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

That is what we are here for Hound :) - is it a big plot? And you may not be aware that I am rather nosey - where abouts are you? And is it in a state ( I am assuming so, otherwise maybe the shed wouldn't have been taken over )

Haha! I don't mind you being nosey interested at all, I've already bored most of my family and friends to death about it, so it's lovely to speak to people whose eyes don't glaze over as soon as I say the word allotment!!

It's a half plot, so 125 sq metres, is that right?
It feels huge though!! It's been completely neglected (apart from the drug use!) for over a year, so it's a total mess wilderness.

And I'm in Berkshire. In case anyone fancies popping by to lend a hand!

This is it with DS and his "sad-face" in the foreground!

That is a bit of a jungle - are the council prepared to come and help with any of it? Bad plots at ours are offered help/ weedkilling/ free rent. I would be asking about all these things . Is there a committee at all ?
Another thought - The National Allotment Society has regional officers. I can perhaps ferret out some contact details so you could ask for advice from them .

Hi Hound I've just read your posts and I reckon if you dismantled the shed and stored it flat pack until the spring the unwanted visitors will lose interest and find somewhere else. Perhaps another allotment holder would let you store behind their shed, until the spring maybe, so it doesn't get broken up of burnt by the trespassers in frustration. I hope the radish seeds germinate quickly for your Ds.

Hound - I'm sorry to hear about your visitors. I agree with elephant If you remove the shed for a while they will find somewhere else to go, otherwise if you lock it they might just keep breaking into it.
Cedar & Cathpot - did your Cinnabar Moth look like this?

How disappointing Hound. Hope you get it sorted and can soon start to enjoy your allotment.

When is this rain going to stop? It's driving me mad. I can't get out and do anything. Except sneak to the greenhouse to stare lovingly at my watermelon.

Afternoon!
Well, the weather forecast was wrong again - it was sunny and though it had rained in the night, it wasn't loads.
So, went to the plot and got some more potatoes dug up. Very impressed with these - Kestrel , first year of growing after a recommendation from an old timer. No slugs , a good size and crop. Will report back on flavour - we are having some of them for tea, due to me pronging two of the biggest with the fork ( of course!) . If good, then they are the ones for next year.
Saw NDN and got given a cauliflower and a cucumber. :) Also the purple french beans are doing well. They are for the freezer, as I have lots of other stuff . And two more courgettes of course .
Need - so pretty!
Bella - we can also stare at your watermelon - maybe an update picture once a week?
So, it looks as if we are about to get some rain this afternoon. I haven't needed to water squashes or courgettes now for ages. I started putting the crown prince on top of tiles so they are off the soil. I have nine so far , a few little ones still appearing, but will start being cruel and cutting those off soon. No sign of any butternuts yet.

Forgot the pic, and I forgot - the autumn raspberries are just starting ( a few loganberries in there too)

Had written off today for gardening based on the forecast and arranged other stuff but back now and no sign of rain yet. Pondering if I have a chance to get a few bits done now. The sky looks a bit threatening.

Hi all. Just spotted this gardening thread. Looking enviously at the photo of somebody's red tomatoes. I have four tall bushy tomatoes plants with lots of tomatoes but they're still green. They're in full sun, watered and fed weekly but no sign of turning even a hint of red. Any ideas? Or will I just be making a large amount of green tomato chutney in the autumn?

Don't panic llangennith - mine are all green too, (apart from Sungold ) . I am in Yorkshire , and just have to be a bit patient , though I do think they are a bit later ripening than last year :)

Llangennith different varieties will ripen at different times. We've been picking sungolds for a couple of weeks, gardener's delight for about a week, and my Roma are still small and green. I'm in a very sheltered part of the south west, too.

Anyway, welcome to the thread! Tell us about yourself and your garden.

my homegrown toms (green zebra & black krim) are also still green. the ones from the garde centre are giving up plenty every day.
went ramble picking today and have made crumble and stews. it looks like a great bramble year in our area, but of course the nicest looking ones are out of reach.

I went up to plot today just for a quick harvest. I really have stuff I need to be doing in the house. My tomatoes are beginning to look less like alien life forms but are beginning to split. I guess it's due to the massive down pours we have had. It was fine today and forecast dry for Mon and Tues so I will need to catch up on some strimming when it all dries out a bit.

