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....

book - it looks just magical! Absolutely nothing here. Not a snow sausage.

My beans aren't up yet either, zebra. I've had this before with them - they hide and hide and hide. Waiting for me to sow a second lot. And then they appear. I am toughing it out a bit longer and give them stern stares to hurry them on. .

I'm off to Lidl for a pair of shears on your recommendation! too My old ones are rusted and bent and just so blunt that you couldn't cut butter with them.

This is WitchsCat here :)

Thanks for the tip about Lidl, I can probably make a detour there tomorrow :D

Talk to me about weedsheeting then? Where do I get it and what do I do with it?

We went to see Lottie today and she is actually in a much better state than I thought. We had a bit of a hack at the brambles and it's looking loads better already. There's a wheel barrow there and in the shed and greenhouse there are millions of Useful Things, tonnes of pots, a hosepipe, some tools, netting etc. There are some things which could be currant bushes, not sure, but my greenfingered mum is coming at the weekend so she will tell me.

I've got so many things I want to grow! Leeks
Onions
Garlic
Carrots
Artichokes
Peas
French beans
Tomatoes
Pumpkin
Courgette
Broccoli
Brussels sprouts
Quinoa
Raspberries
Strawberries
Blueberries
Jostaberries
Rhubarb (there's already some there!)
Cherry
Plums
And honey! We're allowed bees so I'd like to look into getting a couple of hives at some point although probably not in year 1!

I'd like to learn about companion planting so will be doing marigolds, sage etc. And dd will have a patch of smelly things, lavender, herbs, and a nasturtium teepee and a bug hotel and a little pond :)

Can I play even though I don't allotment any more? Gave it up as the snarky letters about our raised beds being an inappropriate use of the land got too stressful. I now grow in my own garden where I can do as I damn well please, as long as I do it in a teeny tiny way.

Evening!
absolutely everyone welcome here doesthat it sounds like a weird thing to be snarky about - lots of the plots at my site are just raised beds - there is a total mix. You only get a letter at our place if your weed seeds are too numerous and blow onto other plots ( and someone got evicted due to his being a 'nature reserve' ie feeding pigeons )
hello again gruffalotattoo - thats a lovely mix of stuff, some a bit more long term than others perhaps, but thats what it is all about. Great that you have a starter pack on tools and bits - its an enormous help, and saves a lot of initial cost outlay. It may be just a tweak late for garlic this year, though if you can still get hold of some, it may be worth a punt - usually its planted in autumn/early winter.
weedsheeting is used to cover ground that you haven't time to sort out just yet - it can be bought (called weed suppressant) from places like Aldi/Lidl/Wilkos etc or just use cardboard weighted down (good tip from WhoKnows is filling empty plastic milk bottles as weights)

Evening all,

5 mins of snow here today apparently (I was at work and missed it). We're pretty far south and don't get it very often though.

Book - no, haven't done anything about the shed yet, I seem to always have too many other things that need sorting out at the moment. It has been much better the last few weeks, think it's only when it's really stormy that it's letting water in.

theWitchscat - your plot looks VERY much like mine did when I took it over 2.5 years ago. I haven't got it all useable yet, but I had about 2/3 of it planted last simmer and it's gradually all coming together.

Well, today I have made lots of little newspaper pots to start sowing seeds in, I have a day off work on Friday and hope to get some sowing done then.

whoknows - the cheapest place I have found for weedsheeting is ebay. You can buy enough to cover 3/4 of the space, weigh it down with old bricks or water bottles (and it needs a lot of weighing down). It will ensure that the weeds are dying in those areas as you work on the first quarter of the plot and prevent you fighting a constant losing battle to get the whole thing clear. It looks a bit like a goth allotment when it's done!

If you have soil that's bare and not going to be used for a while, weedsheeting it temporarily can help warm the soil and will again stop nasties sprouting back. (Personally I only leave it down for a short time on dug soil, though, as I find that if it's there for longer it can destroy all the nice texture you've put in with the spade!)

Once you've got each sector in use, you can use the weedsheeting under paths too.

This is obvious and you've probably already thought of it, but have a look at where the light falls on the plot. You want stuff that needs heat to grow in the sunniest spot (tomatoes, courgettes). Stuff like raspberries and rhubarb, on the other hand, don't mind a bit of partial shade.

