Allotment/Veg Patch Thread 6 - Weed 'em and Reap!

[bookbook]

Thanks WhoKnowsWhereThe Time GOes for the title of the new thread.
So, we head into summer, praying for sun, gentle rain and no slugs
Everyone welcome to join in and share joys and woes and advice, given freely!
Previous thread here
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/gardening/2582241-Allotment-Veg-Patch-Thread-5-The-Diggers-Rest?pg=1

Morning. I managed a quick hour at the plot yesterday. Discovered to my surprise that one of my french bean plants - one that is a climber and is still lurking at the bottom of the cane with about two leaves on the plant - actually has beans on it. Big enough to pick. No idea how the plant has managed it I was busy dismissing it as a bit of a failure!

Runner beans have plenty of flowers not too many actual beans just yet but they should be there soon.

Put some insect netting over the top of the seedlings that I planted the other week in an effort to discourage the flea beetle. We'll see what happens there.

Also picked raspberries - really pleased with how the plant is doing in it's first proper year. Picked a few blackcurrants - there are more to come, they just need a few more days to ripen up so I must not be impatient!

Since I covered an earlier sowing of beetroot the leaves are recovering so it was the blessed pigeons eating them rather than the slugs. Only the first sowing, though, they don't seem to have discovered the other two rows that are planted in another bed.

My pumpkins have suddenly put on a growth spurt and even have a flower or two coming.

Not sure I'll get there today, but will over the weekend at some point. Weather permitting!

Afternoon.
had a busy morning at the plot, (giving it a go at not thinking about the crash and burn which seems to be happening everywhere in the world....)
The picking of fruit has gone up a notch. Not only the strawberries and the beginnings of raspberries. A very few white currants off my baby new bush ( which I thought I had killed) and the first foray into redcurrant land - just two branches so far... so that will take a few days.
I also dug up the majority of the shallots - all the ones that had put up a seed head. Picked broad beans and peas.
And did some weeding.
Podded said broad beans and peas while watching tennis . My favourite lost ....
Then watered in greenhouse - more cucumbers ready, so shall have to start gifting those. Gave away most of the strawberries .
And then I found that something has been nibbling the sprouting peas . Lost about half of them. I feel decidedly 'wrong' today .
But here is my fruit haul :)

That sounds like a good day Book I have only done packing and getting ready for our AM flight.
That is a great haul. I have a great tan from yesterday and the day before

Sounds like you had a great hour Cedar, my beans are not doing to great either. The slugs devoured my chard, but not my kale

Not much to report from me, I've had a couple of short sessions at the plot, but only weeding and watering. Oh and lifted my first potatoes, I've got some purple ones.

Oh and good news, remember that exam I took last month, the one that caused me to neglect my allotment somewhat - I got my results yesterday, got a distinction .

oh wow WhoKnows , really deserved after all that hard work .
and purple potatoes - do they taste any different?
I am just deciding whether to roast all my shallots and freezing them, anyone done that? I usually roast them with the tomatoes.pepper and garlic , but the tomatoes haven't started to ripen yet

I forgot to say - I am off to buy red gooseberries tomorrow , as we are going past my favourite nursery, I thought I would get them in pots, rather than wait for bare rooted . I have persuaded DH we can fit 2 in ! (This was on a different thread mind you , that Cathpot started .....)

Thank you Book. I haven't tasted the potatoes yet, as I was out for a meal last night and had something else planned for tonight. I only got 2, I was harvesting the plants next to them and uncovered them accidentally. Will try potato salad with them tomorrow I think.

busy week at work, so didn't get anything done apart from watering the sunflowers (tallest is already more than a meter high) and watering the toms with aspirin water.
have to do some untangling at the weekend -clematis honeysuckle and russian vine are all competing for space on the fence.

Well done on your exam who knows.

I've finally given up on my sorry sorry rhubarb , pulled it up and stewed the 6 pencil thin stalks and ate them, sadly, with yoghurt . Am giving the bed back to the croscosmia which has been trying to reclaim it for 3 years anyway. I don't really have anywhere else to plant more unless I give up a third of the raised bed. DH was all for that idea, he briefly came over all pooh bear 'I don't like anything else you grow ( aka salad) but I DO like rhubarb'.

Re 'operation gooseberry' I haven't been back to the garden centre since I had my returning home binge which got a bit out of hand. It is on my mind that I somehow agreed to grow every gooseberry type under the sun in order to add to the sum of gooseberry knowledge- so I will go back in.

Evening!
Hope the untangling wasn't too bad - what a combination to try on Blue !
Cathpot - poor rhubarb - my thug is in the same small bed as Lucifer crocosmia, they seem to cope as the crocosmia shoots up as the thug is dying down. Mind you they were planted at much the same time, so neither managed to get ascendancy :)
I got to my nursery and bought the gooseberries. One is totally different to what I was originally going to buy - swayed by the description I went for
Whinhams Industry and Hinnomaki Red .
It was very busy, as we dropped in on the rose festival open day, and there were absolutely loads of lovely veg plants of every description. I bought some Cavalo Nero, as mine has been chomped , and some extra perpetual spinach. There were beans of every description, about 3 varieties of pak choi, winter cauliflowers, sprouting broccoli , cabbages and loads of peppers and chillies. So well worth looking if you have holes to fill. I was very tempted with the pak choi, but resisted.
So planting those tomorrow.

well the clematis is a thug my neighbours, I don't want to know what they are feeding it! the honeysuckle us mine and beautiful in flower atm. the russian wine is on a 20ft fence between us and the train line. it's stunning but needs keeping in check.

