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

Cold here overnight too, 5 degrees at the end of garden according to my weather station. Think some of my later sown stuff will come to nothing if it lasts.

Chillis are finally ripening but a disappointing haul as I had pollination issues despite my cotton bud use. They're scotch bonnets though so probably don't need too many.

it's still fairly warm here. had a cold day on wednesday but that was a blip it seems.

have to share toms with the snails...but on the plus side have lovely flowers well in bloom

Afternoon!
well, it is utterly glorious here today. Yesterday we had the most amazing rain pour down in the afternoon, so the ground is still damp.
Spent a couple of hours at the plot this morning. Getting ready to plant out spring cabbage, so weeding. and tidying next to the winter cauliflower - I can use the spare rolled up enviromesh that is covering them for the spring cabbage. The squashes are doing well, and I noticed at last about 5 butternut have set, though only small. yet So I decided to give them a bit of air and space and dig out the borage plants . I hadn't really realised how huge they were , so it took me a while. All on the compost heap now, and squash tendrils artfully spread around :)

Afternoon all

Sounds as though you have been busy book. I have swapped some rasperries for the address of our stables today amd the location of the muck heap lol. Fair swap to me. Thw rasperries are beautiful too. But he has so many he can't use them all up in time.

Spent a few hours up at the plot this morning. More runner and french beans. And tomatoes too. Need to get some tomato soup made.

We also tackled the Corner of Doom again. It's the bottom bit.of the plot. About 1m deep and 12 meters long. We razed it down with the brush cutter when we hired it for the weekend but haven't done anything since. Anyway we cleared about 3m of it today. It's dense with nettles, brambles, and thistles as well as bricks, more glass, the odd bit of greenhouse frame and bits of random rubbish. Hard going but we found loads of flags laid down. Looks like the base for a greenhouse or shed so need to work out how big it is and will probably sit either a shed or polytunnel on it.

Loads more glass sadly. Will be finding bits of glass forevermore I think. Sigh.

Does anyone grow blackberries? We love them but am a bit unsure whether to actually plant any. Have spent months clearing bloody brambles but the ones we have had from a neighbours plot we have really enjoyed. Are they difficult to keep under control?

We have a 25m long hedge along one side of our garden which has blackberries growing through it. Do get a few runners springing up in the lawn now and again, but doesn't really cause us any issues. We hack it back fairly brutally each year.

More blackberries than we knew what to do with this summer.

'Just back from the plot. It really needs some TLC, lots of weeding to be done but I've made a start. I harvested more beans, cucumber, butternut squash, sweetcorn and a second flush of strawberries!

that's black krim tomato seeds collected for next year.

You're all doing so well, although you all keep reminding me of jobs I haven't done!

This year has definitely been good for us realising what we need more of/want less of. The tomatoes have been my favourite thing this year, and I've definitely been hankering for cucumbers and peppers.

We finished harvest on BH Monday, on a beautifully sunny day, which ended the season with a lovely high after a lot of disappointment earlier in the month. I'm sad it's over now!

We've hopefully got another dog coming to live with us this week, so I'm going to try and get lots of tidying up done in the vegetable garden before she arrives and I have a lot less time on my hands!

the woodlice are gbawing at dc's my pumpkin.
any way to stop them?

Afternoon!
well, a nice day today, but the breeze is getting up a bit - feels like change in the air.
Frouby - Corner of Doom - I think we all have one of those , but glass is an absolute nightmare , its gets everywhere . It does sound as if you are really getting to grips though. I don't grow blackberries - they are so thuggish, and I have quite enough keeping on top of what I have , and DH refuses to have anything to do with them, sadly . I have to swap with someone .
looks like frog spawn Yellow :) - I always thought woodlice only ate already rotting fruit, so not sure on that one - can you raise them up off the floor on something - wire shelf/tray perhaps?
Gin - in truth , I think thats what we all do - refine down to what we like to eat and are successful at. That does mean some years are not so good - every growing year throws up odd results- that is what is so infuriating!
I managed a really good couple of hours this morning. Weeding and finishing up getting the spring cabbage area ready. Then harvesting and picking flowers. Cauliflowers are starting to overwhelm again, and I picked all the calabrese and sprouting broccoli I could - there is more sprouting about to start. Still plenty of green beans, purple ones are starting to slow , runners are just about to go beserk - I suppose it depends on the weather now. Still have grown too many runners - even less next year think. Raspberries starting to really get going .
At home, the cucumbers have just about given up the ghost , I had to cut flowers off the basil, but tomatoes are doing well, but peppers have been a bit of a disappointment - not lots, and not particularly large either , so will try a different variety next year.

Hello! Apologies for my absence and not keeping up with all the activities.

Congratulations on harvest end Gin.

The allotment is starting to look quite empty at the moment. All potatoes are now harvested. We have about 20 sacks full in the garage. DD will be taking back a sack of bakers with her to uni.

Made blackberry and apple jelly this week. I will make another batch and that should see us through next year.

On the home produced cake front I have managed to refine some of the beet down to an acceptable syrup so now have a single jar of totally allotment blackberry jelly.

The next challenge is going to be milling wheat to make flour which can be used for a cake.

This time of year is a period of reflection. What worked, what didn't. Going to give over wintered broad beans a shot and also onions, shallots and garlic. Hurrah, planting can start again!

