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

Thanks Eating - that's good to know! And hello from a neighbour

Gin - I've got a very overgrown plot and have been clearing it, but I think I'm going to aim to try No Dig for next year when I'm a bit more on top of the garden. I'll be very interested to hear how you get on. I've ordered one of his books...

I do no dig (of sorts) at the allotment. Charles' trick is to reply layer on the mulch, every year, but I'd struggle to get that volume of mulch. As such, I have stepped up composting with a vengeance this year - eg I am taking my mum's crass clippings etc home with me after I've mowed her lawns.

The no dig thing with me was also driven by my laziness, and also my clay soil, as there seems to be a tiny window when digging is at all possible. Plus, I hate inadvertently chopping up worms when I do dig. I sow most of my crops at home and plant them out when they're big enough to thrive, and I think that works with (my) no dig too, as my soil is far form the fine tilth ideal for direct sowing.

It is FREEZING again here today. I'm not going anywhere near my plot, but a mosey round the garden tells me that the unexpected casualty of the weather seems to be... my kiwi. It's sat happily through a few winters, but this cold seems to really have nobbled the fresh new growth. Maybe it will recover. It's never fruited, so it wouldn't be a tragic loss.

good we are in a similar situation! We have been clearing overgrown hedges/removing grass all over, and I think we've started to lose the will to live with digging

We have horses renting our fields directly outside our back garden though, so have a constant easy supply of manure for mulch. If it was a total pain to get lots of mulch, I think I'd maybe reconsider...

Thanks for your advice...will try it out - will probably look at using the Radish as a 'trap' crop, though we saw a recipe for Radish green pesto, which we really wanted to try.

I didn't know you could eat radish leaves! I'll have to find other recipes though- I just made and froze a batch of wild garlic (not from the allotment) pesto.

I've been thinking about no dig too. It intrigues me. Most of my plot is now under control but inside my 7mx4m greenhouse is solid clay and I'm tempted to do no dig there. However, I can't imagine how I'd get that amount of mulch. I've got about 1/4 of my dalek compost bin and some old used compost from my tomatoes last year. And I could probably get some more manure but all in all, it wouldn't really be enough to cover the whole greenhouse never mind the whole plot.

No dig seems easy on the face of it but for me, it also seems like an expensive optional I'd either have to buy lots of compost or a time-consuming option as I'd have to fill up several bags of manure up and wheel them to my plot. Which in effect, woukd be even more labour-intensive than digging.

I'm also worried about using my old compost as a mulch as it's leftover from my tomatoes that got blight last year. Would it be okay to use that as a mulch for chillis, pepppers and aubergines?

One of the plots on my site is basically a stables so there's a plentiful supply of manure, which makes it quite feasible. I'm not sure how Charles would deal with mares tail, though, which as I have repeatedly moaned about here, I have a lot of!

I have a courgette question - I'm wondering where to plant some courgette plants in our garden.

I have potatoes, then a space, then a bean wigwam, then a space, and then a few raspberry canes. Lots of space all around wigwam, except behind. Also have rhubarb further in front of wigwam. Would a couple of courgette plants fit somewhere around there? They wouldn't be shaded by the wigwam, but would the beans and the courgettes compete over the soil nutrients? (There would be a gap, but not masses of space between. I'm still not sure how close I can plant everything!)

This might make more sense. Pink is rhubarb, yellow lines are potatoes. I could move wigwam over one way or the other if needs be as the beans aren't planted yet?!

courgettes get large. easily 2x1 meter. but they are sort of pliable so you can gently stake them where you want them. they are also good weed supressors as they have lots of foliage.
I plant them with a small empty flowerpot buried next to it and use that to feed and water. got that tip off beechgrove gardens

I'm always guilty of overplanting. the tiny seedlings look like nothing.

I've got mares tail too Goodenoughal- if it wasn't for the stables I'd be thinking we were literally neighbours!

Ha! Eating! How do you deal with yours? It only seems to be 3 plots on our site that have it, probably because my garden has been untended for years and it's spread to my two actual neighbours!

Evening!
well, I go out for just a day, and there are loads of posts !
Welcome Justme - as you can see, hurl yourself in, and plonk down in a chair :)
I am sort of half way to no dig - in as much as bindweed and couch will allow. I furtle away in the top inch or so keeping weeds at bay, dig deep in isolation re bindweed , and mulch in autumn with about 4" of rotted manure.
Gin - there is three sister planting which incorporates beans, squashes and sweetcorn, so I don't see why you can't put courgettes near, or in, the wigwam. They sort of ramble all over the place, so with care you can within reason move the leaders on the courgettes to where you want them .
Well, we have had true April showers here - it has pelted down on and off all day. But at least its not quite so cold, so have left the sweetcorn in the greenhouse overnight.
Luloo - in truth with the old compost - I wouldn't risk it, merely as a better safe than sorry strategy. I think the blight only affects the solanum group, ( isn't that aubergne as well? ) and I suspect once the plants have gone it shouldn't be a problem , but, but ........

Can I ask you more experienced people your opinion on my courgettes....- isn't good is it? At first I thought it was just the shock of being hardened of too early but it seems to have got worse. If it is a virus, then I think it's on my tomatoes too. Would you chuck them and start again? I don't want to risk my peas and beans being contaminated.

Goodenough- according to the previous tenant it's everywhere in our area! I've been pulling it up when I see it and hoping that keeps it down a bit- but it might not be the right thing to do!

From what I have read about Mare's Tail it is a dinosaur weed, there arent any effective chemicals to kill it but I did read this:

www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/grapevine/weeds-pests-diseases/vinegar-mares-horses-tail_70314.html

Might be worth giving it a go.

We have one plot afflicted with it but as it is the orchard plot we are finding that the mowing seems to be helping to slowly eradicate it. Having its heads chopped off repeatedly apparently does eventually exhaust it.

Also re mares tail - we had it but then it got crowded out by the ground elder. So there is a solution........

Flop - I'm not totally sure that isn't cold damage tbh - the smaller leaves seem to be okay, and it doesn't look like 'spots' growing bigger, more general overall damage. I would leave them be for the moment, keep them apart if possible and see what the new leaves look like, keep them warm, and maybe sow more as insurance .
I think marestail is one of those things you keep chopped down as best you can and cope with.

Ooooh thanks book. I was really hoping it was that and then I thought maybe that was just wishful thinking :)

In an over plum panic. 3 plum trees turned up today. I hadn't actually really had a proper look as to where I can put them and I don't really have room in the sunny bits . Especially as DH is refusing to relinquish any more lawn after my rhubarb antics . So I checked and one of them is the right type and rootstock to go in a pot. I'm thinking a very big pot. Then I googled very big pots and now I urgently need advice on where to buy very big pots that aren't £200. Help??

Cathpot what is the rootstock for the plum please?

Flop: Mine look like that and they definitely went out too early. I lost a few, but the rest are doing well (apart from the first leaves). I deliberately put them out a bit early because I have plenty of spares and I wanted to get an idea of how my garden's climate compares with the general area I live in. It's usually a few degrees warmer in our garden, but we do have strong winds to contend with.

Cath I got these for my blueberries. They're very big but plastic so easy enough to move even when full. They look ok too.

cath something like a builder's bucket?