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....

Yes! I made it to the plot today, in the beautiful evening sunshine. It was so lovely and peaceful.
And I planted out... broad beans! And the first lot of my Shiraz peas that I'm growing as mangetout.

I did a light spot of weeding - mostly bindweed which is looking as healthy as ever, and I just mimsied about a bit, as it was so nice. I'm really looking forward to getting my plot planted up as I am fed up of the brown mud and the weed-proof coverings.

An acre, quince ? Yikes! How exciting. And it sounds like you have an orchard right there, you're winning at #YearofFruit already!

Thanks shove, book and Green! Such fantastic advice.
DH and I are in fact moving the chickens round the garden in their coop to clear the grass, then sounds good plan to then cover with cardboard/weed suppressing fabric/ both, to be turned into raised beds year by year. Very relieved you think to go slowly, as its overwhelming to try to plan for the whole lot in one go. luckily we like the "informal" ie: messy look! We have been here a few years, but for various family I'll- health reasons and 2 small dcs in 2years, the garden has been sadly neglected ( and was worse when we moved in as empty for a while).
Where I have gone wrong is working hard to clear areas a bit randomly, not covering or planting, then back to square one a season later - covered with weeds again!
I have done most of what you advise with the fruit cage, book, just clearing brambles from amongst it, take what fruit we get this summer, then assess in Autumn. I think I may have to make a proper list (is a spreadsheet taking it too far?!) for my seedlings.
I feel encouraged by joining the thread and by the beautiful weather today - could it be Spring at last?
Good luck with your conference Shove, and very jealous of the seaside trip book - I am about as far away from the sea as can be here...

You all seem to be doing fantastically. It's getting me spurred on too. I've been going down every day for the past few days for an hour or so sad tackling small patches at a time. There's a lot of weed to clear but I had dug it all last year so they're not as bad this year. Next time I will definitely cover the whole plot. I'll probably need 4-5 rolls of weed suppressant.
My youngest 2 DC came today on the way back from school. I'm finding that they're really not interested in the allotment at all. I've tried giving them their own mini patches or tried to get them involved in planning, sowing, digging etc but DS (aged 10) just wants to go home and do more "interesting" stuff (like sit in front of a screen ) and DD (aged 8) doesn't want to get her hands dirty.
What do you do to get your DC more actively participating in the allotment? It would be so educational for them and allow them sorted outdoor time too. It would also mean I get to spend a little longer there. Any tips anyone?

Quince.

My one top tip would be to buy a decent shredder. Once you clear a bit, cover with cardboard and then put shreddings on it to make it look so much nicer whilst you are working on other things.

Also, you don't have to put raised beds in, you can just use the lazybed approach to converting your grass into veggie beds. And then for the paths inbetween, cardboard with shredded anything over the top. That includes shredded brambles. Just burn the roots.

I'll probably need 4-5 rolls of weed suppressant.

Use cardboard. Put weeds, grass mowings, shredded stuff on top to disguise it. It will all then rot down and you can plant through.

Wow, quince, an acre! Sounds amazing, and I am definitely envious of your little orchard!

I have reached the point of being too pregnant to do anything. Wonder if I can bribe my mother with wine to weed the garden for me when she arrives next week.

My DDs removed all of my plant labels yesterday. Will have to get DD1 to put them back in under my direction.

Have spotted a few marigold seedlings popping their little heads above the dirt so I'm hopeful a few more seeds will come to life soon.

If not, I've ordered some plug plants so at least when they arrive I'll get some colour into the garden.

Hahaha, oh dear grouchy, that's very sweet but also very confusing!!

I need a decent shredder. I have bloody loads of privet cuttings from home and it is so stupid taking them to the tip. I want to be able to shred them down and then use them over my allotment paths. I have read varying accounts about how they can suppress other plants, so I'm cautious about using them as a mulch in the beds. But over the paths should be OK, right?

Got to the plot briefly last night. We have house guests coming so I needed to get rhubarb to make a pudding! Zebra expresses my feelings perfectly - I just want to get on and plant things out now! My overwintered caulis and cabbages are coming to an end, my onions are still tiny, so it all looks a bit bare.

