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

No plot today for us. Ds isnt 100% and afyer his stag dp is very not 100% 😂.

Took pity on a tray of seeds I planted last week and brought them indoors. And felt sorry for the brassica pots as well. Nothing showing yet, cold and wet compost ao they have gone into the mini greenhouse in the space the tray of hot stuff left.

I feel really behind too. I want to get sweetcorn sown, want to set some more frenchies off and just a long list of stuff to get done. But the weather and the wedding in a few weeks is all conspiring against me.

If I have to resort to plugs from the garden centre it's fine tho.

Can I join? I have just spent the last 2 years getting rid of horsetail from my garden. I am now at a stage where most of it has gone and what remains can be managed / spot treated.

I am a bit of a soil anorak.... Which is as well because I am on heavy clay with added builders rubble and plastic all topped off with substrate, but my horticultural skills can do with help.

I have managed to get 2 raised vege beds and a side bed ready to plant. I don't have room for a greenhouse ATM... although I am eyeing up a small space, if only I could get the bike bit shed moved.

I live in the peaks so we are a way behind the rest of the world in terms of soil temperature but rainfall is never going to be a problem.

Welcome Unescorted.

It has been warm in my part of Scotland lately - and our garden is a suntrap - so my garden has taken off lately. I figure when the weeds suddenly explode then the soil is warm enough for other things! But I suspect the warm weather now means we'll have rubbish weather when we want it least.

Put the first of my pea seedlings out yesterday. They've been sitting on the patio for the last week and look very happy so I'm hopeful they'll be OK. The basil plant I've left out there as a sort-of weather guide is very happy too.

Carrots seedlings were transplanted into canvas container yesterday, and I'm hoping to put a couple of hours in at the allotment tomorrow. Rota is a bit iffy last week/next so it's really my only free day. Hoping for clear skies.

I've had a great day on my Lottie today!

Planted potatoes.
Sown peas and beans in the greenhouse, and salad in a raised bed.
Assembled a brassica cage and planted out some cauliflower plants to replace the ones the bastard caterpillars ate.
Made a new bed - sawed the planks and everything!

I've had a very tough week - mum's been taken ill and it's all very stressful. A few hours in my happy place is like therapy.

Welcome Unescorted - tough one up there ! I may be further north, but not as high - temperature really drops as you go up.
And Toss hello! Allotments really are very good at letting busy minds rest . I love mine too :) I hope all goes well with your Mum . Definitely protect the brassicas - butterfly netting needs to be no bigger gap than 7mm for best protection , or enviromesh is wonderful, but expensive .
Flying - I will keep fingers crossed for fine weather for you tomorrow - here is is supposed to be wet , and very windy ....

First casualty - one of my squashes has been snapped by the wind today. Not too concerned as I have plenty of spares of that variety.

I am planning to do quite a bit of planting out in the plot this weekend, the forecast is good atm. I am growing PSB for the first time this year. I understand I have to cover it with a cage of some kind. I haven't designed that yet but do I have to put the cage on straight away? And how tall will it need to be please? I have got the mesh I just need to work it all out.

Oh no tiz, what a shame! Still can't believe that your weather is good enough for planting out. Well of course I do believe you, but I am very jealous We have frost forecast tomorrow night.

Can you plant leggy courgettes deep, as you do with tomatoes? I have a set that have gone really leggy. Hmm.

They're planted out but in raised beds and under plastic over cloche hoops so not 'out out'. Only 3 degrees last night and I think we have frost forecast tonight, or at least they're sending the gritters out anyway.

The wind got them today as I was rearranging cloche hoops and so they were uncovered for most of the day.

I'm due down the plot tomorrow elephant -will measure mine to give you an idea. You need to protect against pigeons, and cabbage whites mostly :)

Thanks Book. I've looked at several websites, I know how far apart to plant them, that they need to be protected, that they like quite firm soil but now how tall they are likely to grow.

I didn't bother covering my PSB (lazy) but as it's in the garden I could check for moth eggs every day. I think the tallest of mine is about 120cm tall.

Thanks Grouchy. I guess I could just about get away with the bent tube method then, or I was thinking using my Scouting skills a kind of ridge tent affair with canes, cable ties and pegs.

Elephant - I use wire hoops (about 18" high) with enviromesh pegged over it. I think my enviromesh is about 2m wide, so I fold it up along one side initially and loosen it as the plants get higher than the hoops - at this point they are strong enough to have the mesh lying directly over them, mine get to about a metre high. Last year's have just finished cropping so I've uncovered them to treat the pigeons and caterpilars. Also remember that they will cast a lot of shade when fully grown, I made the mistake of planting mine in an East-West row last year and the celeriac on the North side suffered from being in permanent shade in the latter half of the year.

Beautiful day here, quite unexpected and it's my birthday too.

Amazing what a bit of warmth and sun can do, no sign of beans yesterday, today this!

Happy Birthday tiz - many happy beans to you.

It's lively here today too. All my plants and non - germinated seeds are in the sun.
I shall be moving my treasures about ALL DAY to maximise every last ray of it

Happy birthday tiz.

I'm experimenting with my tomatoes this year. The seedlings have been outside in their tray for about a week so I've now planted some in the garden. I usually do them in pots on the patio. I've brought a few seedlings inside in pots in case the garden ones are unhappy. I've got two varieties this year: a cordon cherry tom (Gardener's Delight, I think) and a bush type called Latah, which does well with short Summers.

Happy birthday Tiz. thanks for the tips Whoknows. I had read about putting the netting directly onto the PSB but couldn't figure it out. Now it makes sense.

My tomatoes and chilli seedlings in the greenhouse seem to be operating in a different time zone- they don’t seem to be growing at all- very frustrating. I’m looking out the window now at sideways rain and I’ve had the heating on all day. It’s May! Horrible

Happy Birthday tiz - lovely present for you there :)
elephant as WhoKnows and Grouchy - about 1m - 1.2m tall , but mine are in a cage, so I don't have to worry.
DH and I were down at the plot this afternoon - gorgeous sunshine, sharp breeze. DH cut the grass for the first time this year - massive job , and put up wigwams for sweetpeas. I got around to digging up the kale, and weeding/forking over ready to plant out the beetroot in plugs at home.

I sowed sweetcorn today .
Cath - my tomatoes/aubergines/peppers just seem to be marking time a bit. They looked a lot happier today in the sunshine though.
Fingers crossed Grouchy on the tomatoes!
I have left all my stuff out tonight - bravery, or stupidity , not sure which!

I lost five courgette plants to the frost today

Luckily I have more in the greenhouse to replace them. It's a shame though - they'd seemed quite happy for the last week or two.

arghhh .thats not good But 5 courgettes?????? .....my curcubits are still proper indoors -I haven't even chucked them out into the greenhouse for the day yet ! - I' m soft ....

I got a bit carried away sowing...then once I have little plants I can't bear to discard them so I give them a chance

I did put some on the share table...

Sunny but a cold breeze here. It didn't look as though there had been a frost when I got up, but then I noticed my birdbath had a thick layer of ice on it. Luckily my seedlings are all still in the greenhouse, I'm in the SE but seem to be in a frost pocket, we're not really safe till the end of May.