Allotment/Veg Patch Thread 5 - The Diggers Rest !

[bookbook]

Thanks to teacuphalfempty for supplying the title .
so, its the 1st of March, the meteorological spring is here, and it's all systems go for the coming growing season. Let's hope for a good one -no pests and diseases, enough rain overnight and plenty of sunshine. Well, we can dream....

grouchy they eat slugs and other nasties.

"Ddog is also scared of them after an unfortunate ball/hedgehog confusion a fee years back."

Poor doggie!!

I guess many of us grew up with Mrs Tiggywinkle, kiwi! Plus, hedgehogs eat slugs so are thought of as a bit of a gardeners' friend (though I understand the evidence on this is a bit mixed - my sister overwinters hedgehogs, and thinks that slugs are a smaller % of their diet than most people believe). The fact that they are disappearing at an alarmingly fast rate - not so much a decline as a nosedive, unfortunately - also helps their case. Plus, they are just cute

I love the sound of your purple beans echt.

I had to sit in the house ALL evening yesterday because an Amazon delivery was late and I can't hear the door in the garden (I am 3/4 deaf). While the sun shone, and the birds sang. It didn't come til 8.30, by which time it was too dark and it is raining this morning. WOE IS ME! On the upside, I now have a robot hoover which is brilliant. It will clean up all the mud the cat and I bring in the house from the garden, to the consternation of DH.

Morning!
no chance of hedgehogs being a pest here with the fall in population Grouchy.
But maybe just some of us are wildlife nuts? I have bird feeding stations in my garden, wildlife heaps, bee/insect and bird boxes...... I could go on...
poor shove - nothing worse than sitting waiting while you could be doing something interesting. But I think looking, it should stop raining for you soon?
We have a dry day supposedly, so will be heading off this afternoon, to see if I can finish the prep for the potatoes .
Cupcakes - you got your free weekend at last :) I do think tidying is very therapeutic.

Evening!
well, after a morning and most of the afternoon of needing to be at home , I finally did a dash and got away to the plot for an hour.
Did a fair bit more prep for the potatoes, and picked some perpetual spinach for tea. Finished getting rid of some broken down pallets. Still home in time to prick out sprouts, broccoli and brokali ( why is it called almost the same ???).
Did bring my tomatoes in from the greenhouse, as its looking a bit nippy tonight.

I'm not sure we have any hedgehogs around here but I'm think they'll come back when the building is over.

I managed to get my little seedlings potted into decomposing pots today (amidst a rain shower) and I've repotted my lemon tree in my final attempt to revive it. The roots were all brown, though, so I think that it's not likely to survive. I might get another and risk it in a sheltered spot outside.

Will hopefully get new seeds on the go at the weekend. I'm going to put them straight into the decomposing pots for ease.

Evening!
a bit of chomping at the bit here. Today has been showers , and hail, with a bit of sunshine in between. So no plot again. Instead I did a bit of weeding around my summer raspberries at home, and sorted out my herbs in pots, and a little bit of this and that in the greenhouse.
Fingers are crossed for tomorrow. I just need a couple of hours of dry weather !
Grouchy - a lemon tree !- do you keep it indoors over winter? I don't sadly have anywhere one could go

We have a lemon espaliered against the garage wall and in five years it has only borne two blooms and no fruit. It's in a very good position, too. I will give it a talking to, having found that threatening to dig up a recalcitrant plant often gets it to to buck its ideas up.

On the plus side, the snow peas, broad beans and daikon I sowed in the veggie beds on the 27th March are already sprouting.

books It's been living inside in a pot since I got it - it's a Meyer lemon and apparently they're happy to live inside. Except this one is not happy at all. My Scottish gardening book says that you can grow Meyer lemons outside in Scotland, and I'm in the right bit to do it, so I think it's worth a try.

Could it be the compost? I always work on the principle that if it is an outdoor plant which is kept mostly indoors, a good loam/soil based compost is required IYSWIM.
I would love to have one!

I'm testing that theory now, books. Have put it in a lovely compost with excellent ratings. I hope it's not too late!

Frustrated here too, haven't been to the plot since Monday, combination of school holidays, visitors and rain. I have been pottering away at home though, got a big production line of planted seeds and various size seedlings all working their way through the system - I start them in newspaper pots either in an incubator on the windowsill or in the potting shed if they don't need warmth, then as soon as they are strong enough move them to larger pots to make room for more seeds in the incubator.

Hedgehogs - we had one quite regularly last summer, in fact DS was asking tonight if I thought it would be back this year, really need to start putting food out. DH is a keen stargazer and it used to come out and keep him company in the middle of the night last year. We don't feed birds, there are so many cats here that it would make the birds sitting targets but I am thinking about putting a bird feeder pole up at the allotment.

