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

Well I wanted some rain, but perhaps not quite this much. Water butts full to the brim after being completely empty.

Wow Liz! Our butt is completely dry! I can't remember the last time we had such a sustained dry spell (we in west Scotland so rain is the norm)

Wanted to show off our new scarecrow as doubt anyone not interested in gardening would care!!!! Took me 2 hours to make (I must be mad...). We are calling her Jack(ie) Straw

Book, I've never put straw under my strawberries though I know it's traditional - do you find it makes a difference? The main problem I have is slugs eating them!

Afternoon all!
Tipped it down all morning here - very grateful!
Love the scarecrow clara !
Una - I have tried all sorts over the years - planted in slits in weed membrane, copper tape, rings etc but nothing stops the slugs much ( weed membrane was the worst - gave them somewhere cosy to snuggle under ! ) . I tried straw 3 years ago, and it does seem to keep the slug damage down to an acceptable minimum - and keeps the mud off the fruit too. The biggest problem I have is blackbirds though , they love the things, and will absolutely decimate the crop, so I net fairly carefully .
The rain stopped this afternoon, so I have spent an hour in the greenhouse, potting up peppers, aubergines and cucumbers into bigger pots. I have sown more swede - it seems snails like them - checked the seedlings yesterday to find 3 left . The borlotti beans I have had on damp kitchen towel - well about 10 have started with roots, so have potted those up. There will be more by looks, but will start with these , so at least I should have some .

Clara I LOVE Jackie Straw ! She has so much character, surely no pigeon or crow will dare go near her?

Una I'm pondering straw too. I suspect it would just be a hideout for my pet slugs, however. Scientific analysis tells me that those at my allotment site who do use straw, are also the gardeners who are very tidy and use perfectly straight lines...

We had rain last night, and most of this morning, but not that much in volume. More is forecast for tomorrow. I don't have a water butt, but I do leave out containers and buckets to catch the rain, and I store it for my blueberries , so I must do that. I'm pondering going to the plot soon, after a cup,of tea and a nice sit down. Of course I have more tomatoes and courgettes to plant out... I only have small pockets of time this week but will hopefully have a good chunk of time on Monday to get everything else planted out.

And in other exciting news, 2 of the last chance runner beans that I planted have finally sprouted. So that's 2 - from about 40.

Ooh, cross post with booky (as I am slow).
Oddly, all my borlotti came up first time, and also my peas. But all my other beans were quite a different story.

I am not in the least bit tidy, or have anything in straight lines Spotted - - the borlotti were old seed, so am actually quite pleased , we shall see if they now pop out of the compost!

I went out to pull rhubarb this morning , and it is snail city in amongst the leaves and stalks.

I stopped netting as a) too much faff b) neighbours cat got tangled and untangling was a traumatic experience for all involved

have a little experiment going: didn't have compost left so have sown leaf salad in wood shavings.

It is raining here in Cumbria for the first time in aaaages. It's lovely.

I have filled and sown my first rescued raised bed, 2 x 1m2 to go. About half my sweetcorn have come up so far, but no sign of the (third) lot of cucumbers.

I'm just loving my veg plot. I have started to lay a little path with reused block pavers. They're a bit cementy, but nevermind. And I've put nastursiums and sunflowers all round the perimeter fence.

Pulled up my bolted radish, it was a bit stupid sowing them in the greenhouse really. I'm going to fill the space with 3 tomatoes. If they will be ok sharing a grow bag (100x60x30 cm) with spring onions?

I'm not a fan of growbags, but here 2 toms share a 20x50 balcony box, so your dimensions seem fine for 3 toms.
the canopy of the toms might be too much for onions though.

Lonely - growing veg is just wonderful, and relaxing , just ace. I'm not a fan of growbags either - I think the volume is more important than the dimensions in truth .I grow my tomatoes in multi purpose compost bags - minimum 40 L ( or 50 L if on special offer) for 2 tomatoes. I put the bag on its side - it gives the tomatoes a deeper root run, so its easier to support the top when they are fruiting, and you don't need to water/feed quite as much.

Gah! Just back from the plot and the slug population seem to have destroyed everything! Only one pumpkin and one courgette left. I think I'm going to have to try nematodes there are just so many. I hate putting the pellets down but what can you do? This happens every year and I get so disheartened with it.

eurgh slugs
the devils own eyebrows

I put down pellets until pumpkins and courgettes get going.

oh no wasnot :( - courgettes and squashes are the only thing I protect with slug pellets, just until they get going . Its a bit gutting after all the hard work

Thanks, they're canvas bag things you put canes in to hold them up. I've filled them with compost from last years (failed - not enough light, lesson learned) spuds and manure, and new compost mixed. I'm thinking the spring onions will be ready before my tiny tomatoes get too big.

We've had a super soaking, so am off out with the slug pellets.

