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

That's what I'm planning @SerendipityFelix with any of mine that are leggy. If it's good enough for Charles Dowdling (see YouTube) it's good enough for me

I think I remember reading that the little hairs on tomato stems have the potential to become roots, so planting them deeper can work very well.

uma serendipity thanks, I think I’ll attempt it when I reply tomorrow, I know it works with tomato’s just never tried it with brassicas, I might do a second sowing as back up, my mum has a plot too so any extras can be passed along to a good home!
I have moved them outside now so they have plenty of light, just struggled on my windowsill while it was so cold.

I always pot all seedlings up to the seed leaves and have never had any problems.
I've enjoyed reading how busy everyone is getting. Things are heating up! Actually, here they're heating up too much - it was really hot over the weekend (27 degrees yesterday) and some of my tomato and cucamelon seedlings have sunburn! The cucamelons look terrible, so I'm going to resow today. I think the tomatoes will pull through... this is the worst one. Gutted! The chillies, peppers and aubergines, however, are absolutely loving it!

Frouby that transformation is amazing!!!!!

Sounds like we were all in the garden/plot this weekend. I have no more room anywhere for germinating plants at the moment! Love this time of year!!!!

The weather this year has been so awful I've done nothing except put in a few old broad bean seeds to see if they do anything. I think today will have to be dedicated to sowing loads of seeds.

Another Charles Dowding fan here! I’m just watching some of his videos while eating lunch.
Think I’ll go outside later and do some sowing in the greenhouse. Such a shame the weather is so dreary...

Just managed to get the last raised beds finished before the rain came.

They need to settle a bit, then I'll top up from the compost heap. The new taller bed will have some potatoes, so I'm going to fill that one up as they grow. Just need to decide what is going else where.

Rhubarb is also going well, just had to find a bigger bucket for the bit I'm 'forcing'.

Well I spoke to the guy with the tree felling business and he dropped half a flat bed truck full off tonight for us. Got it in our pathways and it all looks good stuff. Still green but when it dies back it will look like normal chippings.

There was some pine tree chippings in it too which I have arranged around my little blueberry plants. Am sure I have.read somewhere that they like them due to the acidity or have I imagined that?

There was some pine mixed in with the rest of it. Guy reckons about 20% was pine but it's gone down onto membrane around quite deep beds that have membrane under the edges so hoping that because it's not in direct contact with the soil it will be fine.

He says he will give us a call as soon as he has another load. He only lives locally so happy to drop it off FOC. Have said come summer to come and see us for a veg box or two which he was really excited about. So should have a ready supply of wood chippings. Any I have left over I will chuck in with my compost. And if there is any piney stuff keep it seperate for the blueberries next year. If in fact I haven't dreamt that blueberries like pine!

Those beds look good Tiz are they railway sleepers or decking? I have transplanted my PSBs up to their necks, first lot of toms to transplant tomorrow. I have got the mini greenhouse assembled at last but it doesn't look as though, weather wise, I will be able to get to the plot until Wednesday. Easter holidays have been a wash out!

They're gravel boards, designed to slot under fence panels to keep them off the ground. We did our first beds like that 6 years ago, which were rearranged last year when we built our log cabin so wanted to match on from there. Plus they're fairly cheap and as I'm out of work right now didn't want to spend much (£40 of wood and £40 for compost/top soil).

Tiz so have the original gravel boards lasted six years?

Yes, the one in blue is an original in it's original position. The ones in red are the original wood that were rebuilt into new beds last year. Really pleased with how they've lasted, I wasn't expecting them to last so well.

The research we did before doing them initially said everything rots so do something cheap and save the budget for replacement but these are holding up fine so far.

That's good info about the gravel boards Tizwozliz DH has just edged a couple more beds with them.

Right. Tomorrow it is not going to rain here. My strimmer is working again, Ds2 has promised to help me get some gravel boards from the builder's merchant , I have strawberry plants to move and potatoes to plant. Hi-ho, hi-ho it's off to the plot I go.

Good luck Elephant! I'm also hoping for a dry day as I have a day off and would like to get the remaining beds mulched and make some inroads into the weeds suddenly shooting up everywhere.

Una positive thinking is the way forward.

Same here - hoping its dry tomorrow ... !

I’ve woken up to pouring rain :(

Need to grab some more strawberry plants either today or tomorrow, we lost a few over the winter.

Hope everyone has drier day!

Heavy rain about 3am, so although it's stopped now the ground is very soggy. Planning to pot on some seedlings in the greenhouse and then weed the bits I can reach from the path. Unfortunately the compost heap is in the boggiest area so mulching might end up not done yet again. Hope the weather dries up for those still getting rained on.

It is mizzling here .., and a rather nippy breeze , so I'm off to pick veg, but it's too wet underfoot to do anything else. I've just done a quick look around in the greenhouse and the brassicas I sowed the other day are just starting to show. The second lot of broad beans are doing okay too - I will be able to plant them out next week, as they are outside already. Beetroot have all germinated too . I'm going to sow next lot of leeks I think .
Did I say that by buying some pepper seedlings mine would germinate - well yup!

I had put my pepper seedlings out in the cold frame with some other stuff that had merrily (ish) germinated. Nothing. I brought them back in and, happily (see my mood!) they have started. Specifically, my Aldi pepper seeds - that i harvested from a tasty Aldi bought pepper - has germinated but my Real Seeds chilli pepper needs a bit more warmth and encouragement. No show yet.

I think I’m a bit behind on some of my seeds, mainly sugar snap peas and chick peas, they both say to direct plant so I’ve been waiting for drier weather (haven’t we all!) but I see lots of people have started them in trays, so shall I wait or should I start them off in trays? Or have I left it too late for either option? Never grown either before, hence the cluelessness

This cold weather has made planting later. Even planting indoors has been delayed because you can't plant out and make space for more indoor planting if it's too cold. I'm using a cold frame that I recently bought but it doesn't fix everything.
All I can say is that as long as it isn't actually frosty you should be good to go - we still keep getting overnight frost so I am using gardening fleece outside too.

I don't think I am meant to grow broad beans. My November sowing have been slugged to stumps and the march ones don't seem to have germinated. Sigh.