Allotment/Veg Patch - Thread 7 - The Harvesters Arms

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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

Got outside in not very nice weather yesterday as needed to get desperate looking pear tree in the ground. I'm not that optimistic about it. . Did a bit more rhubarb shuffling and realised I've massively overstocked on sweetpeas without a plan of where I put them . Can you grown them over the edge of a high raised bed or will they just scrabble upwards the whole time? All the planets have aligned and I have child free afternoon to put another little bed in and get some compost and bamboo and see if I can trellis lots of sweet peas that way. Candula coming up in greenhouse but nothing else really. Chillies failed to germinate for the second time. At this rate I'll need to buy them as plants.

Afternoon!
Everyone has been busy I see
I do wish you loads of raspberries this year Spotted :)
Grouchy - yes, cold, cold ! Good you are getting organised . You are optimistic though - sowing courgettes now? I will be waiting another month I think.
whatever it is goodenough , it surely doesn't want to be in the middle of a veg plot!
elephant - if you turn over soi, there are a lot of weed seeds just waiting !
Cath I did pots of sweet peas for my DDs new garden last year - a sort of pretty wigwam in quite big pots - it worked quite well, and she was able to pop them in the right places once she had moved in. No chillies? oh poo ! My friend has germinated hers at home in her new conservatory - she is doing really well with them on the floor, as it has underfloor heating .....
I managed a reasonable time this morning. It is warm, but very grey with drizzle on and off. and a fair breeze. The recycling trailer had arrived, so first job was getting the rubbish down there - sprouts roots, and raspberry canes etc. I dug up another load of raspberry canes in the wrong placeI too . I almost had to queue 3 barrowloads sorted glad to get that out of the way. Picked a load of sprouting broccoli and sprouts. So it is a brassica fest tonight.

The leeks are in just look at all those cute little holes. The first pea has popped it head out of the soil. And it was warm enough to lie down and almost fall asleep.

my leeks look like I've sown grass seeds on the veg patch - still some growing to do!

Don't worry Red mine also look just like grass.
We got the pink fir potatoes in as well.
And I planted a wall germander because the bees will love it.

my toms on the other hand look really good on the window sill.
I plan to start harden them off end of this week.

do you also plant on every last seedling?
I have about 30, space for max 10...
I just couldn't put a healthy plant on the compost...

Trade left over seedlings with friends. That way you all get more variety.
I have about 30 leeks left. I will swap for some tomatoes because as usual I have forgotten to plant any and one of my friends is an obsessive tomato germinator.

Had an hour and a half no kids this pm and managed to dig and edge a new bed where there had been some concrete blocks . Lots of builders sand underneath them which I dug out and hide under DH's new decking project . Hope that the remnants of the sand aren't harmful - I seem to remember when we did our sowing between patio slabs on sand that there was one type of sand to avoid. Blocks pleasingly are now the edging and as they are already mossy the whole thing looks like it's been there a while. Gave away excess peas and some sweetpeas today and still have too many left .

I am loving these pictures of beds and harvests! I am resolved to be ruthless this year with seedlings redbug - I am going to THIN mercilessly!

No plot for me this weekend - the garden needed full attention. I have a LOT on this spring in terms of hardy perennials, so keeping on top of everything is a challenge. Greenhouse is already getting crazily hot if the door isn't left open - I need to weather-watch more carefully now.

evening!
planting leeks already - mine are still trying to germinate in the greenhouse ( just popping up today) - you lot are in much warmer climes
I only plant the best if possible, then keep some as insurance . If all goes well, I can give the rest away .
Cath - you are cooking on gas!!!!
shove - busy , busy I bet :)

Hi allotmenters! Just sneaking back in and marking my place so I can find you all when a new thread gets going. If anyone remembers I got my plot end of last summer after a ridiculous saga with the council and paperwork. I lost focus on it a bit over winter, but am getting back on track now. It's mostly cleared, beds 90% ready for the year ahead, greenhouse built just need a few more panes of glass to replace those that perished in the move before it's any real use. I've got rhubarb, garlic and elephant garlic growing well, lots of fruit trees/bushes in with a few leaves and buds here and there (my peach tree in particular is blossoming beautifully, the existing mature fig has tonnes of baby fruit set from last year), some spring bulbs for colour and the start of my herb beds planted. Have got about eleventy million packets of seed at home and some windowsill propagators to start them off. Asparagus crowns, kiwi plant, sweet potato slips and oca tubers are all on order to arrive whenever they're ready.