Hallo good title for the new thread.

Managed to actually get quite a lot of work done last weekend. We spread manure over a fair chunk of it (although I'm now slightly worried that it was reasonably fresh still so might not have been the best move at this time of year). Quite a lot of digging and weed clearing. The tarpaulins have managed to keep the weeds down quite nicely. I think the difference has been that the areas I managed to weed properly in the autumn and then left open have had some weeds but not too many. The areas I didn't get around to weeding properly once the planting was cleared have loads of grass on them and look like they've never been planted. The areas with the tarpaulin have a few weeds growing underneath but hardly any. (Apart from the horsetail but nothing is going to kill that off).

The soil is still damp and soggy but that's the price of planting on clay I guess.

I think I might have to look through my seeds and get a few planted up fairly soon now.

Ooh hello everyone. Been delivering to teachers this week which is quite heavy going. Will pop over and look at that other thread now.

And yay - officially spring.

Evening!
Little to report here, apart from a quick trip to pick stuff, as too busy today .
Tomorrow I have time, and the weather forecast is just , and I have shallots to plant .....
May sow a few more seeds instead.
Am trying to decide whether buying a polytunnel/fruit cage may be a possibility to use as a brassica cage . Looking at one 6m x 4m but thats not an 'off the peg' size so not sure I can justify the cost, though it would save DH (and me !) a lot of hard work.

book - for that kind of size, I've wondered about using the frame for a gazebo, anchored in with postcrete. And then draping netting over it. You can sometimes get the frames on Freecycle for nothing or ebay cheaply because someone's got sick of it/the cover is broken. Dunno how well those frames stand up to wind, though - I've never really seen one up close!

No gardening for me this weekend as inlaws are visiting. Double .

Had another brilliant afternoon yesterday, hacking back brambles :) discovered a raised bed half full of some lovely soil. There seems to be carpet over a lot of the plot, obviously meant to hold back weeds but now it's totally overgrown with weeds! Would you rip it all up and get rid of it?

I bought some little child size tools and a play tent for dd (4) and along with some sugar filled appropriate snacks they kept her really happy for hours. Does anyone else allotment with young children? Any tips?

Hello All, I've been meaning to post here for ages!

Got my first allotment just over a year ago, it was (literally) 6 ft high with brambles so the past year has been clearing more than growing. I got a few fruit bushes and tayberries in the ground last year and have a masterplan for the next few years. Full raised bed design and a box of nice seeds (i've been seduced by James Wong!) at the ready. I love the planning bit :)

I'm slightly scuppered by my DS's (1 and 3) who love 'helping' at the allotment, and a house which has a LOT of diy needed, so DH is always busy.

We've had plastic sheeting down at the allotment over winter which now needs re-laying. I planned to do it today but now it's sleeting outside!

I made it to lidl yesterday too, got some real bargains. I took a punt on a cox's orange pippin tree which was £5.99. It cross pollinates with 'sops and wine' apples which I already have so fingers crossed it establishes well.

girlwithagruffalotattoo - I have my children at the allotment, the best advice I have is let them have a patch to grow their own. You can draw faces on pots and make little 'pot people', do bug hunts, have picnics, keep a stash of toys in the shed. I plant extra of everything because my 3 year old 'helps' and ends up breaking/crushing some of the plants.

To be honest I find it hard to get a lot done with them there, hopefully as they get older it will be easier. There are ponds on a couple of the allotments so I have to be vigilant.

Ours had carpet hidden under brambles too, best to get rid as it leeches chemicals. Lots of allotments don't allow carpets any more.

Morning!
pretty grim out there today.
shove - I have been trawling through ebay/gumtree for a couple of months now to see if anything nearish to me comes up. There is one not too far away, just put on , but its a big one, and not in great condition so we are debating.... We need to cost up all the posts for a new construction to compare price against effort
gruffalotattoo - I would get rid of the carpet asap if I were you. It was common years ago as a form of weed suppressant, but its a real pain to get out once the weeds have started to grow into it.
welcome isambardo I am retired, so not the same problem with youngsters, though my 3 year old DGS likes to help at home - cue lots of digging up small seedlings, and watering seeds in a tsunami type fashion . I have taken him a couple of times to the plot, but he is totally smitten with the chickens 3 plots away.....so I spend most of my time 'herding' rather than doing anything vaguely useful .
Coxs Orange Pippin is my DH's favourite apple, but up here in East Yorkshire it can struggle, so I have a new variety called 'Sunset" which is supposed to be a good alternative for us northeners - will be allowing it to crop this year for the first time - its been in for 2 years, and was a 2 year maiden when I bought it , so I have fingers crossed!

