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

we had a nice warm rain this afternoon, everything had a good soak.
downside is the snails are dancing samba, so I put some pellets down to protect the courgette & pumpkin seedling. at the rate they are growing the snails and slugs will not have a chance in a couple of week's time.

Frouby I'm so sorry to hear about your pony. It's always sad to lose a much-loved animal.

Red sorry your holiday isn't going to happen.

Newts i have the same sweetcorn problem, it all looks a bit yellow & straggly.
I'm hopeful that it will green up soon.

I spent an hour or so at the plot this afternoon, we had a bit of rain overnight but you wouldn't know from the look of the soil, all still very dry.
The French marigolds i planted last week have almost all been destroyed by slugs. Maybe it kept them away from the rest of the plants!
Potatoes are still looking pathetic and only a few have come through. I'm trying to be patient and not burrow around to check on them (they're first earlies so I'd expected more growth). My butternut squash has survived without its cloche and I've taken the plunge with the courgette, it is also now cloche-less.
My strawberries are still very green but I've netted them and put straw around them, it's a bit amateurish (i misjudged the length of netting I'd need so had to cobble a few bits together) but it should keep the pigeons off.

The photo is of the plot today, my back boundary is just behind the wire cage thing/compost bins. At least the foxgloves are looking good, whatever's in the soil they must love it as i have 3 or 4 absolutely huge ones all covered in flowers and bees!

We have heavy rain forecast overnight and tomorrow, hopefully it won't swamp the plot but it could definitely do with some rain followed by warm weather!

At home i potted up my Tiny Tot cucumber and also a mini squash plant (mystery variety) which DS has grown from last year's saved seed - i used a mix of manure & compost so am hoping they'll take off quickly.

I haven't posted in ages but have been stalking away, lovely to see everyone's progress!

Silly question, but with courgettes is there a need to remove the flowers? Mine seem to be flowering then wilting over the course of a couple of days whilst the courgettes are still only a couple of inches long, will they rot and affect the courgette?

courgettes have male and female flowers. thin stalk = male, thick stalk = female. no need to take them off.

Morning!
very damp/drizzly here and cold . will go up to the plot this afternoon, as I am delivering spare brassica plants to various plots - trying to get rid.
timtam - that is looking great.
rose - the courgette is quite a clever plant - it often doesn't produce female flowers at first , just male ones ( which drop off /rot after a couple of days ). But no, I never bother to take them off.

It's very muggy here this morning, but damp. We had a brilliant rainfall overnight.

I won a £300 b&q voucher for taking part in a survey on here, and let DP free in there yesterday. He was gone hours and came back with lots of lovely things. He bought some fancy hose attachments and is mightily miffed the garden doesn't need watering now thanks to the rain

He brought home some carrot seeds which I've just planted out this morning, and some chilli plants which I've potted on. He's also bought a propogator for the window sills which will make life a lot easier than the set up I had before.

I've also planted out 10 more runner bean plants and two more courgettes from MIL's spares. And built the supports for the tomatoes.

Muggy but damp here too, Gin . Horrid. (and well done on the vouchers - how exciting!)

Yesterday however was another scorchio day, and I planted out more tomatoes and more courgettes and squash. I've replanted up the new, smaller BenSquash as it ended up that I couldn't be faff ed to move the rick hard mud, so I manured it up and watered it a lot, and it will now be a small plastic - covered weedy mound on which to grow squash. So much for crop rotation

I really really really need to plant out my beans - I suspect there is no nutrition let in the loo rolls in which they currently reside.

I have a new garden pal. A GIANT frog, who seems to come out at night and sit in the outside water bowl that we leave for the hedgehog (but which our cat prefers). Sits, and shits I think. Still, I actually have few slugs this year, so we will happily accommodate her.

Take off the male flowers and make courgette flower fritters :) I think the female flowers drop off naturally but I did worry about attracting slugs so tried to clear them up when I could.

Drizzly here and looks like the rain last night was quite heavy. I am going to venture out in a bit and see whether anything will come of the leeks that didn't grow last year but are still alive - just tiny. I have been reading that if I move them, cut down the roots to a couple of cm and the leaves to about 10cm then they might actually perk up and continue to grow. Worth a try.

Then I'm going to sow carrots, spinach and salad leaves in the new beds I think. All look like they'll cope. The beds get full sun from about 11am until about 3pm. Before 11 they get dappled sun/shade and after 3 they are in full shade because of the wall of the house.

Some thoughts here on veg for shadier spots Newt. www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/gardening-blog/2017/may/26/vegetable-garden-planting-plan

I have some questions about courgette flowers if I may!

If I take all the male flowers off (for fritters) will I still get courgettes from the female flowers?

