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

We sell more chard than any other harvest. Fact.

The Asian and West Indian community use it to wrap little rice delights. So they make their rice, all veggie and spiced, and put a spoonful into the chard leaves, and then wrap it.

(If you know me in real life, this would out me...)

You know that bit in Forest Gump when Bubba talks about All The Ways you can do shrimp? My dc quote that to me. But about chard. I LOVE CHARD! (and yes, I do mean to shout there ) But then I do like my greens.

So:
Steamed, sautéed etc all nice.
Chard in curry - either Indian like saag, or in Thai ish curries.
Chard with garlic, ginger, chilli, soy, sesame oil - a bit Chinese.
Chard in quiches. I really really love a sort of lazy spanakopita, using flattened out pre-rolled puff pastry, instead of filo.
Chard in more robust wintry dishes - goes well with sausages, sage, in pasta.
Chard with garlic and lemon
Chard with a squeeze of orange
Chard cheese. Like cauliflower cheese... but with - get this, chard!

Chard. Chard chard chard.

Spotted - I am reminded of an old Monty Python sketch - sorry for the vegetarians amongst us but the song "spam, spam spam, spam, spam ....."

Oh book I'll be singing that for days now!!

I have a packet of chard seed
waiting on the shelf, this might be it's lucky week!

Cupcakes - I already am
go for it Ipanema !

I've got some chard seedlings going, need to get them a bit bigger before planting out.

Last year a lot of people on here grew cucamelons, I haven't hear much mention of them this year, anyone got any? I've got healthy seedlings in the shed, ready to go out, last years died without fruiting so I'm hoping for better luck this year.

With regard to the bird feeding, I've got two hanging seedholders (regular and niger) and a fat ball holder. No nuts because it's the time of year when fledglings can choke. I'm getting lots of sparrows and I guess the pigeons are getting scraps from the floor. I think I'll carry on, I love having birds around.

And with regard to the allotment management here - I think there are several problems which happen to have converged on me (apparently I'm not the only one who got the letter for the first time). Firstly the person who manages it for the council doesn't have enough time to do the job as well as they would like. Secondly it's not them that does the inspection, it's the groundperson who hasn't got a clue how long each person has been there etc, although the site rep does go round with them to try and fill in that detail (but with about 50 plots that's a lot to remember and she's fairly new). Thirdly at a meeting between council and allotment association (I didn't go) recently the overwhelming opinion from the plotholders was that abandoned plots aren't being re-tenanted quickly enough. Fourthly that my plot is one of the most visible ones on the site. So, we will see. I would add that in general it is an incredibly friendly site, everyone chats, borrows things, passes the time of day.

I managed three sessions there today, between work and school run each end of the day for about 15 mins each and another hour after school pickup. I have dug, tidied, watered, trimmed, laid card and compost over some persistently thatched areas (too lawn- like to dig). I will have another 45 mins or so up there in the morning before work. I'll soon catch up.

Morning all of you. I have been nudged awake by our 2 labs for a garden visit, so may as well mn till I get up in an hour too!
Still very behind as more visits to parents last week. The garden has romped away in my absence for a few days! Toms doing brilliantly and will plant them in greenhouse and hanging baskets (cherry tumbler) tomorrow eve. I have aubergines, chillies and peppers too; which should I squeeze in greenhouse too? Wary of over filling it. I might make a kind of temporary open-roofed cold frame around it; would that work for the more tender crops?
My beautiful red kale seedlings are struggling with slug attack, but 4/6 hanging in there valiantly!

Covering strimmed weedy areas with cardboard is going well here too. Local Aldi think I am some kind of packaging fetishist, as can get huge amounts of very large boxes from there if around at the right time. Looking forward to mulching with whatever I can access that's suitable.

Fruit trees and bushes also looking good for #YoF...

Also have to confess that after struggling to suppress weeds on front drive/ garden for years by covering, de-leafing, gas burner, digging out roots etc et , I have resorted to glyphosate in a limited area.
Quite terrifying how well it works. However at least the front of the house might look more presentable if the lavender and roses can now be seen.
I feel very guilty though...have any of you used it when just overwhelmed initially? I can see that once a garden is more under control, much less need to do so...

