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

I like the sound of that worm idea newt - I've no idea how well it would work but it sounds as though it could be very useful if it does work well.

My chives are poking their heads through this morning. DS2 only planted them on Saturday and so he's very encouraged by the speedy results.

Worm idea sounds great. Might it attract the dreaded moles though? We had one last year and thought it might have been attracted to all the worms from the new fertiliser.
No idea about beer traps either, might try them if we need them. Last year we had millions of slugs already, this time not a one yet!
Spuds look very sorry, I'm just going to leave them and hope it's not blight. It's strange that nothing else got frosted though.
So cold at night in our little valley still. And dry. Everything is weeks behind.

red my book says caulis are shallow rooted and need 12-18 inches. Not tried it myself though.

We should be ok with moles bitch. My raised beds are on tarmac and also then have an inch of old smashed up bathroom tiles on top of that for drainage so whilst the little blighters pop up all over the lawn they'd have to be really tough to get through that lot.

Hello Alpaca!

Your dog sounds so funny Gin.

No plot today, were yesterday and did some general weeding and a skip run with some odds and bits.

Will go again tomorrow and hoe. It better rain on Saturday, but hopefully the slugs stay away.

Wow these chives are growing before my very eyes, This morning at 7am there was the tiniest green tip poking through. Just one.

Now at 2pm I have three which are about 1.5 cms tall!

Hey everyone I must first confess to not reading back the past few days of posts as not been well, but I realise I've not posted my monthly veg plot photo so here goes:

Also, spotted tiny broad bean bods forming on my broad bean plants, yay!

Whoop whoop. Just been to see my allotment. The guy showed me a plot right around the back. It was horrendous. You couldn't even access it as the path was majorly overgrown, there were no boundaries, a collapsed green house frame and god knows what else.

I said I would take it as it was a decent size but was feeling daunted. As we were walking out we went past another plot at the top end, overgrown but workable. Much better spot. Said it was a shame people let them overgrow etc. He said they werenin negotiations with the tenant on that one.

Anyhow. He has just called and said I can have that one instead! Yay! I can get that cleared and workable this weekend. No photos as I didn't know it was mine but hopefully can have keys tomorrow.

Great news Frouby!

So I painted the shed. It's dark brown now per DP's request. I did actually paint it green to begin with, but it looked rubbish so I've repainted. We don't need to tell DP that though, I'll make out I painted it exactly how he wanted it

I picked up some strawberry plants today at last, to console myself over shed colour

It's raining .

Oooo elephant where?!

Gin on the Isle of Wight. It looks like the rain is coming up from France and going northwards.

Evening!
very weary here.
I have been looking after DGS today, but managed to get home a bit early.
So DH and I went to the plot to start dismantling the brassica cage ready to move. Its a biggish job, as its a big cage. ( Its an old commercial steel frame polytunnel ) Nets are all ready, first set of hoops ready to put up , but the ground is so dry , and we are on chalk , we really need a pneumatic drill :) But - hopefully we can do a bit more tomorrow. Everything else is going along nicely , things have finally started to grow, at long last

It's raining in Berks too! Finally! My poor garden is sucking it up. Hopefully this will encourage everything to get going, it's all so slow this year.
Weeds are no doubt already growing ...

No rain here. Don't think it's coming either. May strip off and dance about after dark. I have wine. It's supposed to be over 10 temp tonight

We've just been out and watered the garden - it's so warm! And does not feel like it's going to rain
I thought painting the shed would be a sure fire way to jinx rainfall, but no!

Our courgettes are not looking happy at all

Try this met office rain radar site, you can see if it is coming your way Bitch

Ah GinGeum, shed colour is difficult, I spent many hours of internet research, a pinterest thread, two forum threads and a whole variety of testers trying to decide what colour to paint our cabin!

Ended up dark green, although did have a minor moment of regret after painting it

tiz yours is lovely - I think that's what I had in my mind when I picked up the green paint. But it ended up looking like the algae I'd spent all morning scrubbing off! Our shed isn't particularly beautifully formed, so I think the dark brown works well to help it blend into the background. Which is annoyingly what DP had originally said - don't you hate it when they're right

That shed is a beautiful thing tiz but I feel you are all missing an afternoon with the gold spray paint and glitter.

No rain for us today either but very overcast and humid. I was looking at it from behind a computer screen- didn't even get out as far as the greenhouse. Anyone have thoughts on my outdoor cucumber currently inside? It's just whether it copes outside but would rather be inside? Or am I going to overheat it?
gin I once had the whole house painted blue when DH was away with work!

Cath - sorry, missed that Q - depends on variety a bit - some can be indoor or outdoor. I suspect it will cope inside ( particularly at the moment) - and maybe you could you position it near the door to give it a cooler airflow come summer ( hah!)

We have rain!

we also had a nice soak over night