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

It's been a sunny day and we've been busy in the garden - OH cut the lawn and strimmed it, then cut down the buddlejia. I renovated the veg patch: lots of weeding, pulled out nasturtiums which have gone over, pulled out some sunflowers which blew over in the recent heavy rains, pulled down the old sugar snap peas and their supports, and finally planted my three blueberry bushes into the resulting space. DD1 ran around with buddlejia flowers shouting and singing. DD2 had a very long nap in the pram.

Our main harvests at the moment are tomatoes and plums. The plums are yummy but a significant number have moth larvae inside - still, much less than last year because I put up a pheromone trap earlier in the spring. I'm making a real effort to pick up fallen fruit and dispose of all infected fruit in the waste bin, so hopefully we'll have even less of a problem next year.

Definitely the season of glut for us now. Finally finished the first potato bed (only 3 more to go). The first early potatoes have been incredible.

We decided not to harvest the wheat this weekend. Going to leave it for another week.

This week's photos.

What is the many legged vegetable in the centre front of your harvest photo Gnome?

celeriac i believe.

Ah yes that would make sense.

I love seeing your photos Gnome

I think you made a good call with the wheat. Hopefully we'll have some drier weather this week.

Thank you GinGeum I followed your wise advice

Not celeriac but sugar beet. I was just curious to see what it looked like so pulled a couple.

At the start of the season I set myself the challenge to make a cake where all the ingredients would come from the allotment. To that end I have been growing wheat and sugar beet as well as the normal soft fruit.

What a lovely cut flower bed gnome!

I spent a relaxing hour in the greenhouse yesterday sowing a few later crops (lettuces, rocket, pakchoi, chinese leaf, turnip, perpetual spinach). All of my aubergine plants have lovely rather exotic looking flowers on them. I'm not sure if they'll set fruit but they look so pretty that I don't care!

Does anyone grow squashes in a greenhouse rather than outdoors? Any joy? All of my squashes this year are reaching ping pong ball size then rotting and falling off. This happened last year as well (different seeds). I've only ever managed to grow 1 or 2 small squashes in the past 5 years. I'm wondering if it is because we're just not warm and sunny enough to grow them outdoors (central belt Scotland).

Hello all. I'm new here but thought I'd join in as I've just been offered an allotment! It will be a micro plot and tomorrow my daughter and I will have a walk up to pick the actual plot (may have jumped up and down with excitement).
I don't have very much experience of outdoor growing so this will be a big learning curve.

Evening!
been awol with a busy weekend family party thing, so only things that got done was quick dashes to harvest.
Welcome Imbroglio - I see you got good advice on the potatoes
and BorninALighthouse - exciting - what size is a microplot? ( I started with a quarter, maybe similar?) Please ask anything, and I will ask the usual question of whereabouts are you? ( I'm nosey!)
Cath - I'm not allowed blackberries, so cannot help sadly - seems odd that yours isn't going well, they are thugs normally. Maybe you are treating it too well !
clara - I grow my squashes outside, but I usually get a few that turn yellow and rot - I have always presumed it is the plant making sure that some others get enough food/water . But I'm a bit further south in Yorkshire .
I am a bit concerned mind - I dug up one courgette which had mosaic virus. It is looking like another is going the same way, along with a butternut near by . Fingers crossed .
Managed to get a bit done today , but it rained a lot overnight, so I didn't want to tramp too much. I sowed a couple of rows of spinach, cut and deadheaded flowers , cut grass and picked beans , a courgette, and the raspberries will soon be on stream
Not looking hopeful for tomorrow though.

bookbook it's 50m sq so pretty similar I think. We're in NE Scotland. There is one plot being offered for free because it's a state apparently but the others have been used until fairly recently. For the sake of £11 I think I'll save my back a bit of work

Me again!

One of my PSB plants has sprouted. WTF? Just at the growing tip. Overall plant height is around 50cm.

If I pinch it out will it keep until next year? Or is that it?

Welcome lighthouse and congratulations on getting your plot!

Afternoon !
Lighthouse - NE Scotland ? - can see why you may want to cut out some of the work! Good Luck on choosing your favourite
clara - same her - I have different varieties , first ones are producing now, next are due September/October , but one of the later ones already has sprouts on. I am just going to start cropping and see how it goes ..... I am presuming weather and a bit of slug damage early on must have made it come into sprouting. Luckily all the others seem fine .
No plot - it has been a steady downpour from early morning here

I'm living in a very disheartened household at the moment. It's a terrible year for the harvest. DP has been home all day - it is just too wet. Supposed to get worse tomorrow. Really, really need some dry weather.

On the plus side, I've done lots of weeding because they're coming up so much easier from the damp soil, and DP has started making my wattle strawberry beds.

GinGeum that does sound tough and puts all my little moans about the rain into perspective. Things do seem to be looking a little better towards the end of the week. . Mind you wattle strawberry beds do sound exciting. Will you post a picture when they are done? Meanwhile I think I am allergic to the hairy spines on courgettes and tomato leaves or I am just not careful enough with them. Welcome Lighthouse, good idea for the sake of £11.

Gin - its horrible for you farmers. We have been rather lucky until today. On Saturday and Sunday , as we were zipping about, the harvest was going full pelt around here - no stopping. The nearest fields to us , about half have been done. They normally leave the bales out, but most of the fields the bales have been moved too. The roads have been full of tractors pulling grain trailers all times of day and night . Poor blighters. Today it has heaved it down from 8 until about half an hour ago.

Went to sleep to the sound of combines last night but not sure they would have got much in as the rain was constant from 3am onwards, maybe even earlier.

Blackberry sorbet was a success. Will definitely do that again.

We've had some luck, but not enough really. We've finished the oats at least. The driers are going full throttle! Annoyingly on Sunday it was gloriously sunny but the crops weren't dry enough to cut until 2pm. Then, the combine clogged up in the evening, and because the forecast looked dry-ish for yesterday, we didn't carry on after the combine was sorted. Then it poured down yesterday and we were kicking ourselves that we could have done another 2 hours or so Sunday night. Arghhh.

We've not bothered with baling this year, but DP has been baling for other farms and has been sitting behind the combines and picking it up as soon as it's cut, rather than leaving it till a field is finished. It's such a different year to last year.

Still, my grass is lovely and green at least!

Sorry - I seem to have needed to get that rant out there! Will stop derailing thread now...

rant away gin it bring our small efforts into perspective.
I find it fascinating -and sometimes terrifying- how dependent we all are on the weather.

no problem Gin - rant away !

~waves at the new people~

Gin Hope the weather clears up for you.

At the moment all I'm harvesting is sweet peas (have so many flowers this year) and lettuce. My apples are nearly ready, though I have no idea how red Cox's Orange Pippins are supposed to get.

And that's it. There is one tiny courgette growing on one of my 5 courgette plants. The rest have none, not even the beginning of fruit. I think they are doomed to infertility.

And then I read about this man's crop and felt even glummer!

Lovely colourful harvest but just as my first tomato ripened blight has reared its ugly head :( Anybody got some good green tomatoe recipes (not a fan of chutney!)

Morning!
that harvest looks fabulous Una and plums!
only recipe I have is for chutney ...

It rained most of the night as well as all day yesterday, so no plot - even though well drained its going to b soggy underfoot.

Spring green seedlings all up , not drowned at least

Fried green tomatoes Una mix some polenta / cornmeal with a load of seasoning. Cut tomatoes in half or thick slices and press into the mix, a good thick amount of stuff is best, it sinks into the tomato juice and forms a sort of batter. Throw into frying pan until nice and crispy.
Really wet here, should pop up to the plot to gather another dozen or so courgettes