Allotment/Veg patch thread 11 'We bid farewell to rainbow leaves but will keep plotting along'

[bookbook]

Well, nights are drawing in, leaves are starting to turn, harvesting carrying on
What a summer it has been!
Join in with the ups and downs of growing our own into autumn.
Last thread www.mumsnet.com/Talk/gardening/2951768-Allotment-Veg-Patch-Thread-10-Plotmenters-busy-into-summer-and-loving-James-Wong?msgid=71770088HERE

Ooo can I join?

I'm attempting a Blueberry plant this year, can anyone recommend the best soil for it?

My raspberry plant seems to have survived the winter so far, hopefully I'll get some fruit from it this year.

I've planted some tomato seeds in small pots to grow inside until the weather warms up, dd also talked me in to doing the sunflower seeds as well. My bedroom windowsill(gets the most sun), is full of small plant pots now.

What other fruits/veg can I grow? I've only got a small amount of space left now but I'm sure something could grow in between the rest...

Zebra So sorry to hear about your cat, how old was he?

Welcome, Dilkington. I'm not very knowledgeable, but I think blueberries like an acidic (ericaceous) soil. Mine are in large plant pots and seem very happy.

Nice to see you Spotted. Sorry about your cat. I am taking a Vit. D supplement over the winter. Not sure it's doing anything, tbh, but so much is going on physically that it might be obscuring things.

I can't believe it's February already! Should really turn the planning into action. I'm going to try doing the seeds earlier this year (inside) as our best weather seems to be in May.

Thank you Kiwi, is it likely to get fruit from them the first year of planting?

I must get some strawberry plants soon too, are they ok to be inside for a few weeks before being planted in the garden? I was going to attempt growing them from seed but it looked like a lot of faffing about!

Only another month til spring!

I'm not sure. Might depend on variety? One of my grew about 4 berries in the first year, the other did nothing. It didn't help that my children sabotaged the plants that year and pulled off most of the flowers.

Dilkington unless you live somewhere with naturally quite acidoc soil you definitely need ericaceous compost. And water with rainwater if possible, as tap water can be too alkaline. You should get a few fruit in the first year - I have with all of mine. And supposedly they fruit better if you have more than one varieties.

Strawbs are as hardy as anything, so I'd put them straight outside. Lidl and Aldi will have piles of them as good value as anywhere, so I'd probably not bother with seed.

My lovely cat was 16, and he absolutely loved the garden and 'helping'. We lost his brother a couple of months ago too .

Silly question: is it too late to harvest Brussel sprouts? We have a couple of purple Brussels plants sitting in the veg patch and I haven't taken any of the sprouts off them yet.

Mornin all.
My blueberries aren't very happy. They're on ericaceous soil, but they've been there a few years and I get hardly any berries. Do you have to top up the ericaceous soil every year?

I'm thinking I might dig them up and pot them but then I'd have keep watering them all the time.

Sorry to hear about your cat Zebra. My boy cat always magically appears if I go out in the garden.

Thank you kiwi and zebra.

Hello all

Strange how we miss silent companions so much isn't it? We had old dpony pts last summer and I still miss her fuzzy snogs whenever I go up.

Been busy this morning. Digging out a corner of doom that appears to have been a mini dump spot for previous plot holder. Lots of yucky, half filled rubbish bags, bits of house bricks and various other rubbish found. And lots of thick weeds. Making good progress though.

We think someone has been on the plot too. Ds new gloves and a couple of staple guns have gone walkabouts. As we were leaving today we saw a couple of blokes turn up. Presume they were plot holders as they had keys. Anyway as the blokes walked to where ever they were going the young lad that was with them went on the plots opposite ours and was messing around. No one tends to lock their gates as the main security is pretty good. So he would have access to most of plots.

Am not sure of they have a plot or are looking after someones pigeons as they went that way. Apart from the young lad who definetly shouldn't have been on the other ladies plot.

Anyway. Have ordered some hinges for our gate and will get that on with a padlock. Am sure it was kids who lifted the gloves and stapler as they ignored all the tools and expensive timber in the shed. Will stick a padlock on that too.

Bit annoying really.

