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

Lovely idea Luloo

Spotted (how do people get bold type?) that's what happened to my kale lasy year and why I got insect proof cages this year. Cost a bit but they should last years. So far the kale is good the cavolo nero seemed to be their favourite.
My borage and nasturtium just self seed now and need pruning regularly or they take over, same with the rocket.
I bought a few scallops in town today as my husband is taking his daughter out for dinner (I finish work in a different area too late) and am having them with allotment mash mixed with allotment rocket pesto and green beans.
I made some blackcurrant jelly yesterday. My teeth are getting too old for all the pips in jams.

evening!
absolutely nothing to report, as I have been out gadding with my DD's in town :)
2rebecca - to bold , just put an asterisk directly before and after the word you want to bold , with no spaces.
I am going to make hummus with broad beans tomorrow. I have made it before and it was nice , but any tips/recipes?

I love the idea of send ing someone an allotment box. Thanks for the bold tip.

Wow, everyone has been busy! Impressed at the pictures of tomatoes. Ours are still very green. I might try taking off a few leaves later on in the hope that they might ripen a few before we go on holiday (next week so not much time

Last weekend we harvested our onions - good crop, surprising range of sizes, some quite big others really small - and our potatoes which have done OK given the blight. Not as big tubers as we had last year on the main crop but we'll have some to eat for a while.
I planted up 4 suckers from the summer raspberry, fingers crossed that they take.
We picked vast quantities of beans and froze some of them and have been eating the rest. Also harvested the first of our beetroot.
And weeded. Lots of weeding.

Evening!
well, we had gentle rain all night, then all morning, then it finally started to clear up this afternoon. Which is good news, but it meant my plotting was just a trip this afternoon to pick absolutely loads and loads of green and purple french beans.=, oh and another 3 courgettes :)
Re -open freezing broad beans. As I had been given loads, I thought I would try the ones I froze the other week. Actually not too bad at all. Maybe slightly tougher skins, but I haven't frozen them at all before, so no chance to compare. They were just beyond the baby broad bean size, still small.
However, I am making hummus with the one I have been given, as they are rather older and tougher.
Have a good holiday Cedar !

hmm - not much hummus from one broad bean....!

Thanks bookbook One broad bean would not make much hummus, maybe just enough for one dip of a breadstick I've never made hummus. Did it turn out OK?

Harvested more runner and french beans yesterday. The french beans are a climbing purple one but I can't remember the variety name. They've cropped well even though the plants don't look that happy. The leaves haven't filled out in the way I expected. I assumed they'd be similar to the runner beans but whereas the runners have leaves everywhere the french beans don't. I'm not complaining, just interested that they're not quite what I expected.

The borlotti are doing OK but I thought they were climbers and they've turned out to be dwarfs. So they are sitting at the bottom of climbing poles looking like they couldn't be bothered to put the effort in Not sure we'll have much of a crop off of them. Should have planted more plants I think.

Tried the very first raspberry off the autumn fruiting plant I bought last year. It tasted delicious. I reckon this year we'll get about 5 fruits off the plant judging by the size of it at the moment but hopefully next year it will do a bit better.

Hoping to go and do a bit more weeding and tidying later on this afternoon. It's going to be warm and sunny down here in the south east so will probably need to water too.

Cedar I'm calling another #YearofFruit for 2017 so we shall await our bounteous harvests then
On the other hand, my beans have really taken off - I have filled the freezer now with beans and easy e delights. Every meal pretty much is 80% bean+courgette+tomato.

I have a question - when best to plant out new raspberries and blackcurrants? Do I wait until autumn when the heart has gone a bit and the ground is less dry? It's currently quite deeply cracked I have rasps and a blackcurrant from Aldi - so a plug potted on to 9 cm I suspect - and also some last year blackcurrant cuttings that have been in a pot for a year. And some raspberry runners that I want to relocate at the plot.

Evening!
Had something of an unexpectedly busy day today, so totally out of skew now, with no plot.
I did pick my first cucamelon though - DH and I shared one :) DH was underwhelmed....
Cedar - hummous turned out very well. Only second time I have made it, and used a different recipe this time. It took a lot of tweaking to get right mind you. The skins were very tough to peel off for some reason , so decided to leave them on. Had to get the heavy guns out to do it though ( The Dualit ) but once that was done, it was just a case of adding enough of everything else. It made loads though, so have frozen most of it.
Beans are definitely at glut phase now . Have frozen and gifted quite a lot, and the runners have barely got going.
Spotted - if you have them potted up at home, and under your eye, I think I would wait until autumn. They may struggle with the dry when the rootball hasn't developed fully. You can keep watered, and when the ground is ready, it will be much easier to dig in compost/grit etc to give them a flying start for #YoF# 2017 :)
Tomorrow afternoon is tomato and veg sauce making day here The courgettes are ganging up...and I have to pick a few peppers too .

