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

Thanks book i am having to resist the temptation to dig everything up and inspect it for signs of life...I will be patient & wait for potato shoots to appear!

Una i was going to do that with my tomatoes, i have some Sungolds and they are too good to let the sideshoots go to waste. It definitely works, one of my neighbours does it every year.

My self collected pumpkins have also germinated Red. They should be New Zealand Blues. However pumpkins are very promiscuous so they could be any old cross, should taste good though.

Hi, after some deliberation we have applied and got a plot - I think the term is 'it needs some work!'.
I have a disabled son who we hope will enjoy the allotment but it is difficult at the initial stages.
Managed to clear about 8ft of bramble from back of plot and we have 2 breeze block raised beds that had greenhouses on, one we have dug over, the other just basic cleared.
Today took ds for first time and cleared a space at front of plot about 6ft by 2 and let him put some potatoes in as he needs to feel he has done something.
We have covered part the plot to try and stunt the weeds!
Tomorrow ds has a few hours respite and is out with peers so dh and I will get down to plot. We do garden at home but allotment is a scale we are not used to so any advice appreciated!
We know it will take time and don't expect much this year but want something ds can feel like he is making progress with. Sorry for massive post!

Hi tibni, that sounds like a great start.

I have just been out to water the garden and I'm feeling very despondent about it all.

"The wind" (according to DD1...) has snapped off 1/3 of one of my blackcurrant bushes and also snapped in half my best-growing courgette plant. I'm now down to two happy ones and 3 possibly-on-the-way out ones. And one of my two little blueberry bushes is looking a bit downcast.

It hasn't been very cold here - somehow we missed the worst of everything - but it is so, so dry and the wind is constantly strong so nothing is doing well. Apart from 600 million self-sown borage plants that are in the wrong place.

I planted a whole lot of seeds outside a couple of weeks ago and very little is coming up. Only one or two sweet peas, one nasturtium and something that is possibly a plant but might be a weed.

I'd really like a week of just little breezes instead of this horrible wind. But it's meant to stay up around 20mph for ages, and there's no rain forecast in the next two weeks and bah.

Hi tibni decide how much you can tackle this year. Let one bit become a lawn, take out major weeds or spray and seed. This will create an area your son can relax on. Idea given by Toby Buckland when he visited.
Put down good old corrugated cardboard on bits you want to cultivate (will need to remove bramble first) and mulch with well rotted manure and cheap compost that the council makes from green waste. You can the plant big things like courgettes by cutting holes in the cardboard.
If you are allowed, tarpaulin can put part of the plot out of sight out of mind.

Grouchy that's annoying about your plants. Could your courgette survive do you think? Last year I grew sweet peas (or tried) and I don't think anything much came up. This year, doing nothing different, I've had quite good germination. Last year I bought some little plants instead in the end.

tibni welcome to the thread. It sounds like you've made a good start. Things that make a quick start that will help your DS see results include beans and salad crops.

Spotted Zebra is the expert when it comes to planting up the side shoots from tomato plants. I think she's done well from this in the past.

I planted my potatoes the weekend before Easter and there's no sign of them yet but I think that's pretty normal. The cold nights will have slowed them up a bit.

borrage are great for green manure fertiliser aka 'comfrey' juice.

We have put tarpaulin down already but need more. We are lucky, it is a small, friendly site and we have already had offers of borrowing a battery strimer and next plot has been taken over by chairman who has put a padlock on his shed and given us the key for tool storage. We will put our own shed on our plot, probably at back, which will give ds somewhere to sit.
Ds is 16 and does horticulture at his special school but not used to digging compressed soil but he stayed up site couple of hours which is good going.

Hello, I am new here and want to share my potato disaster. Went round to the 'lottie, all the spuds which had emerged (2 rows, about 15 plants) have been wrecked by frost. The leaves are the colour of a manila enveloppe and hang there pathetically.
Is it all over for the spuds? Should I cut my losses and dig up?

tibni. I've just taken on a plot too but am lucky it's in relatively good condition. Lovely to hear your son is getting involved.

I went to my plot today and decided to do some planting. The soil looked really solid so I thought I wouldn't have a chance to dig it but using a fork was fine. Got a few things in. I planted some courgettes and plants during the week but they look quite sad - think I need to sow some more.

When can tomatoes go outside?

Finished my polythene greenhouse yesterday with DS14, adding the last few bits of wood and taping the odd flappy bits down. It's not a very professional job nor a very tidy one but it's done and I'm quite proud of it. DH did do all the main frame and woodwork and we put the polythene on together but DS and I finished it off so I'm taking the credit too!

No plot today though but not entirely dispatched from the plot as I set up the DC to make some plant labels for me and this occupied them almost all day.

Forgot to add pics

luloo I have plant label envy.
ASD my tomatoes are hardening off in a sheltered part of the garden, hopefully will plant them out next weekend. I will check the weather first. Most slightly tender plants seem to like it above 7 or 8 degrees.

They'e beautiful, Lulooo.

Luloo they're amazing! Very artistic.

Sorry to go on about these tomatoes, but can I just check I'm understanding right. The circled bits are the things to pinch out?

Gin that's an affirmative.

Spent a few hours in the garden today, but mostly playing and having a BBQ with friends/allotment neighbours. Our site is quite sheltered so it was surprisingly warm in the sun.

On the growing front, I'm beginning to see my first early spuds and also signs of life in my newly-planted asparagus. Yay!

It rained today, hooray. No plot for me today but I had a bit of a brainwave inspired by the 'encouraging birds' thread and the washing up bowl pond someone created. I have kept the glass bowl front from an old washing machine for years and decided today to sink it into the ground in my garden and make a mini pond. It has continued raining so now it is full. Result.

A quick hi to Tibni and What

Getting excited to plant more on Tuesday

Think I will need to water again this week. Slight chance of rain tonight, but then cloudy tomorrow and sunny the rest of the week.

I love the labels Lulooo

luloo those labels are very lovely and I will shamelessly copy your idea and buy myself a quiet afternoon tomorrow!

Rain = slugs

Pestilent and snails. I have been out again tonight with murder on my mind. Another 50 at least. How can a garden 5m x 4m support such a huge number of unwanted wildlife?

whataboutbob I think the frost will only have go the showing leaves. In a few days you should see new growth coming through. So dont give up on them!

I've managed to confuse one of my courgette seeds by digging it up to see if it had rotted off in the compost - it hadn't so I poked it back in and covered it up - it then germinated upside down! Roots in the air and seed leaves down in the compost. I have explained the proper way if growing, and planted it the right way up now, it seems to have got the message.