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

It was definitely cheating Book, I inherited the strawberry plants along with the polytunnel! I'll have to give the medal back Elephant

Eating I inherited the strawberry bed so the medal is up for grabs. I might reclaim it for the strawberry plants in my garden when they fruit

no fighting in the ranks ! - Cath and red pvc may get in first, but a bit of nice weather, and its up for grabs :)

Book I have to admit the old hamstrings are feeling it tonight. All that bent double planting. More tomorrow but I think I need to get a couple more polytunnels to protect tender plants.

elephant definitely not tomatoes!

LaContessa - book is certainly right about the birds! I joked that DP looked like a crazy pigeon lady feeding his birds when he was scattering the seed around the garden. Then the next day there were pigeons everywhere!

Argh. As well as wishing I hadn't planted the potatoes in the ground, I'm now wishing I hadn't planted the garlic where I've planted it. Will learn for next year!

Quick tomato question - do they like/dislike growing in a container? I'm wondering if I can plant the Super Sweet 100 variety in pots. We have a real sun trap on the patio against the house, but I'm wondering if it might get too dry for them?

Also, what is a 'truss' on a tomato plant? And can someone explain the whole pinching out of side shoots? How do you know what to/what not to pinch out?!

Actually, scrap the container question. I've just realised I'm putting hanging baskets with a tumbling variety in that spot, so there wouldn't be space!

You need to know if you have bush ( don't pinch out) or vine tomatoes ( pinch out).
The bush ones you leave alone because they fruit on the extra side shoots the vine ones you pinch out because otherwise they put lots of energy into growing leaf only side shoots and you get less tomatoes. As the plants get bigger you will see little extra shoots growing in the armpit of the main side shoot . This is a helpful page
www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=315

Like this one, although it's better to get rid when they are very small

A truss is the branch with the set of tomatoes on it. On vine tomatoes these side shoots come off the main stem end have the flowers on which then turn into the tomatoes. They will self pollinate but i give the flowers a little shake in the greenhouse to help them along. Aparently you can use the base of an electric toothbrush against the flowers to simulate a bumble bee vibrations. I'm not quite in that place yet.

Morning!
dahlias survived, but warning for strong winds today.......
Gin - I think Cath has sorted out what is what - the 'truss'' is the stem with the flowers on that turn into tomatoes (so its like the vine tomatoes you can buy where they are still attached together) - its really obvious when they come, honest!.
re hanging basket - could you pop them a bit higher, or slightly off to one side to free up the space underneath for a pot?

Thanks Cath. They are all cordon tomatoes!

Aahhh okay, so it's getting rid of something growing out of an arm, rather than getting rid of the arm? I think that's what I had in my mind and it didn't make any sense! So are the 'arms' the trusses?

Whoops, cross posted with you book! I'm glad it will be obvious

The main arms are the main leaf branches - I can't remember if you get the side shoot bits in the truss shoots as well- maybe.

My failure the last couple of years has been to pinch out side shoots but not prune the height of the whole plant and I've ended up with triffid like plants that are hard to support. Also my neighbour -who is an old and bold gardener, ruthlessly strips the leaves at the end of the season when the last fruit are trying to ripen. I need to be more assertive with mine.

my self collected pumpkin seed have germinated.
hurray!
will see if they turn out ok, they were from a plant a friend gave me from a real-seed seed. so I'm hopeful.

(Just leaving a foot print so I can find my place!)

Back!

looking remarkably as if I have been dragged through a hedge backwards - Its windy , and due to get much stronger this afternoon.

I had a good go this morning, I finally finished prepping up my brassica area, so cage can now be moved when we are ready. Dug up the very last of the leeks, and prepped that bed ready to put up bean wigwams .
Watered peas - direct sown nicely germinated, lovely nibbled edges (flea beetle dratted things) - the planted out peas okay-ish - a bit pale and interesting after the frost, but mostly okay.
I picked a load of PSB, and cut asparagus for DD's birthday tea - including the first two spears of the Stewarts Purple, which is my favourite .

