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'm delighted to see my herbs in tyres are all coming back with a vengance this year I thought they had all died during the winter. There's chives, chocolate mint,ordinary mint,sage ,lemon balm,basil and a few other ones I can't remember also have loads of different types of thyme and also basil mint & rosemary down near the house as I use them a lot in cooking so its more convenient.I love herbs love the different scents and of course bees and butterflies adore them so that's even better.

Love your luminous fence Hokey! Are you in Wexford?

Just back from a couple of hours at the plot. It is windy and warm, but no rain so far. I keep seeing dark clouds, and then they blow away. The forking over of the ex brassica cage is a bit like breaking rocks now. But I have got enough done to plant out the celeriac and beetroot tomorrow.
I have done a lot of hoeing too - all around the potatoes, shallots and garlic. its not a job I like much , but it works well, as long as I keep the hoe sharp. ( I got hoe sharpening lessons from DH , and now have my own sharpening stone.....) .
I have taken out the broad bean tips - the broad beans are starting to set, and I want to discourage the black fly. Red currants looking like I will have another good harvest this year . Strawberries all in full flower too.
Just need some rain !!!

Welcome GardenGert I'm NE Scotland too. An hour from Aberdeen.

Didn't manage to go to the plot yesterday, had to wait for a parcel to be picked up.

Went this morning as it didn't rain overnight as predicted.

Just got the hoe out and started and the rain started. I'm very pleased. My potatoes are going great.

Not much gardening going on here today. I earthed up the potted potatoes this morning, but I've been spending the rest of the day so far scrubbing the house ready for a friend coming tomorrow who hates the smell of animals.

I've got some space for a few more things in the veg patch, but not sure what else to grow. I might have a wander around the garden centre next week and see what young plants they have. I need to get some sage, too. I've taken cuttings from MIL's garden about four times now, but I just don't have the patience to nurture them.

Well, I have just been brave and planted all my babies out on the plot.
The last few broad beans, five tomatoes, climbing french beans, yellow and white beetroot. Plus oodles of oriental greens, chard and perpetual spinach. We used root trainers to grow most of it and then the bulb planter to plant out, minimal root disturbance. Fantastic.
I had a moment and planted all seven courgettes, they are the tristar ones and I wanted to be sure to get all three colours.
And the mystery pumpkin, can't remember where the seed came from.
Then I sad very quietly for half an hour and watched a sparrow rip bits off the oriental greens.
We are down south so hopefully they will survive.
No sign of proper rain yet, just the odd pitiful shower.
Waiting for the lovage to germinate. Also going to sow some more good king henry, in the fridge this time.
The Autumn planted japanese onions are almost ready to harvest.

ilporcupino yes I am from the sunny south east ! I must have the most recognisable garden in the county as I've had two people message me to say they recognised it or is it my user name that gave it away !!

Bought and planted out herbs. The herb bed still looks very empty though. I need to get some basil and parsley.

Planted out the French beans. The soil was beautifully warm but awful dry so did lots of watering. I will go back tomorrow and give things a good soaking.

I have started some Perkins in the greenhouse. These will go out onto one of the hot beds once they have got going.

Joy of joys, I have ordered a polytunnel. Not one of the professional looking ones but something a bit lighter which we can move around. The plan is to cover it in butterfly net to protect the brassicas then put its poly cover on to get an early start in spring.

Perkins are gherkins (auto correct fail!)

Hokey no, didn't recognise the garden but just wondered if you were in Wexford as you had said SE Ireland - I spent every weekend and all holidays just south of Courtown and my brother owns the house there now, it's my favourite place in the world! Gorey is just fabulous now, we go for two weeks in August every year (constrained by English school holidays etc).

I have finished weeding the last bed and.............

