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....

Really easy to grow, looks after itself. It is a long time in the ground I have been sowing and pricking out for the last couple of weeks, and will plant out in about 3 weeks time You do need to protect it from the pigeons. I grow a lot of varieties that start harvesting from about July. This one is the traditional one. I have picked about 400-500gm today, Thats off 6 plants. I hate to think how much that would cost in those little trays in the supermarket....

I grew white sprouting broccoli this year, planted out last summer sometime and been harvesting steadily for the last month or so. Only three plants and it is a complete glut, I'm getting around a carrier bag's worth off them every 10 days or so. And only two of us like it, I keep having to give it away. I planted seeds a month or so back, they are coming along nicely. And yes to net, I have mine under a fairly heavy duty fine mesh all pegged down along the edges to keep butterflies/caterpillars off as well as pigeons.

Had to go up to the site and water today, it hasn't rained for at least a fortnight (apart from snow flurries last week) and the ground is rapidly transforming from waterlogged to concrete. I have a new neighbour, which is nice, I hadn't seen my plot neighbours at all this year, their plot didn't appear to have been touched since abut September and their tool store disappeared sometime over the winter so I guess they quit. Found the new occupant pottering around taking photos, I'm glad it's going to be cultivated again.

My DCs are 10 and 12 and rarely come up to the allotment. DD (10) likes gardening in theory, but will never take any advice and as a result none of her stuff is successful. DS (12) loves being outdoors generally and will come up occasionally but has zero interest in gardening, he likes exploring, finding small creatures and getting snails to race each other along a plank, stuff like that. I've always liked gardening, my parents aren't all that bothered but my granny and aunty were keen and I think I caught the bug from them, they were both very influential in my life.

I am making cauliflower , broccoli and blue cheese soup tomorrow - but everyone eats it here, so when there are 7 to sit down for tea, you need a fair bit ( and DGS gobbles his down, then tries to get everyone to give him theirs !)
I am jealous of the WSB - I usually get at least one plant out of a packet of mixed, but none this year

It was plug plants from a garden centre. DD loves calabrese broccoli, but isn't all that keen on PSB/WSB so it's really just me eating it (DH and DS wouldn't eat any form of broccoli it if it was the last thing on earth, neither of them likes any green leafy veg, fussy buggers they are).

And yes, I've got a freezer full of broccoli and blue cheese soup with more to come I think.

soup gets used up quickly here - we often have it for lunch. What I do have too much of is redcurrants/blackcurrants/raspberries - need to make more compote :)

What I do have too much of is redcurrants/blackcurrants/raspberries Impossible! I could never have enough. And in slightly related news, it seems that my dead white currant may in fact be undead. It's not a zombie though, it just suddenly has teeny green shoots. It's quite odd how far apart in growth my currants are - white literally just has looked alive, yet the red has strings of flowers almost setting into fruit. And of my blackcurrants, some have flowers in full bloom, others have yet to break bud.

No garden action from me, alas. But I did want to put in a mention for brocoletto aka cima di rapa. It's a broccoli-type thing, but much much quicker if space is an issue as it is for me. It's much stronger tasting than broccoli or calibres - maybe too tasty for some, but I love it. And it comes in 40 /60 /90 day version - allegedly from planting to harvest although I don't find it quite that quick. And it can bolt a bit quicker too. But still - it's great.

I'm the only one who really eats soup here too (and to be honest it's not one of my favourite ways to eat, just a good way of using up leftovers and an easy winter packed lunch).

anyone keeps trees in pots? the dc have resued a sycamore/maple(?) sapling from being mowed over.
it has survived a few weeks so far and is growing in a 20cm pot.

oh and dc ask if they can sell the tree to a park or plant it out there?

can you help me with the identification of this?
purple flower in front & picture of the foliage.

Looks like a very pretty blue and white aquilegia to me! Wondering whether it needs a bit of water, or whether it's a nodding type...

