Allotment/Veg Patch Thread 12! Plotmenters hoping for better weather

[bookbook]

Well, previous thread is nearly full, and I am busy the next couple of days, so thought I had better get this up and ready.
Thanks for the plot title Una
Everyone welcome to join in and share their experiences, tips, the woes and joys of growing their own .
Summer and harvests here we come ( and we''ll do our best to beat the pests)
Previous thread HERE

Thanks for the lovely shiny new thread bookbook

Sun is out here today. It feels cold outside at the moment but I think it will warm up later on. I'm in the SE and we had some frost this week - not too much though. My first potatoes had just peeked through last Sunday so I am hoping they weren't affected.

This week we have had a lot of rain. It rained and rained on Tuesday. I am hoping to pop over to the plot later just to have a quick look and see how things are.

This week we've been eating a bit of rhubarb, perpetual spinach and chard from the plot and beans, blackberries and blackcurrants frozen last summer. We've still got more beans to eat but we slowed up on them because we had them a LOT last autumn and everyone got a little fed up

The perpetual spinach was from last year. Will it keep on going until the summer do you think or will it die off?

Thanks for the new thread. I have been following everyone's updates. I have decided to plant out everything that vaguely looks ready. Just sown some beans and cucamelons. Hoping the good weather stays with us now. If we get a frost, I will be most upset!!

It's a sunny but not too hot day here today, so I'm attempting to harden off my second batch of cucamelons (after the first batch got sunburnt and never recovered). I'm going to try them in shade for the next few days and slowly move them out into the sun...

hi, i love this thread and have been following avidly and posting occasionally. i have an allotment on the south coast. Fed up with all my seedlings hanging around and forecast looks ok for next 10 days, so the beans are going onto the plot today and maybe the toms over the weekend. then i can start hardening off the stuff that's in the bedrooms at the moment.

Was glancing through my crops in pots book last night and on the back of that I'm going to try and grow some sweetcorn and aubergines in some large barrel pots I have so starting them off today. The varieties I have say they can be started in May so hopefully not too late.

Yay a new shiny thread!

I’ve still got my main crop potatoes on the windowsill, need to get them in ASAP I think, did the earlies a few weeks ago and they are all going strong.
Not sure anything else is ready to go in, but might start putting up the bean arches and pea supports this weekend.

Can I please join you? Have been following you all and picking up tips for months.
I don't have an allotment, but am lucky to have a large corner plot. The long narrow strip between house and neighbour's wall is going to be my veg garden. Currently digging over and removing brambles and weeds. Hope to plant late summer, but will see how it goes.
I do grow lots of flowers from seeds, and have broad beans in large pots, strawberries and herbs doing well in the greenhouse. My lovely dad grows amazing toms, so will hopefully have pots of those soon. Grew hanging baskets of little ones in greenhouse last year, very successful and the smell was amazing. Courgettes in huge tubs on patio do well too.

I’ve planted out the courgettes and the cobaea. Loads in our bedroom at the moment and actually think the cobaea might strangle me in the night it’s getting so long and twiney

I think I’ll leave the tomatoes another week. And I’m not planting out the zinnia til June.

Welcome to the thread Cary2012. How lucky to have a big enough garden for a veg patch, no going to and fro to an allotment. How much clearing do you have to do? I've had to dig out several brambles from part of my allotment plot, they are so annoying to get out.

Quick visit to my plot yesterday showed that the potatoes are OK. No sign of the peas planted nearly 2 weeks ago but the weather has been so up and down who knows whether that means they've been eaten or not. As it's now going to be a bit warmer hopefully they'll make an appearance.

At home my honeyboat squashes came up very quickly (within about 5 days) but the crown prince have been a bit slower. One is just starting to push through, which is 13 days since planting. I think it is because the other squashes were so fast that these ones seem slow. I might sow a few more seeds this weekend just in case.

Welcome Cary

My peas are literally just showing Cedar, planted 2 weeks ago today. Perpetual spinach and chard planted the same time are also up, along with spuds, lettuce and radish and strawberries just starting to flower. Have some more curcubits in propagator and worried the cucumber at the school allotment will fry under cloche but that is what it is, we’ll need to get plants for there I think.

Thanks for the new thread Book. I'mat the plot now, it's warm but clouded over. We had a hard frost earlier in the week so I'm being cautious about planting out. Some of my raspberry plants have got frost-bitten leaves but strawberry flowers are ok, unlike last year. Just finishing a bit of clearing to get my onions in.

Evening!
welcome Cary - always room on the muddy bench around here :). If its long and narrow, think about 2 things - light and moisture. Its usually fairly dry at the bottom of walls, so you may need to really umph up the structure of the soil to hold onto moisture, so mulch, lots of compost etc. See where your sun comes in to , you may find it is in shadow some of the day .
Well, been at the plot for most of the day today. I planted out my sweet peas, two rows of beetroot from plugs , and lugged 3 barrows of manure onto the currant bushes. I wanted to get that particular job done, as this afternoon we have attempted to net the fruit cage. Oh boy, what a faff , but just about there. It is all held down, just need to let it find its stretch/relax before doing the final pin down . The currants are looking really good , maybe not quite as many flowers as last year, but pretty good. I saw ladybirds all over the redcurrant leaves too :)
Picked some spring cabbage and crawled home. Hot bath tonight!

checking in

seedlings def have stalled during the last 2 weeks of cold weather but hopefully get going now.

Sorted out a new fruit support today, can then just chuck a net over this to protect from the birds.

Also picked up a cheapo plastic greenhouse from wilko - a third off as no box. It's surprisingly sturdy for something that cost 24 quid. Just need to figure out how to secure it to the wall. I had grander greenhouse plans for this space but they'll remain on hold until I'm employed again.

Also picked up a couple of reduced fruit canes for a £1 each - a red gooseberry and a blueberry. Not quite sure why I got another gooseberry as we have way too many already....

Thanks for the welcome.
The strip is about 8 ft wide and twenty foot long. Because it is the last bit of the garden I've tackled there is a lot to do, so I try and spend a couple of hours on it every weekend. The runners from the blackberry bush nearby are absolute beggers. I dug out the bush over Easter, took two full days and I filled two huge builders sacks with it The strip is full of weeds which I can tackle, but as soon as I put the spade in a few inches it hits these massive runners, but I'm getting there. If I can clear it and get some goodness in the soil this year I'll be happy. It gets the sun about six hours on a good day and seems quite moist. Thanks for the advice, will mulch etc. I will be picking your brains once I think I'm ready to plant stuff. You have been warned!
My zinnia and cosmos seedlings are doing well, but I think I'll wait a couple of weeks before planting out. They were free seeds with GW April issue, and seem good ones.
Thanks again.

I think my tomatoes are doomed!! Not sure what's happened to them. The leaves are going brown. I had them in a small greenhouse for a week before planting out two days ago. Does anyone have any advice? TIA

perhaps that looks like blight to me but it would be very unusually early. Have they got sunburn do you think?

looks like cold to me - we had quite low temps here the previous 2 nights . Are they outside without protection?

Ha ha! Book I keep forgetting that I am very, very south and others are not. (blush) I have been out slug collecting again tonight and that is after the application of the nematodes last week. I can't win.

(blush)

softy southeners!

though quite a lot of cold temperatures in the south too these last few nights

Lowest about 6 degrees over the last couple of nights here. 19 degrees forecast for the next few days with 10 overnight. Yeah I am definitely a softie.

How upsetting, perhaps - I also think that it looks like it has been too cold for them? Hopefully, they'll pull through!
Cary Have you thought about doing the no dig method?