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Gardening

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Allotment/Veg patch thread 11 'We bid farewell to rainbow leaves but will keep plotting along'

987 replies

bookbook · 08/09/2017 20:17

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

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bookbook · 15/10/2017 15:18

Afternoon
Hope everyone is okay , and braced for the weather tomorrow.
I took down my runner bean wigwams today, more digging, more compost barrowing.
I then felt soooooo guilty- digging into the compost heap, I uncovered one, then two of these little baby voles - barely had eyes open

Allotment/Veg patch thread 11 'We bid  farewell to rainbow leaves but will keep plotting along'
Allotment/Veg patch thread 11 'We bid  farewell to rainbow leaves but will keep plotting along'
OP posts:
elephantoverthehill · 15/10/2017 17:04

I took my beans down today too. I have found a manure source, filled 8 sacks and will be back for more next weekend. I hope those voles were able to snuggle up back in the warm.

Frouby · 15/10/2017 20:04

Evening all

Been gorgeously mild here too.

Baby voles are gorgeous. Hope they snuggled back up in bed.

Got the shed base down today and started winter pottering.

Moved the raised beds around to get them in rows and with enough space to work between them. Trimmed some straggly bits off the apple tree. Moved some timber and pallets so I can start digging a space for raspberry canes.

Nothing left growing now. Which is a bit sad but I need the emptiness to try and organise for next year.

Shed comes a week on Thursday and more excited about that than my 40th birthday which is next weekend Grin

Frouby · 15/10/2017 20:05

Oh I also started my homegrown chutney I made and some pickled beetroot I made.

Definitely worth the effort and stained fingers.

Cathpot · 15/10/2017 23:03

Hello! So nice to catch up - been away slightly tied to the computer as I settle into new job, just sort of getting my head above water now and was out tackling the madness of the raised bed - first time gardening for weeks. I’ve got 2 massive psb plants with no sign at all of florets - I don’t even know where they would come out- should they be out by now? Everything else is over and being pulled out but I’ve left it so long the soil is packed full of seeds - am going to put black plastic over it I think.

Got big clumps of coriander gone to seed hanging in the greenhouse to dry while I sort out a better place for them. Pulled as many apples off the tree as I could reach as we’ve got as weather coming and it is right next to the green house. They are so scabby I’m giving them away to a man who makes some sort of home brew. I absentmindedly picked and ate an apple off the tree next to scabby tree- which is very old and only has about 4 fruits on (but isn’t scabby) - and it was delicious. Now I need a apple tree whisperer to sort the pair of them out.

Cathpot · 15/10/2017 23:04

Also - voles!

I’m about to google poop ID as I have found some odd little poos by the back door. I’d love them to be voles but I suspect less cute rodents.

clarabellski · 16/10/2017 09:43

Book those voles are so cute! until they are pests

Also I am admiring your leeks they look great! I spotted a couple of yellow leaves in my leek bed so keeping an eye out in case of rust...

I can't remember who posted the chili jam recipe (it had tomatoes in it too) but just to report that I made a batch and it is delicious! I reduced the amount of chili as was using paper lantern but it is still spicy as hell!

Cath Usual varieties of PSB don't flower until after Christmas, although that being said one of mine flowered a couple of months ago probably due to the wacky weather and stress from cabbage fly infestation!

Cathpot · 16/10/2017 19:35

Thanks for that clara it’s a long wait then!

GnomeDePlume · 16/10/2017 21:01

Good evening. It all seems to be going quiet on the allotment field now. We are doing lots of digging and clearing of beds. Put our polytunnel up in time for the storm! Just hoping it will survive.

Allotment/Veg patch thread 11 'We bid  farewell to rainbow leaves but will keep plotting along'
clarabellski · 17/10/2017 13:58

Fingers crossed Gnome!