I LOVE chard too! Not least because it is something DH insists on cooking himself. He takes the stems off and boils them for a bit, then fries them with lemon juice and some lovely crispy breadcrumbs on top. It is delicious. I do not like to ask too many details as then I will be able to do it and he might stop .

Also, the red stuff is beautiful to look at. The green stuff less so, but it makes up for it in hardiness- this winter, I've been able to pick it every week, which has kept me going in spite of successive failures of peas and beans to sprout!

It needs a more glamorous name though. 'Chard' doesn't exactly sound exotic, does it? 'Rainbow leaves' sounds better.

whoknows - you're on a roll! So impressed by your energy.

Quince I used glysophate on my allotment when I first got it. It was thigh high with weeds including a fair number of docks and dandelions. One application - applied carefully on a still day - killed off most things. I think it was the right thing to do because it helped to get the whole thing under control so we could make a start. Since then we've used tarpaulins to cover areas and suppress weeds. It's not organic but who knows what the last owners put over the plot anyway?

Managed to get my beans planted out over the weekend. Some of the borlotti plants got too leggy and then damaged in the wind (and I've run out of space) but I haven't quite managed to throw them away just yet.

Re-sowed some beetroot in first row sowed back in April, re-sowed leeks and fennel as well. Also did extra peas as only half germinated in the rows I sowed before. Didn't check to see which row was mange tout and which row were normal peas so may have mixed them up now. Never mind! First direct sown french beans were up, so were radishes and spinach and carrots. I think the plot benefited from all the rain we had last week, gave everything a really good soaking.

My rainbow chard got badly eaten last year, and this thread has reminded me that I haven't actually got around to planting any yet.

thanks bookbook for the commiseration... I'm hoping to find a note today when I go... it would be helpful in getting over it!

thank you so much bookbook GrouchyKiwi DoreenLethal shovetheholly and especially TheSpottedZebra (!) for the 'rainbow leaves' recipe suggestions. I'm basically going to go through every one of them one by one. I'm already in love with chard just because of its beauty, vitamin potential and ease of growth, and DH will just have to fall in love by having it served at ever dinner!!! Looking forward to that. Chard. Chard chard chard.

shovetheholly I do the same for so many of DH's recipes... 'oh it's delicious, but quickly, let's change the subject before you tell me too much about it!'.

quince2figs we used glysophate on 2 beds of our allotment, which had the worst couchgrass, and indeed, as for Cedar03, it allowed us to get going and planting faster. I do think that's ok on a one use/once in a very long while basis... I now have the sprayer 3/4 full in a cupboard and half tempted to use it for all the weeds we have in front of our house (paving) and on the sidewalk by it which is infested and which our council is doing nothing about. maybe on a very still full moon night erm ...

I think inspections are this week too at our allotment, and I'm so hoping that DH will get given the abandoned plot next to mine. I think he is in a good position on the waiting list, and this would allow us to have a shaded area to hang out, beneath an apple tree, AND to start growing soft fruits, rhubarb, and a bit more of everything, as my current plot is on the small side (10m x 3m)... I've been literally praying for it all day long this past week, I'm completely obsessed.

