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

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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

Drizzle here to. The ground did need some moisture but it's not making me want to go and dig out another bed for my onions. Maybe a trip to and b and q might be the thing. I want a wooden compost box, some wood chips, compost, little plant pots and butternut squash seeds.

We desperately need rain, my plot has developed a crust as hard as concrete in the last fortnight. I am trying to remove various bits of couch grass that keep emerging everywhere but the roots just snap in the solid clumps now, really should have done it a few weeks ago when still soft.

Morning!
the merest drizzle here, which stopped as soon as it started.
Yes, our soil is turning to dust on top. Its not too bad a couple of inches down, but a nice steady overnight rain would do wonders. I watered the asparagus yesterday! I have peas in pots to plant out too.
And germinated things in plugs as well - chanteney carrots, chioggia beetroot. All the rest - mostly brassicas are getting ready in the next week to prick out.

Still no rain for us - I am desperate for it! I think we're due some on Sunday/Monday.

I've decided that after this year, I'm going to go potatoes in containers. They take up so much space and we eat so many, and i think we're just going to struggle to keep finding different spots for them in our kitchen garden. We have lots of patio space which I thought we could fill with lots of pots or bags. It will probably be expensive in terms of compost, but there we go!

We are driving up to norfolk now. DP has kindly asked me to please stop reading this board, because you all keep giving me ideas that make more jobs for him

that might be because all the rain is here where I'm on holiday.
it's dire. and cold as well 6 degrees max today. brr
and all outings (shops, museums) are closed today, so are stuck indoors painting easter eggs.

Oh no Red - nothing worse when you want to be out and about.
It is cold and a bit grim here, but do need to go and pick another cauliflower (!) .
Gin - he will have to get used to it I guess! I agree on potatoes - in truth I nearly give up on growing them every year, and always get sucked into planting a few rows, then nearly always regret it. We eat a lot too!

Just had lunch after a very productive morning on the plot. Peas fleeced to keep the pigeons off them, bulb bed covered in horse poo, Old strawberry bed cleared of wood, covered in horse poo and ready to be covered in weed proof matting to be another hot bed.

Happy purposeful activity!

Well, I've at least done something partly productive and got 200 litres of compost. We've topped up our raised beds this year and a lot of containers so our own compost heap is no longer a 'heap'

Drizzling on & off here too, the plot needs some rainwater i suppose.
I popped up yesterday to drop off some bottle cloches & check up on my seeds. I think some radishes are coming through but no sign of anything else. And there was a suspicious large hole where I'd sown rainbow chard seeds - i suspect the squirrels might have got them.
A few committee members were strolling about so i bustled about to indicate how busy & dedicated i am to my plot. They came over to have a look and seemed to approve. The next door plot is a bit weedy which helps mine to look cared-for!

I took DS1 shopping yesterday and managed to come home with some slatted shelves from an IKEA wardrobe which someone had thrown out by the dustbins. It's only softwood but i think for one summer's use it'll be fine. The plan is to make a couple of very small trellises with long poles at each side so i can poke them into my manure heaps and train squashes up them. Unfortunately it's been quite labour-intensive as i had to enlist DH to help me pull all the nails & staples out first...But i now have lots of long thin pieces of wood so hopefully can start on the construction soon!

Would anyone here use wood preservative on what is likely to be a fairly short-term softwood trellis?

Just having cup of tea and contemplating an ivy invasion. Raspberries grow in front of a stone wall which has always had some ivy on it but I looked at it today after 2 years of being mostly away- it's gone bonkers and is going to really fight the raspberries. I've started tackling it and keep finding beautiful stripy snails I can't bring myself to kill. Took MIL out to the shops leaving FIL up a ladder doing his hedge thing - got back to find him flat on the ground. Slightly tense moment until we discovered he was tidying up underneath....

I know it's not gardening but picture is of shed palace- I do plan to put lots of strawberries on the steps.

Allotment inspectors sound very intimidating. I do covet an allotment for the space but I'm not sure I could take the pressure!

What a difference four months makes.
Cath I have shed envy. Also a slight concern that our allotment inspection may raise the issue of our small tool shed, that is really a sodding great cabin, poor DH got a little confused and our freeby gumtree shed is more than twice the size he thought.