Quince I am jealous at the sound of your garden. Lots of good advice already. I'd also suggest looking at planting a green manure especially over the winter months as this will help to suppress the weeds but also help to break up the soil a bit. Last summer I planted one for the summer months called phalecia which has beautiful purple flowers (I did it on the edges of borders and where I had a bit of free space round things like sweetcorn and squashes. The bees loved it but you have to be careful to not let it seed otherwise it will just create another problem!

Luloo my daughter - aged 9 - is quite interested in gardening and will join in sometimes but sometimes she'll just complain A LOT. Our allotments border the local park so she can take her bike and play in the park. Otherwise I get her to do things by bribing her - or "paying for chores" as we call it. So she'll get 20p for helping with the watering when it's needed. I think we paid her a pound - or it may even have been £2 - for planting potatoes but she worked the entire morning for that, helping with digging, planting and covering over again. I find sometimes she's more interested if I just get on and do it without trying to involve her. Then she'll be demanding to help. Also get them both their own gloves if you haven't already so there can't be any complaints about getting dirty hands. Generally she likes watering, planting, and harvesting. But she's not so interested in weeding, digging and clearing. Or alternatively she'll chat to other allotment holders and help them instead.

My DD (10) HATES gardening, and the allotment in particular. She's not too keen on the whole of the outside, really. The most she'll do is come down with me on a sunny day and sit and read her book.

Whereas my DS, 7, loves it. He loves the idea more than the practice, but he does like going to the plot to do various jobs. Trouble is, he gets bored really easily, so they have to be quick and varied ones. But most of all, he likes frogs - looking for them, talking to/about them, taking pictures of them. Luckily we have a lot of frogs. He also likes mud, watering, and picking things to eat, then eating things before his sister sees them.

I'm trying to get DD a bit more involved by growing things she likes - especially flowers and cucumbers. We're having a sunflower competition, and the good news is that she is winning. I will likely fix it if she stops winning, as she'll lose interest otherwise.

A sunflower growing competition is a great idea. I might borrow that.
Some of the time I go to the plot on my own anyway so that my daughter doesn't always have to come. (This also lets DH off the hook as he's not quite as enthusiastic as I am).

I allotment on my own too, unless I have a kidlet. Actually there are quite a few 'sisters, doing it for themselves' on my small site, so I'm not at all the odd one out.

Re the sunflower growing idea - if you're starting them in pots, make them all the same, and have spares so you can skew the outcome. I know that if DD's failed to germinate, it would compound her scorn for gardening, where as DS would happily sow more. For the bees. He likes bees as well as frogs.

Oh, another thing my DD likes is painting stuff - the shed, things to use as row markers, pots etc.

Oh, sunflower competition sounds great idea. My two (8 and 6) love coming in the garden with me, watering the plants ( have to be careful as they tend to drown things), randomly "helping" by sweeping/raking/ digging. Got them some pretty sturdy children size tools in Aldi last year.

I have to say I prefer gardening on my own, though. I am viewing it as much needed exercise, which will have the side effect of fixing the garden. Kind of mindfulness too. Listening to nature sounds ( or alternatively catching up on Archers podcasts.

Doreen, that is brilliant advice - I had no idea I could shred the brambles, thought any tiny remnant would sprout again. I presume they won't be thorny post-shredding? Think DH was looking forward to a burn-up though...! The lazy bed technique is genius, and so much less work. Will start tomorrow.

Where do you reckon I get get big pieces of cardboard - maybe Aldi again?

I have bought a choiysia, philadelphus, and couple of hebes today as we have no shrubs in garden apart from a few random roses which need pruning. Am planning to make a small area clean and tidy with scented plants (in pots?). Will be having barbecue for my birthday end of July, and am looking for sturdy garden table and chairs this weekend. Definitely need wood as garden incredibly windy - cheap plastic chairs used to be blown everywhere. Have put them in the greenhouse now to make a nice place to sit with my cup of tea.

Also bought herbs which I didn't need, but hope to propagate - purple sage, camomile treneague ( although think a camomile lawn optimistic on our clay) and a very low growing thyme, which I might encourage to grow in between paving slabs. Will save me scraping grass and weeds out of the cracks instead. I have a Corsican mint which has just held on since last year in a pot, might try with that too as smells so strong.

