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....

Horrendous gales have played havoc with much of the garden, though an eventual by-product has been rain. At last. This weekend was so chilly at first it had us checking out the winter hats and gloves for the Easter mini-break up the Great Ocean Road, and booking the heating engineer to service the central heating thingy. Today it's sunny as as hell, rather warm, and the front garden courtyard-y bit looks most beckoning.

On the veggie front, today we took out all the fading tomato plants, harvested most of the leeks and chillies and planted rainbow chard and more lettuce.

The leek-y beds will gets some R&R before planting broad beans and sugar snap peas. The pumpkin must have heard me threatening to rip it out for being useless and has put out four more fruit. As a plus, the flowers of the pumpkin are full of bees. Cucumbers are still up for it, so fed them.

Can I join? Poked my head in last year which was my first year of planting, this year I have a bit more planted up and placed on sunny windowsills. Toying with the idea of compact growhouse in my smallish garden for starting to harden them off when the time comes, could tie it to the fence to stop it blowing over I think. Anyone found them any good?

My strawberry plants seem to have survived the winter so took some of those and some raspberry canes and popped them in a big planter on the patio yesterday, will buy another this week I think and hopefully by ds' party in July they'll be good for the kids to pick. 10x 4 year olds will have them back to bare in no time I'm sure!

I've also put my name down for a plot but with 500 on the list and an average of 5 vacancies a year I doubt I'll have much luck anytime soon, although I hear the council are looking at new land so fingers crossed.

grouchy, hope you're ok, Brixton hicks can be pretty uncomfortable. Sounds like you got your delegation hat on though

bookbook were you a slightly different name last year?

Love reading what you're all doing!

Storybrook where are you? 100 year waiting list is pretty rubbish!
Can you look elsewhere in the borough/area?
There are 10+ year waiting lists on some sites in my Ldn borough in the chichi areas. However, there are vacant plots on my site in a significantly less salubrious area.
The council's official line is that you can't have one of their plots unless you are resident in the borough. However, I know of two plot holders from neighbouring boroughs (the site is metres from the border) who asked the council nicely and were given long term vacant plots on our site.
It doesn't hurt to call!
Failing that you do still have the right, along with I certain number of other people to demand allotments from the council. Its quite a long process and I forget the name of the law you can incite, but maybe someone here knows it?

Storybook - perhaps also start by getting in touch with some community gardens and volunteering, so you can learn as you go and get to know contacts that could put you in touch with other growing opportunities.

Kiwi - I think it was a campanula that Shove recommended for shade. We have a purple variety that grows prolifically in the most unpromising bit of ground under a cotoneaster and self seeds into cracks in the block paving on the drive etc.

Story - in my town they have a community group that looks after planters and beds in public areas and grows things like tomatoes in amongst the flowers. Quite a few of the schools need gardening volunteers to run clubs if you are free in the school day at all.

Blimey, echt you're having some dramatic weather, aren't you?

Welcome Story ! I don't have much room (er, or money), so I have a plastic greenhouse and a wooden/polycarbonate grow house. Both fine and better than nothing! They definitely do keep the warmth in a bit.

booky you keep on unearthing amazing things! How lucky!

Kiwi hope you're feeling better soon. How long to go?

I had planned to go to the plot yesterday but it was horribly, damply cold. So I didn't.
But it's brighter today, so I will, soon.

I want to dig out my grassy path, and eventually put down card/membrane, then cover with bark. I did one before last year and it was ok.

But the turf - can I put in the bottom of the compost, and cover it with composting bits, will that all rot down if I keep the light out? It's mostly 'normal' grass, but there is a bit of couch in there also, which I need to tackle -ie make sure I get all the roots out of the beds as it's encroaching a bit.

ethelb I'm in East Lothain, South Scotland, sorry it's around 100 people on the list with 5 annual vacancies. Apparently the people in my area have an informal agreement but the council are starting to lease them.

doreen, who, I have two smalls (2&3) with oldest just in nursery a couple of hours so no free time to volunteer without at least one mud-faced little troublemaker at my ankles

Thanks spotted that's encouraging! I'm making do with some big planters, a gro bag and a rockery filled with soft fruits and an obscene amount of weeds.

