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

Morning
owl - garlic will be fine in a planter . With the cauliflower and broccoli seeds, mm , not too sure on that - the overwintering ones should already be germinated ready to plant out - do you know what variety the broccoli is - is it a quick cropping one, or a purple sprouting? The purple sprouting are quite slow growing and are normally coming up to cropping about now., But I do know Spotted ( who I haven't seen for a while - hope she is okay) did grow Raab 60 , which is a variation and crops in 60 days - thats just about okay to sow now - only a tweak late

Hello everyone. Been struggling to get to the garden this week as I'm fighting off a bug, but I did manage to get my autumn-planting onion sets in today.

I've been planning and thinking about spring and I want to get some sort of pvc greenhouse or polytunnel in - I've got an old greenhouse base in the garden which is about 2m by 3m and I'm looking for something that I can put on that. It needs to be cheapish - I'm not really in the market for a proper, expensive one yet - but the online reviews for ones I've seen in the £50-100 mark are very mixed. Does anyone have any recommendations? I could probably stretch to £200ish at a push.

Thank you!

I would have a good lookout on Gumtree or ebay goodenough . I bought my greenhouse off gumtree for £90 . We did need to dismantle it ourselves though

Book - the broccoli seeds that I bought are F1 Stromboli. On the packet it says for spring or autumn sowing, sow Feb - June & Sept - Oct. Harvest May - Oct &Mar - Apr.

Fingers crossed!

owl - looked them up - they look good to go!
Grey and dreary, but off to dig .....

Just back from a week's holiday and harvested the last of the french beans and the first of the carrots. I was hoping to leave the carrots a bit longer but looks like something has started eating some of them.

Really need to get on with planning what to put in the ground now. Although I don't have too much space to play with as sprouts still all in the ground.

Afternoon!
tiz - they look lovely . Always planning needed - even if you don't follow through - I rarely do :)
It was quite warm this morning , a bit damp though. Weeded asparagus bed #1 , ready for mulching, and all around the perennial cauliflowers - they have started to look healthy again!
Then it was just harvesting. Beetroot, broccoli , beans and raspberries. I gave one of the tubs of raspberries away , swapped for a load of chillies . I am getting a bit sick of raspberries - I have frozen loads , so tonight its poached pear and raspberry compote ...oh the woes
I was going to dig up the dahlias, but as it has gone back to being mild, I decided to leave them in .
I think the runner beans have come to the end - I picked everything reasonable, so I think next job is to hoik them out .

Have also discovered we have a load of quince (japonica not true) this year. We haven't had more than one or two for about five years so now contemplating making membrillo

Pickling the beetroot as I write!😊

Afternoon all.

Just about done with our harvests this year. Had the peas and beetroot out today. There is about a dozen late cropping french beans in with tiny little beans on and half a dozen leeks left.

It's now all about planning.

Shed arrives on 26th of October so need to get a base down for it. Might need to do a bit of digging for that. And I want to move all the existing beds around and start mulching. Plus we still have a.load of broken glass the council needs to shift.

I need to order rasperry canes and plant. Move the compost bin. Get a good stash of manure going. And put some paths in.

I am going tomorrow to hopefully book our wedding venue too. Looking at 19th May next year so am aiming to be ultra organised for next spring. We need a polytunnel building. Chicken coop and run sorting. And I want to really work on soil quality. Our plot hasn't been worked for 4 years and is full of glass and stones and weeds and bramble roots so lots to keep us busy over winter.

DP reckons there isn't much to do. How I laughed. Sigh.

I was hoping to plant my onions and garlic this weekend but due to rubbish weather yesterday and visiting a uni with my youngest have now not only run out of time but steam as well! Will try and get them done sometime this week.

Did have a little wander in the greenhouse and watered everything, so far everything is growing well and looks a lot healthier than in my kitchen!

I am amazed at how much harvest everyone is growing - I am secretly jealous of the amount of raspberries you grow Book. I do love them. I have 3 dwarf bushes of them, I am also hoping to grow strawberries and blueberries when the time is right.

Afternoon !
Frouby - it does sound busy ! and good luck on the wedding organisation . Are you growing any flowers for it? (Everyone at our site was frantically trying to get sweet peas ready for someone this year -it was tricky as it was a slow start). The work actually never stops, just gets 'less busy' at certain times , so beware :)
owl - hard work going around unis - it is a slog! Nice to hear the seedlings are doing well. The raspberries are a bit of a menace in truth - I have twice as many as I need due to doubling up on my two plots. And DH much prefers the summer ones , which I have at home. But I am not going to complain - I have plenty for us to eat and freeze, and give away. Better than not having enough, and there is enough space at the allotment, which not everyone has in their garden.
So, I managed a good hour this afternoon. Have started to dig out the compost bin , ready to start filling it up again ( at the moment , weeds are going on top of the manure - not ideal) . I did 4 wheelbarrows full today. Picked a little savoy - they are just starting to heart up properly, but I have plenty , so may as well get them young. Also - guess what - picked raspberries. I did need to, as I can't get back until Friday, and at this time of year they go horrid if left on.

