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....

evening!
Spotted - step away from the fruit bushes!! In about 3 years time, you will not know what to do with all the produce - Though at least the loganberry can be trained up or along something, at least!
I was quite lucky with digging up my grass - it was mostly grass with humungous dandelion , with roots which were relatively easy to dig out.

Spotted I am so tempted to go to our local Aldi (I think we have one...) to see what kind of fruit plants they have. I've now got six raspberries, four blackcurrants, three apples, two plums, and two blueberries. Oh, and two strawberries. My very own YoF, if they produce this year, that is.

I'm feeling very tough right now (for a weakling). I set up the wire framing for my climbing roses and clematis and didn't even need DH's help for hammering in vine eyes or cutting the wire. I've started training the clematis along one of the wire. Hopefully I'm doing that right.

I think you should go, Kiwi
They were really very nice.

The had black, white and red currants, red and green gooseberries, blackberry, raspberry, tayberry and loganberry . The website suggests that there are 3 varieties of blackcurrant, but I didn't actually spot any variety info. They were in excellent condition though.

It's the glamorous part of town (not), and right next door to a Poundland. They too had loads of fruit, bare roots I think, and they all had really sad whitish shoots sticking out of the package. Poor Poundland fruit.

Also, Lidl have fruit in too - £1.99, or 2 for £3 linky They're normally clearer re varieties, it they don't excite me as much. Probably.

booky I might try to train the loganberry over one of my arches.

Talking of climbing fruit, I have a kiwi berry thing. It's quite tall, and has overwintered wrapped round a stick. Could I train that through an apple tree, does anyone know, or would the tree's leaves stop the kiwi from getting enough light? The kiwi is on a warning. I got maybe 5 flowers from it last year, and no fruit. It's meant to be self-fertile...

Oh, Aldi had strawbs too - Elsanta. The plants looked healthy too.

Too much 'too' !

Raspberries in Aldi, you say?

Nothing to report garden wise. I've got a plan, but nothing like as fancy as yours, ethel! I do mine in Excel. I think it's pretty though I'm sure somebody will point out some terrible planting error!

DH is taking DS to stay with his parents this weekend so I've got the whole weekend to myself, just me and DDog. I've made plans with a friend to go to a garden centre on Saturday in search of an Apple tree. Wish me luck!

Morning!
Spotted - I know very little about kiwi fruit . The only thing I have heard ( I think on GQT) is that they can be quite hmm vigorous i.e. thuggish, and as you know, some are self fertile, and some are not.
Cupcakes - a very organised and pretty plan :) Just a quick thought - have you left enough space for the squash ?, are you training it up something, or letting it mingle with the beans?

Thanks book. There's a gap and then a bit of trellis next to the squash, so it'll wander wherever it fancies. of last year's anything to go buy my beans will all get slogged anyway.

Slugged! Not slogged.

I've just order a whole lot of seeds and a pair of magical loppers (apparently even weaklings can use them) so that will be a fun delivery tomorrow.

Now I need to find a place to get some small plants/plug plants from. I'd like to get sedum, salvia, astrantia and buddleja plants. Does anyone have any suggestions for a good online nursery or similar?

Evening!
Cupcakes could we slog the slugs maybe?
a good haul to come Grouchy - , the only time I have bought plug plants recently are from my local market plant stall - I like to look and pick for myself, so can't really help there.
DH and I spent an hour digging up and moving a gooseberry today, -replanted to my new dedicated fruit area, its now starting to look organised, less messy. Getting there with the old fruit cage as well - just a bit more weeding, and I can plant the white currant, not a moment too soon.

Hello can I join please?

I'm new to all this and now that Dh is well I can finally concentrate on something else. I spent last weekend and Monday digging out for four 6ft by 4ft raised beds, then four 12ft by 2ft rows for my peas and runner beans. My arms are still aching! I used to garden with my dad at his allotment when I was small so whilst I remember a few basics I'm a bit 'eek' about it all too (but in a good way!)

This weekend il be putting the beds together, and adding some manure to it all. Then figuring out how much compost I need to get hold of to fill the beds with. Il have a go at constructing my runner bean stakings too. Wish my dad lived closer..

I've got some fruit trees to plant, so need to find some good spots for them, and Id really like a flower bed but not sure where to put one. My garden is about 70/80ft long, with my shed right at the bottom and a patio space for a greenhouse. My compost bin is also down this end, then 2 raised beds widthways, then the next 2. Then the 4 spaces ive marked out for beans and peas. Then lawn, then patio then garage. Looking down the garden the path runs alongside one of the fences so can't plant here, and the other fence is removed at the moment as the neighbours are building etc so can't plant along there. I was thinking maybe along the front of the second patio where it meets the lawn maybe? I could leave a walkway to get onto the patio couldn't I. It's an idea, sorry for rambling!

just wanted to say hello Guy - I remember your thread , what a horrid time it was for you. Its great news - in remission I presume? .
Back later !

Hello bookbook, how nice to be remembered! Yes he's in remission now and so I'm making the most of my high spirits. Long may it last! X

Back!
sounds wonderful, what fruit trees do you have? Do they have details of spread and height when mature so you can take this into consideration - (you don't want to crowd them together)
plants along the edge of the patio sounds a great idea - it lets the house 'meld' with the garden.
And now the best time of all for seed sowing - apart from beans , what do you fancy growing?