Afternoon!
well, being a bit grim today, I didn't go and pick a cauli. Sunday will do for that.
timtam - DH says yes, it is worth using wood preservative - may well last for a few years that way. Just make sure its completely dry/soaked in before putting plants up it.
Cath - that is lovely! good luck on the ivy - its a tenaciuos beast.
Pest - that is amazing.
Gnome - are they direct sown or plants? - I have peas to plant out , nice full germination in pots, so thinking as they are hardened off to just do my heath robinson chicken wire and canes to deter the pigeons . I have sown some direct, and they are covered with hoops and ventilated plastic ( holey in other words....!)
The inspections at ours are not so bad. You just need to show signs of cultivation, and make sure you don't let it go to a wilderness. They are checked on every 2-3 months, the naughty ones get checked up on every month to see if anything is happening. You do need permission for sheds/greenhouses .
Well, as I didn't do any plot stuff, I pricked out my aubergines. The darn things did not germinate last year ( I had a shocking year all round last year) so of course, I sowed a few more. All nine have sprouted really nicely. I only need two, so will have to get some adopters! I sowed squash, cucumber and courgettes today, and nasturtiums .

They get cross about sheds?? It's a whole new world. How does one becomes an allotment overlord? Elections? A dark arts initiation ceremony?

I feel a bit like I've been looking for sleeping beauty. Cleared about 2m of the wall and dropped its height by a foot as that's how high the ivy was heaped up on the top. It's also run up a nearby tree which I hadn't noticed. Was enjoying it actually - i love a clearing job like that and I had the big gloves on and the big loppers out . Then realised I had to come in and cook tea- would have happily done another couple of hours.

Noticed one of the new rhubarbs is covered in red patches all over the leaves. it doesn't look good. I'm doomed on the rhubarb front.

I might plant some nasturtiums in pots - the direct sown ones haven't come up

pest that is impressive and I now have ridge envy!

book the peas are direct down. For some reason I have never had any success starting them off and then transplanting them. Each time they have steadfastly refused to germinate.

We are still very dry here so I gave the broad beans a water. Put another rhubarb plant in. We thought we had inherited a lovely mature one with the new plot but the previous plot holder came back and took it.

Off to the pub soon for a celebratory glass of wine then it will be an early night as we have lots more horse poo shovelling to do tomorrow. I foolishly ordered another two loads to be delivered from a local stables so need to get the bay emptied before the next lot arrives.

Your shed is beautiful cath!

Pest I love your plot. So tidy and organised.

I did nothing today. Just wandered around the garden looking for signs of things sprouting.

cath rules about what you can or can't grow or have on your plot seems to be dependant on the society and who owns the land. Council owned allotments seem to be a lot more restrictive than the one I belong to. I have heard of them not allowing trees or even fruit bushes above a certain height.

Mine is privately owned with each plot holder being a shareholder. I remember when I joined the field steward said we could grow anything except weeds and drugs with more concern about the weeds!

We are not allowed Jerusalem artichokes (because of their height & because they spread) also not supposed to grow raspberries on plot boundaries (again in case they invade neighbouring plots, but most people seem to ignore this one) and quarter-plotters are not allowed fruit trees (although bigger plots can have trees)

I think ours is considered to be one of the stricter sites locally

Cathpot Is it perhaps a bit early for nasturtiums to be germinating if direct sown? I put some in when we moved in 5 years ago and they self sow and come up in the same spot each year but no sign so far.

Maybe tiz- I did have lots last year so there should be seeds around, unless whatever had 3 sets of peas last year has had them. I expect you are right though - I'm just impatient!

I've got lots of little self-sown nasturtium seedlings growing in my garden. None of them are in the right place so I have to get rid of them.

I've sown my nasturtiums in the greenhouse.
Cath - is it red spots on the leaves, or around the edges? If red spots on the leaves, its probably rust (fungus) . Its not fatal, but due to damp and not enough air flow. Can you thin out those leaves ( burn or bin - don't compost) .
Gnome - weird eh? I don't have problems germinating peas in pots, but the mice get most of the direct sown, so I tend to do both as a belt and braces thing!

Onions, shallots and potatoes are in.

All seeds and plug plants bought.

Will catch up on posts now. Well to the newcomers

book its spots, they are baby plants so only 2 leaves anyway! The even more puny one next to it has what I thought was slug damage on the stems and now thinking about it might be fungal as well. Pfft. I'll try and remember to take a photo tomorrow

Well we left for holiday yesterday and are staying in a lovely cottage in a beautiful place... and I'm worrying about my seedlings and hoping they'll be ok when I get home! I may be becoming a bit too obsessive about my tiny veg patch 😂