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

Between slugs and cold weather I have one surviving broad bean plant so have just popped in some seeds, along with carrots, turnip-rooted chervil, hamburg parsley and beetroot. I'm planning to stick in some peas later - think March is fine for those pretty much anywhere.

My husband used to insist on catching up old episodes of GW before the most recent and I used to get very frustrated about all the things that I was now too late to do! Though I was also quite smug to have my peppers and tomatoes happily growing away. I also prefer the shorter programmes with less filler!

Brown elephant - I am no expert but I plan on sowing peas this weekend if that helps. Mine always seem to come up about the same time as the hyacinths are blooming and the hyacinths round us are well on their way so based on that incredibly scientific method I'm going to pant them as soon as possible. :)

I had a question - so apparently carrots and parsnips don't do well if planted near each other, and the same for beetroot and beans. But how near is near? Right next to, within 3 feet etc . I don't have a great deal of space so I'm trying to work out how to fit everything in...

I've never had any issue growing carrots and parsnips in the same raised bed.

I'd hoped to get some stuff tidied up this week now it's warmed up a bit, but the rain has just been constant all day. Ground is absolutely sodden.

one year I grew carrots and parnips in balcony boxes next to each other. worked quite well, even though the parsnips were short and stubby.
carrots are easier in raised boxes/beds due to carrot fly

It's good to know other people haven't had problems growing parsnips and carrots together. I grew carrots last year in a raised bed and my son was fascinated so I definately want to repeat it this year. I don't think I'll get the chance to put in raised beds though so going to plant some marigolds/chives with them and hope for the best. How deep were the balcony boxes? I would have space for those on my horrible decking so could grow extras there. I bought some multicolored carrot seeds I am ridiculously over excited about growing

I’m planning on sowing peas tomorrow, I found some guttering in a skip a few weeks ago so I nabbed that and have sawn it into 1m lengths and plan to start the peas off in those in the greenhouse and plant them out en bloc once they’ve germinated.

Also will start some early carrots off, under cloche for a little while yet. I have quite a few different carrot seeds in my stash, yellow and purple ones as well as traditional orange and some Paris market types, so need to check which ones will do ok early.

Indoor seeds doing ok - the rescued peppers & chillies are almost all doing ok, it’s going to be a surprise as to what varieties they are though! Have potted up some lettuce seedlings to grow on for a few weeks more before they can go out under cloches. No tomatoes peeking up yet, but it’s only been a few days. Have sown some melon and aubergines now as well.

Have ordered raised beds and shelving for the greenhouse, so it’s all starting to happen now!

thanks. will try to get some peas outside and in.

and start off the butternut squash as well.

I think it's probably a bit early for squash - better to wait until April.

I grew carrots in a potato grow bag last year. Might be an idea if no opportunity to build raised beds. Protects from carrot fly and ensures nice loose soil..

Been cracking on down at the plot though really the soil is a bit wet but needs must . Have sorted out a layout roughly which I think will work.

Met a couple of the old guys up there and one kindly gave me a gooseberry bush plus some raspberry canes and I found a lavender. So now have strawberries, raspberries, black, white and red currants, gooseberries and broadbeans in plus 2 compost bins and a spot for a shed marked out.

Definitely clumps of bindweed lurking so am bring the roots home to go into council collected garden waste. I love having somewhere to escape to.

Afternoon!
Born - welcome :)
we are gathering some pace now spring is nearly here. I suspect you are a bit behind us on sowing times right up there though.
I will be sowing peas probably at end of this month . I do succession rows - quite short ones of about 3 metres , and sow about every 2 weeks- that way I hopefully hit the right conditions somewhere along the line!
I am still holding out on sowing tomatoes though - the veterans say not for at least another 2 weeks. ( they catch up it seems, not so leggy, so the fruit trusses are nearer the bottom of the stem, which is supposed to be better ....)

clara - all my overwinte rbroad beans sown at the plot got dug up and eaten apart from 2, then the fleece blew off, and they went as well. So I have about 8 germinated in pots in the greenhouse from the last sowing, so did some more. They just get going that little bit earlier, which I find helps negate the black fly problem a bit.
Post - it will be full quickly at that rate - it is wonderful for mental well being I think - therapeutic.
Well, as is the way it rained all day yesterday, when I had some time - today is glorious, but I've had other things needed doing. But I am hoping to get half an hour in the greenhouse potting up overwintered stuff ( dahlias and such) so I have room to get sorted out ready to sow.