Morning!
WhoKnows - I was gifted 4 cucamelon seedlings . I have 2 and half left- DGS 'helped' to move them and dropped 2 ..... I am doing a dithering thing with them at the moment - they are in the greenhouse, looking reasonable, but so small and fragile looking. Tempted to leave them in the greenhouse if possible, but no idea how big they get. I read they scramble like cucumbers, or I could give support if they were on a shelf outside. Pic is of them in greenhouse - the half is coming back from the dead, honest!
And regards birdfeeders -- mmm we all get offered bird boxes for free on our site, but they did get a lot of complaints about a plotholder using his plot as a 'wildlife' area rather than for growing crops.That meant an immense amount of pigeons, which others were not too pleased about. But sounds as if its going to be really tidy soon, so I cant see you getting any more problems, especially as you have abandoned plots ( at ours, the 2 really bad ones were strimmed, weedkillered and rotavated, and new plotter given a year free of rent, to give them chance to bring it back into production)
In truth quince , I think a one off with the glyphosate to give you a fighting chance is no big deal. I have never really used it, but I have bought some as insurance against the dreaded ground elder that is trying the invasion. So far its been dug out over and over, and weed membraned, but I will use it , if forced. I would put aubergines in greenhouse, and if you have room , the chillies and peppers too.
HiaHia - fingers crossed for that plot!
btw shove - did you hear back from your DH's application ? :)
Busy day down at plot today later - a lot of watering, grass cutting, strimming and some more leeks and brassicas to plant out

those 3 pots at the front are the cucamelons! just trailing to the floor as I speak...

listened to gqt last night and had to at the responses.

Morning all,

I was away for our bank holiday - DH spent a lot of time helping MIL with her flowers over the last couple of weekends, and I ended up helping her with veg yesterday (going to garden centre - her 2nd trip in 2 days but 2 different GCs) as we bought a tomato plant, courgette plant and pea seeds. I am sending beetroot seeds down to her next weekend (I won't use all mine and she doesn't need loads either).

Realistically, I HAD to get to the GC myself, as I'd asked DH to get me some climbing French bean seeds while he was there the day before. My previous sowings hadn't even sprouted. He came home with another packet of dwarf broad beans! (I've already got 1 windowbox of those going, and won't use all of that packet quickly!). So I will be sowing beans this week - maybe even a few broadies to have some small plants to follow late in the season from the very first batch that are currently flowering.

When I got home, my garden looked like it had enjoyed the heat of the past week - and a slight drenching yesterday morning. The broccoli plants have settled in well, the broad beans are all shooting away, the 1st 2 broadies have flowers coming (I was very late getting going this year!), the peas also have flowers, and the bad thing is that a few leeks are bolting. I also planted a couple of pots of leeks - so hopefully I will have something for winter growing.

But it is taking a lot of watering as there is such heat at the moment - which is great. But I hope that everything doesn't all come ready while we are away (I had planned for midsummer - late July onwards - but lots of plants are flying ahead of where I expected them to be!).

But we are using some of the leeks this week, and I am enjoying my radishes in my salads for lunch too. I may even get a serving of baby spinach another night this week.

book - we are on the waiting list. Last time I checked we were about 8th, but several of the plots have turned over so I might be in luck soon! There are some very, very shaded plots at the edges, so keep your fingers crossed for me that I get a sunny one.

I am planning to use the second plot for some more unorthodox things, so slightly worried by these tales of strict allotment committees! More than anything, I need space for proper composting with my pitchfork! . DH has found the emails about applying now, and has said that we must have A Long Talk about how manageable a second plot is if we are offered one, so I am getting all my most persuasive arguments together.

I agree about the sparing use of glyphosate being reasonable. I've never used it to clear an entire area but have used it at home sometimes in an attempt to get rid of persistent brambles (it failed). I do wonder if I should have just done a total clear of my plot when I started out, I have watched another plot on my site go from jungle to completely clear in the last few weeks via weedkilling and rotavating.

Another half hour up there this morning, transplanted some California poppy seedlings from home and did more digging.

Your cucamelons look a very similar size to mine Book - I think I will plant them out but probably need some more canes first, I am going to have to pop to the garden centre later or tomorrow. I might keep them at home though, I have a raised bed with some space in it.

I used glyphosphate to clear my plot when I started 2 years ago. Really strong stuff formulated to kill bindweed.

I didn't know much about it at the time - I just saw it in the supermarket and picked it up along with a cheap pump sprayer.

I've done a bit of reading on it since then, and it is more of a worrying chemical than I thought. I am no expert at all and, having used it myself, I'm in no position to condemn anyone else for doing so so definitely not writing this as any kind of criticism of anyone else! But the few things I read made me pause because there was just reason after reason not to use it, and study after study showing harm. When I do get another plot, I will be covering and mulching instead.