Our cloche frames (bits of plumbing pipe lashed together with cable ties) survived the winds but the fleece blew away! Luckily the plants underneath seem to have survived. Also lucky that I bought new fleece at the weekend as the old fleece was getting scabby!

elephantoverthehill · 17/10/2017 17:33

I've just picked up a load of terracotta roofing tiles from Freecycle. I am going to use them for the edges of the beds . I hope it will work and hold in all the manure.

Cedar03 · 18/10/2017 08:32

Morning! Hope the winds weren't too bad. We escaped them in the south east, just had the weird orange skies on Monday afternoon.

We also took down our beans last weekend. There had been a delivery of the communal manure so we shifted several wheelbarrow loads. We're almost the other end of the plots from it so it takes a while to shift. We'll get some more another day. Apart from that just lots of clearing of beds.

This week we've been eating beetroots, squash, spinach, chard, onions, potatoes and beans all from the plot. We're not buying that much in the way of vegetables at the moment.

My leeks are looking decidedly sorry and a bit weedy. They didn't get fed enough I don't think. They still look like baby leeks not fat at all.

We had to shift a buddleia last year which had self seeded between two beds on the new plot and had been allowed to get out of hand. It needed to come out. Getting the stump out was the hardest part but we got there in the end.

Very cute picture of the voles. Hopefully they weren't disturbed too much.

bookbook · 18/10/2017 15:55

Afternoon!
elephant - a manure source and free terracotta roofing tiles too!- As a thought on the tiles I don't suppose they are glazed, so just be aware they may act a bit as a porous edge , so make sure the edges of the beds don't get too dry ( I am assuming this - I tried growing tomatoes in lovely big terracotta pots, and had terrible end blossom rot, and was advised the pots were drawing the water from the compost and it was evaporating out)
Frouby - shed will be there soon! It's sad when everything has been picked , but considering when you started, at the time, I seem to remember you didn't think you would get anything this year, so its all been a bonus .It's all in the planning :)
Cath - lovely to see you - sounds stressful changing jobs, and another new skill set. How are the chickens? And yes , as said - depends on the PSB variety - the traditional one has always cropped March time - useful when there is not much else available. We love it so much, I grow lots of varieties, so I can pick from July to April ( if I'm lucky!). The sprouts will start as tiny buds right in the middle at the top , and as they grow, you won't beable to miss them. I tend to cut the middle one out fairly early, to encourage all the side shoots .
Cedar - I must admit, I don't feed my leeks. I suspect it is just good leek growing ground - a bit loose and stony, not clay at all, so they can expand as they wish .
Well, yesterday I just dashed to the plot to pick veg - it was still very windy, even though it was sunny. So dug up a savoy and some beetroot, and cut dahlias.
Today, I finished digging out and sorting the compost heap. That is one job sorted and done for the year. No sign of any voles thank goodness :)
I cut and brought home the sad butternut squash harvest - 3 - one half decent one, a small one , and a tiny one. From 3 plants . I got 7 crown prince in the end from 2 plants . No contest really, but will battle on with them next year.

Allotment/Veg patch thread 11 'We bid  farewell to rainbow leaves but will keep plotting along'
Allotment/Veg patch thread 11 'We bid  farewell to rainbow leaves but will keep plotting along'
OP posts:
igardener · 18/10/2017 17:54

(Late arrival to new thread - hardly been around all year, but must impart great wisdom about small furry animals Wink)

book (hello), from your photos, those look like shrews rather than voles, which is a very good thing because voles (not to be confused with lovely water voles) will make you loose the will to live. They are the reason why I have not planted any form of root, tuber or bulb vegetable directly in the ground this year.

After last years bumper crop of bumper sized butternuts, this year I have zero - yours look fabulous b Envy.

igardener · 18/10/2017 18:09

lose - shame on me.

bookbook · 18/10/2017 18:13

ooh - you could be right Ig ( and hello to you to! :)) It didn't have the really pointy nose , more like a nice roundy end long, one so that I assumed vole . Now I look at photos, you may be right :) Even better!!
How are you? Weather not too bad I hope

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Cathpot · 18/10/2017 23:12

Nice rodent knowledge! I may have to take a picture of the droppings right next to my back door to ask opinions- trying to convince myself they are anything but rat, weasel was my best hope but not sure I’m in weasel territory..