Still too nervous of the cold here to plant out anything but second earlies.
Was planning to plant seeds last weekend but had a lurgie and couldn't.
I don't really have any indoor space to store said planting so it would be straight into the cold frame with maybe some fleece. All my window ledges that the cat can't get at have mad winter stuff like an unexpected lemon plant from collected seeds and a couple of hopeful avocado stones. And some mustard leaves from ex herb jar seeds. And some mint cuttings from supermarket bought mint. Can you tell I'm itching to grow stuff. Oh, yeah and some pea shoots.

Glad (sad) to hear I'm not the only one whose broad beans got decimated!

The perils of pets gussy!!! I don't have any but I have a 2 year old so we're having to be a bit cleverer than previous years about where we put the seed trays!

This morning on my way out to work I could see the beginnings of our rhubarb poking out of their crowns so I hastily got a couple of big old terracotta pots and stuck them on top to force some. Can't wait!

Has anyone ever bothered to take rosemary cuttings and do they have any tips? Our bush looks a bit sad (i.e. dead/yellow brown) on one side so thinking of taking cuttings from the healthy side then digging it up and starting again. Or, is it just easier/less hassle to buy a plant? I'd love to keep it going as it was a wedding favour from a friend's wedding a few years back. TIA

Same issue with rosemary, Clara. Ours used to flower every year but it's currently sulking. I've cut back all the dead stuff on one side to let the live stuff have a go. Not sure, though.

I have rooted some rosemary in water before and currently have some in the propagator in soil. Found a plant for £2.25 though and bought that. I think it’s fairly easy but take a few as some fail.

I've always found that when rosemary starts to look sad, it just seems to get sadder. There's a massive one in my new garden, but it's really misshapen and woody - I'm going to dig it out and just buy a new plant. I'm sure that cuttings would take easily, but I can never be bothered when I only want one plant and they can be bought so cheaply.

Yesterday, I had a mammoth potting-on session as all my chilli and tomato seedlings had their roots starting to grow through their little pots. What do you all think to those little coir/peat pots (I'm not sure which these were)? I have been reminded of why I stopped using them - they seem to be either too wet or too dry and never anywhere in between... However, it did making potting-on pretty easy as I didn't have to disturb any of my seedlings and they all look so much happier now!

I had such a lot of problems with those little pots Hounds -as you say, they either dried out , or were soaking. I stopped using them, apart from overflow pricked out stuff that I didn't care about, just using up what I have left. I am still using plastic pots, but just reusing old ones, not buying new. Will do so until they are beyond use . I do have a paper pot maker, but I don't get newspapers anymore, so thats a bit out of the window too, unless I can scrounge .
Not bothered before with rosemary cuttings - I have two culinary ones at home, so they get pruned back on a nearly daily basis but I also have a row of them along the short boundary at the back of my allotment, and they are woody and huge. I am just starting to cut those back quite hard, and see what happens. I have half a bush worth of it hanging to dry in my greenhouse at the moment !

well, just watching the forecast - drop in temperatures to about 1º and snow/cold wind from the north from Saturday ........

Yes, I saw that too book - very annoying. However, Summer is just around the corner...

When are people putting spuds in? I've read from 3rd week of March but I'm not sure with this cold snap heading our way next week.

It’s so wet and craggy on my clay allotment I’m going to wait to put them in. Probably first week of April.

I was brave and put my second earlies in last weekend. A small batch in my trustee old tower, a small batch under cover but in hay from collected dried grass and a couple not under cover but under rain washed seaweed in the corner of my little garden . Experimenting prior to my main crop.