Allotment/Veg Patch Thread 9 - Spring is sprung, its getting really busy!

[bookbook]

Well, the last thread filled up quickly - maybe due to the horrid weather . Its time to battle slugs, snails and weeds !
Last Thread HERE

Although Flop the pea that was germinating next it did stick its root in the resulting sugar solution jelly, so may be he is onto something and a genius in the making or a very silly 13 year old.

• next to it

We're forecast as low as 3°C later this week (SE England) so tender things are staying at home for another week and going back in the greenhouse that night. I lost a few sweetcorn inside the greenhouse a couple of weeks ago to frost, they were on a high shelf touching the roof glass.

Flop My toddler takes care of extra seedlings that way too, as do DH's cats.

I am somewhat concerned at Bitch's reporting of what the carrot expert said about last year's seed. I've sown the remainder of what I did last year and nothing is germinating yet. It has been a couple of weeks; how long do I leave it?

Weather here slowly getting warmer - and the wind is settling a bit, finally! Down to maybe 5C for a couple of days then it stays around the 10C mark overnight for a while. Will start putting the tomatoes outside after the middle of the week, I think.

Next year I need to remember not to sow so many seeds. I am swimming in baby tomatoes and brussels sprouts, which will all likely end up in the compost.

Evening!
well I sit to do some knitting and you lot are chatting away!
Welcome FunSpunge - :) oh, chilly up at the top of the Pennines ! I would pot them up into bigger pots, plant really deep ( you can plant right up to the first set of leaves ) and keep them in the conservatory . If you haven't any deep pots, ask at local market or supermarket if their flower buckets are available - they often chuck them out. You would have to put some holes in the bottom, but they are good and deep.
I am with WhoKnows - I saw the temp drop, so didn't sort out my tomatoes into their summer place. they will be coming back inside I think Tuesday and Wednesday - 1º possible overnight.
Its so cold Grouchy I think it has stopped a lot in their tracks - my seedlings are healthy but not really growing away, and things do seem to be taking their time .

Soil is getting warmer. Spent the weekend moving the plot on. The last new bed was dug/manured/rotavated.

Here are this week's photos. The little seedlings are my sugar beet.

Grouchy - I planted some (I think 2 year old) carrot seeds and they did come up, after over 3 weeks I think. I had given up on and forgotten about them by then so it was a nice surprise!

Ended up building a large planter for the surplus brussel sprouts, repurposing an old bucket for my extra onions and stuck the last couple of brussels in the flower border.

I'm also experimenting with wine bottle waterers this week. Going away towards the end of May, my parents are going to pop round a couple of times but if we carry on with as little rain as we had then all my potted stuff is going to suffer.

Do you process the beets for sugar GnomeDePlume ?

elephant I sense a kindred spirit in that I also snurgled in weeding between marking today. Such a lovely evening we ate outside. I am a massive convert to raddishes. DD1 not so much- like an apple that tastes of rocket apparently

tizwozliz I have set myself the challenge of making a cake from ingredients from the allotment field.
I have a bed of wheat, the sugar will come from the beets (I have googled the sugar making process having never done it before). Eggs will come from one of my fellow allotmenteers.

Morning!
I am s jealous of all you sitting in the sun yesterday. It was bitter yesterday - grey and cold with a stiff breeze. Today it is cold grey, and an evener stiffer breeze. I will have to be doing the greenhouse/dining table shuffle for a couple of nights . And find room for all the hardening off stuff back into the greenhouse ..
I have a rather full on week this week so not much time for the plot. I will be going and picking the last of the PSB today, and then cover the asparagus again I think ....lovely spring weather!

I think I will cover over the tomatoes tonight and tomorrow night! It's grey and breezy here too, book - thoroughly miserable. It's so frustrating to have a glorious day and then it go back to being cold.

And if we're going to be having grey weather, can we at least please have some rain! Even DP is struggling with power harrowing and drilling now with the ground being like concrete.

I'm impressed gnome
goid luck with the cake!
we grew sugar beet (and other beets) for the horse when I grew up, have never tasted one.

Whoop whoop.

Have the first 2 raised beds sorted. Dp just called and he has liberated some timber from work. So that's a start at least. Just can't wait for thursday now to see what it's like. Plan is to clear enough of a space to get 2 beds in then work the rest if it to clear it for a chicken coop first, then to see what we are left with.

Anyone with little ones our Aldi had some fab kids gardening sets in yesterday. Little bag, half a dozen metal and wood tools, a galvanised watering can and a couple of plant labels. Ds (3) has played with it non stop.

Thank you Red, I am a little worried by my wheat. It looks healthy enough but I have no idea what the yield will be. I am worried that I will have barely enough for a mean butterfly bun!

I agree about the rain (or lack of it). Hoping to get out of work early enough to be able to get to the plot and do some watering.

you only need about 200g wheat? do you have any nuts that you could use instead if you don't get enough.

and yes to the missing rain. it's gloomy and grey, but the few drops that make it down are not quite enough.

Gnome what size is the area you have planted the wheat?

Bring coeliac I've tried a number of recipes that use alternatives to flour. A lemon cake that uses mashed potato and a cake made from canellini beans were both successful i.e. Fed to 'normal' people and they liked them. Carrot cake normally has very little flour too.

Gin I have 13.5 square metres planted. Wheat seed seems to be one of those things where you can either buy a thimble full or container full. There is no middle ground!

tiz Mashed potato flour sounds like it might be useful. Do you have any information on how to use it please?

Gnome I suspect there's not a lot of people buying seeds for growing on an allotment! I think that size of plot will be perfect for one cake. What kind of mill have you got?

I am the SLOWEST potter-on ever. It takes me ages. I finally did my tomatoes yesterday, in the glorious sunshine. And I put up my blowaway growhouse thing, and demoted half the tomatoes to there. Today obviously it is cold and grey, and I am regretful. I've also potted on some basil and coriander this morning, and quickly sown some more salads - I'm doing trays of them, making sure/trying my hardest to get some kind of habit going so it won't be salad feast or famine.

But I've been a bad grower this year. Some of my later tomatoes are still 3 to a pot, and my kale and raab is really leggy and needed pricking out a week ago. Maybe I'll eat these as 'microgreens' and redo? I could ponce them over a salad?

I pretend that if only I had my own space to sow and pot, it'd be different, but instead it have to do it on the windy patio, or in the conservatory, aided by nosy kids and cats. And then I have to clear up.

Gnome you can also use apple puree (or pumpkin puree) to bind a cake together, in case that is useful!

Gin yes, I set myself this challenge without checking the availability of seed first!

As it is going to be only a small amount of flour I will be milling I was planning on using the coffee grinder.

As I dont have any fat available on the allotment I was planning on making a swiss roll type sponge.

Thank you LaContessa I will look into that.

In the end this challenge is about doing it rather than producing the perfect cake!

Well if you decide to do it again next year Gnome let me know and I will send you some seeds!