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

What beautiful weather we are having! I went to the plot yesterday for the first time since we came back from our holiday at the weekend. The grass and weeds seem to have shot up while my back was turned! I managed to plant some shallots and onions - should have gone in before now but they should catch up OK. I plan to plant the rest when I finish work this afternoon. I'd dug over some of the soil a couple of weeks ago. This was horrid clumpy hard lumps so it was hard work trying to break it down enough for planting. The joys of growing on clay!

We need to concentrate on getting more jobs done this weekend - some direct sowing and also some stuff into pots. Rhubarb is growing well, no sign of the asparagus yet. Hopefully it will be poking its head up very soon.
It's exciting to suddenly see the growth happening.

We harvested our first every asparagus today - only 4 spears ready for picking but very tasty. Also had the first rhubarb of the year and some salad leaves - nice dinner after a busy day getting the final bed ready for planting.

I have been strimming and weeding today until it started to rain . I was really pleased to see flower buds on my blackcurrant bush and a few strawberry flowers open.

Hi everyone. I haven't posted much recently but posted a lot last year under a different name. Does anyone know what might be going on with my romanesco? It was doing well until last week but has suddenly started loosing leaves from the base which turn yellow very quickly and then drop off. The heads have also started to spread. Lack of nitrogen? Just the sudden nice weather?

Cloud is it staring to go to seed now? I had my romanesco out about a month ago.

Spent over 6 hours pottering at the plot today! Can’t quite tell you what I did though some weeding, well, a lot of weeding. I go away next Sat for a week and am very aware if I don’t get on top of things before I go I’ll come back on a jungle. Tidying and rearranging in the greenhouse. And a lot of pondering. Dogs snoozed in the shade a lot. Chatted to other allotmenters.

my currants (red and black) have loads of flowers - and unfortunately loads of aphids.
rain is forecast for tonight so I drenched them with soapy water. hope that's enough.

Evening!
lots going on for everyone :)
Una - you are just ahead of me and my asparagus - I'm about a week away ...
cloudtree - welcome back! - yes, I suspect they are going to seed as Serendipity suggested
Frouby - that looks amazing !
My currants are full of flowers too, and the plum and gage are now also out in full bloom - just 2 days from nothing.
Yesterday morning I finished off prepping the squash bed, and the last 2 afternoons me and DH have been continuing the brassica cage assembling. A bit to go to get it totally right, but not far off.
Getting there - need to weed all around the fruit cage - I've taken off the old netting, ready for new, and can get to all those irritating bits of raspberry roots that are sprouting, and little bits of couch grass I couldn't reach .
Still loads to do though, doesn't stop now does it?

Potted a few things on today and I've direct sown some peas. Still no sign of the french beans, chillis have finally put in an appearance. Will have to look at getting some more sown but the last few places I've been have only had dwarf variety seeds for sale. Will have to be brutal with the brussel sprouts as well, i have about 18 plants which is about 14 too many!

Going to look at getting the fruit netted this week, or at least get the redcurrant sorted. All the berries were stripped last year, never saw a single one.

Morning all.

We are all very busy just now. After the tons of woodchip we have moved had a few days off the plot. Had a rumage through my seed stash and did some sowing at home. Some more bits in the little greenhouse and also some brassicas in pots outside. Haven't done brassicas before as we didn't have room last year. Plan is to get them going then plant into a nursery bed at the plot, then move them to the bed the first and second early potatoes will come out of. Dp tasked with building cages but aldi have some little cloches in that will protect seedlings.

I have also just bought a brand new 6 x 4 shed from ebay for £28! I suspect it's a pricing error but if it is honoured it will be an amazing bargain! Will convert it to a chicken house. Dp can build nest boxes and cut a hole in the door for a ramp.

And the rest of my seedlings I had more or less given up on are just starting to show.

Wowsers, it is GLORIOUS out! Spring seems to be compressed into just just a few days, so all the flowers and the tree blossoms seem to be out at once, and the bees seem to be going mad. I don't think I've ever seem the garden and the land around around me look more beautiful. I'm not really getting anything done, I'm just looking - in the garden, out of windows. I didn't even mind being stuck in traffic yesterday as it was near some lovely cherry trees!

I had a good few hours early yesterday at the plot. I have FINALLY uncovered BenSquash and the soil is lovely and weed free. Full of ants though, so a green woodpecker came to join me. I had to keep walking away so it could fly down. I also did some forking and weeding -making a new path and bed to use up the last of the grassy bit. It'll be a bit shady as it's under a tree but gets sun until about 3. Not sure what will go there yet - something that needs shallowish soil I guess. I also relocated lots of raspberries that had gone into where my new path will be. A bit too hot to do it it as they did get a little dry ( ) but theyll probably recover. Still got a bit more to do, and I need to shift the mound that was BenSquash.

I am suddenly feeling behind however. My plot neighbour's seeds are are so much further ahead than mine. I've gone from feeling relaxed about it all to wanting to be 2 weeks ahead of where I am. Basically, the July weather has got me confused.

Inspired by Clara I did re sow courgettes on Friday. And some more tomatoes. My beans are a bit duff so might re sow them, and some more mange tout - the Shiraz seem to have germinated then all rotted. On the other hand, I have some really strong green mange touts that either need to be potted on or PLANTED OUT* Dare I?

