Allotment/Veg Patch - Thread 7 - The Harvesters Arms

[bookbook]

Well, it's been an interesting summer, to say the least.
We are now heading into the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness :)
Everyone welcome to join in and ask for advice , share their woes and just enjoy growing!
previous thread here

horseradish is a thug. my parents keep theirs in a bucket of sand.
they pull it out every now and then and cut off an inch of the root and put it back. it's been like that for 15? years...

Hello lovely lot. Anyone used nematodes and if so did they work and where did you get them from? Thank you!

Hi- I've just put my first lot of nematodes on- I've used them before and I do think they make a difference. I get them from green gardener and I'll do another lot in 6 weeks time. They also sell ladybirds etc

Book thanks for the tip about the wind.

So today I found the gooseberry bushes the previous owner said were somewhere in the garden. They need a good prune but I was wondering how brutal to be. They obviously haven't been pruned for a few years, maybe 5.

One of them seems to have lots of new baby plants around it - presumably these will be quite good to plant elsewhere?

No advice Good but how exciting finding buried treasure!

Can anyone identify this? It's growing with my currants but I'm not sure what it is. Thank you!

Oops. No photo.

Thanks Cath.

is it the branch with brown leaves- I am truly rubbish at identification ! A seedling of something near I am guessing -
Gooseberry pruning. - I would do it in stages - firstly, take out any branches that look dead or diseased. Then take out any spindly ones, any that cross or rub together., any near the ground , or bending down to the ground Then try to open up the middle for good air flow -think in terms of an open goblet shape. Stand back and look at it in the round. I would then trim back the long main leader branches by about a quarter , pruning back to an outward and upward bud . Then feed well.

Hi all, i hope you don't mind but I have another question for you wise gardeners. Sawflies-how the bugger do I get them gone. They've bloody moved house with me and are already starting on my lovely rose. Nothing I've tried has worked x

oh Anon - I'm not sure there is much - picking off , or spraying .
Not quite the same, but sawfly absolutely decimated a gooseberry of mine a few years ago - 2 days, and the leaves were gone. But after that, the attacks each year were never so bad, and it survived. Sorry not to be more helpful.
I sowed aubergine and peas into pots yesterday

Thanks book. They've never killed my rose but it does look rough, just as it was starting to grow too. I will get out the pest spray, not that I think it did much good and give the plant a good going over when i get home.

Thanks for gooseberry pruning advice, book. I'm going to have a go over the next few days.

The mystery plant - yes, the leaves are sort of browny-pinky- green. There's nothing else near it - it was all brambly but I don't think I cleared anything else from nearby.

Today was huge bonfires and getting a tarpaulin down on a patch I'm going to ignore for a while in terms of clearing/growing but going to use for a swing/slide for my DD so she's entertained while I garden.

Ooo I have a gooseberry too, planted in the middle of the plot and it's already sprouting. I've never eaten a gooseberry in anything but I was asked to look after it. It was a bugger to plant and it ripped up my arm. Hoping for a good crop to try some stuff (maybe a chutney type thing?!?). The weather isn't looking great this weekend so not sure what I'll get done, wondering whether to get my first earlies in or wait a few weeks until the moon is right (as per my biodynamic book). The grossness of the rain will answer in the morning 😂.

I am on a mission to kill the bloody sawflies so will be in the garden, wiping leaves and spraying with bug killer.

Garden wise, my overwintered geraniums have been potted and are spending their days outside and coming in for bedtime. My clematis is still alive although has only one sad looking shoot (green on inside though). Foxgloves are cracking on nicely.

I was bought a "boozy gardeners kit" at Christmas. Potted the seeds last week and am awaiting the teeny shoots.

Anon you can use gooseberries as savoury with mackerel etc. but much better if cooked like rhubarb or cooking apples in sweet dishes. Gooseberry fool is lovely.

That looks a bit like dogwood Goodenoughal are the stems just brown?

