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

I tend to only do maincrop (no one in our family is keen on new potatoes) and put them in mid April, our soil is too damp (clay) at the moment.

I make paper pots, we still get the local paper weekly. They are a bit hit and miss though, don't always stand up well and sometimes unravel.

Have a look at Liz Zorab on YouTube. Her veg gardening plan ideas are really good. Plenty of others to look at obviously but I really like this channel generally.

We have pretty heavy clay here so I tend to do them in potato bags rather than the ground.

Afternoon!
I won't be planting out my second earlies until April. Rule of thumb is to plant 4 weeks before your last frost date - ours is May . ( and folklore is to plant on Good Friday).
Besides - its going colder again. I went down to the plot early, picked anything a bit iffy ( slightly brownish caulis anyone? ) and then enough to keep us going for a couple of days - sprouting broccoli, sprouts, sprout tops, leeks and some leaf celery - don't need much of that - it's powerful stuff!. My NDN was there - haven't seen her for a while. so I had parsnips given. Mmmm - not a big fan of parsnips, but they will go in a soup .
I tidied up my pile of sprout stalks etc and went bowling off to the green waste trailer with a wheelbarrow full of green waste - the stuff that doesn't compost. A little job that will save time on a nice day, and makes it look a bit less messy
Just about on top of things , fingers crossed!

Looks good Bookbook. I’m sharing that feeling of being just about on top of things, albeit with much less things to harvest at the moment. My PSB still isn’t sprouting. Very disappointed in it! Kale has bounced back after the snow though and doing nicely. And my flower bed next to my greenhouse is jam packed with crocus/daffodils and looking lovely

I had a day off yesterday and the weather was lovely here in that London, so I spent several happy hours down the plot, built some new shelves in the greenhouse so I have room for all the seedlings, sowed peas in guttering, some carrots in the prepared ground under a cloche, and some rocket and spring onions in the greenhouse too. Checked through all the chitting potatoes, looking good, and dug over the bed where they’re going to go. According to my plan I was thinking of planting them at the end of the month, however, a YouTube channel I follow also in London (Vivi) aims to do theirs around St Patrick’s Day, which is this weekend. With the cold forecast, and not much time this weekend, I think I’ll put mine in over Easter as I have more time.

First tomato seedlings popping their heads up now too. Does anyone else find themselves talking out loud to their plants? When I spotted the newly germinated tomatoes I said “ooh, hello! Well done!”. The dog came trotting over thinking I was talking to her .

I am impressed by your winter veg Book - my PS Broccoli was planted too late I fear and leeks see, to be attacked by slugs.

Thanks for seed recommendations. I have had enormous pleasure reading up on new varieties and planning.
And yes Clara it was the T&M heritage Craigella 3 years ago that we grew and managed to use saved seeds last year for. Sadly Inforgot to save any and need to replenish. However, have found some online and some other crops will also join it. Am very tempted to try Oca but frost and slugs may be my downfall. That and time to clear one part of the allotment!

Going to do first sowing of peas in guttering this weekend in the hope of avoiding the pea moth we suffered from last year so muc. Does anyone else struggle with pea moth and have useful tips on avoiding?

Ooooh I'd take those parsnips off your hands if I could book! They look huge as well!

We still have some leeks, kale and PSB on the go in our garden (although we too have had a disappointing year with our 4 PSB plants, 1sprouting very early last October and 1 looking very puny compared to the others), and some overwintering stuff looks like it will be ready soon - spring onions, chinese leaf (which has partially bolted, oops), spring greens and red lettuce.

Nothing wrong with talking to your plants felix. It is when they start to talk back that you've got a problem!

Can't advise anyone re potatoes or peas as we don't grow our own

I'm very jealous of those of you with winter crops to pick! That is my aim for next year.
It has been a lovely sunny day here, so I have continued my digging... Plus, I have sown Broad Beans in modules outside and then Parsley, Coriander, Basil, Chives, Dill and Russian Tarragon in trays on my kitchen windowsill. I will buy Thyme, Sage, Mint and Rosemary plants.

My aim too, Hounds - fab user name btw.

I have some autumn sown leeks and cabbages in the ground but neither are anywhere near harvesting yet.

Between the cats, dog and plants, I think I spend a fair amount of time chatting away to other living things that can’t talk back

I’m contemplating what to use as structures for my peas & beans this year. I used willow sticks to make an x-frame last year but it wasn’t really tall enough (about 1.5m) and collapsed late on in the season snapping half the sticks. I’m thinking maybe some kind of vertical frame with jute netting. I like the look of maypole supports, or maybe wigwams, but not sure that’d be the best use of space nor what to use so they’re tall enough (I have an ingrained dislike for imported bamboo canes or plastic, not found willow or hazel supports tall enough and metal is expensive!)

I have recently got some lovely 8ft coppice poles which I am hoping will be up to the job of supporting my beans and mini pumpkins.

I tend not to chat to my plants but I have been stroking them!

I coppice my fig tree, leaving me with bendy twigs of up to 2m.

