Allotment/Veg Patch -Thread 8 - Its spring - time to get busy!

[bookbook]

Thought I had better get a new thread ready to roll!
It has been a long, soggy winter , but the clocks go back soon, we may see the sun , so it will be all go, go ,go
Everyone welcome, join us the celebrate and commiserate on the joys of vegetables
previous thread HERE

Hello everyone, I don't have an allotment after I gave it up 4 years ago, I just didn't have the time for it with 3 kids and working full time, so this year I'm converting part of our garden to a plot.
So far I've planted charlotte potatoes in bags and planted sweetcorn, peas and broad beans. I've prepared a salad bed by the kitchen door and I have plans for lots more. I'm very excited!

Morning!
and a glorious one :)
madamginger - welcome! no doubt about it - it takes a lot of time and commitment for an allotment, but I bet you can't wait to be able to harvest your own veg again- there is nothing else like it .
timtam - maybe DS will become a budding gardener, then if not a wildlife expert :)
I am just waiting for my washing to finish, then hanging it out. I can then go and plant up the first row of potatoes 'Kestrel', dig trench 2, and harvest ( I think) a savoy for tea - depends if another cauliflower needs picking. I have just had a trip around the garden and greenhouse to check on everything. Everything is up from the last set of sowings , but I think I may do another sowing of leeks - not sure I have quite enough popping up, so would rather have a few too many, than not enough
.I sowed calabrese, kale , later variety broccoli and summer cauliflowers yesterday.
I have been to fetch the potatoes from my spare bedroom . I have the sweetcorn on the sunny windowsill there, in a covered tray. I think I can see some popping up

Can anybody explain flat leaf parsley to me? I'm getting confused by the descriptions of it online!

I took some cuttings of it from MIL last summer/Autumn, and it's now going crazy. I cut loads of it off a couple of weeks ago, because the top leaves started to look bigger and dark green, and I wasn't sure if this was the start of the equivalent of a lettuce bolting? I've just cut another load off it now. But does it need to be pulled out? Will it not be any good now this year?

Hey gin, they just call it flat leaf to distinguish it from curly. I think they taste the same but the flat leaf is maybe more visually appealing as a garnish on dishes.

It can definitely bolt though. And I find the regrowth on a plant that has been harvested can be quite tough and woody. In fact I pulled up last year's plants last weekend in order to start again with fresh plants this year.

Aaah, thanks clara, I may start some more then. I don't actually eat it very often, I just like how it looks! I might leave it in while it still looks nice.

Afternoon!
a busy day.
I planted my row of Kestrel out- I actually had enough to do two rows, so I dug that trench out and planted those too, so plan A went by the board very quickly... Row three , variety Wilja , hopefully goes in tomorrow. Row four variety Marfona - may well end up as rows four and five on Saturday.The bags I bought have more in I am sure than last year - done by weight, so I suppose they are smaller.
I hear we get the heatwave this weekend, followed by threatened frosts on Monday/Tuesday

Yes Gin - I think the flat leaf is a slightly stronger flavour, so more used in recipes as an ingredient rather than a garnish IYSWIM.
Been very busy in the garden after lunch too , so glad to sit down...:)
Lots of seedlings popping up , all basking outside at the moment , but will go back in the greenhouse tonight.

Can I show off my purple sprouting Broccoli here please?

Second pic is just a close up, but I liked the way it looked. Artsy broccoli!

Was my first time trying to grow veggies last year, and the broccoli was decimated by cabbage white caterpillars. They chewed most of them down to stalks, but I managed to save 3 (of 12!). Planning to use it at the weekend!

The blackfly got my sweetcorn while we were on holiday, and I only got one cucumber from my cucumber plant. The radishes were nice, though, and I was still getting tomatoes in December!

Made the most of a sunny day and I've replanted my lettuces, peppers, tomatoes, aubergines and the single butternut squash that grew into bigger pots today, and planted more seeds for all of them, as well as cauliflower, beetroot and radishes. It's my birthday later in the month, and I'm asking for raised beds so I can plant them all out when they're done.

