Allotment?Veg Patch Thread 10 - Plotmenters busy into summer ! and loving James Wong

[bookbook]

Last thread has filled up so quickly! Thought I had better get one up and running before I get off to the plot.
Busy, busy people, just waiting for the harvests to start, fighting the bugs, slugs and weather :)
Last thread here
THREAD 9

Pavlova looks delicious!

We have planted garlic from bulbs bought on a French market stall. Seemed perfectly happy in the Midlands!

Dinner tonight was boiled bacon with first early potatoes (which have done remarkably well), broad beans, peas, French beans, courgette. Pudding is going to be yoghurt with blackcurrant puree.

Hello, welcome sadik. It has rained persistently here for most of the day and is forecast not to stop until dawn. So not plot for me today, but I think I may have a few courgettes to deal with and a giant cucumber tomorrow. .

Yep, Elephant I am expecting a couple of giant courgettes tomorrow.

Managed to fit in some harvest processing today, so feeling quite pleased. I have done a huge batch of courgettes seethed in olive oil and frozen (haven't tried this before so fingers crossed), and a courgette and chorizo risotto for tea. Oh, and blackcurrant cordial with my parents' blackcurrants.

Evening!
welcome Sadik - I feel I recognise your name :)
I tend to buy new garlic every year to plant, I have only had one really good year with them but though a good size , I'm not sure they had a really good flavour. Whereas last year were not so big, but very tasty. This years are still drying out, but need to go and check them and get them strung up.
Grouchy - I think its worth a go at cutting off the flowers - after all you can eat them, but once set on bolting, its hard to stop them.
Hoping to pop to the plot in the morning, but another busy day away from home tomorrow, so mainly just a dash and pick .
Rained all day here , so I think its like everyone else - some big courgettes , and I have a marrow increasing at a rate of knots too - it was a freebie plant, labelled 'Bush Marrow" so not quite sure how long to leave it before harvest. Do they increase in flavour does anyone know, or just get watery? Not bothered growing marrows before

I mostly hang out on the 50 books threads bookbook - tend to stay away from other long threads as I can't manage to keep up - was actually reading this looking for the blackcurrant recipes but couldn't resist posting as I've got lots of garlic everywhere right now.

(Also I grew titchy garlic for years before someone convinced me (a) to start with specific variety cloves and (b) to be ruthless and only ever plant the biggest ones )

Book re marrows. When I was very young, we went on a 'continental' caravanning trip. DM was pregnant with twins. We took a few marrows with us and tinned meatballs. I am sure it is a lovely combination, but I don't remember it in that way. I just remember the repitition. Marrow goes 'stringy' if left too long. Years ago I grew 'spaghetti squash' that was quite nice a bit better than these spiralised veg you can buy now.

Does anyone else use this:

www.growveg.com

I quite like it for daydreaming and keeping an eye on my crop rotation

Thank you for all of the excellent tips and welcome Sadik

I think I'll try planting the best of this year's crop as an experiment alongside bought sets. I love the idea that if I build up a supply, I'll never have to buy sets again!

Spent a lovely couple of hours last night working on the garden in the evening sun. Planted out my leeks (back breaking that one!), sowed some more coriander (current crop has bolted), radish, turnip, beetroot, kohlrabi and chinese leaf (DH wants to use it to make kimchi as apparently this is the proper cabbage for it).

Gnome that site looks awesome! I currently have a very dodgy whiteboard system to track plantings but that looks much better!

Morning!
Sadik - that must be it !
Gorgeous day today after all the rain yesterday.
Went to the plot and prepped up the bed ready for winter cauliflowers - weeded, forked, barrowful of rotted manure , all ready to go :)
Picked courgettes , checked out the marrow -I think I will pick that tomorrow - its not too big - , I found a Nigel Slater recipe for stuffed marrow with lentils, tomatoes, spinach and harissa, so will do that I think .
Dug up a potato plant - they are staring to go yellow leaved, so ready ( they are second earlies). Starting to gradually un - net the strawberries, just picking as I do - DH fed up of them, and the raspberries are full on stream, so will let the birds have the rest now I think.
Not looked at that Gnome - I'm a 'what did I do last year' - supposedly keep a diary, but always forget to update . I do a detailed planting plan , and thats about it, along with my trusty Andi Clevely book.
I was chatting with another plotter , and she told me that she has a good recipe for a courgette lemon drizzle cake , so am going to do that this afternoon, see how it goes .