I started a weeks holiday today but all grand plans got shot down with a bloody awful cold that has had me glued to the sofa all day! Bahh!

Let there be cupcakes, I love your plan. It should look great when it is done!

I got some gooseberries a red currand and black currant from Lidl for £1.50 each which I need to get in asap, but this bloody head cold is putting paid to that. I have them in a bucket of water in the garden hoping either I can get them in tomorrow or DH can get them in, along with potatoes on Friday.

@guy I would love somewhere to put in some more fruit trees but space and my windy allotment doesn't really allow me. I stupidly put in a Concorde pear tree last year and the wind last spring nearly killed it (ie all the leaves turned brown and dropped off) but it has budded this year. Note, pears absolutely hate wind! Plums do surprisingly well on our gusty, clay plot though if anyone is interested. I'm half considering pulling it out and shoving a plum in and being done with it...

oh ethelb - its always the way - Though being outside doesn't half clear out the sinuses, even though you feel rough . Hope it soon clears.
I seem to remember your photo on a previous thread- and it did look a bit exposed,.Poor pear tree, but you may find that once established it might cope better, or is there a chance of some sort of windbreak ? I know commercial growers rig up netting to do just that . Good to hear plums do well - I have planted a Victoria and a Gage this year, and am also on a fairly windy site , though chalk, not clay.
Not managed to fit a visit to the plot in today, so hope to get there in the morning, as I too have a white currant to plant, and a couple more urgent things to do.

Afternoon!
Managed a couple of hours this morning, but turned a bit wet, so wimped out of doing more this afternoon.
Got all my fruit cage weeded, and with a fair time tomorrow should get it finished , fingers crossed. Did dig up a couple of nice little rooted blackcurrant stalks, so will get those potted up.
Picked kale, and purple sprouting broccoli - its just getting into its stride now :)

Have turned into a raging lunatic mess today and have decided to put the children's sandpit away till next Spring. I can't cope with the mess it makes and the fights they have, plus the freaking cats are pooping in it. Will use the sand that's left to make a nice, sandy soil for the carrots I'll sow later. And I'll move the herb wheel into the space left by the sandpit so there won't be too much of a gap in the lawn that we'll need to fill with seeds.

Got tomato seeds with my Gardeners' World magazine yesterday so I'm looking forward to growing those. Will be interesting to see if I can manage. Might try to find a deepish trough for my windowsill and grow them in the lounge.

Oh, shame re 'raging lunatic mess' Kiwi
I also banned sandpits from our house, but I banned them permanently. It was just a mess-making misery pit for me. The cat issue, the fact that the sand was always everywhere where it wasn't mean to be, there were soften bugs in there, I hated finding sand in the house -it's not like we live anywhere near the sea. So I banned it. Bloody stuff. But I LOVE the fact that you're recycling it for your carrots!

My seed-related ennui is back, as is the sad tune on the world's tiniest violin which accompanies this post

I potted up my tomato seedlings, and they're all dying. Not all of them but lots of them. I don't really know why - it could be the house is too cold, it could be the compost, it could be that I didn't handle them correctly. I'm normally good with seedlings! I might just wait a bit now until the weather cheers up.

Also my mum is staying for too long a bit and she is moaning about 'the mess' of the seedlings. It's my house!

booky you're always so industrious! In your experience, how long does it take for a small blackcurrant stick to grow into anything productive? Only I have between 20 and 30 of the chappies dotted about...

I might yet ban it full time, Spotted. It would make a nice garden for the children to put their own plants in. When I can (finally) drive I can take them to the beach when they want sand to play in.

What a shame re your seedlings. Maybe your Mum's moaning has made them sad and you just need to sing happy crooning songs to them?

Your right, I think my mum has made them sad. Or they're trying to help me by 'tidying themselves up' aka dying. But they really don't want my singing. That would not cheer any person nor plant up.

YY to using sandpit as a kiddie garden!

poor Grouchy - I think 7 months is the worst time - getting to big to do stuff, can't sleep properly but still a way to wait.
Glad I never had a sand pit........!

Spotted - when did you pot the tomatoes up - its turned cold the last 2-3 days. Do you have them on a windowsill? I am bringing them in from behind the curtains on a night, as the cold gets trapped in that space.
Blackcurrants - well, to tbh I suspect longer than you would like to know. If they are rooted, I would say anything from 3-4 years. Not that they wont produce some berries, but they don't have enough established roots or branches to bear many. 4-5 years for significant amounts I suspect. It may be Grouchy knows better than me!
My best producing blackcurrant was free from a special offer on Ribena bottles, many years ago ( eldest DD sent off for it when she was about 8 - she's 35 now! ) it was a twig for years in a pot while she had it. I planted it at the allotment 6 years ago, and it has loved it, and really done well since :)

I'm not sure how long you'd expect blackcurrants to produce from cuttings. Can ask my parents, if you like.

I think the spinach seeds I planted in my garden 3 or more weeks ago are finally sprouting! Either that or there's a little row of weeds growing in exactly the same place...

oh fingers crossed Grouchy - no sign of my baby spinach but the perpetual spinach which I sowed in little peat pots are just sprouting . They have been weeks !