Started my flower bed early last summer when DGS9 finally decided that my long narrow garden wasn't big enough for him to play football. Prior to that it was a long 14ft wide strip of grass with a lot of weeds at the end. Haven't started a flower/shrub bed for 30 years and it was a lot harder this time.
Weeding took weeks even though it was quite a small strip on the right hand side. Dandelion roots over a foot long, but I was determined to get it weed-free. You know obsessed you can get
Planted a few shrubs and perennials and then realised it'd be better to mulch the rest of the bed with compost and manure. It's been a pleasure this year to just plant and not weed.
Decided to try growing runner beans from seed (incredibly easy) then pot on into a cane wigwam. Had lots of beans
Bought 4 tiny tomato plants and watched them grow and grow. All green but taking heart from other posters here.
Also grew Cosmos from seed. Never again! Ten plants, lush growth over 5ft tall and only one plant has flowers. I'll buy a plant or two from the garden centre next year and save myself the angst.
At the 'zillions of seedlings in pots' stage I went to stay at DD's for a week so packed all my pots into the car and took them with me. Fortunately DD was also growing seedlings this year so she didn't think it too odd.

Sounds like the start of a vegetable convert llan - beans are such a good crop , in a small space if you do it wigwam wise. An d the atse of them freshly picked and young too!
Love that you took your seedlings on a road trip .
Do you know what tomato variety you have ?

taste !

Ok silly

Ok vaguely sensible question. My first early potatoes did not flower, neither did a plot neighbours incidentally. I am digging as they are needed but they are very floury. Lovely as mini roasties tonight and the larger ones i expect will make good baking potatoes. My brainwave last night was to cook them, mash them and freeze. Has anyone done this? It would save time for evening meals when I am back at work. Would you add butter and milk before freezing or when ready to use?

I would store without butter.

I freeze mash with butter and milk.

I always freeze portions of mashed potatoes.
When I buy a load of potatoes I peel them all, boil them and mash with lots of butter and some warm milk.
I've tried lots of ways of freezing them and all ways work. Dollops onto a chopping board then frozen and put into poly bags; into Tupperware type containers; into freezer bags and sealed.
Heat up in microwave without defrosting first. I usually add a bit more butter before microwaving.

Thanks for all your answers, I really don't think these potatoes will store well in the traditional way but it's no different to batch cooking and freezing shepherd's pie or fish pie really is it?

Hello all.

Had a lovely couple of days on the plot this weekend. Pulled the first of the early potatoes yesterday. Very pleased with mist of them but something is having a nibble. Tasted lovely roasted tho! Also had courgettes, runner beans and french beans and spinach with dinner. And blackberries and cream for pudding which we picked from the plot we are looking after the chickens on.

Plot owner told us to take all the stuff that was ready as he wont use it. It's quite sad really. It's his daughters allotment but she has recently had a baby then been ill for a while after. The plot is horribly overgrown. All the blackberries and rasperries have overgrown, looks like broccoli completely gone to seed, weeds and docks up to your head. He has been doing the chickens for her and is wanting her to sign it over to him. She is obviously reluctant as he has been telling me she is making a decision soon for the last 3 months. He desperately wants it for himself which is fair enough. But the plot has lots of structres and will have been her pride and joy at one time. I just think if it was my dd I would be helping her keep it rather than wanting it for myself. And she obviously likes the soft fruit as about 1/3 of the plot has it on so why can't he pick it for her and take it up?

Sad really and I don't know the full story but I hope she does come back to it eventually.

Anyway. We have nearly dug out the 10ft by 10ft by 6ft pile of top soil, glass and bricks we inherited. Probaly about 10 barrow fulls left but it's mainly glass so we are just waiting for the skip to tip it straight in. And I spent an hour tying my collapsing tomatoes to big thick green canes. No ripe fruit but 100s of green ones! I also did some weeding.

Need to pull some more potatoes this week before whatever is eating them has a feast. And have more runner beans almost ready. We go away for a week next week so want to harvest everything I can before we go.

I also need to thin my beetroot out. Have a bit of space in a salad bed so am tempted to shove any that are big enough in there.