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

Two French black, one Jersey Sunrise which is very rare and eight Sungolds. Tomorrow I have to manoeuvre them all back into the greenhouse and give them all a jolly good organic feed.

Did i miss anything? i still smell of the pool we had and am having to stop myself from dropping into post holiday blues.

All day at the beach mostly in the sea, watching the kids so happy, I'm really pleased to be home. Got back to yet another aphid killing package - don't remember ordering them and I suspect late night Internet shopping which I should very much stop doing. These ones will apparently parasitise the aphids so less dramatic but possibly for the aphids more unpleasant - I've sort of unleased an Armageddon in the greenhouse. Anyway I harvested some chillies and they were splendidly hot despite being those big green ones which normally I think are more relaxed. Managed to make blackberry and apple cake with garden blackberries. They look ripe but are quite tart so they are good in a cake. Gave some to the builder to apologise for the wibbliness of our kitchen walls he was tiling - there has been a lot of huffing and puffing. Sort of back in the kitchen so am looking sternly at the chard. quincetofigs I am very jealous you have plums. I have 2 different trees and not even blossom. doreenlethal those tomatoes look lovely.

We have had endless rain. Cut down all broad beans and peas and planted some plugs of cauliflower and purple sprouting broccoli in its place. The runner beans are starting to produce. I have removed foliage from potatoes but need to dig more up. All gooseberries and black currants now harvested. Have to decide what to do with black currants. Fruit vinegar and / or jelly i think.
This is more of a job than my job is! And it's been raining endlessly (apart from when I'm at work)

Hello hello. Well. Still bashing away at the old growing lark, even though mojo is not quite back. But I have been cheered by a now steady stream of... tomatoes.

So I lost all mine at the allotment on July 1st to blight but still had a few at home, and kept on cutting the blight off leaves there. Then the weather cheered up a bit. Oddly, my 1st ripe tomato was from a p,ant that had blight low down on the main cordon stem. I put it in isolation in the front garden. It was previously my favourite tomato plant so I was loathe to give up on it. Pineapple tomato it is - lovely! Big, orangey-yellow, good for slicing as quite 'meaty'. The plant has definitely been set back but the fruit it has, should ripen unless the incessant rains return.

I've also had my hanging basket tomatoes Losetto and Golden Nugget - the latter I'd cut 2 plants down to the root, and they have regrown too. And I've had some Gardener's Delight and Black Cherry. And plum tomato Garden Peach is just starting to ripen. I also took some armpit cuttings of the blighted plants where I could, so hopefully /maybe will get some Green Zebra, Black Krim, and Soldacki. Roma and something else I lost everything of.

Rasps are ok ish. I've planted them in a stupid fashion, and get scratched to bits every time I pick. The yellow ones definitely get left alone by the birds, but also they seem to rot quicker on the plant. I really want to expand my raspberry empire -and fruit is cheap again in Aldi...

So that waz the positives. Not a single cherry or jostaberry, alas. And the oriental veg that I planted after BlightGate has all been chomped or pigeoned. And most of my garlic is paltry and didn't clove up.
And I've finally planted put my leeks even though they are thinner than a weak chive.

Current 2017 resolutions - more fruit, of course. No more spuds, I just don't have the space. And tomatoes will mot go the allotment again. And maybe I'll give brassicas a rest too. Hmm.

Just got back from holidays here too. Mixed results at the allotment, weeds galore of course, but worse than that, the tomatoes that were so strong and healthy just a week ago have gone down with blight, picked off three tomatoes but the rest will have to go, will go back with my garden waste sack and pull them out tomorrow. Potatoes look to be heading the same way, so their foliage will have to go too, but they were ready.

On the plus side, my cucamelons have roared into life, harvested the first few tonight. Courgettes are doing well and on what I thought was a cucumber plant there is a round green fruit the size and shape of a small melon . CLimbing beans cropping well, chard going very well, in fact way more than I know what to do with, so might be taking some to work this week.

At home - blackberries are starting to be ready. We are going to have a massive crop this year by the looks of it. Book - I too have just cleared space in an outhouse for a second freezer to store my produce.

Does anyone else have a cherry tree? Ours is about 14 years old, last year was the first time we had more than a handful of fruit, we had way more that I knew what to do with, kilos and kilos of them, we thought maybe it had finally matured. This year, not a single one got as far as ripening.

Blanching - I thought the purpose was to sterilise the surface of the veg so they would keep longer in the freezer, but agree that with modern, much colder freezers it probably isn't as necessary as it used to be.

x-posted with you Zebra - you havce answered my cherry question already!

Oh no, WhoKnows - Damn that blight
My cherry tree is still a baby - I only got it last year I think. The wild cherries near me have fruited well though. Actually I need to repot my cherry -or plant it out. It's in a stupid shaped pot with a narrow base and the tree is a top heavy lollipop shape so it sometimes blows over. What's the best kind of pot for that, does anyone know?