Morning!
echt - it sounds as bad for unusual weather as us lot!
and welcome story - yes, I was agoodbook before
Growhouses are fine, and being quite light, you can move them around to get the right place. I have two, as well as a greenhouse, at home , just so I have enough space for hardening off and such. I have 4 heavy bricks on the bottom shelf to hopefully stop any movement ( doesn't always work here!) Strawberries should be fine, they are as tough as old boots, though I would try to put raspberries in as big a container as you can, they need a bit of depth of soil.
And hopefully you will get a plot sooner, rather than later. Didn't Hugh Fearnley whatsit have some scheme going for pairing up land and people who wanted to grow things?
Spotted - turf makes amazing compost/loam. Stack it upside down at the bottom of your compost heap, and just leave it- it will take at least a year I would think, but definitely worth the effort
I have had a couple of intensive hours this morning, digging in the green manure, so it has time to work in before planting up. It was warm work today - first time I had to take a layer off while digging! And harvesting leeks - not many left now.

Oooh, storybrooke, I'm in East Lothian too!

WhoKnows Campanula is very pretty!

echt Are you in/near Melbourne? We were there in November and apparently we just missed both 42C days and a couple of tornadoes! It's so changeable there.

Having a moderately restful day today to keep BHs at bay. Baby is due in 9 weeks so even though I am SO READY to be able to move freely again it's far too early for an arrival.

DD2, who is 19 months, has "very helpfully" been shifting the seedlings I planted in pots and the garden yesterday. I will have to give her her own flower pot garden like I did for DD1.

Small world grouchy! Such a beautiful place.

Welcome story. Is your username Once Upon A Time inspired by any chance?

Grouchy I'm also being thwarted by a small person. Yesterday DS grabbed the pot of leeks I had just sown and tipped them up. So now I'm going to get leeks randomly germinating in the greenhouse.

Zebra when my mum turfed a massive area of her lawn, she stacked the turn grass-to-grass. So the bottom layer was grass up, the next layer grass down and so on. It took quite a long time to break down, IIRC. Not sure about putting small amounts in the compost though!

ethel is this the Allotments Act you were thinking of? Might be handy for story.

I'm managing to get out in the garden for a little bit most days, if DS is amenable. Today I harvested leeks and parsnips - leeks went into soup and roasted off a load of parsnips to eat for the freezer.

In #YoF news: Gave the gooseberry bushes a bit of a tidy up - no idea if this is the right time but they were in a right state with broken bits and stuff, so I decided to take the risk. Stupidly didn't wear gloves and got scratched half to death.

But the most exciting news here - my rhubarb has appeared! A full 6 days earlier than last year, so that's a relief. NB - please excuse the dandelion. I'm cultivating it for the rabbit .

Cupcakes I wondered the same thing about storybrooke's SN. And isn't it nice of our little ones to help ouy?

Zebra When we had our patio enlarged and vege garden put in the gardeners stacked the turves in a lovely pile for me. They said it would take a year or two to break down into loam.

I found this cool picture on Pinterest today and have decided I must have one for growing something in. pin.it/sLBnd6Q

Im back from the allotment after attacking the potato bed-to-be with a mattock. I put about a foot of manure on it in September which has largely rotted down and our heavy clay soil looks much better. Still heavy clay soil but hugely wormy and noticeably different.
Just need to go down and fork it over, to break it up some more, make some trenches and plant my spuds!
A few online resources have suggested lining the trenches with comfrey for the potash, but is it up anywhere yet?
I spent today finalising plans for the year ahead (should be attached)
Not shown in the pic are courgette beds and pumpkins on the conpost heap.
I got two metal 2m high arches v cheap a couple of weeks ago, and Im planning on growing cucumbers over one and mini pumpkins on another. Fingers crossed!
Just catching up with Monty, great episode

Pic

ethel that plan is amazing! I love it! I don't have anything as fancy, but I do have 2 cheap metal arches, and I grew mini squash up one last year, and will do so again.

Damn that clay, right? I've been digging out my path today. I say digging, it's just hacking out chunks of compacted, walked-upon, frozen clay. That is filled with couch and bindweed and dandelion. I've not added it to my compost yet as I don't think I could cover it. And it is mostly pernicious weeds. Will they really rot down, and not just turn my compost into a giant weed bomb?

In #YearofFruit news, my rhubarb is romping, but my rasps are rubbish They've really hardly come through. I am fretting.

In good news, I have (a couple of) flowers on my plot broad beans! Huzzah! Odd, as my home ones are moth eaten, and my newly-sown ones are still struggling to pop up.

I guess we're in the throes of the hungry gap now? My perpetual spinach, that has fed me happily for 9 ish months, has now been stripped. Pigeons I 'spose. Nothing has touched it before, it's been uncovered all the while.