Evening!
elephant - joy!
Gnome - it really makes life so much easier , no doubt . I tried to get a second hand polytunnel. and they were snapped up so quickly. We were lucky to get our big beast !
Well, things are moving along at last . I have planted the tomatoes into their place in the greenhouse, repotted peppers and aubergines up , pricked out leaf celery ( mind you, its slow growing - still tiny....)
Have had the french beans, courgettes and squashes out in the fresh air too, getting ready for planting next week.
Sowed another succession of carrots and beetroot into plugs.

ilporcupino it is a beautiful area isn't it and such great beaches! They are desperately trying to save the beach is courtown from being washed away hopefully their efforts will be successful.Gorey is great town so busy and bustling I live about 10 mins away from it Loads for kids to do round here too have you been to wells house or secret valley wildlife park ?

elephant green with jealousy here please tell me they were grown in a polytunnel as my outdoor strawberries are only flowering now

gnome Perkins would u believe I actually googled as I didn't know what they were and didn't want to admit it would love a polytunnel but they are just so expensive.Thought we were going to get a cheapy basic one a few weeks ago but they were all sold out by the time we got there

Strawberries! I will have to give mine a talking to!

Book, what do you recommend as a planting distance for squash please? I will be planting them through weed proof matting in a hot bed.

Hokey no we are dreadful on holiday, spend all day every day on the beach, fishing and messing about in boats, one afternoon on the waltzers in Courtown and a couple of nice lunches in Katy Daley's and that's it!

mm Gnome - according to DH not far enough apart!
But ideally at least 4' for my butternut and crown prince. (RHS recommend 5' ) I am always gobsmacked at how much ground they cover when they have really got going- I spend a lot of time rearranging the trailing shoots so I can keep an eye on the fruit and see which belong to which , as I don't allow too many to grow on any one plant :). I water a lot - every day if possible ( is it easy through the weed matting,? )

We WILL make the effort this year to actually do stuff!

Thank you book. Hmm, I think I may have set a few too many! The watering shouldn't be a problem. When I plant I will put an upside down bottle with its bottom cut off next to each plant.

The squash will be going into well rotted horse manure. Will that be okay please?

Can you tell I have never grown squash before?

:) Gnome - I plant through a mulch of well rotted manure, they are greedy, so it will be fine . I tend to grow 5 or 6 , and aim to get 3 fruit off each plant , so they grow to a decent size. The crown prince are the most reliable for me , not had any problems for 5 years, The butternut are always a bit later, and can depend a bit on having a good autumn. I grew Uchiki Kuri a couple of years ago , and they grew well, but the fruit didn't keep too well, so not bothered again.

IIporcupino sounds like a perfect holiday to me !! Love Katie Daly's and theres two new restaurants opened in courtown that are meant to be gorgeous too

Made good progress this morning. A couple of hours with dp and his mate really broke the back of the top 1/3 of the plot.

Plan tomorrow is to build the raised beds, have a bonfire and sort out the broken down greenhouse glass.

Wow Frouby that an amazing transformation, I hope lots of pints have been bought for DP's mate.

GardenGert Have you designed the layout yourself?

We have a whole garden redesign on the cards next year, hence why I'm growing so much in pots and moveable items this year.

Our whole back garden is 25m x 10m so an ok size but small enough that it's still important to use the space sensibly. Thinking of dedicating 7 x 10m to vegetable growing but can't visualise what that will actually look like to judge if too large or too small compared to the remainder of the garden.

4 foot between squash plants? Oh dear...I may have a few too many plants then

I have two stupid questions- 1- If your potatoes were already growing in your plot is there any way of telling what sort they are, or can you eat maincrops early if you want to, anyway?

and 2) I know I can scoff the excess kale and cabbage plants, but are the cauli and brussels edible?

Frouby - amazing amount done - bet you are all shattered! But take it steady as quoted - its a marathon, not a sprint, so keep some fuel in the tank :)
tizwoz - thats just over a third , so I suspect it depends where you place it - . for example, an apple tree or a fruit bush can be in the garden bit and not impinge on the veg......
Eating - potatoes, not much chance - they come out with white or pale lilac flowers, and thats about it...but no harm in eating them early - just grub around gently in the soil and try and find a few - that will give you an idea. You usually wait for the flowers to die back for earlies, and when the foliage starts to die back for maincrop. with the cauli and brussels , do you mean seedlings/spare small plants? I haven't ever had them as I give them away, but I cannot see why not...