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

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

elephant I can just see you with your hose feeling magnificent! I am jealous of your strawberry haul, I only have 6 reasonably sized plants and last year we got a handful at a time whilst doing battle with blackbirds. My parents are here so I'm off first thing to the garden centre with my dad tomorrow to get sisters birthday pot sorted- very much looking forward to a pootle around . Gaps in the raised bed need filling ....

We have three tubs with some strawberry plants which are keeping us going but they're getting a bit old so aren't the most productive. I have been very good and picked all the strawberry flowers off my new plants (Malling Centenary, Gariguette, Mara des Bois and Manille) so they can establish, but I am looking forward to next year! How many plants do you have for such an impressive haul, elephant?

elephant - a great feeling, and all your own work, so doubly impressive , not surprised you feel empowered!
my strawberries are just showing the merest hint of pink :) . I have too many, some will need to go after fruiting this year. I just leave mine to go wild .....and just try , mostly unsuccessfully , to keep them in check.

Una I inherited this strawberry bed from the previous plot owner. He still has the plot next to me. He had the two plots. 'D' said he didn't want it to become a chore. 'D' again has a wonderful strawberry bed, he has left me with the bindweed. I talked to 'D' tonight but forgot to ask him the variety. The photo taken back in Feb/March shows the strawberry patch about the third one back.

Morning all
Book I read your strimmer instructions to dp who looked pretty anxious. He is crap with anything mechanical. He is a builder so good at building stuff just not taking stuff apart then back again.

I might have a bash myself. I can always take it for a service if not. But thanks.

It rained for a good few hours yesterday so hopefully new plants are happy enough. Off to a local fur, feather and misc auction this morning to see if we can pick up a little chicken run. We have a little house and attached run already but I would only want chicks in it so going to try and find an extension so we can have a couple of hens for now. Then we are going to build a big run later on and have more.

And have ordered enough fencing to get most of that done this weekend too. And I need to order a skip I think to get rid of the rest of the rubbish we inherited. Am going to ring the council and ask them if they can move it first though. They can only say no.

Oh and want to get shed started too. It's all busy busy busy.

Morning all. Busy half term week here and so not much going on in the kitchen garden but today I am going to plant up the two planters DS2 and I made last week. The peas and mange tout are going in (I know they don't like being transplanted but I'm going to hope for the best) and then we will sow some more carrots.

lots of weeding to do. I'm not sure how but there are hundreds of tiny seedlings popping up everywhere. I'm a little bit concerned since I planted some parsnips which haven't done much yet and I don't want to find that I'm pulling out a parsnip seedling by accident.

Still need to find a spot for the pumpkins and courgettes which are going great guns. One of the newly formed courgettes on one of the outside plants has gone grey and powdery though. I'll take a photo for diagnosis.

Off to chatsworth flower show this week for my birthday treat. Very excited

manky courgette and could this be a parsnip or is it just a weed?

OOo and my sweet peas are all coming through even though they only went in just over a week ago!

Morning!
It rained properly last night thank goodness :)
But off out today , so no plot .
Frouby -its not everyones forte - my DH is a bit of a whizz at these things - anything electrical/mechanical. (He is the go to for my DDs on anything broken -) I wonder if there is a youtube video somewhere? Enjoy the auction !
Newt - seedlings are everywhere , even where I have hoe'd recently! It is a nightmare trying to recognise anything. Parsnips are one of those things that I would religiously sow in a row, and mark it - I barely do for anything else. Did you scatter them , can you weed a round the approximate area? Courgette - this happens with courgettes - just get it cut off and away- rotted from the flower? I tend to think it may not have pollinated, and it doesn't grow properly and then rots. Parsnip seedling - erm pass, could be though...:) -

The parsnips were in a seed tape and so this is in the right spot. I put a stake at both ends and so I'm hopeful. Fingers crossed!

back from holiday and a fresh name.

garden looks good, stuff has been growing a lot in the damp warm weather.
some sunflowers have been victims of slug/snails but most are ok. maybe next weekend they are big enough to be planted out.