• Actually I could just eat them as pea shoots.

tizwoz it's sods' law isn't it? I only want a couple of brussel plants - 2 will be plenty, really. Every single seed has germinated and they are the healthiest, strongest growing plants. It's going to pain me to throw away so many, so I'm thinking of ways that I can shoehorn a few more in...

I ended up planting 8 last year - I put some in the flower borders - and 6 ended up producing sprouts.

oh the yearly seedling culling dilemma.

I'm horrible for it. got 10 chitted potatos from a friend. only really got space for 3 (in a bucket on the patio)

My chillies have taken quite a bit of work so far. There's no way I'm discarding any. If they all fruit, God only knows what I'm going to do with all the chillies!

TheHounds I froze a lot of chillis last year. I only use a couple a week usually and got a decent amount so just froze them afyer a rinse. They have stored pretty well. The seeds did go a bit dark but it hasnt affected the taste and we are still alive so must be ok.

hounds does your oven have a drying programme?

Hi all.

After the beautiful weather at the end of the week things in our garden are looking lovely.

We're finally getting to enjoy the PSB I planted last year. It's delicious. Any idea how long the plants will keep giving us food? I can't remember if they're perennial or annual.

I've now sown most of the seeds for this year and the ones inside are germinating beautifully. I'm going to have an excellent patch of dwarf purple beans, lettuce and peas.

Just have some peas left to sow (they should be done in another couple of weeks, straight into the ground outside) and more spinach to come later.

I've also finally planted the greengage tree I bought in April last year. It was happy in a pot, but I think it will be happier in the ground. I hope it actually has flowers this year.

My other fruit trees are looking wonderful, as our my blueberry bushes. They have suddenly filled out and grown lots of branches. We might get some berries from them this year.

It's all looking very positive and happy. Now we just need the weather to play ball!

Afternoon !
sits down with a weary 'umphhh' , but happy.
Was down at the plot this morning- started lovely but wind got up and a bit cloudy, but nothing came of it. I planted out my broad bean plants, (netted them as crows like to pull them out _ ), weeded and manured - a busy morning , and cut a cauliflower - though looked a bit more like the the perennial type , as it had a few side shoots for some reason.
This afternoon, DH and I went back to do more on the brassica cage frame. We are nearly there - its big, and we had a couple of people come to eye it up and ask about it. . In the end, apart from a lot of labour , we have a cage, which is 7m x 4m and 2m high . All in, with a high quality butterfly net it has cost us less than £100 . We are hoping it will last a minimum of 5-6 years, as everything in the ground is solid plastic tubing as well as the HDPE stuff. A couple of stays to put in, and a door to make and apart from throwing over and securing the netting its all done :) . When we had finished, I looked over and saw the asparagus had really shot up, just from yesterday, so picked some of that as a treat for tonight .
And to add to the joy - came home, checked my seeds, and 2 cucumbers are just poking out of their pot - I only sowed them on Thursday !
I am very lucky, as we have a 'sharing' table and a fb group for the allotment site, so any extra seedlings/plants are offered around, and usually snapped up. I always oversow a little - it helped the other year when everything got chomped by slugs or rabbits. So I always hang onto them until I am happy that I don't need them for emergency re-planting .
Hounds - I open freeze chillies, and then bag them up so I can shake one out when I need one - still good, just soft, not crisp IYSWIM
Grouchy - lovely to see you! - The blossom has really burst out this year, it is all so beautiful as Spotted said upthread - I have pictures from last year ( 17th April!) where my plum and gage are swathed in fleece due to a couple of really cold days/ nights. I didn't get a single fruit , so fingers crossed for this year - so many big fat bees around today

I've seen some honey bees with number stickers on their backs today.

I wonder what that's about.

Grouchy - forgot to answer - I pick mine about every 5-6 days , and it should last 3-4 weeks, depending on how heavy handed yo do it I find
blue - do you thinks its 'come in number 6, your time is up? ' , but more likely an experiment in how far and wide they fly I suspect ....

Perhaps the bees have organised their own London marathon. I had a bit of a lazy day today enjoying the sunshine and potting on some veg.

Hi, hope nobody minds me chipping in. We've just took over a lottie, I'm very excited! 😆 Currently on with clearing the plot, lots of horsetail unfortunately so we're digging top roots out. Also inherited a gooseberry bush that's been neglected a while. Any tips on cutting back for new fruit growth? Thanks

Hi, hope nobody minds me chipping in. We've just took over a lottie, I'm very excited! 😆 Currently on with clearing the plot, lots of horsetail unfortunately so we're digging top roots out. Also inherited a gooseberry bush that's been neglected a while. Any tips on cutting back for new fruit growth? Thanks

Hi, hope nobody minds me chipping in. We've just took over a lottie, I'm very excited! 😆 Currently on with clearing the plot, lots of horsetail unfortunately so we're digging top roots out. Also inherited a gooseberry bush that's been neglected a while. Any tips on cutting back for new fruit growth? Thanks

Hi, hope nobody minds me chipping in. We've just took over a lottie, I'm very excited! 😆 Currently on with clearing the plot, lots of horsetail unfortunately so we're digging top roots out. Also inherited a gooseberry bush that's been neglected a while. Any tips on cutting back for new fruit growth? Thanks