Is 4 weeks between sowings realistic to get a continual crop?

Lovely PSB Firefly. Mine's done well this year too.

Planted courgettes, pumpkins and tomatoes this morning, then up to the plot for a couple of hours, cleared couch grass out of a bed and got my onions in. I started them in cells about three weeks ago so they have good root systems and a stem already.

I love PSB, but mine is just mangy leftovers/reseedings from last year. I'm planning a big bed of it next year, now I have the allotment! I love it on puff pastry with wild garlic pesto and cheese on.

My broad beans haven't come up yet, though my outdoor peas have.

Does anyone know if little greeny brown spiders do grapevines any harm? Noticed a little colony in the polytunnel today.

lovely to see everyone so busy!

Finally finished work early enough this evening to be able to admire the result of DH's labours over the past few days. The new plot is coming on in leaps and bounds. All the beds are now bordered with wood. The paths are largely levelled. Just need now to remove the raspberries as they are in the way.

The previous plotholder came back and removed a couple of trees leaving the holes so we are going to get a couple of new trees to replace them, thinking of trying one of the more hardy peach varieties.

Thinking of peaches, has anyone tried using tea tree oil diluted in a spray to treat peach leaf curl? We have a bad outbreak on the peach trees in the garden.

The allotment field is slowly coming back to life with plotholders returning. It is enjoyable to walk round and see what everybody else is up to (a bit like this thread!)

grapevines? , sadly no idea! Are they just the usual little garden ones that come along when its warm enough?
Lovely PSB Firefly - and yy WhoKnows - it has been a very good year fro everyone up here for it. Not so the cavolo nero, or savoys particularly. I wonder if its been too warm this winter. I still have my last variety 'Cardinal' just nicely coming in - it should last hopefully until May . Mind you, I have the brassica cage to move before then , so will have to figure out some netting strategies ....

Yours is more purple than mine, Wh0kn0ws . Do I just need to be patient and let it grow a bit longer?

Firefly - actually I think yours is nearly ready to open up and flower, which maybe why it looks a bit paler -( the flowers are yellow) - I think picking sooner rather than later tbh

I hadn't been watching mine closely Firefly, it's under a very fine mesh that's quite hard to see through, I caught a glimpse of purple last week and found it like that. They could be different varieties too.

Evening All (but where's our lovely Shove? ). So much activity, and I now have PSB envy.
Amazing weather, but I was at work, alas. But I have a free afternoon tomorrow so I can hopefully crack on. I went to the supermarket on the way home, and I chose Morrisons so I could have a nose about their 'garden centre' bit, and am glad I did. I got my bark (yay!) so I can finally do my paths, and rid my shed of all the paper and card. Which is good as I think we have a mouse, so I'll need to get it all out and evict themit.

But also, I got the plant that I wanted. Yes, it's fruit. A Japanese wineberry! I've not actually tasted one, but I wanted one all the same. They had small fruit plants for a bargainous £2, or slightly bigger ones for £3.50. Only wineberry in the latter, but I said it was a bit dry and they knocked £1 off! So I am delighted wih my bargain. AND they had teeny patio fruit trees...

Oh, I also pricked out cosmos, which was very tedious. And I've only done half.

I pricked out the first lot of my toms yesterday. I have a lot already. IT. IS. ON.

Has anyone sown runners or sweetcorn yet? My sowing fingers are itching and I have loo rolls at the ready.

Hi Spotted :) - I have seen a couple of posts from shove on a couple of garden threads, thats all, so I suspect she is busy. ( hope that is it anyway)
Not sown runners or french beans, courgettes or squashes, but I have sown sweetcorn. I have gone nuclear on them this year - I had such rubbish germination last year. So they are in pots, in a tray, with a plastic cover on, on a sunny windowsill. They have started to germinate ! ( well 4 so far ) and I only sowed them on Saturday! Obviously like the heat... ( Last year they were in the greenhouse) Yay to lots of tomatoes- I am already getting adopters lined up for my spare plants

Lovely to hear what's happening on all your plots and on the seed sowing front.