I brought home 'some' cucumbers and courgettes that didn't sell as my deputy gardener is doing a fresh picking this morning and I will be making 'Pickle'. I use the recipe below and have done for years; they really do keep for years if you make enough of them. I say 'some' as there is a huge veg tray worth. Yay.

www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/grapevine/making-most/pickled-courgettes_21316.html

Off to a small plant fair this morning to get some plants to fill a few gaps where the hop had taken over [it is now cut back and will be moving to a new home next week].

It's been pretty quiet here in the garden over the last week, apart from the wind being extremely unkind. Many of my trees and shrubs have very unhappy leaves.

In pleasanter news, my tomatoes are ripening beautifully and taste delicious. If the children stop picking them I should get a good haul next week.

The carrots are pretty much ready now. What's the best way to prep them for freezing? I'm going to dig them all out now, apart from a few tiny ones, as the slugs have discovered them and I'm worried about them going woody (one had). I also now know what happens when you are too lazy/tired/pregnant to bother thinning them (see photo)!

Moved one of my strawberry plants to an old baby bath we had lying around, and will shift the other when DD3 is too big for her little bath. Hoping that I can encourage the runners to turn into proper plants as well. I managed that last year so am fairly confident I'll succeed with at least one runner!

Spotted I'm going to lift and shift a couple of my raspberry plants soon. I think they're Autumn fruiting so I guess I should wait till after they've fruited.

Ooops. Forgot my photo!

Evening!
had a good trip to the plot this morning. Quite a lot of weeding ( surprise!) and a lot of watering. Its so dry again , with a very warm stiff breeze and no rain. Picked cabbages, a great big load of beans again ,some beetroots and yet another courgette .
Spent the afternoon trying to watch olympics whilst doing a big pan of tomato and veg sauce for pasta, another batch of courgette brownies and open freezing the french beans.
Grouchy - those carrots are giving each other a hug- hardly lazy from you! Runners from strawberry plants do tend to strike easily, but you can put a little plant pot underneath the new rootlet , and peg it down, just to help it along. I tend to let them get 2 or 3 plantlets on each runner , then chop off the runner near the parent plant and then pot them up .

oh, forgot to ask Doreen - you mention a hop plant. Too big to grow in a pot? and where is best to get seed/plant from? Asking for my sister in law who fancies growing them to help make beer..... !

To grow hops for beer, you need a male and a female plant [or a male in the vicinity] and you need space. Lots of it. As they grow very forcefully and will scramble over, under and through anything. I have a huge space with a north facing wall and even if I move it this week, which I will, I will still get growth this year to cover the trellis.

Thanks Doreen - I suspect that is not an option - she hasn't that sort of space available .

Hello! I'm an allotment newbie. We have a community site with small raised beds and I've taken 2 so I can't grow a huge amount but it's all trial and error at this point as I've never kept anything alive before.
So far, I have potatoes in which are flowering, garlic and carrots which are growing slowly, beetroot seeds which are doing absolutely nothing, salad leaves which are looking great, and a whole load of little leaves which I have no idea if they're weeds or something else.
So my questions are:
How do I tell weeds apart from other things?
Are there weeds you can eat?
How do I know when my potatoes are ready?
How can I help my carrots and garlic?
Are my beetroot seeds a write off? It's been at least 3 weeks since I planted them and nothing has come through.

Evening!
Hello Mamaka :) - a newbie, perhaps but 2 raised beds are a nice starter .
Now a few questions that are quite tricky .
Have you sown many seeds, or just salads , carrots and beetroot? If you haven't sown them then the chances are they are weeds. ( this is why many sow in straight lines, so you have a chance at seeing the line of seedlings) Beetroot have a distinctive red stalk even when tiny, and carrots have the feathery leaves just as when you buy them in a bunch, again, right from being little. Its a little late for beetroot, but they can take a little time to germinate. Its probably been rather too warm and dry for them, but make sure they get a good damping, and fingers crossed!
Potatoes - Once they have finished flowering , you can dig gently a little way away from the stalk and see if you can find some. But it does depend a bit on variety ...
Carrots - watering will help - it has been quite dry.
Garlic - when did you plant, as these normally overwinter, ( to get the cloves to form) . If the leaves are starting to yellow, dry up, then they are ready to dig up.
You can eat young dandelion leaves in salads :)

A neighbour grows a hop plant up the front of their house. Just for fun I should think. It does look effective.

Mamaka you can google pictures of seedlings which will help you identify the plants you want from the weeds. As Bookbook says, beetroot are quite distinctive in that they have pinkish stems even when tiny. They can be a bit slow to germinate and it depends how warm it has been because if it is too warm some seeds won't germinate either. At this time of year you can sow salad crops that can stand the cold (That's what Monty Don was doing on Gardeners World this week anyway). You'd have to have the right variety of seeds.

Thanks for the replies! Had a go at digging up some potatoes and found a few smallish ones which tasted delicious and have left the rest to grow a bit more. Found a few tiny red stalked leaves so that must be the beetroot, yay! The salad was also tasty, took the biggest leaves off and weeded out all the other things that now definitely look more weed-like.
What does thinning out mean and how do I do it? (Apparently I should thin out my carrots)

waves at everyone and hugs all round!

