe frost a few days later meant that all the blossom withered. I had about two apples that year. Made me think when I heard the weather forecaster this morning describing the temperatures as 'good'. I hate the cold as much as anyone, but the weird unseasonal weather patterns aren't necessarily a brilliant thing for crops...

Oh, and thanks for the picture grouchy. Your fence is very handsome. I don't have any barrier to lean the trees against (they are the barrier, IYSWIM) so I think I'm going to need something more substantial than canes, unfortunately . It's good to get a sense of the spacing, though - it looks about right for where I've planted the trees!

Evening!
I have only popped to the plot to pick this weekend, as have had visitors.
shove my broad beans and peas are all gone - I checked on Saturday morning. No sign of broad beans at all, and a few bare stalks in the pea line - no leaves.... now what can that be [hmmm] I have sown broad beans at home in the greenhouse, and the first ones are just starting to show coming through the compost.
Its a big relief to get a big job like manuring done and out of the way - we may yet have bad weather come February, so its good it is on while it is still relatively mild.
I think we forget its still January , (and I still have grass to dig up!)

Phew! Well I've just caught up with this thread since I last posted a couple of weeks ago. Hello new people (and farewell to loved pets).

Have now ordered my seeds (from Kings, with the promo code - thanks book). Ordered White Lady for my runner beans and a bean called Purple Teepee, which I thought was a climber but then realised after ordering that it wasn't. No matter, I shall see how it fares.

Back to the subject of aphids on beans. I go out (almost) daily on aphid patrol and start squidging them off at first sight. Despite the fact that I rotate my crops anually ants always set up home under my bean plants. Then they are also out on patrol waiting to exploit the first arrivals. It's war out there I tell you - war!

What is the best thing to use against slugs? I'm not keen on anything my children could pick up and put in their mouths. Slugs seem to be the only thing we have in our garden at the moment (apart from some beautiful earthworms).

Best thing for slugs is a pond - which can just be a shallow tray left full of water for a winter or two in the same place...and lots of stick piles for the frogs that will eventually come to hide under. Or use brambles as a moat surrounding plants that you have planted out. Or go and pick them all out and leave them somewhere for the birds. Or plant out your plants much larger so that the slugs don't find them appetising.

Aphids on beans, best thing for that is to make sure you have lots of bug hotels for ladybirds to hibernate in. When they come out in the spring, they need a good breakfast before they mate and make new ladybirds, which firstly are larvae and look like little crocodiles. The Larvae eat loads more aphids in that state than the adults do.