Afternoon, hope everyone is well
Managed a couple of hours at the new plot this morning. Investigated the rubble bags left by the previous plotholder and some of them were full of compost so that's gone on top of the nettle/comfrey pit I dug last week. Black weed membrane over the top of it all and I then spent a bit of time digging weeds out of the front of the plot. There is a row of bricks at the front which is harbouring loads of weeds and endless slugs, but the bricks are proving quite handy for weighting the black membrane down. Dug out quite a few dock roots and loads of buttercup/ground elder. 3 rubble bags of weeds waiting for when I can get back up there with the car. It's looking a lot better although no hope of cultivating anything except comfrey for a while yet!

Evening!
timtam - you will find a use for nearly anything, but bricks are particularly useful!
I have had a rather busy couple of days. I did manage a rather quick trip to the plot yesterday morning, just to pick strawberries , raspberries, and another couple of branches worth of redcurrants, but had to cut it short due to the very early arrival of guests..... And today was at my DD's house, so only just got home so need to go and check everything and water .
Its been a day of sunshine with a few showers, so I have no doubt the weeds and slugs are having a field day.
Hope everyone is well and busy... :)

Hello all, hope you're all well. I've been a bit absent from this thread recently - the shine has been taken off gardening a lot bit for me due to everything dying on me.

My home tomatoes are now going down with blight too. And one of my quinces is dying. And everything at the plot is a bit shit, and the effort to harvest ratio is so off.

The good news is that my front garden tayberry is thriving, and the berries are delicious.

oh no! have you tried the aspirin thing?

one dh's tomatoe got a bit yellow and it perked right up again after an aspirin shower. the effect was almost instant.

on the sustainability front, dh and I mused if we could live off our garden should we need to. I guess not, unless we pump in tons of fertiliser. it's too small for 4 people.

oh Spotted :( hope it gets better, I am sending "growing wishes'

Blue - my kids giggle at me, as I like to think that in bad times , though I could not totally feed us, the allotment would certainly make life a lot easier. I am a lot older than most on this thread, and lived through a few recessions - some worse than others, and I was working when we had the 3 day week, so to me its important to keep some grip on personal food safety. That sounds pompous doesn't it!

Fascinated by the posts about tomatoes and aspirin. Is this an anti-blight thing or for all-round general plant health? Does it really work? And is it sprayed on or added to a watering can?

it's for all over plant health, but incidentially (allegedly) helps against blight as well.
country living link

Aspirin link very interesting. Am all for slightly off piste solutions in theory but still slightly scarred by the milk incident I had with my chillies - Chilli leaves were crinkly , Google suggested a lack of calcium, I had no access to garden centre so further googling suggested milk. Tried small amount of milk on one chilli and it worked. Very pleased and felt all Mother Earth-y. Went to town with milk on the others. Hadn't really thought through the consequences with very hot weather. Nothing happened for a few days but then one morning I opened the door and all the bluebottles in the world rose up in a black cloud. Pots covered in layer of cheese. There was a Hitchcock quality about it all and I lost it slightly and ran about flapping and squawking. Felt less Mother Earth and more idiot.

Interesting link Blue - shame you have to start before blight though as a preventative .
*Cathpot
And to rub salt in the wound for Spotted my tomatoes are just turning the first non green ripening shade....

Spotted I hope things get better in your garden. Sending Sunshine vibes your way.

Cathpot Thank you for your story about using milk in the garden. I've been thinking about it for my roses (they might have black spot) so now I will steer clear.

Photo is of my lemon tree with lots of new life. Thought DD2 and I had managed to kill it; it's now doing very well!

Thank you Blue for the aspirin link. Grouchy that lemon tree looks great. I used to have an orange tree in a pot years ago - grew it from a pip. Sadly I can't remember what happened to it. Cookbook great news on the tomatoes! Cathpot your milk story made me

Back at the allotment this morning. DH came to help and was an absolute star. He dug over the biggest bed which was absolutely full of comfrey and huge dock tap toots. Then dug out the compost bin (which was brimful but we had to pick out a lot of ground elder roots plus the world's biggest dock root) and spread the remaining compost over the big bed. I dismantled the remains of the brick wall/sluggery, shooed the slugs away, covered the beds with an attractive assortment of weed membrane & old compost bags. Finally managed to put a few plants in at the front just to make it look a bit more attractive - cotton lavender, lemon balm, crocosmia, Lysimachia, a couple of ailing gladioli. We brought home 8 rubble bags of weeds and there are still 6 more up there to lug back. Only half of the plot is cleared so far but I think there is a big improvement, just need to get the worst of the buttercups out over the summer. After all that i forgot to take any photos to keep track of progress!

Aagh, should be bookbook not Cookbook...must turn autocorrect off....

Fabulous amount of work, timtam.

Harvested about three meals' worth of broad beans today, and the potatoes. Was too early for the potatoes really but they were starting to squash other plants so had to go. Will make a salad with them for dinner tomorrow.