Afternoon!
my birds are near a lot of cats too! I have at least 4 that think my garden is theirs :) But I have most of the feeders fairly high up a pole.
I managed a whole morning at the plot, and finished all the prep ready for planting potatoes.
Also at home have sown cauliflowers, white and purple sprouting broccoli, and a first small sowing of calabrese. Second sowing of leeks just nicely germinated.
Then I fell off my bike and really bashed my knee so no kneeling to weed for me for a few days now....

Hello hello! I'd hoped to get to the plot this afternoon but it rained, again. So I didn't. I really do need to get there soon and finish my path -I've currently got weedy mud lumps piled about, which must really be upsetting my unfeasibly tidy plot neighbours (who are lovely, but very very tidy).

My 1st lot of broad beans are now in full flower, and my second lot are now ready to be planted out. So I think I'll sow some more -maybe I'll chance a direct sowing? Things still taking ages to germinate (not sown direct so not in cold wet ground) - nothing yet from my beetroot, my other thing that I've forgotten, or my leeks. Although the latter can take a while, can't they? My 2nd chard is up now, and the 1st lot is grpwing well, so that's good.

And in tomato news, my sole survivor of the Bad Compost continues to thrive, and I am now expecting great things from it. And my re sown toms all seem ok is, and will need potting-on in a few days. So my tomato game is Back On . And some chillies have finally popped up, some 7 weeks after they were sown. Wowsers.

I'm visiting my mum tomorrow, she has asked me to have a garden today up for her (she's v arthritic). I have to do some hacking back, and that is almost my favourite thing - I LOVE hacking.

Ooh, and I enquired about a 2nd allotment, but the only ones free are between annoying / interfering people. I really don't want that - it wpuld absolutely negate my plotting pleasure. So my empire won't be expanding this year, alas. I was really hoping that the woman opposite me was giving up - I've never seen her, and I have only once seen signs that she's been. And she left all her raspberries to rot, the meanie.

But her plot is very sunny and I covet it.

Ouch book - hope it recovers quickly.

Glad the tomato situation is improving Shove

I'm hoping for a decent session at the allotment tomorrow, the DCs are at my parents and the forecast for the afternoon is sunny. I really need to get potatoes and onions in.

Evening!
thanks WhoKnows - its a bit on the sore side. You know when you want to cry, but I am an old lady grown up , so couldn't.....!
Spotted that tomato is a survivor - glad your others are back on track. And nice to know the broad beans are thriving- it's lovely when all the hard work starts to pay off. Just as a thought, maybe you could do Joint Tenant with the woman on the other plot? Thats how I got my extra piece. Then after a year, it comes to you, if she doesn't want to continue. I dressed up my request as 'helping out to keep on top of the weeds' which was true!

Afternoon!
well, just been to dig up the last of the rhubarb which was in the new bit of plot ( I have someone wanting some). It was humungous. Luckily DH was with me, I don't think I could have done it, (not even without my sore knee.) It has split into 6 big bits, each with about 6 good growing buds, and seems to be solid root.
And I had a good look, and a very small furtle, and my asparagus is just there, waiting to come through , I can see the top of some tips :).

Hope your knee isn't too sore today, books.

DH has just finished mowing our lawns and it looks beautifully tidy out there. I planted my last few raspberry plants yesterday so hopefully they'll grow and do well.

My roses are growing beautiful leaves, there are buds all over both plum trees and the apple trees look like they're finally waking up. The blackcurrant and blueberry bushes are getting perfect little leaves too. It smells gorgeous out there.

One of my hostas is showing signs of life. I don't remember where the other one is so I hope it wakes up soon to remind me. Have a bad feeling it's been covered over by the loam stack...

I pruned my lemon tree today as it was looking too sad for words so now hoping the change of compost plus the prune help it recover from whatever ails it. I'll give it till the baby is born, I think, so it has 6 weeks to do something interesting. (Hopefully only 6 weeks anyway...)

Also set up some compost on the bare patches of our lawn and ordered grass seed, which will arrive tomorrow. Considering strewing some seed along the edges of the lines of turf which are always a little bare. Would this be a silly thing to do? Ordered some lawn food as well.

Plans for the week ahead: sow some more seeds outdoors (all the ones I've sown have come up now and are looking good), sow my tomatoes indoors, and work out what I'm going to do with flower seeds I have. And try to track down the final plant on the plan I prepared with the gardening consultant.

I have decided that I want to grow climbing roses against the fence between us and our neighbours on the right. Now need to work out whether 3 or 5 different plants would be enough to cover it eventually.

Afternoon/evening!