Anyone got interesting things to do with cabbage recipes to share??

bookbook · 18/10/2017 23:23

I do a savoy cabbage /kale with borlotti bean casserole which is good. - I think any good winter cabbage would work too .(I think you don't eat meat, so easy to leave out the bit of bacon in it, and use vegetarian sausages)
HERE

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Cedar03 · 19/10/2017 09:04

My crown princes did OK, nothing special. All my squashes definitely needed more feeding/manure to get them going. My pumpkins are quite small this year as well. I couldn't even get the butternut squash seeds to germinate the other year so gave up trying to grow them.

Rat droppings are smallish and black I think.

rosetintedspectacles · 19/10/2017 11:40

I've not been on in ages, my little garden has been bit neglected! Had one last courgette a week or so ago that tasted a bit wooly, so think it's time to pull the plants.

Excitingly though, I am about to move to a new house that has land attached, enough space for an allotment or two's worth of beds! My husband and I are planning on strimming it all down, the building raised beds and laying cardboard to suppress weeks then filling will compost.

We'd like to be self sufficient with compost as soon as possible, but will have to buy in some initially to fill the beds. I'm not sure what type or where to order from, has anyone done the same and could recommend?

Thank you!

goodenoughal · 19/10/2017 14:22

Quick question, if I may - why would my asparagus be sprouting now? These went in earlier this year so ate very little and I haven’t harvested. They came up as spindly spears in June and have mostly turned to fern, but a couple of new more substantial spears have appeared in the last few weeks. I don’t understand!

UnaOfStormhold · 19/10/2017 17:00

Hmm, mine have put up a few new shoots through the year - which have then gone ferny like the others. It's been a bit warmer these last few days so that may have fooled them into thinking it's spring!

Cedar03 · 20/10/2017 08:51

Our asparagus has also put up a few odd shoots during the year. Nothing right now though. We are complete amateurs so I have no words of wisdom.

Rosetintedspectacles that sounds exciting. I'd love to have my allotment right outside my house. So much more convenient! Are you looking for compost or manure? Animal manure would give your beds a good start - are there any stables nearby? That's where our allotment manure comes from. You can buy bulk compost from places like Travis Perkins.

bookbook · 20/10/2017 09:00

Morning!
I've been a bit busy so no plot yesterday, none today either. Weather is a bit dank too.
rosetinted - great news - I would love to have veg growing at home .
I agree with Cedar - lots of free manure . And keep an eye out on gumtree/freecycle/local fb - occasionally I see top soil offered free to take away .
goodenough yes, I do think its the weather - mine does that too- they will turn into ferny stalks . They are just still growing well, so a good sign they are happy - just a bit late in the year! :)

OP posts:
clarabellski · 20/10/2017 09:15

My fav cabbage recipes:

  • coleslaw (particuarly adding a bit of chipotle paste in
  • caldo verde (portuguese cabbage and potato soup)
  • slice thick chunks of cabbage (like you would slice a loaf of bread). drizzle with olive oil, rub on some garlic clove and roast
  • minestrone soup

Rose we did pretty much what you're about to do when we moved into our current house (the garden was basically a giant football pitch when we moved in early 2015). We ordered ton bags of compost from the internet (we just searched for a company that would deliver to our area). We worked out the area of the raised beds then bought enough compost to fill each to a depth of 6 inches. From memory we bought a ton bag of mushroom compost, aton bag of general purpose compost and a ton bag of manure. We mixed it all up with vermiculite (again, we bought a pallet full from internet) using a big old tarpaulin.

We built our own home composting system using the pallets that our compost ton bags were delivered on! (waste not want not!) We have 2 compartments at the moment but would like to extend to 3 at some point.