Oh, my flower

Spotted, thanks! Its done via Garden Planner which at £15 a year is a bit of an indulgence but I really enjoy using it, and it has an app so I can use it down the plot on my phone.

My raspberries haven't appeared either. Suckers I planted have rooted very well, but no new stems on my autumn raspberries which I hacked back in Feb. Nothing on the loganberries either. I might just need to be patient.

Strawberries are also very 'died back' iyswim. More so than they were in Jan. Funny year...

Haha cupcakes yes! I'm only slightly completely & utterly in love with that show. Thanks for the link, it's mostly similar in Scotland and they've covered themselves by saying they're actively looking for land so doubt there's much I can do. Dh has some friends in the council and councillors so will see if he can dig a little further.

ethelb that looks great, must be so motivating to have a plan like that!

spotted my raspberries aren't showing much life yet either, a few bits of green starting to appear but they're autumn ones if that makes a difference? Was tempted to buy a few more the other day but guessing it's a bit late to plant out just now?

Managed to get a couple of interrupted hours on the garden today, pulled out tonnes of weeds and dug over the borders which are looking much better. Thank you to all who suggested manure last year, worked a treat on my solid clay soil, cannot believe the improvement actually. I've marked some space for my tomato and courgette plants to go and can cordon it off.

Also ordered some thick copper tape today, I'd try anything to stop the slugs and snails that destroyed half my crop last year even the ones in high planters and pots weren't spared.

I think grouchy might mean my MAZUS REPTANS, about which I am almost as obsessed as I am with bokashi!! Here is a picture of a whole load of it!

I do grow Campanula poscharskyana in the otherwise utterly dead, dry space under privet - it actually clambers upward a bit so the bottom foot or so of the hedge is filled with star-shaped purple flowers for months on end. As it spreads, I'm dividing it, so I hope eventually I'll have the whole thing done using just one plant! Unfortunately I cannot recommend it in real life, as I have no idea how to pronouce it.

I've just been cutting new capillary matting for the greenhouse as I'm going away for a week tomorrow! I bought a big roll on ebay, and it's so much better than the stuff I've been using so far. The process of cutting it to size was not helped, however, by next door's cat, who became convinced that the whole thing was a huge game of catch-the-imaginary-mouse.

Oh and zebra - my rasps are only at the very beginning of firing up too! And hooray for your broad beans too, which are miles ahead of my ones!!

I'm always a bit cautious about bindweed and couch straight in the compost. I tend to give them a brutal drowning first for a few months in a covered bucket to make sure they are well and truly dead. With bindweed, I don't even take that chance - it goes in the bin but that is because I am paranoid about it taking over my world

shove That's the one! I think I'll put both in.

New shrubs arrived today. Very happy, though there was supposed to be a Christmas Box. I'll get one of those for our main lawn now.

Afternoon
quick dip in while DGS naps
my raspberries haven't got going yet - just a few signs on the autumn ones
And joy for all the little garden 'helpers' - mine just swamps everything with water.
thats very organised ethelb - my plan is on graph paper, at home in a folder, which translates to - I forget!
shove - have a lovely time!
Grouchy - its really coming along now, its looking remarkably tidy, and beautiful mowed lawn as well ! I have hummocky 'green' here....

forgot to say Spotted - if the grass is that weed infested, I wouldn't try to compost it.

Ohmygoodness, I have just returned from Aldi, for such is my glamorous life. The plants, the plants!

I had tk fight my way past hordes of elders to get in, as they were buying up the bedding plants, all of which looked in really good nick. And there were nice perennials too. But inside, they had... fruit! I only bought 2, a(nother) red gooseberry, and a loganberry, but they were really nice looking. 2L pots, and excellent roots. I wanted to re home them all. The bush plants were beautifully shaped too - eg my gooseberry is already goblet shaped. They had some v tempting blackcurrants but I perhaps ought not to buy anymore, as a) I have no room, and b) I have possibly 20 cuttings that have taken, from last year. But these were very very nice, and much further ahead than my paltry sticks.

booky thanks for advice. I piled the weedy 'turves' up, thinking you might say that. I'll schlep them to my green bin or the top then, I think. Damn those weeds. I can't really drown them, as they are so stuck up with claggy clay, it would just be a big messy gunk. Damn that clay too.

Arf at helpers. My amazingly strong and tall kale forest got off to a very inauspicious start last year, when DS kept on knocking it over. Maybe that extreme hardening off helped, somehow?

Kiwi I looks lovely! HOw exciting to be making a new garden at the same time as a new person!