How long do courgette flowers last once picked?

I blithely agreed to give some courgette flowers to someone at work without thinking about the practicalities!

I think that the flowers wilt quite quickly - so fridge, maybe 2 days max? There are some varieties that are v good for flowers, I think certainly one of the Italian varieties -maybe they last longer or have more male ones?

You could take off the males, but then use one of the males to pollinate all the open female flowers?

Hello. Just had a nice hour to myself in the greenhouse wrapping card in silver foil to put under the chillies a la James Wong. Can't actually remember why- possibly increased heat in chillies? Anyway it's very shiny which is a plus. Sun has just come out after a dull weekend so I'm in for a cup of tea and then out again pottering. My parents have asked me to think of nice things we can put in 2 pots to give to my sister on her birthday - I think one of herbs and then maybe a blueberry bush? She would like edibles I think. Ideas welcome. She isn't a gardener but would like to learn

Afternoon!
congratulations Gin - lovely surprise!
Spotted - I have already planted out my Purple french beans - they are doing well, and will be planting up the green ones and runners hopefully this week - I like them to have started twining , they seem to race up the cane that way, away from slugs... a frog! And a resurrected Ben Squash :) Last year a near neighbour just planted her butternut squash on top of a heap covered with weed membrane - she got so many large squashes, I was jealous....!
sorry Newt - I forgot about the shady veg patch. Mind you I see they get about 3 hours sun, so I suspect most of the spinach and leaf veg would do okay personally.
Gnome - if you have more than one courgette ( and who on this thread hasn't!) and they are near enough together, I would take the male flowers off just one plant - you should still get fertilisation then.
I haven't picked them to eat though, so I'm not sure on how long they would stand .
Been relatively busy . I potted up cucumbers and peppers into the big pots they will now stay in - both are starting to flower. Aubergines are doing okay, have flower buds staring, but didn't yet need to go up to a bigger pot. Then went up to the plot and hoe'd all around my potatoes, weeded the asparagus beds, and cut the edge down one side of the path ( that is the for me the most boring job , and don't like doing it...)
It was damp, with a bit of drizzle, so I feel as if I have won one - t wa supposed to rain all day :)
I also brought home a sad little 'bush marrow' on the plant swap table . ( An event on Saturday at the site) It was surrounded by many. many tomatoes . I had taken in some little rooted bay that I had potted up last year, and pleased to see that they had gone.... I have repotted and watered the little thing, no idea where to put it, but I couldn't just leave it there :)

What about a chilli plant Cathpot? they are quite decorative and lots of people seem keen to grow them.

Thunderstorms and drizzle have put me off any attempt to go to the plot this weekend. I have busied myself with hunting down even more slugs and snails and pricking out some flower seedlings. Ds2 and I have made a huge dent in the strawberry haul so far this weekend with enough left for a meal with DD and Ds1 when they get home. The smell in the kitchen has been wonderful. I will hopefully get to the plot tomorrow to replace some bean and pea plants which were eaten.

Hello, just popped over from the Potting Shed. Can I ask how tall you get your beans before planting out. French beans were very quick to germinate on window sill, runners a bit slower to start but have caught up in height if not leaf , peas not appeared. The beans must be over 15 cm tall now. When would you move outside?

Hi LIZS - its warm enough to pop them out now to harden off in the pots - just maybe keep an eye on the weather, mostly wind now rather than cold. About a week, and then I suspect they will be ready for final plant out. Mine are usually about 25 cms and twining before I plant out, then they can race away from the slugs . :)

Thank you zebra and book book for the tips about courgette flowers. I have 9 courgette plants! I could take the male flowers off the two outer rows and leave them on the middle 3.

Cathpot if I remember correctly blueberry plants like an acid soil so you would need to use an ericacious compost in that pot.

How about a bay?

Not sure if this what I was supposed to do with the chillies..

So be gentle if it's nonsense!

Thank you for sister gift ideas - will see what the garden centre has.

Sorry Cathpot I forgot you were growing chillies.

haha! Cath - they look like those shields for camera work - and after all, they have had their photos taken .
Good idea about a bay tree - blueberries can be a bit temperamental if I read Spotted's posts on them right. How about a nice thyme they prefer to be potted by themselves , but alternatively chives - perennial, pretty flowers and useful, and of course rosemary.

Yes book I'm not sure if James Wong meant me to use humiliation as a flavour enhancer but that's where I seem to be going.

Chillies would have been a good idea elephant, but she doesn't eat them. Madness.

Chives is good, and the bay idea. I've got two blueberries doing well in pots but now I'm wondering if you need two for pollination.

I think blueberries are OK on their own but will give a better harvest with a friend along. You could do a pink blueberry and a blue one?