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

ha! I really don't have a spare inch at home.... and no really sheltered spots at the plot , they are all taken, its a real windy place :)

book, I didn't think of that. I've got one of those small portable polytunnel things. I'll use that to cover it. Thank for the heads up.

Evening. It's been a beautiful day here. But out of the sun it's still cold. Quite a few potholders on my site are throwing caution to the winds and putting tomatoes/French bean seedlings in. I think it's going to be really cold here this week though. I've kept the poly cloche over my broad beans and i even made a mini-cloche for the radishes (plastic bottle cut in half lengthways). I think a few onions are poking through but no sign of spring onions or beetroot yet.

I picked up the James Wong "Grow for Flavour" book from the library today. It's an interesting read so far. I'm definitely going to try using molasses, comfrey and aspirin for increasing yields! He doesn't rate butternut squash very highly but mine's germinated now so it'll be planted out regardless! As compensation one of my raspberry plants is one of his favoured varieties (All Gold)

timtam please tell me you are also going PVC your strawberries- I can't be the only one!

I'm so excited! My missing peas at the plot have appeared, plus one in the pots I have sown in the greenhouse. I have two cukes that have appeared, plus 2.1 butternut squash (.1 is just popping up) and a courgette just poking its head out. Having been very despondent about seeds for a few days, it's all going on now!

I've come to join the thread.

I just took in an allotment yesterday, it's 5.5 poles. It contains gooseberry, currents and raspberries but they haven't been maintained property for a few years (no trimming, feeding etc. The previous owners had three raised beds which they moved to another plot, where the beds where is bare soil the rest (about 50%) is grass/ weeds.

I mowed it all ready, there was quite a lot of grass. I plan to create some chip wood paths and dig over the current beds. Will create new beds to but that will take a while!

Looking forward to see what you are all up to and getting some great ideas.

Welcome ASD ! Start collecting cardboard now, to use to cover up the bits you've dug until you're ready to plant them up. Or even to plant through, in bits of ground you've not yet cleared. What are you planning to grow? Yay for inheriting fruit bushes (I love fruit)

timtam I have some All Gold (aka Fall Gold) rasps. They're delicious. They don't keep as well as the red ones though, so you have to stay yet more on top of picking them and eating them. I think I need to read this James Wong book, and maybe get me some aspirin but no red plastic. Unless I want to give the old boys at the allotment site a heart attack

Lovely day at the allotment yesterday. Well, I was there a couple of hours, but it was glorious weather again. I put my Japanese wineberry in, and some stray chard seedlings. And watered. It is so dry, still.

I think you can definitely fir in a Wineberry, booky. In fact I think WE ALL can. I'm very excited by it, despite the fact that I've not actually tried one ever.

I now want chilean guavas.

Just having a coffee and watching the squirrel raid the bird feeder as I decide what to tackle this weekend.

I'm investigating DIY self watering systems as I want to start a few things off from seed but not going to be about to babysit them in the week.

On the growing front, nothing much seems to be happening, the one exception being my strawberries which are in flower. The lack of slugs is very noticeable, I had too many bean plants so I put some spares in the border expecting them to get annihilated by slugs but they're still present.

RedBugMug - I always 'stew' comfrey leaves as it's yet another thing that grows like a weed here, but should I be sifting it too?

Fit in, not fir in, obvs.

YES to noticeable lack of slugs. I wonder if that means that things will get off to a better start? The past few years we've had damp springs, and lots of slugs.

Oh, and I started off my beans yesterday too - achievement runner beans and blue lake climbing french beans. There is no more room on sunny tables or windowsills Chez Zebra and my cats are not best pleased.

Thanks for the welcome Zebra.

I already have courgettes, tomatoes, cucamelons and cucumbers seedlings on my window sill - lucky I have the allotment as I don't really have space in my back garden for them.

Cath I'm tempted to try the red PVC for my strawberries. It will look very fetching on the baby baths I'm using as planters.

tiz I have a plastic sand sieve that fits on top of a builder's bucket.