Apologies for my sudden absence- life crisis rather took over for a bit (multiple relatives in different hospitals miles apart). Have been feeling worn and tired, and in that horrible stasis of waiting anxiously that illness brings. But things are much, much better now. My plot is suffering a bit from lack of attention - I'm winning with the weeds, but I haven't managed to get everything looking neat all year. About the only good thing that has happened is that I actually "talked" to Cleve West on Twitter.

Have been thinking of you all, though! And hoping things are good and plots are flourishing. And hooray for new people on the thread!

book I hope you are well, your updates are lovely!

Spotted - I am glad the mojo is returning. Gardening can be cruel to the feelings sometimes. It can be very deflating when things fail, and it's been such a hard year in many places. And your soil is a challenge extra on top of that. I am so glad that you have beans and tomatoes and lots of other good things that have come!! I still haven't had a ripe tom yet, but there are lots of green fruit, and a couple are just going orange, so I am keeping my fingers crossed!

cath - aphids are awful where I am too. I have lovely bunches of sweet peas but they are covered in them. I have tried drowning them before I put them in a vase, but they seem to be able to survive this. Any ideas?

whoknows - did your question about your round green fruit get answered? I wonder if it could be a round variety of cucumber? Also, all my cherries have been devoured by blackbirds as well! I wonder if the weather was cold at nesting time and there weren't as many insects around as usual? They can't have been very nice to eat - they were green! On that subject, I've had super rasps up to a couple of weeks ago. Couldn't understand where they were all vanishing to - then I found a baby bird in the cage yesterday!!

Doreen - I am going to try your courgette recipe, it sounds yummy! I have been over-enthusiastic with the number of plants this year and I am getting kilos more than I can use. Am desperate for good ways to use them. Also, taking notes on your tomato recommendations!

cedar - you sound like you're going great guns!

And the person who has been most in my thoughts: Echt - I don't even have words. I am so, so sorry to hear about your DH.

Afternoon!
oh, it is so good to see you posting shove - I do hope things have settled down for you. Having relatives/loved ones ill is mentally, physically and emotionally draining, so I am sure you are exhausted.The harvest tray is looking good!
Mamaka - thinning out carrots - well it is best not to leave seedlings crowded, as they end up a bit like Grouchy's picture upthread! So basically, you need to gently ease out seedlings with the general idea of leaving one seedling every 2-3". It's heartbreaking , but necessary :). But gently so as not to disturb the roots of the ones you leave in.
I was out yesterday - (took DGS to the beach. So ended up worn, out sandy ,and that glow from too much sea and sand. If anyone knows the Yorkshire Coast - went to Flamborough Head, North Landing . Its a very , very steep slope to get there, as its where the RNLI launch a boat... DGS loved it , but was soooo tired walking back that DH and I looked like pack mules coming back up).
So today managed to get to the plot this afternoon after a bit of a rest.
Started to dig up potatoes, cut the grass, pick French beans, courgettes, first of the autumn raspberries. DH cut back the loganberry. That has been a bit of a disappointment this year. Loads of fruit, but most never grew, and wizened before ripening- too dry I suspect, so obviously will need watering in future seasons.
It looks that all my potatoes are the same . I could have sworn I had Marfona and Picasso. But all that are coming up are Picasso - mmm. We had to go twice , and they were picked by hand, not in a named sack. So- I am losing my marbles presumably!

Evening all, sorry for being AWOL, I have been lurking a bit but not much to report, just endless watering and weeding.

Shove - thank you for remembering about my round cucumber, I think that must be what it is. It hasn't grown any more and is still a very dark green. Glad you're relatives crises are abating.

Harvested all my potatoes and onions now. I grew a purple variety of maincrop spuds, purple flowers, stems, roots, skins, which turn brown when you cook them, but one big drawback is that it is really hard to see eyes, holes etc when you are cleaning them for cooking unpeeled.

Also had a steady supply of cucamelons, lots of sweet peas, a trickle of courgettes (only two plants have fruited) and masses of French beans (various colours).

My sweetcorn are swelling, but I've been comparing them to others on the site and my plants seem much shorter (maybe 4' with 1 to 2 cobs each) while other people's seem to be about 5'6" with 3 or 4 cobs each.

Evening!
no apologies necessary WhoKnows - its mostly watering, weeding, picking for everyone at the moment. - Or on holiday!
My sweetcorn are poor things - they never really got hold, don't know why. They have cobs on, but again, look a bit sad.
And I have been digging potatoes. I am not sure that any that I haven't forked accidentally , don't have slug damage . Heh -hoh - message to self - do not grow potatoes next year. The time involved in sorting them out and then cooking quickly as they won't store is to much for me.
Our annual veg and flower show is on Saturday. I have been enjoying watching everyone polishing, measuring and angsting. I have always been at work in previous years and this year I haven't anything that is pretty enough/straight enough/not slug nibbled . Though tomorrow, I will just check my runner beans. But I have to have 7 all the same size. ( In my dreams !)