My son gets a play patch too- he was making a weird contraption out of poles and tubes this afternoon!

The woman I got the allotment from texted me telling me to concentrate on the polytunnels rather than the outside beds- feel a bit told off, but I guess she's the expert! The trouble is I want to use the tunnels for tomatoes, peppers, aubergine, sweetcorn type stuff and it's a bit early to plant those. Still I got a few caulis and cabbages in, thinking I could transplant them later, and some peas because you can never have too many peas.

I've got a sad-looking gooseberry plant- could be tricky pruning it, all the branches look unhappy

No time at allotment today. Been raining the whole day. Managed 3x this week.

Good bit of digging done, more bonfires. So pleased with the progress. We are allowed hosepipes, not that we need it often. With being in Scotland there is no shortage of rain. We're not allowed bees or chickens though.

Back at work in the 1st of June. Going to miss the extra time I can spend there during the week days.

Exited to see how my Mulberry is going to fair and if it will sustain a few silkworms.
My fig had some small figs, hopefully edible ones will be harvested this year. Pears and cherries have beautiful buds on.

Afternoon!
I have been doing my duty, working in the horticultural shop this morning. It was exceedingly busy, its spring :) so no plot -
goodenough - I have been wracking my brains, and the nearest thing I can think of is a cotoneaster
eating - thats is not on - you need to do what you want, not someone else's idea!
Ickle - a mulberry? - they are supposed to be delicious.But maybe a long wait?
So do I go and sow more seeds, that is the question. Aren't we due another cold bit snap week ?

Ickle silkworms eat white mulberries. Most mulberries in UK are black/ King James. Which one have you got?
King James are absolutely delicious. The fruits travel badly, best eaten under the tree well that's my excuse.

Hello hello. Just back from a short while at the plot. I was alone there, as it is pouring with rain. I just bimbled about really, doing a bit of weeding, looking at frogs and (still) pondering whether I could cope with the empty plot next door.

My rhubarb is thriving - it's probably ready for a picking. So I might check the last of last year's out of the freezer. My moved loganberry seems to be looking ok too. And I moved a few rasps that have popped up in the wrong place. I am hoping for LOADS this year, as even the bits of pruned fruited stems that I cut up and shoved in, seem to have taken - poss 9 out of 10?

I've still not sown seeds. Soon. Very soon...

Pestil it's a white leave one We had silk worms as kids. Now I want to spin the silk, but not kill the moths. Just take them out first.

Book where I grew up there was many Mulberry trees and the fruit was amazing. We had purple hands, feet and mouths many a time.

When is the best time to move strawberries to a new position?

books We're meant to be getting some cold nights next week. Possibly a frost. That's in central belt Scotland.

I put DH to work this morning and finally have my new border garden completely dug! Now need to fill it up with soil from my loam stack, set up the little pond (and find someone with frog spawn) and plant it out. I've ordered some dwarf conifers and a load of pretty bedding plants so that should be fun.

The vegetable plot is starting to be ready. Just need to add compost. Have sown some early peas, to go with the broad beans and purple sprouting broccoli I did earlier, so will be interesting to see how they get on. The children and I finally got some seed trays going so have done tiger tomatoes, basil, spinach, spring onions, purple Brussels Sprouts (they must have caps) and courgettes. Starting to feel a bit more on top of things! Once the colds nights have past I'll need to get some nematodes and direct sow a few more things like carrots, Brussels Sprouts, lettuce and more spinach.

book, you might be right about it being a cotoneaster. I'll have a bit more of an inspection tomorrow but it seems like if it is, I need to get it out. Thanks!

I did a couple of hours at the plot today. I have planted another row of early potatoes and dug over 1/2 of another bed. I am not in the least bit competitive but other plot holders who have got beds ready have no weeds at all, every bed I have weeded has more each time I return, ok a few less which I can hoe. May I congratulate myself that I have really fertile soil? In the end today I did selective weeding and just went for the dandelions.