How exciting that your garden is coming together, Kiwi ! You must be feeling so proud.

We had a few nice and sunny hours today, so off I went to the plot. Then the weather changed, and I got soaked. I did lightly dig over a small area however, and I'll hopefully plant the first of my spring-sown broad beans out soon.

My (remaining) blueberries all have leaves - in fact one didn't seem to lose them over winter. Actually that is my 'Pinkberry'. And it seems to be ready to flower almost

And my blackcurrants appear to be at vastly different stages too. Some have leaves put already, some are about to pop with leaves, and one, Titania, still seems to be quite asleep. As does my white currant. Well, I hope it's asleep - but I fear it could be dead. I moved it in the winter...

Good to see that your poorly knee hasn't stopped you at all, booky - not that I'd imagine u ch wpuld stop you! Was your rhubarb leafy when you moved it? I wanted to split one of my crowns, but it never seemed very dormant, and I ready didn't want to kill it. It's well over knee-high high now - and I'm quite tall.

I'm copying Shove (on a different thread) as I too now have a mystery hole in my soil. But mine is smaller. It's right down, as if someone used a trowel to dig something up. But all that's there is my likely dead raspberries, and we are surrounded by other plot holders alive raspberries, so it can't be that. And they were planted out months ago, so I doubt it's a fox digging out the BFB.

And I did my mum's asking, so that was therapeutic. And gained me brownie points.

And my seed order finally arrived, so I sowed my summer savoury, which I've never actually tasted on its own, but which I desperately wanted to go wih beans. And I've planted more dill, and some Shiraz peas, which I'll eat as mangetout I think.

Hacking, not asking. Although the hacking was her ask.

Thanks folks - knee will hopefully sort itself with a bit of time :)
Grouchy - I just love this time of year. I tend to spend a lot of my time just wandering around looking at all the new growth, and exclaiming to DH about what is breaking bud/leaf. That is why gardening makes me happy. Fingers crossed for the lemon. I have idly mentioned to DH about getting one, to be flattened by the (quite true) response that we do not have anywhere to keep it in winter . I will dream of an orangery when I win the lottery! Edges of turves always seem to go a bit bald - they shrink back and dry out it seems to me ( and yet its been so wet!) but I am no lawn expert , sadly . I have green
Spotted - We hacked the rhubarb into chunks in virtual full leaf. Its such a solid thug, I don't think there will be a problem. One big chunk was dug out a while ago from the same clump, and I chucked a big chunk of root in my heap, ready to put in the green waste trailer. 4 weeks later- leaves appearing...it doesn't give up the fight easily. We have also moved two gooseberries and a blackcurrant fairly recently in the last 2 weeks, they seem to be doing okay, lots of leaf breaking , so hope yours are okay.
There is definitely something going on with unexplained holes....

Zebra is dill easy to grow ? I've always wanted to try but assumed it was rather delicate..

A friend has given me two black current... Well they aren't bushes, they're small sticks with leaves. Do they need anything special ? My plot is in full sun, poor soil (working on that) but a cold East anglian wind.

didireallysaythat it seemed to grow easily enough last year - which was my 1st year growing much. I don't really know what I'm doing! I grew it in pots, then planted out into heavy clay and the plants were strong and lasted until they flowered beautiful, then I hopefully scattered its seed. BUT I didn't grow enough to get good, regular crops from it. So this year I aim to grow more, and regularly!

Blackcurrant too grows quite easily. I took cuttings v badly, and probably 90% of them took! You can plant the blackcurrant deeply, and it should send up more shoots. We have some real blackcurrant experts on here - Kiwi comes from a b/c farming family, and booky gets kilos upon kilos of crop.
I got kilos this past summer -because someone gave them to me, and from that gift I took my cuttings. I will have kills in the future - I hope!

Evening!
and welcome to the thread didireally :)
Blackcurrants are a nice easy bush to grow. Choose a sunny spot , they are as tough as old boots. Just feed them ( I mulch 4-5" with rotted manure) and love them , they will grow. Just give them enough room- they may just be a stick at the moment, but allow them space to spread out and up - some varieties spread out quite a way. Mine survive quite nicely with a sharp East Yorkshire wind!
Well, this morning I managed to gift away all the rhubarb DH and I dug up yesterday. I then finished digging up all the rest of the roots. A big wheelbarrow full of enormous orange yellow monsters :) I have got all set up to plant potatoes during the week as well.
This afternoon was finishing sorting our new (to us ) shed out - we have gradually been getting to the back, and we made it this afternoon. Yet more goodies found . Lots of really useful wood - (that was what DH said - we have lots of that at home as well !) And I have brought home enormous quantities of pots, which will need to be washed.