Oh and WOW Zebra, I've never hear of brocolletto, but it looks like it harvests REALLY fast! Definitely one I'm going to try for overwintering. Thank you x

Afternoon!
agree on flower looking like aquilega .
been busy today, but with a sense of getting there.....:)
took everything out of the greenhouse ( no mean feat), cleaned it out and revamped with the tomatoes and aubergines all planted into their growbags. Peppers and cucumbers still to pot up - peppers fine but still small, cucumbers still waiting to germinate on windowsill ( fingers crossed)
Plot - all the space inside the frame of the polytunnel weeded, raked and simply levelled, all ready for putting net on, and then planting out in about 2 weeks. Also prepped the area for french and runner beans so canes can be put up ready- they have all popped out in the last 2 days ( sown last Saturday) but no sign of the borlottis .
Picked another cauliflower ... :)
I tried raab 60 a couple of years ago, and the darn stuff kept on going into flower before I could seem to get it harvested - will maybe have to try again!

You are COOKING ON GAS book!! Puts me to shame. Hoping to get to the plot tomorrow (if rain permits) to plant out several beds' worth of stuff.

I cook on induction shove - much quicker :)
Still loads to do though !

A friendly PSA about blackcurrant recipes near the beginning of the thread for those who have "too many" blackcurrants.

My garden is springing to life all of a sudden. Today I discovered that my marigolds, nasturtiums, carrots (maybe!), and beetroot seeds have sprouted. And my sedum arrived this morning so that's planted now. Its leaves are so pretty. And a wallflower that I thought might have died is almost in flower.

Spent a good hour watering the garden with plant food today using one of those clever feeding things you attach to the hose. Very slow going.

And had a moment of craziness so decided to trim the grass along the fenceline and edges of the garden with scissors instead of replacing the string in the strimmer.

damn I have missed naked hardening day today, maybe it's a good time to plant out the new strawberries?

I really wanted to do the naked gardening,- honest. But I kept it to wearing a very old collared t shirt, with a big hole in the sleeve . That was quite enough of my flesh to show off at the plot!

Cleared a few more brambles half- heartedly (too hot!).
Lovely DH has collected and set up the strimmer, so had a fab couple of hours destroying brambles and blackcurrant trimmings. Result - lovely home- made mulch and compost fodder. Plenty more where that came from!

All my veg seedlings are either weak/leggy or healthy but stunted, due to me being very over- enthusiastic with the heated propagator that I happily received for Mothering Sunday. I used seed compost originally too, so think they all ran out of nutrients early (now in multi-purpose). I'm not sure, but they got off to a good start, but then had that cold snap when I felt it was too cold to greenhouse them, so low light levels too.
I have bitten the bullet, and repotted them all, but not confident that they will survive. They are now in the greenhouse, am hoping not too much of a shock as most had graduated onto a cold windowsill. (Tom cherry, madmande, tigerella, Roma, golden sunrise; aubergine, cucumber, courgette). More to do tomorrow.
Keep fingers crossed for me!

Also split up my purple sage and camomile in attempt to propagate. Are they best in greenhouse or somewhere more sheltered?

Oh re naked gardening - I had a short sleeved T-shirt on, trousers and no hat. Does that count? That's as much as I ever get on show!

Sometimes it just fees like theres sooooo much left to do. I mean, I do enjoy it- the process; all the turning over of the soil, putting the odd bits of salvaged wood together to create a jigsaw of a border, seeing little patches completed. But there are times, like today, when I just want all the hard labour to be finished sometimes so I can get onto the more enjoyable bit.
At the moment, all I seem to be doing is weeding. Weeding, weeding and more weeding. All the turned beds that we're loose and dug up and weed free and soft later year are just compacted, hard clay again this year, ridden with weeds.

Pic from another angle

Evening!
hope everyone enjoyed the weather :)
A quick hour or so for me - just weeding around the shallots and garlic, and putting straw around the strawberries in the vain hope it deters the slugs.
And at home, pricking out a load more seedlings, probably a bit hot, so hope they cope!

I'm impressed, Luloo , with those beds - but yes, the initial work is hard, chin up , mulch and keep going :)