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

Morning!
I have had a lovely hour digging at the plot. Slight fog lifting to sunshine. The total satisfaction of digging up bindweed before it disappears for winter too. And a chat with a lady across the way, talking recipes for gluts. Perfect morning , if a bit short to keep back happy :)

My sympathies to quince

Well I might get another two or three butternuts from the plants yet - but they won't out-do the Berthas. Prime production time is over.

Courgettes are still producing, but more slowly. Toms (outdoor) now have blight and are over, but they've done very well so can't complain.

Great to hear your news Chuck.

Afternoon!
well, it may not be cold , but it is remarkably dingy here today. I have been busy this morning, but hoping to get up to the plot for an hour this afternoon, to get the last bit of weeding/digging ready to get those garlic planted. I will give a big sigh of relief when they are in.
shove I forgot to say - you are going to make your own bread - there is very nice gluten free flour by Dove's that will be worth a try ( gluten free bread is a bit like hard tack mind - I make it occasionally for son in law). I don't know if you ever got the results to see if you had problems with gluten-?

I got finished digging the bit for the garlic. I can now plant that soonish after a good level and rake , and then I can hopefully get back to manure shovelling at the weekend.... Back almost better .

Hi everyone sorry been quiet, have been away so missed a lot. Will read and catch up. Just had to pop in and say that I saw Monty Don in town today!!

book - what a great job you've done with that soil!! It's perfect, like on the TV when they are planting something on Gardeners' World!

Your asparagus is still in leaf too! Mine went ages ago. And I spy some very impressive looking leeks!!

weed - wow, really? Did you mob him? I would have. Probably while wildly waving a bit of plant I wanted advice about!

Morning!
I am lounging a bit here today!
shove - those are NDN leeks -( grass path between plots!) mine are behind me in this photo, but I must admit are looking good :) well, the Blue Solaise are butnot the Prizetaker, they are being eaten up anyway. The asparagus is just starting to go.And thank you for the praise - it only took 3 times a slong as it should, and nowhere near level!
I am lounging due to youngest daughter taking over my kitchen, so am going to sort myself out and go to plant the garlic.
Hows the cold today?

Ahhhh - I bet yours are every bit as good. I have seen your leeks in your boxes - I have ambitions to get mine as fat one day! Some are looking OK this year, but others are still too thin!

Still full of cold today, but I think I'm on the mend compared to yesterday! My head doesn't have that feeling of being in a vice any more. I am very, very lucky that I can just stop when I get ill, and it means things tend to clear up ever so fast.

Morning!
Well, I got my garlic planted yesterday, so I can relax a bit now. Apart from sowing some overwintering broad beans, its mostly weeding and manuring left over the next week or so, apart from a bit of harvesting. Then I start taking out a new area of grass to cultivation, and tidying up and sorting out around the frankly messy shed, but I have all winter for that :)
No plot today though , off to a birthday party ( my DGS ) I am supposed to be dressing up as a pirate - hahaha!

They've turned the water mains off atthe plot now for winter so we (dh) just installed a gutter to collect the rain from the shed into a water but.
While he did that I prepped another bed to plant my garlic which I plan to do on Monday.

Hope you enjoyed the party book!

Evening!
thanks weed - we managed to stagger home full of pastry and cake - suffering with that sugar overload thing , what's not to like at a 4 year olds party!
Sounds like you are getting things into shape there too. Its great having your own water butt, and surprising how much water you can collect from even a small shed roof. It really helps come dry periods too. Do I remember you have a greenhouse too you found there? You could gutter and collect water off there as well if needed. I like to trickle water when it gets dry , saves a lot of hefting of watering cans, and gets water to the roots with less effort!.

How wonderful to think of book the intrepid pirate!!

Just got back from the plot- removed the courgettes and dug over the bed, and did some bits and pieces of weeding. Harvested some calabrese, cabbage, chard, kale, a couple further (very wee) squashes and the last of the James Grieve apples! I keep meaning to thank you book for the tip you gave me to leave them to ripen in the house for a while - they go from being very acidic to absolutely lovely in a couple of days!

All the stuff I have in for next year is looking fine, which I'm relieved about. It's a question of getting everything absolutely neat and tidy over the winter now. Temperatures are due to fall here next week, so I suspect it's about to feel a whole lot more autumnal!

Morning!
I didn't end up getting too much time at the plot yesterday. The clocks changing and a busy day made it all feel rushed yesterday!
The one thing I did spend time on was my brassica cage. I wanted to clear up all the dying/dead leaves on the lower stalks of all the plants, and keep on top of keeping it tidy It's all going well in there, apart from a problem with the sprouts. I always get a fair few white fly, they are always about, but this year it is a total cloud which has lead on to the start of some sooty mould on the leaves. I'm not going to spray, it seems a bit pointless, but am thinking of taking soapy water and a cloth to wipe clean the leaves in the hope I can get rid of some of it. It's not just me - my NDN on one side is a big one for chemical stuff, and he was coating his brassicas in some spray yesterday , and on the other side they have sooty mould too.