That savoy looks lovely "book".

Our cabbages (pointed) are riddled with slug/cabbage white damage, but actually the hearts are fine. Only got a few left as trying to eat them before the slugs do!

I've planted out all of my overwintering stuff now (we have: curly kale, cavalo nero kale, rainbow chard, perpetual spinach, celeriac (planted this spring but will leave in ground as a winter root), red endive, spring onion ,spring greens, broad beans (which I thought were the sutton but actually a variety called de monica but as they did so well this year am trying them again), red onions and softneck garlic).

We still have tomatoes, tomatillos, peppers, chilis (all indoors) and salads and beetroot (outdoors) to harvest over the next 2/3 weeks.

That cabbage looks amazing! I do like cabbage.

My DD and I have decided to attempt to grow mushrooms today, never done it before so we shall see. We are on the 1st day of 4 of keeping the temp between 20 - 25C.

Has anyone managed to grow mushrooms before - we watched the youtube video which DD thought was hilarious! Or are they just an expensive gimmick?

Ps Our little seeds are growing well

owthathurts the only mushrooms we've grown are the ones that appear when it's damp
DH did talk about doing it the other year but we decided that it was probably a bit ambitious at that stage. Will be interesting to see how you get on with it.

No chance to get up the plot but we definitely will this weekend as there is lots that needs doing. Clearing up, more digging, etc, etc.

We are coming to the end of our tomatoes - which considering they got blighted at the end of August is good going.

I froze some perpetual spinach a few weeks ago - just washed it and put it into bags - and we defrosted and ate some this week. I wasn't sure whether it wouldn't just defrost into a slimy mess but it didn't. It was delicious steamed. So anyone looking to preserve some you can do this.

owa we drilled a couple of oak logs with shitaake and oyster plugs a couple of years ago but no sign of mushrooms yet. We are in Scotland so plenty damp and cold weather! A gimmick I feel but in all cost us less than a tenner to experiment so I'm not that bothered.

owl - absolutely no luck here . I bought the 'can't go wrong, easy peasy' button mushroom pack. Not a single one . Chucked away the carefully prepared mushroom bed compost after a year. Two years later, one mushroom popped up in the grass . I'm not trying again!

Busy week trying to tame various bits of overgrown garden - doesn't seem like I've cleared a huge are but there's a huge heap of ivy, brambles and docks piling up! now relaxing after a bath and tackling the surprising number of splinters that got through my gloves.

Funny coincidence - was watching the Beechgrove Garden last night (Scottish Gardeners World) and they had a segment about growing mushrooms and noting how they'd had no results either!!

Definitely a gimmick!

I did lots of mushroom spawn in bark chips last year, no joy whatsoever!

Oh! I will let you know how we get on and if we grow any mushrooms.

I am home alone this weekend so hoping to get into the greenhouse and potter on Sunday, I have onions and garlic to plant.

I think it's crucial never to let them dry out - I don't think I managed to give them enough water.

Afternoon!
I'm glad I'm not the only one with epic mushroom fail :)
clara - I love the Beechgrove !
I did a stint this morning, the usual weeding and forking over ground . I took up the cosmos as well, then barrowed three wheelbarrows of compost to cover it for winter. I should have done four - that was my target , but I was slow today, couldn't get into the swing .Ah well, its not going anywhere.
Picked raspberries - this is the last picking I think, they are getting very small and crumbly - the wildlife can have the rest.
Dug up a couple of leeks that had flower stalks forming, and then picked some perpetual spinach to go with them for tonights meal.
Back tomorrow for more of the same !

Just visited the garden centre and picked up trays of cabbage and cauliflower starter plants for 50p so getting those in the ground today. Past their best so unlikely that all 6 plugs will survive but not really got room for that many of each so will just pick the best ones.

It's like a summer's day here today.

Afternoon!
I bailed out of digging and wheelbarrowing today. But I did go up this afternoon with DH .
We attacked an enormous buddleia which is trying for world domination, which is by the side of the shed. DH hacked it down to the ground, and will attempt on another day to get the stump out. It needed to go, as I want the space along the shed side to train my loganberry. So that was all pruned and tied in ready for next year, and a load of ground cleared, so the little gooseberry ( which I planted earlier this year) can get its fair share of food and rain.
Picked some broccoli for tea, and had a little pick of sprouts too to see how they are doing. Clouds of white fly ......