I sieve the 'juice' and then fill it into an old watering can. the rest of the leaves go on around the hungriest plants.

do wear rubber gloves when handling it, the stink sticks!

I stirred mine yesterday but will only sieve next weeks as neighbours have a marathon party planned in the garden...

I usually don't dig up all comfrey and alkanet plants - the bees love the flowers and I want them to self seed for next year.

Quite pleased with my new brassica cages - made of random bits of old grow house frames so I can expand them as the plants get bigger. (I know, I know, bit of bad planning that I have them in 2 different beds!)

Morning! I haven't caught up with the thread yet - will read later. It's warm in the sun here today but pretty chilly when the sun goes in brrrr. I've just been to the garden centre and bought some sweet peas which the guy there said I can plant out straight away. Are they not as tender as runners and things? So much to learn!!

I've been hardening off for a few days and not sure my veg plants like it. The dwarf beans and baby corn are ok but the runner's leaves are going quite thin and almost papery, and the broccoli leaves have got splodges on - any ideas what I might be doing wrong?

Morning!
slumps in chair
Welcome ASD - nice size plot, with the added bonus of some harvest too! - Whereabouts are you North, South, East or West? ( as everyone knows, I am incredibly nosey!) -
yep the sun has been lovely this morning, but the wind is just feeling a tweak sharper.
I went and dug up the last of my perennial spinach , harvested a load to bring home. Then dug up some more leeks - if its going to be cold, may as well. Then I picked every asparagus spear that was more than about 3" , and fleeced the beds over for the next few days. We are feasting on asparagus tonight....
NDN gave me a load of pricked out celeriac , but brought that home as its not quite hardened off yet ( she covers hers with great big water bottles as little cloches
Spotted - stop it! - but- I already have a Chilean Guava at home. DH chose it as an interesting ornamental evergreen in the new border he organised near my Amelanchier. He didn't know it bears berries , but I did...

bookbook. I'm in Herts. The established fruit is definitely a bonus as is the shed!

I went this morning and put down some weed control fabric but wish I took a photo first. I still have quite a bit more to cover but ran out of pegs. My DD13 is interested in gardening so it's lovely to have someone to do it with. When I had an allotment before my children didn't really help other than with the eating.

Does anyone have a pond as it's something I was thinking about adding.

at ASD - I am in Herts too :)

I'm back, after posting and realising I hadn't answered jelly - runner bean definitely too cold I think. The broccoli is another matter - they are s tough as old boots normally. When you say you have started hardening off, are they under cover a bit - in bright sun? wondering if the splodges are water caused with hot sun. ( I water from the bottom mostly, or carefully on the soil, never the leaves) But guessing . I only keep my brassicas in the greenhouse until they germinate, then they are turfed out. I also give them a bit of protection when I prick them out, so the roots get a chance to settle.
ASD - an old hand at allotmenting then! :)

I have a new Chilean guava too - and a pineapple guava too (bother that James Wong for giving me ideas!). I've sneaked them into a flower bed but hoping for nice fruit! Hmmm,

Welcome, ASD!

I don't have an allotment, but I do have a tiny pond in my home garden. Have only just put it in, though, so have no info about it really.

Right - just had a lovely conversation with a lady who came to pick up my spare aubergine plants. It seems she makes her own nematode mixture .
Here goes - 1 " of water in a bucket with a lid. nice leaves on top - enough to cover water ., put live slugs on leaves . Put on lid. Let slugs eat leaves , stir every day or so . When the leaves have beed eaten , slugs sink to bottom and die . Leave for 2-3 weeks and you have nematodes from the slugs insides, which have multiplied. Does that sound like its worth a try?

right - quick question - I am making spinach pesto from my abundance of perennial spinach. I've only made it before with baby leaf. Yea or nay to wilting it a bit first as its a bit tougher , using a teeny bit of olive oil?

nah, I wouldn't wilt the spinach for pesto.