Sorry to hear things have gone walkabout, Frouby! My shed was broken into twice last year, the second time we'd put a mega padlock on so they just broke the shed door instead! They took my petrol strimmer, which is frustrating, but actually much less bothersome to me than if they'd taken any of my proper tools or anything.

Got down to the plot for a bit of a potter this afternoon - potted up a comfrey crown that had arrived, set potatoes to chit, mulched around my broad beans, and harvested the last of the second wave of calabrese broccoli side shoots, and some cavolo nero. Both will do a nice stir fry tonight I think :-). I have some PSB in the brassica bed, no idea what type - its very leafy but still nothing shooty! At what point to I give up?!? Although I don't need the bed clear until mid-May for anything else, so there's no rush.

I sowed sweet peas last week - nothing coming up yet though. They're in an unheated greenhouse. Gave them a good soaking and a talking to today.

Something I'm wondering - what else can I put in my spring bulb flower bed? I have a little bed at the entrance to the plot, chock full of daffodils & crocus, looking very promising shoot-wise at the moment. Once they died back last year though, I didn't put anything else in and it was dull and weedy all through the rest of the year. I'm thinking I could overplant with annual flowers without too much issue?

That's why we didn't bother with a padlock serendipity. They do more damage trying to get in that what your stuff is worth. And the main fence is pretty secure, 8ft metal with a good solid gate and padlock which is bang across the road from houses so they would hear anyone smashing it off. If I hadn't seen the young lad on the other plot I wouldn't have suspected him but he ran straight onto it and was very brazen about it. The lady who has it doesn't have anything growing and her shed was locked so I didn't say anything but will mention it if I see her.

I am no expert but at our old house we had a big flower bed around the bay window. I had spring bulbs in and when they had died back I used to chuck some fresh compost down and then scatter and rake some wild flower seed mix in it. If you put plenty in you don't need to weed and the bees love them. Then just pull them up when they have done ready for your bulbs coming back through. Poundland usually sell littlw boxes of them. Am going to let ds do some around the shed this year.

Sorry about your cat Zebra.

Felix I have spring bulbs in most of my flower beds, they seem to get on absolutely fine with anything that dies back for winter, including summer bulbs (though it helps that it's mild enough that they don't have to be lifted) and herbaceous perennials. Tulips and iris are lovely to keep the colour going as the daffodils fade.

We appear to have had an incinerator and old metal watering can stolen from our back garden which is a bit disturbing. Not quite sure when as we weren't using them for the winter!

The rhubarb is sprouting nicely - made a pie last night but we've not used up half of last year's frozen surplus so will need to keep making them! Not much to pick at the moment due to failures with PSB, cabbage and kalettes - kale and chard are still going strong but I'm a bit bored with them, and the pak choi and perpetual spinach are a bit weak due to slugs so I've not been taking much. Plus it does seem like a long way down the garden to the beds when it's cold and the ground is muddy. Come on spring! I was wondering about sowing some micro-greens just to get the satisfaction of watching something grow...

What should I ve doing in February on my plot. I've a day spare here today.

Last year, my plot was all a bit pathetic. I think it may be the soil. It never looks rich and friable like other plots and things just seemed to wither once I'd hardened off snd put in the ground.

There's a fair few weeds at the moment. If I dig them up and cover soil with black plastic, would that be unhealthy for the soil?

Can I start a bean trench this early or is that a waste if time?

Sorry fir all the questions. I've had the lottie for a number of years but have lost my lottie mojo through having such limited spare time :(

Hi Grufeling! Sorry no one got to your post yesterday.

I’m not a black plastic person (it’s actually banned on my site) so hopefully someone else can answer that, I think the idea is to just cover and kill the weeds with it though. I use cardboard in a similar way to what you’re saying, to stop weeds growing on bare soil, with the added benefit you can dump mulchy stuff on top and just dig it all in come spring. My plot neighbour uses newspapers. It sounds like your soil could perhaps do with a nutrition boost, so I’d maybe see if you can get a nice lot of manure or other soil improver - I’m very lucky our council provide lots of free compost at our site - and at this point just cover all your growing areas in it a few inches deep (dig/pull out any perennial weeds first, but take care the soil is sticky this time of year and easily compacted). It’ll break down and worms will pull it down a bit, and then you can give it all a good dig over before sowing/planting out in a few months.