Japanese onions and shallots mostly failed, I think it's because I didn't pay them enough attention after planting in November and either the birds pulled them out or they wandered off on their own ah well live and learn. It was so hard to stay motivated when it was just a sea of mud and weeds, couldn't do much about it in poor weather and not much daylight and I wasn't well to boot. Now it's light for a few hours before work I've got so much done and feeling much more optimistic.

Looking forward to the year ahead.

Morning everyone. It's great to see all the plot photos and hear everyone's plans.
I've managed to snatch a couple of short sessions up at my plot. The weather hasn't been great, very wet this weekend. But I relaid all my bark chip paths, dug a trench ready for my early potatoes and even enthusiastically set up my bean canes! Moved some fruit bushes around & put all the raspberry canes into one bed. I don't have any stakes or wire for them but most of the quarter plotters seem to let the bushes grow and sprawl, so I'll try that too. I also finally got round to sorting out a big sack of gravelly soil which was plonked on the plot when I took it over. My mum gave me her old garden sieve so I sieved all the stones out & put the soil on some of the beds. Still not quite sure what to do with the gravel. Maybe it would be OK to lay around the compost bin area as it's a bit soggy there.
I haven't sown any seeds yet but hopefully broad beans, purple spring onions and the potatoes will be going in soon. I also have a massive runner bean which DS2 planted in a tiny pot at school and brought home. It's developing triffid-like qualities & has tendrils everywhere but I'm trying to hang onto it indoors for a couple more weeks, it's still a bit cold here (North West)

Anyway here is my plot all dug and ready, it looks so different from the forest of dock that I inherited last summer!

Didn't manage to get to the garden over the weekend for more than a quick check of the new slide and swings (not yet erected!) and having to be very disciplined to not run off their today - I must do some work!

I got some new strawberry plants in the post, ready to plant later this week. There are few signs of life in my seedlings in the garage, but my potatoes are taking a long time to chit - is that normal?

I'm keen to keep clearing the patch that will be lawn and clear some more rubbish, so that it becomes more family-friendly as the weather warms and the days get longer. I'm looking forward to some after school trips with my DD and her friends.

timtam, your plot looks very organised - have you got a "before" picture?

phoenix, have you done sweet potatoes before? I'm really keen to, but wonder if in the north east it's going to be too cold even for the hardiest varieties. Someone did suggest I try them in a hotbox, or maybe just a greenhouse (not that I have one yet!).

Morning!
I am sat looking out at rain... , so as we are nearly at the end of the thread, I have set up a new one, all shiny and ready to use
NEW THREAD
May go and sow some seeds , if I can get going :)

ooh, and welcome back Phoenix and timtam - :)
Phoenix - I net over my shallots , as birds do love to pull them out.
timtam - sounds like a really good idea to gravel around the compost - it can get very claggy around the edges ( well , mine does....)
goodenough - how long have you had the potatoes chitting? it can take anything up to 6 weeks. Mine are doing okay, not enormous yet mind, but they are probably a tweak warm, but some nice light in the room

I managed a few hours in DMIL's garden over the weekend - dug over almost half of 1 of the 2 veg beds, and sowed peas and planted onion sets for her (and attempted to dog-proof the results!). We also bought some pumpkin and butternut squash seeds, to make good use of the other bed in due course (it also needs digging over but the soil there is great!). And I weeded the fruit bed - the rhubarb and raspberry canes were getting smothered by weeds.

Did nothing at home but we weren't here for long (home late on Sunday and I had to unpack/repack). This week I am mostly away for work, but I am hoping to do some sowing over the weekend - broad beans, French beans, cauliflower, tomatoes, and courgette all in pots, and some peas and radishes and maybe broad beans direct into soil/window boxes.

goodenough I do have a "before" photo here from the day I took over the plot (end of last June) - it was a bit of a jungle! Huge dock and nettles everywhere!

Inspired by this thread I've just sown some broad beans into pots. We have virtually no space, and the cat knocks everything off the windowsills, so I have to keep indoor sowing to a minimum