Live update from my plot, where i jave FINALLY laid my last path with wet newspaper, cardboard and bark. This is oart of Operation Anti-Couch. The sun is shining and it is soooo hot!

My pal in pic

quince try b&q anf currys type places and bike shops for cardboard.

I had a delivery of a small thing from b&q and got a load of card off the back of the lorry! Legally though. The driver was happy to be rid.

Ah, good idea. Thanks Zebra

Morning!
many other things in the way yesterday, but ready to get to the plot today.
I'm afraid I cannot help with having DC down at the plot- mine are grown up. They are very glad to eat and take produce though :) DGS at 3 has come a couple of times, but we have a large site, and he just desperately wants to go and look at chickens, blithely tramping over other peoples plots/plants to get there.....
Grouchy - I'm sure your DM will help - I do my DD's , and glad to! Just remember, the flowers will pop up anyway, even without a plant label, they will still be pretty!
I have chosen short stem sunflowers this year to grow, so I won't be winning- they are called 'bambino' !
jealous of frog Spotted
Popped yesterday to pick, and sort out a couple of things - a flying trip, but I have strawberries set - tiny and green .... better get the straw on, and netting sorted.
Right, wish me well - DH and I are going today to raise a polytunnel frame/hoops , ready for a brassica cage. They are large , and heavy, and half dismantled. The joys of scavenging free stuff :)

I hated the vag garden as child. we always got those disgusting annoying tasks like picking the caterpillars off the brassicas and feeding them to neighbours chickens...
loved mowing the lawn though!

what's a vag garden?

Ha ha GreenMarkerPen

We also had an allotment when I was growing up and I don't remember that we were that much help really. Definitely didn't like weeding but did enjoy watering.

Managed to get to the plot for a couple of hours yesterday. Planted a few strawberries very kindly donated by my next door neighbour. Well, they are shoved in the ground for now, as I haven't planned on where to put them. Discovered a slug sitting on top of the newly planted asparagus so had to get out the (organic) slug pellets. And did some watering as the ground was baked dry. I think I could possibly see a first beetroot seedling but it was a little hard to tell, might just be a weed.

I used to garden with my Dad as a kid, mainly because my mother couldn't cope with my energy levels and wanted me out of the house for peace and quiet with my younger sister . However, my 'gardening' was far more about making mud pies, throwing dirt around, rolling down grassy slopes and messing around. My Dad never showed me how to do things like a teacher - yet he was teaching me all the time we were out as I just watched him grow both veg and flowers.

I was never considered a 'gardener' by my family. My sister tended to get quite a lot more praise and reinforcement for things she grew (mainly houseplants). I was generally the tomboyish PITA, so this is very understandable

I went off gardening altogether in my teen years, but when I came back to it in my 20s, I had remembered most of what I'd learned in those years. It was quite comforting to go back to it, and remember how everything worked!

my dc sometimes ask for tasks to do, mainly watering sometime mowing the lawn (still need supervision).
the 9yo in particular is obsessed with my comfreyjuice, manure and other smelly things. even took a tupperware of comfrey juice for show and tell!

My parents hated gardening and saw any garden job as a chore. I have lovely memories of sitting in the greenhouse amongst tomatoes of one grandfather (still love that smell) and picking home- grown veg at other gf/gm. They were used to digging for victory during the war, though.

Well another glorious day here, have not long arrived home from work and am out to fight some more brambles!

Have ordered a shredder which is cheap but gets great reviews, so looking forward to testing that out.I do love a gadget, although I did manage to strim my own shin last year in a fit of enthusiasm. Maybe best get DH to do the shredding...

Evening!
well, frame for polytunnel up. Not quite as bad to do as first thought. But still work to do getting it finished and netted.
Lovely day - first one with straw hat on !
Picked absolute loads of purple sprouting broccoli , and a cauliflower - they are all starting to come at once - what a surprise!

bookbook is sprouting broccoli easy to grow ? When do you plant them ?

Today I planted the bare root strawberries I ordered in January and that arrived yesterday. I had completely forgotten about them. So the fact that the beans haven't germinated is probably good as I'm down half a raised bed in the garden. I don't put much veg in the allotment as the soil is so poor and the wind so cold and drying. I don't make it there every week so things that need more attention have to stay in the garden..

Well done book! I love PSB and have sown some for the first time this year