I have a couple of surprise courgettes as well. I don't really have the space for another but can't cull a cutie seedling :o

plan to strain the comfrey juice this afternoon so the smell will not ruin neighbour's bbq this evening.
it has been 'brewing' for 4 weeks and the smell is impressive.

Spent the morning weeding the garden. Grass everywhere, and lots of mystery plants. I took a few things out, so hopefully I haven't removed something I wanted!

Found a few more carrot seedlings, and my marigolds have finally popped up. It only took them about 2 months!

Beetroot plants are looking great, found a couple of peas (and ate 'em - yum) and everything is going well.

Planted the purple carrot seeds in hope they work, and the rainbow chard seeds that also came from MIL.

So I'm feeling pretty good about things today, despite the impressive scratch I got from my roses.

Oh! And there are hardly any aphids hanging about so maybe the ladybirds are indeed ninjas.

Also: I tried my first nasturtium leaf today. They are VERY peppery. Would probably be quite nice to chop one or two through an omelette or scrambled eggs.

se grouchy - done the job, and moved on . Hopefully they will be back , ninja like when you need them ! -

Back at work

Did some planting this morning, raining on and off this afternoon.

Away to catch up on the thread!

Hello all . Took dad to garden centre and left kids with my mum so that was a lovely relaxed pootle about. Bought some chard seed for raised bed and some Corsican mint to fill tricky gaps in paving in shadier spot. planted yet more coriander seed and also ate my first peas raw from the pod. Very sweet- they are Oskar variety from the real seed people- dwarf plants and have been low stress- I'd get those again. Bought some cape gooseberries as seed , might be a bit late to start them off but we usually get a mild autumn - anyone tried them before? They had James Wong on the packet- I'm becoming obsessed.

Oooh just noted the film 'Grow your own' is on BBC 2 in a minute. It was mentioned on one of the gardening threads a few months back, not sure if it was this thread.

I've just started watching Grow Your Own on iplayer because I missed the start. It stopped a few minutes in and said for legal reasons they couldn't show it! Boo

Oh dear Gin. I managed to convince DS2 that I needed to watch the television for once and that X-box or Youtube could wait.
I am feeling quite pleased with my efforts on the plot today. I have mended the back of the shed by replacing about 6 of the boards and have rigged up the guttering for the water butts. I wish I could paint a shed as quickly as they can on that film. I just need to raise the left hand side water butt up on some bricks and then I can connect the 2.

I've managed to find it and get it playing, hurrah! I was just thinking how easily their sheds seem to have been painted...!

Just had a half day on the plot this afternoon. Lots of hoeing going on. I noticed that some of the onions were starting to bolt. Sniped off the flowers so fingers crossed.

Glory be! The wheat is starting to show ears. I am so pleased!

Gnome 'Ear we go, ear we go, ear we go, eeear we go'

Hi
I've decided to stop lurking and say hello.
My plot looks more like a meadow at the moment, but I've decided not to give up. You lot are helping to remind me how much I will love it when I'm not completely overwhelmed. Am currently watching Grow Your Own with the 1 year old (trying to stop her drawing on the sofa). Everyone else is in bed still.

Elephant

Back to the plot this morning. Going to plant my gherkins today.

Started some more chard in the greenhouse. It looks like the seeds I planted first time were a duff batch as the new packet is germinating but nothing from the old packet.

'Grow your own' seems to be available on BBC iplayer now.

Hi NeedMoreTea as everyone says an allotment is a marathon not a sprint. We call ours 'next year' as we are always wandering round the plot saying next year we'll do this or next year we'll do that.

Take some pictures of what it is now. Then take pictures as you go. That way you can remind yourself of how far you have come.

Dont plan to clear it all before you start planting. If you can clear some small areas then you can get some dwarf french beans and courgettes in. Clear then plant as you go.