Red - yay! - I gave a crown prince squash to a relative, and one popped up growing out of their compost bin the next year!
ig - hows the broad beans- any sign of pollination yet? I had a quick look at mine, but I can't see anything happening yet.

Hello all. Goodness a new thread already, and so busy!
Paid the plot a visit yesterday. It has survived the very cold nights. I went up on Tuesday, moved my cloches over as many strawberries as i could and put fleece over the rest. Some of my neighbours had planted out tomatoes and bean seedlings, they have been lost, sadly.
I acquired a big water butt last week, hauled it up to the plot on a trolley, set it up and filled it (no sheds allowed for me so i have to fill it with tap water from the hose). Then when it was brimfull i realised it was leaking from the underside. So very frustratingly i had to empty it again (it was massive - SO much water!) before it drained all over my plot. It has some cracks in the bottom which i hadn't noticed - probably why it was being thrown out. It's still on the plot, DH reckons he could cut it down & drill more drainage into the bottom to make some sort of planter, maybe for carrots??

Is anyone else growing first early potatoes? I have a solitary one growing really well but no sign of any others in the row, they had all chitted well so i hope they haven't rotted in the ground...maybe it has been too cold to get good growth?

The seeds/seedlings at home are doing well but my little courgette is extremely leggy. Should i repot it in a taller pot to take up some of the stem length? There's probably 2-3 inches of stem before the seed leaves, and a couple of healthy "proper" leaves, but I'm not sure if that spindly stem would be able to support the growing plant?

Thanks all re figs. I think I'll cut the bottom off a plastic planter and put it into the ground around the fig to limit the roots somewhat. And then steal a bit of the vegetable patch for it because that is a lovely sun trap spot. Having looked at it, I think I'll be able to train it into a fan shape fairly easily so I will do that.

How annoying about the water butt timtam - but why not cut it down for a planter, saves just sending it to the tip. I have second earlies, and literally seen today one tiny shoot poking out - they come out in dribs and drabs, one here, one there , so don't panic!. Stem length on courgettes -mm , personally I think I would leave them be , they tend to be a bit fleshy, and I always think they have more chance of problems if you cover it up. But that only my instinct, not in the least based on anything scientific!

Thanks for the reassurance about the grass; there is a bit of growth, but there are also lot of seeds just left on the ground. Is it possible they will start growing sometime soon?!

In other news, my discount potatoes are coming up (they are currently in pots) and my gooseberry/loganberry are starting to form what looks like either flowers or fruit (prob the former).

I am considering nematode treatment for the plot, but am reluctant because I'm vegan and it seems a bit like biological warfare

Pestilential you can actually cook the second crop - you have to boil them twice to get rid of the latex but apparently they then make a delicious jam. I have a little fig in a pot (Violette de bordeaux) - new this year so I hope it will crop eventually. I think the root restriction is what makes the difference between a huge fruitless tree and a manageable, fruiting one. One of my new apple trees (I think it's Christmas Pippin) has set loads of fruit - I really must be good and take it off to give it a chance to establish but might leave a few on to try.

We were hoping our 2 new waterbutts would collect something today but unfortunately we've had so much wind they blew off their stands and to be honest we've only had a light spattering of rain, nothing like the long drink the soil wants! I've given up on weeding (other than glyphosphating the bindweed) as I can't get any roots out at all (clay soil) and there are weeds shooting up everywhere I look! Just looked up creeping cinquefoil (someone mentioned it on the old thread) and we have it all over the place - was wondering what it was called though it was clear from its behaviour that it's a weed!

Has anyone tried the James Wong trick of planting up your tomato sideshoots like cuttings to get more plants? It sounds too good to be true!

Una used to have a fig tree at a previous house in London, squirrels had the first crop and I cooked the second.
Here the second crop is never very big and just too small and tough for cooking.
DH says tomato side shoots will grow but are unlikely to give you ripe fruit as they will forever be playing catch up with the sown ones.
We had rain, soft wet rain.