Other than that things I’m doing now are structural projects - paths, beds, archways, general clearing/maintenance, planning and ordering seeds, chitting seed potatoes as they arrive, and I’m just starting to gather my supplies for sowing indoors which I’ll be starting soon.

Morning! It is frosty here today and yesterday and on Monday we had a bit of snow - enough to make everything look pretty but not enough to build a snowman.

Grufeling - the black plastic stops the weeds growing back again so it can be very useful. If you soil is very wet at the moment - ours was at the weekend - stand on an old plank or something to spread your weight so you are not compacting the soil too much while standing on it. The more compost/manure you can get into your soil the better quality it will become. I also use blood, fish and bone meal as a general fertiliser during the growing season which helps with the quality of the crops.

We managed to get up to the plot on Sunday for a couple of hours. Cleared more of our rough area. It is covered with horrid thick grass and then there are raspberry runner roots in a mat underneath.
The rhubarb we found last year is starting to grown again which is promising. We might actually get to eat a bit this year!

Meant to say sorry about your cat Zebra

Our old cat died when she was about 17 years old - although she was more of a nuisance than a help in the garden! We decided we wouldn't get another one but changed our minds after a while.

Thanks Serendipity and Cedar. I've done a bit of a clear up, cut down raspberry canes and pruned fruit trees.

Oh gosh, chitting potatoes? Is it that time of year again? How long do they take to chit. Frosts here till May sometimes ...

We had a productive time on our plot last weekend. The previous tenant left a load of decking planks, so we made a raised bed to replace one that was rotting. One down five to go :-)

Supposed to have another busy day today but the weather is shocking here, so I went to the nursery near me and got Desiree and International Kidney seed spuds, some red and white onion sets, and some garlic. Feel like we are starting to make a bit of progress finally, even though it's going to take years to get rid of all the bindweed.

Hi, may I join?

Had an allotment a few years but having had 2 children it is seriously needing some major work!

Welcome Rhubarb. I sympathise with the challenges of gardening as a parent! What are your hopes for this year?

Welcome Rhubarb!

Sounds like a productive day chockaholic!

Grufeling I start them to chit as they arrive, will plant them out at the very end of March. I’m in London. Seems to work well on our site, we only get the occasional late frost up to mid April. I’ve chosen Rocket and Anya this year, also Purple Majesty but they haven’t arrived yet.

I had a nice little potter for a few hours down the plot this morning before the rain arrived. Bit of soil tickling and mulching, bit of tidying up, and harvested some cabbages and romanesco. Not 100% sure on what I’m going to do with the romanesco so about to get googling! Probably nothing too fancy because I’ve never tried it before so don’t want to fiddle with the flavour too much.

Thank you. Una the main hope this year is to claim back the quarter of the plot that has not been used for two years and is full of weeds! It is not a large allotment, they are all unusual shapes and sizes but we divided ours into 4 and one quarter, the smallest, is just weeds. We have covered half of it this winter to help with a spring dig. One quarter is covered with a large, home made fruit cage, one quarter ihas raised beds on it and one quarter is ready to plant in the spring.

Hi rhubarb. Its difficult to allotment when you have smalls. I am lucky that ds (4) really loves it but it can make jobs take 3 times as long when he is helping.

Not been up since last week due to the bloody vile weather we have had. Starting to seriously think about what we will be sowing and when now.

3 more blueberry plants arrived monday along with 3 rhubarb crowns so need to get them in asap. And I need to dig my seeds out and see what we have and don't have.

Just hoping the weather is ok for next week so I can tire ds out a bit on the plot!

Evening all. Got out of the habit of posting here.

I have managed to be on the plot all winter. We put up a polytunnel last year so if the weather is poor I can hide in there. DH made me a big deep hot bed so that seems to take the chill off the air.

It will be rent day soon so we will then see who's coming back. It is only a few of us regularly going up at the moment.

I think sprouts are fine if they look fine.

Blueberries do need to be in acid soil. I would also use an ericacious feed.

The picture is as at today. Lots of horse poo everywhere!