I went down to my plot yesterday and tackled a patch between my shed and the fence that doesn't get much sun. Dug it over with a pickaxe and then turned it all over with a fork, getting down on my hands and knees to pull all the rubbish and weeds out. Will need to go over again with a rake and then smooth it all out.

I'm thinking of scattering grass seeds over it and making it into a patch for DC to sit on when they come over. My teenage DD (17) has grown to enjoy coming to the allotment recently. She used to refuse point blank and hated getting her shoes dirty, but now enjoys the peace and tranquility of it and has taken an interest in what grows there too. Although not to the extent that she gets involved! DD aged 8, enjoys it a little more but they'd both be a lot more willing to accompany me if there was a grassy patch to lay on.

Besides that, I'm popping in for an hour or so 3-4 times a week to dig over one bed at a time in preparation for planting. Some are easier than others. Some just make me wonder why I put myself through all this hard work.

There's still a huge area left to tackle that I'm dreading. We built a frame over it last year and are hoping to attach polythene over it to keep it warm inside. It's about 7m x 3m and hasn't been dug over yet. Really solid compacted clay. Don't know how I'm going to manage it without breaking my back.

Lulooo ooooh don't talk to me about digging compacted clay

Loving the broccoli pics.. I definitely want to grow some of that I think!

Solid clay for me too. There is a good digging window about now where it has started to dry but not turned into concrete.

I sowed my sweetcorn about three weeks ago in a windowsill incubator, potted them on within about 10 days and they are about 3" high and in the greenhouse now.

I saw that you had WhoKnows - that is what spurred me on. I hope mine do as well as yours.
Gin - PSB is almost our favourite veg - well apart from asparagus that is , and I grow a lot - different varieties keep us going from September to May with a bit of luck.
Heavy clay - I think shove has used something called 'claybreaker' to help with her garden. I don't know much about it mind and whether you can use it on veg plots . Just a thought....
I am supposed to be getting another row of potatoes in this morning, but also have to go and visit nearest town, and take back the fork that DH broke in half . It has a lifetime guarantee, its 6 years old , and it snapped at the weld , (not the wood or the join between wood and metal.) Being a little erm careful, I have the receipt :)

When does PSB need to planted, then? Or is it one of these ones that goes in now, but is a slow burner until Winter?

This weather is glorious again, isn't it? I'm hoping to get out in it again today. I did lots of work in the garden yesterday, but none of the veg patch! I have a builder coming about the fireplace today, and I'm dog sitting an extra dog for the weekend, so I'm not sure how productive I will be.

I'm missing shove too - have seen her on the odd thread but hoping she is ultra busy like you say, and not unwell.

I have been sowing my PSB now Gin - I do about 4 different ones, and also a cross called Brokali , which is earlier. Yes, its a slow burn - planted out in about a month, well netted against cabbage white , pigeons and rabbits... Then just leave alone basically until time to harvest. Once you start picking , it keeps coming -. its a biggish plant.

just a quick pop in - managed to get to the plot, plant a row of potatoes , and get home in time for a coffee :)
while I was there I thought about your polytunnel Luloo . Could you, in effect, put raised beds inside the frame ? either boarded or loose lasagne type thing. That way , you are adding loads of mulch/compost etc and it will eventually help to break down the soil - especially if you put horticultural grit at the bottom.

Saw your comment about cavolo nero book and that's exactly what has happened to us (a bit further up north in west of Scotland)! A really pathetic show by them this year after being rampant the previous year.

Gnome your plot sounds like its in great shape. If you fancied sharing a photo I'm sure we'd all love to see it!!!

Gin I agree with book re the PSB. Also to elaborate in tems of size: they do get pretty large! My plants are around a metre tall and about 2/3 metre diameter. The stalk looks like a baseball bat.