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

It's only sodding hailing at ours. Was that forecast? No it jolly well wasn't.

Poor little seedlings.

igardener I was wondering that very same thing yesterday as I was inspecting my broadbeans which sound in a similar shape to yours. Where are all the pollinators!?!? Very quiet on the insect front in our garden at the moment.

Hello ASD

No plot today, very windy with heavy showers. Can't plant any outside seeds until the frost threat passes.

Went on Saturday to water and dug the first trench for my asparagus plants arriving soon. Soaked the asparagus seeds for the 2nd trench, to be planted tonight.

That is an amazing harvest Book - asparagus envy

We did a big dig this year and got a lot of couch grass and horsetail out.

The borage self seeds every year and is coming up, I love how it hums with bees when in flower. I need to transplant some at home too.

Wh0 I love robins too!

I have a blackbird that's always around my feet when I'm at the plot. There's one The that best year after year in my allotment neighbours fruit bushes.

My goodness!!

That was suppose to say there is one that nests year after year in my allotment neigbours fruit bushes!

Ah, I am envious of the wildlife in other people's gardens. The birds are only just starting to find us.

My greengage tree has just arrived, which is very exciting. It's bigger than I thought. New compost bin arrived today too, which is less exciting but still great. Means I can leave my first bin to do its thing now and maybe have some tolerable compost to shove on the garden in the autumn.

Who were the ones with perennial caulis? (book? shove?) - I want to get some this year, but the potatoes are where I'd want to plant it - if I ordered the plants now and planted them either in a pot or somewhere else, and then moved it into its permanent spot after I've harvested the potatoes, would that work do you think?
Or am I better leaving it and buying the plants next spring instead? (Or can they be bought/planted anytime?!)

Help!

on the weather: I'm between 2 weather stations - one predicts down to freezing (the more rural one) and the other (urban but exposed) says down to 4-5...

which one to believe?

Red prepare for the first forecast but pray for the second

Evening!
well, its been interesting here - snap to hail this afternoon, lots of sharp showers, and the wind is getting up. I have already brought in my tomatoes/peppers and aubergines, and transferred all my pricked out seedlings into the greenhouse out of the mini plastic one. Just in case it gets blown over, and to protect the poor things.
ASD - to sow direct, beetroot, broad beans and peas spring to mind - its a bit early to plant out courgettes, its still cold .
Grouchy - the wildlife is finding you though - it will be thriving in your garden :) and yay to greengage arriving!
Gin - both shove and I have the perennial caulis. They came as very small plug plants , so I potted mine up until they were big and strong enough to plant out ( They are not cheap either, when you add p&p on ).So I think I would order them - we had to preorder and wait - they only came after chasing them up too ....
RedBug - neither {grin] - just be safe rather than sorry !

I now have a seed box! Rescued from a skip today. It is wooden, huge and has divided compartments, perfect for seed packets!

I'm a bit worried about my strawberries now, they have a lot of flowers and it's forecast to go down to 2 degrees here. Nothing I can do tonight except cross my fingers and go down tomorrow with a layer of fleece for them.

What a great find Timtam.

I need one of those, timtam.

My tree was packaged with a whole lot of straw so now my berries get to be proper strawberries. It's very messy, though, so I might end up getting rid of it again and getting some red PVC à la Cathpot.

Hey all, just popping in quickly before I go bring my tomatoes inside out of the plastic greenhouse thing.

Am I right in thinking the (well established) cabbages and the pea and lettuce shoots should be fine to stay in the greenhouse? I'm running out of room on the dining table! Should I bring my strawberries in as well, or make them a winter coat with some bubble wrap?

timtam - what a find ! that is perfect :)
Grouchy - messy straw, but works a treat - it's the best way for me, and I have tried a few ( not red pvc mind....!
Firefly - all those should be fine - the strawberries too, unless they have flowers on.

I didn't think of the strawberries being damaged because they were already growing in my plot so I figured they wouldn't flower until they were ready! Oh well, there are loads of them. One in a hanging pot in the polytunnel has a berry going red already. Polytunnels are good- I've harvested lettuce thinnings, salad leaves and radishes that I've sown so far.

I did put fleece over the potted seedlings and tomato plants in the polytunnel. Keeping my fingers crossed everything else will be OK.

I'm feeling a tad twitchy now because our NDN has covered loads of their garden in fleece this evening. I haven't done anything, but I'm hoping everything fragile is still inside here as I'm a bit behind with planting.

I haven't even attempted to cover my strawberries - they will have to tough it out
And I am twitchy about my sweetcorn in the greenhouse !

Can I ask a question about my tomatoes? They have been hardening of outside during the day for a week and some of the leaves have yellow/brown patches on. I was hoping that this is a reaction to the shock of being outside all day and the new leaves will come through stronger- or should I be worried?

Flop they still look a bit like tiddlers to me. I would bring them back in.

just about to log out and saw this . Yes, they look a bit small- I'd bring them in and see what happens

Will do! They are tiny tims so are naturally small any way (I have some yellow pear shaped which are almost as tall but over two weeks behind and they are still inside full time. thanks :)

It's almost 10.30pm and I just walked into the garden to get something and felt snow drift onto my hands. I haven't taken enough precautions against the frost. I should have brought my toms in from the greenhouse and my sweetcorn.
I covered my French beans yesterday but hadn't secured the covering down properly so it flew off. Went and put it on again today but some of them have already snapped and the rest look like they're dying a fast death. Ah well. Too late. I'll just have to get some more seed sown. Nowt I can do about it now.

redbug how do you know where your weather stations are and what they forecast?

Im only really growing strawberrys this year, due to our on going extension. Just hoping to be able to keep them watered enough to enjoy some fruit!