It is lovely picking fresh veg at this time of year . On our site, lots don't grow anything over winter, but I think its when you really get the benefit . I do grow a lot of broccoli - 5 named varieties, to give a good succession. I have some just coming on stream now, just one plant which is about a week behind , so will be good for picking for about another 4-6 weeks with luck.
Climbing beans I use 8' bamboos made into wigwams, after a couple of disasters having them blown over when done as x frames - they seem to be better suited to not blowing over on our rather exposed site. Peas - again very Heath Robinson is chicken wire wound around posts in a box shape, to keep the pigeons off ...
erm, I tend to be singing or humming when tending to my plants , with the occasional pep talk and tut

I had never considered using chicken wire as a pea support. Last year I found some of that plastic netting stuff for growing peas up which had been left behind by the previous plot holders lurking in the shed. So I used that and it worked quite well but I did have to use some canes to provide extra support along the line. And I did worry that the whole lot might go over in strong winds.

DH was enthusiastically saying the other day that we should get our potatoes in but it's going to be cold over the weekend again and we've had a lot of rain so the ground would be awful to even attempt it. So we'll revert to my plan which is to plant them at Easter.

Haven't made it over to the plot for the last couple of weeks thanks to the weather but feel we were reasonably on top of things - I can always see more jobs when I'm there but things are OK overall. Need to get to the garden centre and stock up on some things I think.

The chicken wire works quite well Cedar , with 4 posts making it into a thin oblong - though I only grow medium height peas 'Hurst Greenshaft' ( up to about 3' ) so I can pick over the top of the wire IYSWIM . I sow the peas thickly in a block about 12" wide so I can get to everything. I tried the green netting, but it always seemed to sag , whatever I did . Me not being that handy I suspect !

Metal may not be as expensive as you think felix. We bought some cheap garden arches for our climbing beans (along these lines: www.wilko.com/plant-supports/wilko-garden-arch-24m/invt/0298561?nst=0&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIs6CKkc7w2QIVYTPTCh3Ekw0rEAkYBSABEgKTt_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds) and they can be reused each year. We cabled tied some 2 inch chicken wire to it so the beans have something to wind round. We have three rows of raised beds that we grow in and we move the arches to a different place each year. Shadier plants such as lettuces can be grown in the beds that the beans eventually shade a bit. THe beans are very pretty when the grow up over the arch. We have 3 arches in a row making a living tunnel.

Bought some seed potatoes today, Charlotte and Desiree. I'll get started chitting them but as we're away over Easter nothing's going in the ground or seedlings started until after that

We have Desiree chatting too, amongst others.

Three of us (the usual suspects) spent a good six hours building a soft fruit bed to house the red and blackcurrants that another plot holder gave us. Also potted two blueberry plants and need to do a fig that we've been given. Cleaned out an old enamel bath and drilled holes - this is going to have our cut and come again salad leaves in it I think. The site had a mound of well rotted manure delivered recently so we piled in and manured four of the beds - we usually miss it as the other plot holders are retired and help themselves before we can get there at the weekend. We will be sowing seeds over the next few weeks so I really need to think about crop rotation now we have five raised beds ready for planting. It's really starting to look like a proper plot now, although staff engagement has fallen flat - from about twelve interested parties we are now down to three :-(

Desiree potatoes are so yum. I might even consider growing potatoes again if I could find them.

Garden survived the proper snow quite well, even with children running over the strawberry patch. I'd like the Winter to give up now, though, and let Spring move on in.

Need to get some seeds sown in the week ahead, I think. Just indoors. It's definitely far too cold outside and I really want to get some nematodes in the garden to deal with the slugs.

Oooh, I've just had a look at the Real Seeds site linked above and have discovered that oca are what we call yams in New Zealand. I love them so much! Might have to try to grow them. They are delicious.

have sown peas indoors now for salad shoots. I think the dc will like that.
maybe I should use up beetroot seeds for shoots as well?

is oca water chestnut?

I am not sure but I don't think so. Here's Wikipedia.

On GQT they said that stroking seedlings helps them to be stronger, mimicking the wind etc they’d be exposed to naturally.

I planted my oca in pots in the greenhouse, I got itchy about it and they were chitting way too cheerfully for this early on. I’ll aim to plant them out after the last frost I think, see how they go.

Proper snow here again, about an inch, and got down to -2. Brr. Am glad this time I got round to fleecing my broad beans! So no plot time at the moment. But seedlings indoors are coming on apace, all the tomato varieties have germinated now, melons and aubergine starting to appear too. I’ve got some lettuce doing well that hopefully I can grow into strong little plugs to go into the cloche in a few weeks, disappointing germination with one variety though so I’ve re-sown them.

I had a few hours spare waiting around this afternoon, so was browsing nursery websites to kill time..... result was ordering tea plants, perennial cauliflower, Chinese artichokes, and a bunch of perennial herbs from my wish list devil finding work for idle hands! I already have a kaffir lime and some globe artichokes on order. Must. Stop. Buying. Plants.