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

Ooh can I join?! I love my allotment but having a 6m old DS is making getting to it quite tricky! Hope when it's warmer I can take him with me!

whatwouldnigellado (love the name!) It is hard when you have a toddler! DS used to do a lot of watering...and falling in beds...and trying to kill himself! 😂

Oh dear. Sounds like I've been too eager to plant them out! I'm in the South so thought I'd be ok. Will see if they pull through. Otherwise, I'll buy some replacements.

Morning!
welcome whatwould - total tricky with little ones , ( a plot near us brings his two - there are large digging pits on his plot ) but hopefully you can keep it under some sort of control until it gets easier.
perhaps - fingers crossed for you , but there are plenty out there to replace them with :)
Was at Morrisons the other day - asparagus plants were £1 each, which is a bargain , and they still had potatoes and onion sets too if anyone is behindhand

Hello! Can I hop onto the thread? I haven't an allotment, but my large garden is destined to be a veg plot, bar 4x5m which will be a concession to my dc, a bit of lawn and flowers. But veg first. Currently a blank canvas.

I have two greenhouses, 6x8 and 8x10, just finished a fruit cage (completely recycled from an old chicken coop enclosure), and am digging out about a 7x4m ish space for a polytunnel, having no fun with nettle roots, doc plants and ground elder. Out the front garden, my peas and beans are planted out in a sunny bed, and my onion bed is full. Three terraces from house up to garden full of potatoes in pots, just peeking through.

In the greenhouse I've all my courgettes and tomatoes growing on (so slow germinating this year), and I had to buy cucumber plants as none grew from seed. One is looking very sad.

My anual problem is that I start off so well, then life takes over and I neglect everything, and come summer it's too late. So I must keep on it this year. I'm in the North Pennines, just 30 miles south of Scotland, so my season is late and short, hence the polytunnel grand plans.

Thankyou TheHounds, I've googled the no dig method and I think that could work well. I am loathe to put any weedkiller down because of my cats and also I have cultivated a little woodland area which is a haven for lots of birds, and apart from my tortie who half heartedly chases the occasional bird, the others ignore them. Also, I like organic natural gardening. So I think I'll find out more about no dig.
Very warm today, broad beans doing well (Norfolk).

Welcome to Cary, Whatwould and Oversharer.

I have been looking back through photos of my garden from last year and have realised that we didn't get any blossom on our plum trees this year, and there's hardly any apple blossom either. Darn you, Beast from the East.

Not much is happening in my garden despite the lovely warm weather we've been having. I'm hoping there'll be a sudden explosion of life soon.

I’m having a shot at no dig on my squash bed and half the strawberry bed. We’re not allowed cardboard so i’ve Just flipped the turn over then dumped a load of free manure and compost on. Time will tell how it does compared to the other beds but it does look pretty under control at the moment . You can all laugh at me on a few weeks time for say8mg that when the weeds have kicked in !

Next mission is to get rid of remaining turf on paths, I’m to have bare earth this year and hoe offf the weeds until i’m Sure i’m Happy with lay out.

The tomatoes the children planted and left out at school allotment looked very sad recently. We’ve put them under plastic to try and rescue them but I’m not hugely hopeful and back ups planned.

my toms also have silver spots.
they are still going, with fresh green gowth. hopefully the warm weekend will spur them on so I can plant them out next weekend.

Evening
welcome Lonely - its tough when you have shorter summers - you need to check varieties a little more carefully, and adapt what you grow for your conditions .
I have been out gadding today. So warm , that I went to check on the greenhouse, and even though I watered before going out, a couple of the baby plants had drooped rather. Hoping the extra dowsing they got will be enough. Other than that, the aubergines and tomatoes seem to have put on a bit of a growth spurt at long last , but still small . This little bit of heat should hopefully turbo charge them .
ah Grouchy - what a shame about the blossom. Last year my plum and gage were flowering in the middle of a few days of heavy frost -, so not a single fruit. I am a bit more hopeful this year. My apple tree is only just coming out now .
I do a sort of no dig for my squashes and courgettes. I ladle loads of manure on top of the bed, and plant them through it. They tend to cover most of the bed in short order once they get going, so fairly effective ground cover too :)

Onions are poking through today, just popped down for a good old watering. Picked up a couple of packets of runner beans 49p Lidl, alongside some Horton Citrus garden gin yum! Ordered the polytunnel online so hopefully we'll be erecting it next week 😆 In other news took the dog for her jabs today for upcoming jollies in June! Happy days!

