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

That's a really interesting map, we're in a May 1st to May 10th splodge. Wondering what the scientific reason for the splodge is?

I'm living dangerously though, my beans are out already, albeit up against the house in a sunny walled corner.

I will be growing more courgette plants but that is because I have someone wanting courgette flowers, apparently delicious stuffed and lightly fried:

www.bbcgoodfood.com/glossary/courgette-flower

tizwozliz it is probably topography. It might be there is a dip creating a pocket

If it were possible for strawberries to look embarrassed I think this would be it

What a jaunty red, Cath
I can imagine that the old boys would flip if I did that at my plot. They like tradition, you see.

Talking of plot things, mine is pretty low key- we can put up structures but there is a maximum size. But no maximum number of structures, so we have Shed Man, who only seems to cultivate sheds. He's been served warning letters (for lack of plant cultivation), but noone ever seems to take it any further.

All plots at my small site are let now, and there have been a rash of new people planting fruit trees, but ignoring the rules about dwarfing stock and distance from other people's plots. There is much chatter.
There is also bafflement at the chap who seems to be growing box hedges. Apart from a couple fruit of trees, he had only planted small box plants. And not in a maze shape, just in rows. Whyyyyyyyyyy?

Box hedges or this stuff?

box hedges or tea? (yes it grows well in the uk)

Deffo box. I've snuck a look at the labels
He has - no joke - over 150 plants. Even if he got them for a bargain £3 each, that is a lot of money on mysterious box.

new art installation Cath ? ,- just tell neighbours it will be the new thing at Chelsea this year
my plot has two fleece lollipops now - rather inexpertly covered plum and gage ...
one of the old guys at ours seems to just grow potatoes - a complete plot of them seemingly every year ...

x post - wonder if he is planning on growing them to sell after topiary or something. With box blight all around , that may be a risky thing though....

Draw a face on them and make them ghosties! (I may have done this).

We had frost this morning, and a couple of times last week. I must live in a frosty hollow. I am just wishing to the fruit gods that it won't impact my fruit.

Especially my jostaberry, planted last spring. I got not a single flower last year, but this year is an exponential increase, as I am up to... 4 FLOWERS! Truly, my harvests will be bounteous.

Re the box, it is such a mystery. We do have box blight in the area - my neighbour lost all theirs in the autumn.

haha Spotted - my jostaberry is just into its 4th year planted. I didn't get any fruit the first year, about 6 the year after, then last year it got going, so next year should be good for you!
My pear tree at home is just too big to fleece, so that may well be a small harvest this year . ah well....

Really, they're that slow? I've never actually had a jostaberry. I'm hoping that they're worth the wait.
I shall have to declare 2018 and 2019 the #YearofFruit too at this rate...

We've got a fruit tree in our front garden, but I've no idea what fruit. I think we've guessed plum. It's very overgrown so there was a poor show of blossom this year (and no fruit last year) so I must remember to give it a good cut in the Winter. It's also self seeded another small tree next to it which is probably too close...

Noooo, you prune stone fruit in the late sprung or summer, as they're prone to disease getting in through the cuts. Maybe see if any fruit develops then plan for a restorative chop around June?

Aahh! How will we know what fruit tree it is if it doesn't fruit?

Post pics! Of the tree, the leaves and the blossom.
And, er, someone else can help you as I'm a rank amateur, as you know.
We can probably quite easily get to type of fruit, but not variety.

I shall post pics after lunch as long as you don't laugh at how overgrown and tangled it is

• Gin - is it a seedling , or a sucker? Plums ( and all the prunus family) are very prone to suckering

Spotted - we bought the jostaberry as DH 's two favourite fruit are blackcurrant and gooseberry . The first proper harvest last year I cooked them in a crumble - he said that though nice , it was not as good as either of the single fruits by themselves, it didn't intensify the flavour of either. The berries were a bit bigger than blackcurrants, which was a plus though

book you've confused me now! What is a sucker? Eek.

a sucker is an annoying bit growing out from the base or root of a tree.

Ahhh. I'll take a pic in a mo of both the tree and the smaller thing so you can see.

Here we go, excuse all the soil under my nails. Pic of tree with sucker/seedling/or maybe something else altogether in front, finished blossom and leaves.

And this is around the bottom of the smaller thing if that's any use.

mm, I'm no great shakes at identifying, but that leaf looks a little round for a plum. Couldn't be an apple could it ( I am assuming it is a fruit tree?
That does look like suckers - they come along if you damage roots, - it could be there is a graft on the tree, and that is the rootstock too.
Here is my apple tree in blossom with leaf. ( just ran out, so a bit damp!) Were the flowers white or pink?