Afternoon!
well, I was good this morning, and got my chores out of the way, so went up to the plot this afternoon. Glorious - sun, no wind and 16º . So I have finally finished my digging. Just the last of the manure to spread now. Picked leeks and sprouting broccoli .
I tried , really tried washing the sprout leaves with a j cloth and soapy water , but whether it will have any good effect remains to be seen. Absolute swarms of the dratted white fly. My (chemical spray man) NDN thought I was mad........ I'm thinking I am too - I hate washing up, so crawling around trying to clean sprout leaves is another level altogether

I noticed clouds of whitefly while moving my euphorbias in the back garden. They seem to be having a bumper year.

I wonder if you could try spraying the washing up liquid book - to save you crawling around? Sorry if this is an obvious suggestion! In emergencies, I've had success putting a very small amount of Ecover in a spray bottle with water and using that.

Oh, meant to add -a lot of the cheap spray bottles are rubbish, which is actually useful when you want a small, really targeted spray rather than a big broadcast one that will hit beneficial insects too!

quick drop in while sitting and having a coffee ( have DGS today) -
shove - its not the white fly per se ,( they drive me a bit mad always), but the sooty mould encouraged by the honeydew from them. It was that I was trying to see if I could do anything about. Its only on the older/lower leaves at the moment, but hoped to see if it discouraged the white fly too. I may well have to spray with soapy water, but noticed RHS says not much works , and they don't normally harm the plant much. The overnight temperature is due to drop tonight, so that may deter the blighters!

Oh, I seeeeeeee - sorry, got the wrong end of the stick there!

I reckon you've got the right idea in washing - according to this site, anyway! They reckon that once it rains, the detergent will help wash it away.

growingandgathering.com/getting-rid-black-sooty-mould/

I'm seeing lots of recommendations of neem oil too, but I honestly don't think you'd ever want to eat something that smelled of that, even as a trace! It really is a horrible stink!

probably me being totally muddled in the post tbh shove - sometimes it's a stream of consciousness .
I was going with gut thoughts on soapy water to clean leaves , and hopefully at the same time poison/smother some of the blighters! I haven't actually sprayed at all for white fly, so a bit lax on my part to start with..

I just can't bring myself to spray pre-emptively, though book - so I know how you feel. I'm afraid I tend to leave things to tough it out for a bit and then only go in with the Ecover if they are really threatened.

The one exception is slugs. The little gits are getting nuked with nematodes next season!!

morning shove :)
a quite hard frost overnight here - hooray! may get rid of some of the slugs and the white fly- or is that a forlorn hope?
I fancy nematodes too, but only at home I think - . I am also going to try coffee grounds , as someone on the potting shed thread seems to think they worked. Just have to go and ask if I can get free ones from the local coffee shop ( it seems the chains are glad to get rid of them)
I suppose I have so far been lucky at the plot, as until this year, ( with the one bout of slug pellets around the squashes ,and now around the perennial cauliflowers) , I haven't used anything at all against pests . Just netting and fleece.

Hahahaha! It's true - DH was moaning about the cold yesterday, and I was rejoicing at mass slug death!

I haven't had much joy with the coffee grounds at home - but my garden is so damp that they cruise on through anything short of pellets, thumbing their sluggy noses at me. My Dad is on much more well-drained soil and he has some success with it as a method. I think this year was especially bad, though, because growth was so slow due to the cold in May/June that they had time to wreak havoc on many of my lovely young shoots.

Evening!
Brrrrrrr - another frost forecast tonight, take it you slugs......!
Only managed a short trip today , but managed to shovel 6 barrows of manure, - why is the heap not looking any less I wonder? Also picked some perennial spinach for tea.
I am just wondering if I am too late to put some winter onions in - one of the ladies near me says she does better wit these than summer ones, and I have a bit of space next to the shallots - may just have a look to see if there are any to buy.
Just about ready to direct sow broad beans too - hopefully this weekend .

A touch of frost here last night and the night before. Definitely turned a bit colder. The chat about white fly reminded me that when I was taking down the last of my beans a couple of weeks ago I noticed that a couple of leaves at the bottom were covered with black aphids on the reverse. Seemed really late at the time!

No time at the plot for me over the last week or so. I've concentrated on tidying up our front garden instead and planting up some bulbs I bought. I got some new crocus, tulip and allium bulbs. I had to dig up some rosemary plants which had given up the ghost and also some lavender plants which were a bit old and not doing anything much so I had some space to fill up.

I do need to go and plant up the garlic which I bought (having said we we wouldn't bother again I got led into temptation in the garden centre ). Still have some clearing and tidying up to do. Blackberry to hack back at some point. And want to get some muck spreading done as soon as there is a delivery (someone else organises it).

Cedar - there's something lovely about planting spring flowers now. It's like a covenant with the weather that things WILL get better!!

Broad beans for me, too, this weekend book. It might be a rather hasty sowing as lovely BIL is coming to visit and then I am going to a building show in Harrogate to look at different kinds of windows (oh the glamour!!)