Carrot seedlings are also in fine fettle 😊

I think I have at last worked out the PSB cage thingy. The two arches will be constructed from some plastic flexible water pipe and a hula hoop. I may need a third so will have to have another rummage. I cleared most of the bed for this today and my artichokes. On the way back from the plot I was attacked by a very angry buzzy thing. I think it might have been a bee as I was walking close to the hives. It kind of got caught in my hair. I must have looked a right idiot hitting myself around my head with my gardening gloves and trowel. It stung me on the scalp, left and then continued to keep dive bombing me for 100 yards. It does not seem to be true that a bee dies when it stings you, although it could have been some other buzzy creature. Dangerous stuff this plotmenting!

Hello- found you all- thanks book. Apple blossom on its way and cherry, but nothing doing on (3) plum trees or the pear. I think I am particularly bad at plums- is any one a plum expert. Is it me or them??

Could it have been a wasp elephant? I’ve saw one today which surprised me. Are they the queens out looking for nest sites?

Morning all, thanks for the new thread Book.

Not much plot the last few days week. Life and weather getting in the way. Well. The wedding stuff anyway. But am having a few hours up there today. Want to get main crop potatoes in.

Seedlings at home finally showing some signs of life. Though I forgot to zip the mini greenhouse up last night so hoping it wasn't too cold last night.

Did a bit of pottering at home on friday. Planted the sweet peas into their big pots before dp fills them with bought in bedding plants. And some what I think is petunias but lost the label and can't remember. And thinned the tray of cosmos out. I am rubbish at it though so some of my pots might have baby cosmos 'given a chance' dotted in them 🙈.

As well as potatoes I want to start the A frames for beans today. I want 1 for runners and 2 for french at least. My beds are 1.2 x 1.2 so will only be small A frames. I think it will be enough though. Last year I had 2 runner wigwams with about 12 plants around each. And 2 french beans abouts the same amount of plants. Will need to have a look once plants are in.

I have a quite big plum tree (8 years old) out front (czar?) it is covered in blossom this year, fingers crossed. Apple out front: nothing. The red pear williams I moved last spring (poor thing has been moved twice) has blossom coming too. Last years bramley I never potted out has blossom, but I'm not expecting fruit this year as it will be put in its forever home in the next few weeks. Fruit trees are very much a long game for me.

I know my blossom comes very late so far north, but I think the season is extra late this year.

Digging today (again), and potting on the expensive blueberries from Marshalls that arrived on friday. They are such beautiful healthy plants, covered in flowers. I'm glad I went for established plants, not cheap baby ones that don't fruit for 5 years.

My Mirabelle plum is 6 and has just had its first ever decent amount of blossom. Not loads, but more than the 5 flowers last year, we’re on the south coast and it finished a week a week or so ago. One of my cherry trees has loads as does one of the apples. The other however has one little cluster but it tends to produce biannually and I pruned it last year heavily so expected that.

I’m crap with blueberries. Dug them up and put them in pots this year but they still don’t look happy. Newly transplanted rhubarb is doing ok, strawberries that were on the plot when I got it are starting to flower and so is one of my Aldi currants.

Chucked a load more stuff in the propagator yesterday and found leek seeds I’m going to sow today.

Post Blueberries like acidic soil so adding some ericaceous compost might help, if you've not done that already.

Morning All, and what a beautiful morning it is. And welcome, newbies.

booky thanks for lovely new thread. May this one be filled with blossoms and harvests.

I have been quite industrious the past few mornings. I've done quite quite a bit of work at the plot, redoing paths and making my last new bed (rip BenSquash). It's almost finished - just needs a last bash of any last mud lumps. And I've planted put my first things - some green mange tout. After frantic sowing of all legumey things, I seem to have a bit of an oversupply so was happy to risk a few outside. I'm also hardening off my first courgettes so they can go out soon too. And I have more more on the way. I've not sown winter squash yet - I may well do that today.