Thanks blue and book I have just come back from an icky half-hour of mass-molluscicide. Pellets down, dander up I shall not be beaten! And you're right they are the devil's own eyebrows!

Lost you all with the thread change! And I was away for a bit, been catching up on the plot since... now to catch up on the thread hope everyone is well.

Hello I am new, got my allotment last autumn but haven't had a chance to do much due to shoulder injury 😞

Managed to go yesterday with my swish new battery strimmer it was amazing!

Fruit trees I planted look happy, some strawberry plants & I planted some tomatoes in grow bags in the green house.

Just planning a easy year I think trying to cover the weeds to kill them & maybe some no dig beds.

I have potatoes so might attempt digging a row today

welcome lovemy
for covering/suppressing weeds you can try growing cucumber/pumpkin/courgettes their foliage covers a lot of ground. at alotments you might be able to get spare seedlings. but the gardencentre 'shelf of doom' can also be a good source of cheap and salvagable plants.

I love a shelf of doom. B&Q just had bolted lettuce today, so I left them. Bought lots of compost though. 2x50l bags will be turned on their sides and have toms shoved in them (thanks book), and I have planted up another 4 toms into pots with gro collars, and potted on the 3 snackbite peppers that came up.

My greenhouse is looking wonderful. I also got small seed trays to srart the wintery veg in. Tips please for germinating cabbage, caulis, leeks etc? Inside/outside/propergator/no lids? Never tried to grow any of these before.

Also finished raised bed 2, so far planted just one green and one yellow courgette in it. Will put a row of spring onions, and a row of beets in later. The aim this year is to stick to what we will eat. It makes it repetative, but hopefully not wasteful later.

Thanks blue runnings.
I also saw on YouTube a method of cutting holes in the plastic to put plants in. Soil is nice under the weeds just not sure I can dig it with my iffy shoulders meant to be resting

Going on a cardboard hunt so I can use it as mulch & working on a no dig bed

Afternoon ( Evening?) :)
Welcome lovemyboy - shoulder is definitely more important . Squashes/pumpkins work very well planted through a weed membrane/cardboard or mulch and covers a lot of problems :) Being very nosey - whereabouts are you - North/South/East or West ?
Lonely - growing what you like to eat is just about the most important thing to remember - along with the mantra of its a marathon not a sprint :) . I too love the shelf of doom
Brassicas tend to germinate really quickly, but they are better off cool . So outside I would say now . I usually sow thinly in a little 4" pot and pop a plastic bag over it to keep the top damp - as soon as they have popped out, leave off the bag. They usually take about 5-7 days to germinate. I then prick them out into individual little pots when they have 2 /4 true leaves. Leeks I do the same, but they take a bit longer to germinate - about 10 days.
I planted most of my squashes out today - the butternuts are still being very slow, want them to have a few more leaves on before I plant them out. Weird how every other variety has romped away, but not these. I dithered about planting out beans, but ended up not - it was so windy this morning, they would have been battered to death. Will do those tomorrow. We didn't have nearly enough rain yesterday. I went to fork over last years brassica patch where the PSB had been up until last week. Still hard, but managed to get a fair amount of it done. No real rush - its going to have the second succession leeks in there, and I still have a few days.

Hello, I am feeling quite pleased tonight. Ds helped me carry 2 more gravel boards, from the builders' merchant to the plot' to edge another bed. We did 4 boards the first time but it was too much really. So I have another bed almost surrounded. Hopefully Ds will oblige again on Monday and Tuesday so they will all be done. My lovely plot neighbour who offered to germinate my sweetcorn for me only managed to get 4 to go so she gave me 6 of hers and send her husband to plant them for me! I've got the perpetual spinach that went to seed out and put up the Lorraine crosses for the raspberries and wired them. And I have one strawberry that will be ready to pick tomorrow!
Now for some advice please plotmenters. I have put gravel board around my beds because area between the grass paths and the beds has been edged, cut with an edging spade for so many years that the paths were really only safe if you were a mountain goat and definitely not accessible for a wheelbarrow. So the paths are now wider but not at all even, a bit hummocky with drops each side. Should I go and get some topsoil, there is some free on freecycle at the moment and build them up or wait until the autumn and rotivate them and even them out that way?

Something dug up my courgettes last night. And ate every slug pellet (I put down lots). Nipped off leaves (left not eaten), and pulled things from pots. I am very cross. Culprits?? Rats - we get those as both us and ndn have chickens, they are shot on sight. Mice - borrowed some traps to see tonight. Birds - organising netting. But what eats slug pellets? They're pet friendly ones, but surely still poisonous?

Plus side I swapped a sweet potato for some chard with ndn, who has the most wonderful veg garden.

squirrels?
they dig at newly planted plants here. I suspect to get at the chicken manure underneath.
I use sticks all around the seedlings to prltect them