The things that concerned me were:

• it changes the microbiology of the soil in ways that may affect your plants longer term
• it tends to drift and affect peripheral plants that are useful for wildlife (less of an issue if you're hand spraying than if you have huge fields, but it still has consequences)
• it gets washed into water, where it may be partly responsible for the nosedive in amphibian populations and other aquatic organisms
• it gets on anything that is on your plot, including insects - and it's carcinogenic and teratogenic to many organisms (including us!)
• the extent of its use is simply producing glyphosphate resistant weeds.
• Monsanto make Roundup and they seem to be one of the most evil corporations on the planet!!

Now I know that my spraying alone probably didn't have a huge impact - but it will have done harm and if that's replicated up and down the country (and amplified by big scale farming), that's not good is it?

On the other hand, I do appreciate that there may be situations where - for a whole host of reasons - it's hard not to use weedkiller. For me, it's a 'no' from now, but I realise I'm fortunate to be a situation where I can make that choice .

I have a plea for help/advice. One of my blackcurrant bushes is being absolutely hammered by aphids. It is a couple of years old, planted out last year, and was ok but probably not as healthy as other plants.

It's looking very poorly now. And it is quite near to other plants. I sprayed it last year with soapy spray, but haven't don't anything to it this year as it does have a few ladybirds on it. But I don't want anything from it to spread to any other plants.

So, do I:
A) spray with soap spray?
B) use chemical insecticide on it? (not my preferred route, but I may consider it for my beloved blackcurrants)
C) Dig out and destroy on basis that it's weak?
D) cut it back and see if it grows back stronger?
E) ignore.

I await your sage advice.

I LOVE reading everyone's updates. It's so nice to see hear what others are growing.

To balance the illing blackcurrant, my happy garden news is that my first tomato fruits are forming. It's pineapple (still) who is out in front. And my hanging basket tomatoes that I planted up 2 days ago are already changing their shape -it's amazing how quickly that happens!

I didn't use weedkiller on my plot. I started doing it by hand and then carried on, bloody-mindedly. But I slightly wonder if I ought to have used something on my couch grass, as it was painful getting it out by hand. And I knackered my wrist literally getting it out of my clay clods by hand. But I shun it for being carcinogenic. Whilst I don't eat purely organic, I do eat some things that are organic, and I try to grow organically.

I missed an ish. Organically-ish.

soap is pretty effective and harmless. best applied just before rain so it can gets washed off the leafs.
usually plants aren't too bothered by aphids, though.

Zebra - there are aphids EVERYWHERE up here this year! I've never seen so many.

I am having success with the following on my hellebores, which are under sustained attack:

1. Remove ladybirds by hand and put on adjacent plants
2. Wash down plant in water taking off aphids. (Easier with a hose)
3. Spray with soapy spray (bit of Ecover in lots of water) if they start coming back.
4. Feed and water liberally for a bit as the attack may signal a plant already under stress. The buggers know what's vulnerable!

SO, SO, SO jealous of your already-fruiting tomatoes.

I used glyphosate on 1 part of our plot when I first got it - it hadn't been cultivated in at least 2 seasons and was full of couch grass so we killed off 1 small section. The rest we dug out by hand (again and again and again). I still hadn't cultivated the whole plot when I had to give it up 5 years later (just lack of time to get there).

Generally, I try and do it reasonably organically - but I will use slug pellets alongside coffee grounds ( as I never get enough coffee and slugs are rife here and were on the plot too), and HM feed (leftover black coffee/tea, HM compost etc) but also commercial tomato feed (don't have comfrey etc to give enough liquid feed to my hungry plants). I have managed to not need glyphosate or similar at home (small garden). But we did eat the veg from all parts of the plot without any obvious differences.

Sorry Spotted - I am not much good on fruit, but I'd certainly start with a soap spray and a good watering, and maybe some tomato food or comfrey food if you have any to give it a boost. Wiser folks will give better advice.