What goes hiss? As I have one... I have a bit bin shaped ceramic planter that I inherited on my plot - I use it for storing things , so I have my canes, some black membrane rolled up and my watering cans go in there too. And when I dropped dropped my cans in yesterday, it went hiss. Then I had forgotten to water my mange tout so I had had to get the cans out again - and when I put them back it went hiss again. Then I kicked it to see if it would hiss, and it did. Eeeek. Surely not a snake?

Forgot to say - the hiss pot was in at the shady end - it gets no sun there. It's near some trees so is akin to woodland margins, and is very near a tiny pond bit off a small stream, wih plenty of grassland. The pot itself is in long grass as I never mow at the plot.

ANY IDEAS?

I think possibly a snake! How exciting zebra we keep snakes can you carefully empty the pot to get a peek? If it is I'd call local wildlife people or the rspca? to come and relocate it. I don't think we're allowed to touch native snakes. It might be hibernating, so could well move on in this warm weather anyway.

Been digging, ugh. This soil has never been turned. Thick with ground elder, which I've picked and fed to the chickens. My 3 ex bats (the only ones tame enough to recatch, and my bantams can fly) are currently bug clearing while I grab a coffee.

Do you Lonely ? I am very wildlife friendly, but I fear that snakes might be my line. Not that I'd hurt o e - I'd never do that, but I'd prefer it not to be there... I'm not sure that I'd be brave enough to have a look. I've stuck my head over and saw nothing, but it was quite dark in the shade. I'd be worried that it would
be folded up in the weed material, or curled around my canes, or that I'd somehow end up flinging it in my own face.

Do both grass snakes and adders hiss, do you know? I think they do. Would a snake hibernate in a shady spot, don't they like sunny places?

Afternoon!
everybody out there enjoying the sun I hope. -
Me - early to the plot, covered up and slathered in suncream, got back home at 11.30 - not such a working in the sun lover here. Gosh its hot!!
elephant - sounds like a plan. being folk who hang onto things which 'may come in useful' - we started protecting brassicas using the old plastic tubing from the frame of our DD's Wendy house from circa 1990 - we still have them as occasionally useful to lift up hoops higher
I think with all fruit blossom, the weather is a bit critical at times - and that includes when the plant is making new growth the previous year .
Cath - poor pear trees - are they they ones that turned up last year, and one was in a bucket? They may just need a bit of time to get their roots settled in - fingers crossed anyway for next year.
ooh snake Spotted ? wow !
I have been weeding and sorting the strawberry beds this morning. They are full of flower, so wanted them weed free and fed , ready to straw up and net this coming week. I only used some chicken pellets that had been given to me, and they got a load of manure last year, so they should be okay. Lots of bees around , and less welcome, a very annoying cabbage white, which means I had better put some netting over my seedlings here at home.
I dug up a cauliflower, then realised I'd left a bigger one in the next row some perennial cauliflower, which look remarkably like sprouting broccoli ( but does taste of cauliflower) and cut some asparagus . We need to go back this afternoon, DH and I, as we are picking up a couple of palletts to redo our manure bin/heap , but will go much later due to the heat .

My blueberries look very sad. I think I might have to invest is something more established too. I had 3 from Parker And Rhodes I think it is that had leaves coming but they looked pretty dried up and dead today. 3 from Poundland that never did anything but are still green so have ignored them. And one I bought from B and M that looks ok. For now.

They have had BF and Bone. And some acidic fertiliser. Didn't put them in eracious soil so probably that they are sulking over. Hmph.

Out of the 18 rasperry canes I put out there is just one that I don't think will grow. So that's good. And DPs random grape vines ge bought last year seem to be coming back to life.

Got a bed of main crop spuds in today. And 4 more strawberry plants. Need to get those netted according to another plot holder as the birds and mice apparantly scoff them.

Welcome whatwould I have a toddler ( baby last summer) so am finding time is more limited! However my toddler does enjoy our plot but slows things down considerably!

Hoping to go tomorrow and sort out the fruit cage.