Allotment/Veg Patch Thread 5 - The Diggers Rest !

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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....

I can see convoys of slugs, all heading for WhoKnows covered beds. They are underneath/on virtually every pot I pick up at the moment, along with snails ....

Well, I'm on my way to England in the car. I've got 2 doz salamanders it the back - will be dropping them all off round at Cedars for distribution .

Staying just before the French border tonight, crossing France tomorrow. Be in Uk early Friday. Will post properly when I've recovered.

That was me just there ^ . I was seeing if the name was used or not, it's a bit of a family joke. Forget to change back!

GrouchyKiwi - get ahold of some Sluggo if you can, it's safe for use around animals and is biodegradable - just don't expect to see loads of dead slugs (they burrow underground to die). The link shows you the stuff I mean.

www.neudorff.co.uk/products/sluggo-slug-snail-killer.html

teacup safe journey!

Andro the sluggo looks good, might have to invest in some.

My potatoes are just poking through, too, so I'll keep an eye on the temperature. Thanks for the tip!

I was planning to get a bit more digging done last night but I sort of dislocated mu kneecap last night (with a little help from Ddog) so feeling a bit sore! Might Potter around in the greenhouse, I've got some seedlings I can pot on.

Oooooof cupcakes - that sounds agonising! Hope you feel less sore very, very soon!

And happy salamander-transporting journey teacup!

I have honestly never seen this many slugs. Freaked out a little!

Teacup could do with the salamanders after all the rain we've had Although it was much needed as it's barely rained here for two or three weeks.

LetTherebeCupcakes that knee sounds sore. Don't overdo it.

Slugs also love green manure - there must have been loads all around the underneath of the plants as I was turning the soil the other week. They'll just be sitting there waiting to eat my seedlings.

Someone was asking about growth on loganberries about 2 pages ago. My loganberry plants were transplanted from suckers in the garden last year over to the allotment. They are just coming into flower and one of them has started a big shoot coming out of the middle of the plant. The ones in the back garden which are more established are in flower but have no new growth and I wouldn't normally expect it just yet as I think of the new shoots coming slightly later after the main flowering and fruiting. But I have to admit that as they are shoved in the back of the border I don't normally notice new growth until they've grown up a bit anyway. I am in the south east so things are often ahead of other parts of the country.

Morning!
safe journey teacup
ooh cupcakes - poor you, that sounds horrid .
Hoping to get to the plot today, just to do a bit of a potter - finish off finding and closing holes in the fruit cage, dig up the perpetual spinach that has bolted, dig up another cauliflower ( starting to run out of ideas for cooking these- have already given 3 away.....)

Ladies, has anyone put their tomatoes into the greenhouse yet?
Mine have gone crazy and are about 70. Cm tall with three sets of flowers 😄
I think they need to go into the big pots but I am worried about cold nights.

The peppers and chili plants are also getting a bit too big for the house.

Mine are in the greenhouse, but nowhere near as big as yours ellison. They will be fine provided the temperature doesn't fall much below about 5 C.

Mine are in the greenhouse- along with the peppers. Not quite as tall, but with the first flower trusses formed, and the odd flower opening.
I am just keeping an eye on Friday and Saturday night, and will pop some thin fleece or bubble wrap loosely over them before nightfall .

Thank you, I've put all but one in the greenhouse, I can't believe how good they are, I didn't grow them from seed, I cheated and bought aldi plugs before Easter!

I will keep the chili and peppers in for another week as they are covered in buds and I don't want them to fall off.

I've got loads of bedding plants to put in this afternoon, happy planting.

Does anyone have inspiration for cheap pots/containers. I've got more plants - beans, squashes, peas etc than I can fit in my raised beds and planters. Seems crazy to spend £10 a pot to plant them out so I'm looking for inspiration........

How aesthetically pleasing do they need to be?

I have a collection of Poundland 15cm pots, Morrisons' flower buckets, B&Q £1 buckets (latter 2 with holes drilled). And I also have -ahem reclaimed objects like old olive oil tins, big saucepans, etc etc. The latter are pretty but the former, not so much!