Bookbook that's interesting about growing apple trees further north - I'm in the heart of apple country in Somerset so hopefully my trees should do alright!

book - It's tricky, isn't it? I bet there will be loads more on as people clear out their sheds in April/May, but that might be a bit late for you.

I have wondered about making things out of copper piping using those joint things that plumbers use to turn corners. I dunno if that works out more than a bespoke cage though!!

I pulled loads of stainless steel pipes out of a skip (neighbours were getting rid) and drilled through to run wires around. Problem is, my postcreting was woeful - I was too stingy on the mix, I think. So I need to re-crete the lot soon. DIY is not my strong suit.

Shove cooper's quite valuable, you'd get quite a bit for it at the scrappy so probably not worth it for a fruit cage, and unfortunately would be attractive to thieves! Of course that won't be a problem if you live in a naice area.

Welcome Isambardo, I'm in Wiltshire so not too far from you probably.

gruffalo I have a veggie patch at home rather than an allotment, so a bit easier with my DS (3). However he loves playing with his diggers in the soil and will do that for hours. I second the suggestion of making sure your DD has a space of her own to do what she likes, saves you fretting about her digging up too much of your stuff!

Does anybody know what would be a good cross pollinator with a Braeburn apple? I had hoped one of my neighbours would have something but as I've not had any fruit off of mine in 3 years I guess not!

Afternoon!
Cupcakes got in ahead of me - DH said no way with copper, miles too expensive- he's a cheapskate I am thinking hardwood posts or tannilised posts as the probability if not a polytunnel.
isambardo lucky you in Somerset , lovely county
Apple trees are in pollinator groups 1-4 - you can usually branch a bit out into the next group for normal purposes. Braeburn is in group 4, so you could probably get away with one in group 3 as well, or a crab apple, or another braeburn as its self fertile. Mind you, bees are usually pretty good at this!
there is a list here Cupcakes
www.gardenfocused.co.uk/fruitarticles/apples/variety-braeburn.php

You can buy the blue pipe from wickes and put that over canes to make a brassica cage. Or, as I recommend to people, limit the brassicas you grow in the first place. Just too greedy and time consuming.

Thats heresy Doreen - we love brassicas .

So do I but they are so damn annoying! I stick to kohl rabi, swede, cabbage, pak choi [after midsummer's day] and that's pretty much it.

I found that if I corralled the winter ones ( sprouts/broccoli/ sprouting broccoli/kale/savoy cabbage) into one big cage that I could walk around, they have pretty much looked after themselves once planted . Worth the effort for us anyway ! The rest - cauliflowers and other cabbages are just covered by hoops and net . I was thinking of giving kohlrabi a go this year, as I have so much more space now .

Afternoon!
I was busy this morning , so popped up to the plot late this afternoon for a quick faff and harvest . A complete de-stress hour and a half , planting the last of the shallots, and digging out couch grass, with added bonuses of some of the most beautiful and vivid rainbows I think I have ever seen. Shame I am not better at taking photos, but here is just one :)

We spent this morning clearing up various bits of rubbish on the plot. We STILL have stuff to get rid of from previous tenants from 2 years ago . In my defence it is tough without a car and they left A LOT if crap.

I shoved in some more Stuttgart onion sets as I think it is about the right time. The ones I stuck in a couple of weeks ago haven't appeared yet though.

Lots of the overwintering onions (Shakespeare) I planted at the 'right' time in late October have split which is a shame. I think it was as they grew so much in the warm weather and then it got cold.
I put the rest in on 30 Dec 2 weeks before the first frost (would you believe it?) and they are coming up ok so fingers crossed.

When are people putting in their first earlies, some say from end of Feb in SE England but that seems much too early and they have only been chitting for 3 weeks. Has anyone put them in yet?

Popped to the lottie today to drop off a huge bag of shredded paper and to dig out some leeks. Eating them right now.

Start the new job tomorrow. Have dug out a shed load of seeds for them to pick through and sow.