Could the big round melon cumber be a big round cucumber?

Am so jealous of you both with the need and the room for a 2nd freezer! I have got a lot of... courgettes though - hurrah! I made a nice courgette quiche the other day, then I made it again yesterday but doubled up and froze one. And tomorrow am making that courgette cake/brownies thing that booky linked to last year, as it was delicious. And am having fried courgettes er, quite a lot too. I pondered buying a spiralizer, but actually I love carbs.

Beautiful tomatoes, Doreen. I'm fascinated by the black ones. How different do they taste?

Two casualties of the strong winds already in my garden and we've only had two hours of them. My large raspberry plant (Autumn fruiting) just snapped off at the base and one of my lovely cosmos plants is now half as large as it was. Thankfully the raspberry has little suckers that seem to be growing nicely so I might still have a plant for next year.

Picked a few courgettes. Can courgettes bolt? There are loads of flowers but most of them are on longish stalks. Is this normal?

courgette, the long stalky flowers are the male flowers.
the female flowers have a thicker stem that will then turn into a fruit if pollinated

The black ones are Piglet Willie's French Black, seed saved from a tomato on a French market stall and grown in Leicester for 10 years by a friend - I've been growing and saving from them myself for at least 7 years and the seeds are now being traded on US seed saving sites...

They are one of the best tasting toms ever, hence growing them. They taste meaty - which is a revelation when I give them to people that have only ever tasted UK supermarket toms.

I saved a fair few seeds from my trip abroad; more tomatoes - big black x 3 [two similar to the above, one big like a marmande], and several big red, orange, green and yellow tomatoes. Plus a salvia, a wild geranium, a livingstone daisy and various other randoms that I found out and about.

Just been to the lottie and in amongst the weeds [sob] there are loads of big red onions, potatoes, cougettes, kohl rabi, beetroot, some pumpkins from random seeds that I thought had died, and loads and loads of runner beans which I will cook up and freeze for a huge batch of Pickled Runner Beans which i make at the end of the season, Now about to make a home cooked lunch of stir fried veg with noodles and a beet and kohl rabi pickled dressing on top.

Yummy.

Ah, male flowers! Every day is a school day. Thanks, Blue. Am glad my garden is abuzz with bumblebees.

I bought some self supporting movable netting frames this year after my kale got munched by caterpillers last year. The kale is inside my fruit cage but the gaps in the net in that are big enough for pollinators and small butterflies.
My courgettes are doing well now and I'm wondering if the yellow leaves are due to the courgettes being yellow (soleil). The packet says and shows green leaves but other pictures of it online have yellow leaves. If the packet had said yellow leaves in the first place i wouldn't have been as worried. My pumpkins have green leaves, but no pumpkins yet. I struggled to get fruit on them last year as well, the male and female flowers never seemed to appear at the same time

Evening!
Had a lovely, packed weekend, only went to pick some veg at the plot.
Today was rather tired, so only went to do a massive amount of watering,. So dry now. Hoping for rain tomorrow . And a warning tonight for a drop in temperature may go down to 5º - its August!!
Hope you had good holidays Doreen and WhoKnows ,
I love the look of that black tomato. I have the first one ripening on the Back Russian plant, so shall be intersting to taste that.
I am sowing cabbages and cauliflower quince for overwintering, and still some succession spinach.
Spotted - I am so glad to hear you rescued some tomatoes :) and you are getting enough courgettes to make cake! :)
And today I found another cabbage white in my brassica cage - they must be carrying side cutters with them

2rebecca - I grew Atena Polka a couple of years ago, which are a yellow courgette, but the leaves were green, so maybe give them a feed? Mind you, if they are giving you courgettes, they can't be that unhappy!
And tomorrow, I had better get down to some proper weeding, tidying and perhaps digging up the second early potatoes .

Hello hello!

booky the cake was fab - thank you so much again for linking to the recipe! Cabbage whites - grrrr. I cleared a new space bat the plot for my cavolo nero plantlets that I had safely shielded and grown on at home. But I went today to get them - and they are nowt but stumps. A few caterpillars left on, but no idea where the rest have gone. That's in the space of just a few days -I guess the winds had opened up a gap in my defences somehow? So that's another crop that I don't have now! Yikes.

So in my balance of moan vs hurrah - my happy garden news for today is that I DID go to Aldi and I did buy some more fruit plants. Another blackcurrant (Ben sarek), another blueberry (Blue Gold), and 4x more Autumn Bliss rasp canes. And a whole lot of cheese. Maybe I shall eat it in the garden?

Oh, I'm growing tromboncino /tromba di Albegna squash this year -is anyone else? I'm not really rating it, Tbh - it's not very productive. The leaves are lush and healthy looking, but there is not much fruit. And it doesn't get very big not as big as the pictures . I don't think I'll grow it again, unless something bounteous happens soon.