Frouby we grow blackberries. Thornless varieties which makes picking much easier. It is nice to be able to leave them to ripen properly rather than having to leave it to luck with the hedgerow ones.

Hi all, relatively new to growing veg but have a large raised bed set aside that did quite well this year (though learned a lot)! That said, any advice on keeping out cabbage whites would be great. Also, has anyone grown elephant garlic? Thanks to everyone, I find all your posts really inspirational! Managed some success with carrots this year too (last time was a disaster) ...

gnome thornless sounds very, very good after months of wrestling with brambles and being scratched to death. Will have to do some research. There are loads of unworked plots on our allotment and dp wanders down with ds and picks the ones overhanging the path but I always feel a bit guilty doing that. Even though they are just rotting otherwise. And nd but one plot whose chickens we looked after has said to take all theirs but unless they unlock the gate we can't get to them. And they are guving it up and have rehomed their chooks so we don't really see them now.

Beautiful carrots lizard! We only got our plot in may. Have had some lovely harvests so far with a bit of research, wild guessing, asking on here for advice and lots of luck! Cabbage whites are usually kept out with netting as far as I can work out. Haven't attempted brassicas yet so can't be any more specific than that.

We grew Merton thornless blackberries at our old house (nice and easy to manage) and in the new one I've planted Apache which is a thornless variety that JW recommends. Haven't had any fruit from that this year but it's establishing nicely. It's supposed to be an erect variety so I have risked putting it in the middle of a bed as I was running out of fence space. Apparently you cut the canes off at about 4 feet high and give them a bit of support and they're fine. I have also been training wild bramble stems through our hedges as they are determined to grow and it is nice to have more diverse and fruitful hedges than our current conifer and cherry laurel mix.

Welcome lizard those carrots look fab!

We've fallen victim to cabbage whites in a terrible way this year. In previous years I didn't bother netting and got away with it, but not this year! Our entire cauliflower crop had to get pulled up this weekend (ok, it was only 4 plants but given we planted the seeds in February it is very disheartening). Our purple sprouting broccoli is taking a bit of a beating as well.

I'm quite a lazy gardener, but next year I'm going to get my act together and put nets over the beds with brassicas in them. I haven't heard/read of any 'magic bullet' or other way of dealing with them that is as effective as nets.

Morning!
welcome Lizard202 - those carrots look lovely! Can I be cheeky and ask whereabouts you are -? just generally - it sometimes helps with sowing/planting times
Cabbage whites are persistent little beggars. Depending on what you want to grow - I have found for cabbages and cauliflowers than enviromesh is absolutely brilliant. I haven't had a single problem underneath it. However, its expensive , so to cover tall plants like broccoli, sprouts and kale , it could be too much money. Butterfly netting with support that holds it away from the plant is the best alternative. It does need a small size( 7mm is I think the advised size) . I have a great big brassica cage, and one of my sprout plants was obviously a bit too near the net, or touching it - I have been picking off caterpillars for the last two days .

How much beet did you have to process to get enough syrup for jam,Gnome?

I'd like to be able to make my own jam entirely from my own ingredients.

Did you process it inside, grew up near a sugar beet factory and it stinks?

It has rained /drizzled all day so far, just brightened up so now damp and muggy.
I have picked a load of my plum tomatoes, and make a big pan of tomato sauce for the freezer, along with home grown shallots, garlic and basil . I had one interesting one in there ! :)

tizwozliz I processed the beet at home. TBH it just smelt like boiling beetroot. I was on my own in the house so just opened windows and doors to disperse the smell.

It took a fair bit of boiling down (three hours). About 5 largeish beetroot sized beets gave me 150ml of useable syrup.

book that's an impressive tomato haul. I am not sure that buttock shaped tomatoes will catch on though!

I love the smell of boing beetroot - but 3 hours!
It has been a good tomato year for me . Thats the second biggish bowl I have picked of the plum tomatoes -( 4 plants - 2 of Roma and 2 of San Marzano ) and I have at least as many again still ripening, probably more if the weather is kind. Still a fair few Sungold and St Pierre too

book are you growing the tomatoes in the greenhouse or on the allotment?

We have tomatoes in the greenhouse which are doing okay but are a bit disappointed with the outdoor ones. The outdoor ones seem to have struggled with the weather we have had I think. Not enough sunlight.

Do you have any recommendations for outdoor varieties please?

Mine are all greenhouse tomatoes Gnome - at home - I tried outdoor ones a couple of years ago, but the slugs had a feast day, and I'm also a bit further north than you I think. It gives protection from blight too.
I know an old allotmenter that grows outdoor ones which are blight resistant - ( he gave me some spare to use up last year) I think they were Orkardo , but I will see if I can see him and ask

I just want to get a whiff of and the recipe for 'boing beetroot'. Was Zebedee involved? Ok it was my first day back at work, so probably being uncharitable. But the sage and butternut squash recipe I made tonight was good. BBC recipe. I will add more sage next time.

Thanks, will have a look at enviromesh but we would need approx 70 sqm so as you say may go with a std 7mm, thanks. I'm in south east London and already thinking about what to focus on next year. My broccoli was demolished by the caterpillars and now the purple kale is taking a hit, though that was pretty much finished anyway. Think some of my cabbages have survived then though I have lost one or two so far so will definitely put a structure over for next year xxx