Right - tomatoes. I have some in flimsy blowaway and growhouse, but I still have some in the conservatory.
Oddly the ones that got badly frosted last time, had their leaves cut off and they have re-grown. I've ringfenced hem so I can see how they fare against the others...

I think I'll fleece this weekend rather than let outside ones, back in. Tomato 'Pineapple' is still looking the healthiest over all, and I have flower buds on a few.
Has anyone grown tomato 'Garden Peach' before? My ones are a bit floppy - stems and leaves -and I don't know if that's their habit, or if mine are illing.

My tomatoes are outside during the day but inside at night. But I don't have a greenhouse (and I wasn't planning on growing tomatoes either but I've been donated the plants by my parents - I've failed to remember to ask them what variety they are!). The plants are still quite small.

cheap pots? buckets, garden troughs - sometimes very cheap at poundshops/homebargains.

Or you can grow squashes in a grow bag like tomatoes. I did this successfully a few years ago.

Where are you fraggle? There is an amazing factory seconds shop just outside of Barnsley if you're in the north.

Evening!
don't quite know where today has gone......
fraggle - lots of good ideas here , can you use old empty compost bags, also, I got a load of free flower buckets from a market stall that sells flowers, just needed some holes in the bottom. Plastic boxes ( I never throw old tatty ones away !)
I decided not to risk, so have thrown a thin fleece over my tomatoes and aubergines.
Managed a quick trip to the plot - picked more asparagus , and lots of purple sprouting broccoli - have to make the most of this, as some is starting to flower. Gave a cauliflower away...... :) But got back an absolute load of leeks, which I was really pleased about , as I have used all of mine

My white sprouting brocolli is starting to flower too, the last sprouts I had off it were incredibly stringy and had to be made into sieved soup. Think I had better get them dug out this weekend in case they self seed everywhere.

An hour and a half at the plot today, but not much actual gardening. Strimmered paths and edges and had a good clear out of my bench box, which was overflowing with clutter and has clearly been home to mice (shredded cardboard and carrier bags, plus bird seed bags chewed through, I have some feeders up there). I bought a kitchen set consisting of tin bread bin and tea etc caddies from a cheap shop this morning, so the bird seed is now safely in the bread bin, and all the small stuff (plant labels, fleece pegs etc) is in the small caddies with all plastic and card packaging removed. Very satisfying.

Fraggle - I used to run a school gardening club on a very tight budget, my friend and I found quite a few good containers for 20-50p at the local tip, things like baby baths as well as actual plant pots.

I can report sucess. the sunflower seeds we collected last year and from bird food have germinated. now we just need to protect them from the slugs and snails.

I have made a decision to water in a morning, instead of evening due to all the news on slugs. Wonder whether it will make any difference?
cathpot - just finally read a few non urgent emails and I had this from Kings Seeds , so am sure you will be able to get some to plant out :)
www.kingsseeds.com/Products/Plug-Plants/Vegetables/Broccoli-Sprouting-Plant-Collection-6-Red-Arrow-6-White-Star-JULY?returnurl=/Products/Plug-Plants/Vegetables&pn=1&ps=12&sb=NodeOrder&lm=grid_template&b=true

Good gardening day... V. Busy week at work and working tomorrow too, so decided to skip some on-essential training a long way away and attack weeds instead. I have a pristine raised bed now which was thickly covered in grass, nettles, dock and all sorts of other weeds I don't know the name of. Lovely (not too clay-ey) soil full of worms left.

My first of 3 new Dalek compost bins is half full with shredded paper, chicken poo and straw, shredded dry brambles and household rubbish (tissue, cardboard etc). Can I put in the weeds from today, or do they need "drowning" in water to stop them germinating in the compost heap?

Collecting unwanted cardboard boxes from every shop I go in now (slightly obsessively) to cover cleared ground.

I love how this thread gets lots of posts in the evening only after dusk - ie: when we have been forced to come in to the house from the garden/allotment!

Non-essential, that should read