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

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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

Mildew cath cut off all the affected leaves (can be composted). Water well and feed with some seaweed stuff or suchlike. Mulch the top of the pots with fine grass clippings.

I can save them???

That would involve touching them

The first one looks savable, doubt the second one is. Big gloves secateurs, you can do it. Or die trying

My courgettes are STILL not producing. They'll put up one flower, which then shrivels and dies. I thought maybe the bees were being distracted by the wealth of borage in the garden so pulled most of that out but it has made no difference. I'm a bit grumpy about it.

My first lot of self-made compost is nearly ready so I plan to cover the garden with it in the Autumn and hope for a better year next year.

According to James Wong, cold camomile tea with a dash of skimmed milk (!) is good as a prevention/treatment for mildew. I tried it earlier in the season when I had a few whitish leaves and so far haven't had any problems.

Una that just make me feel James Wong is partial to camomile tea and drinks it with a slash of milk. Also that sometimes he lets it go cold and has learnt never to drink a cup of something that he finds in the garden. Might be months old, looking at DH and the month old coffee.

I had a very bad milk turning to cheese in chillies plague of flies experience I'm not in a hurry to repeat. Milk is off my gardening menu

Cath I have had the same experience, but with roses.

Pest it is the problem of having all similarly sized beds. You have a bed which the crop rotation plan says is courgettes this year so you feel obliged to fill it!

Mad weather on Tuesday night, Wednesday morning. Massive thunder storm with constant lightning and lots of rain. Haven't had a chance to get up to the plot to see if there was any damage from it yet, but may get over there later today.

We were away over the weekend and Monday evening we went over to do some watering. We picked two punnets of blackberries, loads of beans - french and runner, harvested another lettuce, peas, chard and spinach. The onions are ready to come up and so are the first lot of potatoes so we need to get over and harvest those.

Something - rat or mouse, not sure - is having a nibble of my little squash fruits so have covered up with nets and left the one that is too damaged for it to chew on. Annoying. We're not bothering with sweetcorn this year because they chewed at the cobs the last couple of years and now they're attacking the squashes instead.

Gnome could you do winter squash with your courgettes for next year? Might spread out the glut a bit!

Onion growers! our red onions are ready but can I leave them in the ground until I need them or am I better to lift them and store them elsewhere?

First year growing onions. They are strooooooooong!

Cheers!

UnaOfStormhold to my shame I have similarly excessive quantities of squash!

I am not safe to be left alone with a seed packet!

clarabellski I think the thing to do with the all onions is to lift them and put them somewhere where they can dry a bit. After that they can go into nets and be hung up (I put mine in the garage).

Yes, Gnome is right re onions, lift them so they can dry out properly. Otherwise they won't store properly. And if you leave them in the ground they will just rot off eventually.

Gnome I find it hard when the seeds have germinated to abandon plants. We bought some beet spinach seedlings and planted out two rows but I still hung onto the seedlings for ages after the plants were established. I would have had more squashes than I knew what to do with if they had all successfully germinated

Afternoon!
well, first free day to down and get some proper work done at the plot for a few days, and it is tipping it down. At least I won't have to water, one small mercy.
Hating to think how big the courgettes will be !
clara -Onions are best lifted I think , and laid out somewhere dry with an air flow to let the neck harden off for longer keeping . Mine are on the wire racks of one of those little plastic greenhouses, with a plastic cover to protect them from the rain, but open at the front- it seems to be working nicely.

hah! - I still have half a dozen sprouts/psb plants in pots, as I can't just bring myself to bin them. We have a new plot holder just near us, so may ask if they want them - they have an empty plot :)

Afternoon !
well it has rained most of the day, but stopped at about 3, so went and had a quick pick of stuff. I haven't been since Monday ....so the first purple french beans, 3 courgettes and 2 marrows ( not sure what to do with the marrows mind). Lots of sweet peas and dahlias too
Cedar and Gnome - at least winter squashes keep well, so don't need to be used all at once - thats what I love about them :)

Thanks ladies! Love this thread you are all so wise!!!

Book I have a nice recipe for lentil stuffed marrows if you're interested?

Can you plait shallots like onions? Or are their necks too weak, so best to just bung them in a net. They did really well. Got 68 off of ten sets, big as well.

yes please Una :) - i have tried a spicy lentil mixture recipe, butI think it was a bit timid with the flavours ( I always try to use the recipe first, then tweak)
I wouldn't try to plait shallots Pest - I've found that shallots start to rot from there first, so I check them regularly. I lay them out in trays ( those blue ones that I pop my harvest in. They are free from my local veg shop, and stack nicely on top of one another , allowing some air flow ( they come full of mushrooms it seems )

yours are beautiful^ by the way Pest* :)

Thank you book I am very proud of them.

We've just had spicy courgette lentil and broad bean soup. I was not timid with the flavourings

pest you could almost go wholesale with your produce!

we had a lovely dinner of mash with courgettes & broad beans (slightly fried in butter with a little stock powder)
first toms are nearly ready, only a hint of orange so maybe tomorrow is the day. it's the 'standard red' (yes, that's what the label said), so will be interesting to taste.