That was a rather emotional edition of Gardeners World last Friday - 20 year anniversary of the death of Geoff Hamilton and then the dedication at the end to the cameraman Andy Payne 1961 - 2016.

book re the critters - there are moles and voles (the root eaters). Hoping for a harsher winter to get things back under control .

I’ve planted those newly sown runners in a trug, also a few extra Purple Tepees in another one. I can see me having to transfer the whole veg patch into containers ...

My first sowings this year of Butternut Squash failed. So I sowed four more in pots. All four came up and I planted them all quite close to each other ‘knowing’ that I would end up with only one (or none like last year). Yes, you’re ahead of me. They all thrived and are going bananas at the foot of a compost heap. There are quite a few squashes forming but there is no way I can discern which arm/squash belongs to which plant, so I’m going to go by general spacing (why not?) and not worry too much about the per plant ratio.

Pak Choi is covered in flea beetles, just as it’s coming to picking size. They have ruined it .

Glad you’ve had some success with the toms Spotted . Sorry about your cavolo

Piglet Willie's French Black and This is the Awning of the Cage of Asparagus - belly laughs of the week

Like the true spod I am, I turned the Cabbage White Tragedy into a learning experience for the kiddos. I can't say they were enthused.
But we saw/discussed ragwort and cinnabar moth caterpillars recently, so it was oddly timely.

Look at today's colourful tomato harvest!

Oops

Shove if you're reading this i hope you're well and that your tomatoes are too. Especially Black Krim.

Morning!
Done my stint today, hoed around the leeks - I have one going to seed already - the earlier variety - but even so... I cut and deadheaded flowers, and was about to go and get a cabbage when my NDN came and gave me a load of broad beans, and broccoli that she didn't want... :)
I started to dig up the potatoes, and realised that they were the main crop, not the first earlies - they are large, but very odd shapes , shame we don't have an ugly veg spot in the veg show!
Spotted - yay to lovely looking tomatoes, and so glad you like the cake. As you mentioned cheese , did I give the recipe for veg muffins? and I have a nice one for courgette and gruyere muffins too if you want. Re Cavolo Nero - don't chuck them out. You may well find that they will regrow - my savoys and broccoli did from near extinction from slugs. I thought trombochino were supposed to be very productive, but haven't grown them. I have been wiping cabbage white eggs off the leaves of my winter cauliflower seedlings - I am now checking every day. There are loads fluttering around on what looks like a scavenger hunt! On better news, we had a lovely 'comma' butterfly in our garden the other day. I didn't think they came this far north :)
teacup - that is sod's law of vegetable growing of course. So far I have plenty of crown prince set - I should get between 7 -10 of those ( as long as DH doesn't insist on pruning them off ) but not a single butternut so far - which is , of course, our favourite...And flea beetle are in every flower . But i found if I leave them in water outside for an hour, then give them a really good shake, I get rid of the majority, so my kitchen window isn't covered in them. And yes to the Gardeners World - I went to Barnsdale a few years ago to look around his garden and veg patch. A lovely 'old- fashioned' gardener .
I too hope shove is okay and reading -and also Diamond/Cupcakes - I think she doesn't have long before baby is due - in September I think...

veg muffins
lovely with extra cheese . I leave out the pepper as one of my DD's is allergic

and here is the other one! courgette and gruyere muffins

Loving all the updates and have much to add myself but just came on to say I gave away my first 'allotment box' today and I'm so pleased with it. It wasn't much and if I'd known I was going to get the chance to send a box then I'd have saved some strawberries from the weekend too.

I put in a bunch of spinach, a couple of lettuce heads, 3 courgettes, a big bag of peas in pods, some broadbeans, 3 cucumbers and 6 bunches of various herbs. I sent it to one of my teachers/mentors from my school days who has always been a huge part of my life and who I know is very keen on healthy eating and organic foods. He's pretty old now (I'm pushing 40 myself and he was a teacher at my secondary school).

I can't express how much joy I had in sending that box. I feel like it was the best thing I could have done with my allotment produce and feel so rewarded to be able to have sent a box of stuff I'd lovingly grown myself for someone else to enjoy.
I spent a good part of the afternoon picking it, sorting it, lovingly tying it, arranging it etc. Then DH was travelling to his home town later on in the afternoon so I sent it with him.
I really hope he enjoys eating it as much as I enjoyed picking and packing it.

That is lovely Lulooo - everyone loves getting really fresh grown vegetables and fruit

Not been active much at the allotment the last couple of weeks. A bit busy with the wee one and keeping the older one entertained.

The borage us crazy and they were from seeds going everywhere from last year. So many bees on it.

At home the cherry tree has been stripped fully by Mrs blackbird. 1st year this has happened.

Lost some plums and apples with the wind.

The tomatoes has been horrible again this year, my fault. For the last 3 summers we have been away for 2 weeks and they suffered and cling on and give some tomatoes which I freeze and use for roast sauces or spag ball.

Long trip to the allotment planned very soon.