(Tried to post on Monday but had wifi fail at my usual bar and it's still not working today - in differnt bar now!).

Well, I posted ages ago (early May?) about my broad beans, which were just begining to pod - I then went to UK for a couple of weeks (planned trip). Got back to a display of blackened and denuded plants ravaged by ants/aphids and snails. Bought a pack of frozen in the supermarket - not the same .

Still, got lots of other beans on the go now including some gigantes, which I’m really looking forward to.

Brilliant year for blackcurrants and gooseberries. Last year I was really dissapointed with the blackcurrants as they tasted awful. This must have been a better weather year for them.

And my Conference pear tree died (three ish years in the ground). I think it was fire blight. Healthy leaves are coming from the root stock at the bottom - must dig it out (on a cool day).The other two pear trees don’t seem to have suffered.

Love seeing everyones photos.

Off to google salt water and tomatoes.

Lucky you igardener! Our gooseberry bush got destroyed this year by what I'm presuming is gooseberry sawfly. There's one solitary fruit left and zero leaves! I'm going to put a note in our garden jotter to buy nematodes for next year....

On a plus note our raspberry canes appear to have taken after the canes we planted early spring 2016 did nothing. We even have a few raspberries growing (wasn't expecting to see any this year).

hello igardener - good to hear from you ! sad about the conference pear .
sawfly strip gooseberries , but you often find that once done, they bounce back next year.

Hi everyone. Work has been crazy for the past week or so hence the lack of posts but Ive just been out to look at the veg and everything has gone a bit crazy with all the rain. Broccoli on the menu this evening!

Had a day off today so have made a bit of progress - once the rain stopped I cleared the garlic and leaf salad beds and popped in some new lettuce, chicory and pak choi seedlings, hoping the moist ground will help them get going. Harvested a very tasty carrot too :) The rest of the day I've been desperately trying to get even vaguely on top of some of the weeding and getting rid of some roses that seem to have reverted to root stock.

I will have ripe tomatoes very very soon.

Hello. Have landed happily in the holidays and immediately had guests so there has been very little gardening as such but quite a bit of sitting in the garden. Managed to pick and cook peas for 9 so I'm pleased about that. My corgettes have all gone mouldy so I'm reading all the recipes jealously! Now my blackberry which was gearing up for a bumper harvest has got lots of mouldy ones too. More cheerfully I've had the first chillies and tomatoes . Peas are over really now- if I bought a plant to replace them would I get a crop?

Very exciting AlternativeTentacle! Mine are looking big but nowhere near ripening yet (from the garden not the allotment).

Evening!
my tomatoes are being a bit stubborn - even the Sungold, which are my earliest have only just got the merest tinge of 'not green'
But the aubergines are proving to be amazing , fingers crossed - absolutely covered in flowers, and l already have about 6 or 7 set -not even sure if I will need to thin them - I only got one last year!
Just been out to pick raspberries in the cool - doing really well this year, tonights crop is just two days worth, as it rained all day yesterday, so didn't pick them - they are so big

I have just pulled up the most disappointing of carrots. Teeny Tiny even though the tops were a good inch across, and completely mangled and misshapen with multiple roots. Was this because I transplanted them?

They looked so promising from the surface too

Cath - I forgot to reply - I sowed some peas about 10 days ago, with the hopes of a bit of a late crop - there are maincrop varieties. Mine don't seem to have done anything yet mind you - hoping the rain yesterday might gee them up !

Newt - its often due to stony, gritty soil - so cultivation could that be it? They like a nice fine sandy soil best. It could be disease too though

Morning all

Just reading through all your posts for inspiration.

Haven't been up to the plot since Saturday due to lots of rain monday and Tuesday and was busy yesterday. Off today for a couple of hours with ds.

Had our first courgette in a spag bol Tuesday. Vegatable refusnik ds actually ate his and pinched some of his sisters so that is definitely progress. Am expecting a few more today and need to sort some recipes. Or harass my neighbours and family with them lol.

If I was going to trim down some tomato leaves due to the fact they are like bushes can I take too many off? Have been snipping side shoots off as and when I see them but have a couple that are as wide as they are tall so think I need to thin them a bit.

My courgettes are being eaten by something (probably slugs) as quickly as they grow. its very frustrating. Might have to resort to pellets around the edges of the beds.