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

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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

Another day another courgette :-) It's been turned into fritters and eaten already though so still keeping on top of production nicely.

Also a few more beetroot which I'm going to turn into wedges tonight and more alpine strawberries. Just enough to add to some yoghurt.

I love the harvest pics too. That looks great Belleende!

A few plot pics, pumpkin, hops and grapevine. Very pleased with grapevine as was free, as was the pot and the supports are from my tree .

I have a courgette and mange tout backlog and need to get cooking. My spinach is in quite a shady spot but noticed the rainbow chard in the same bed but more in the sun is bolting, I think it’s just too hot for them.

I have to say I'm quite envious of the courgette gluts. My plants are being very slow, and on one of them the leaves have gone brown and shrivelled away, though it is still producing flowers.

Zebra I've tossed them in the freezer too at this point. The plan is for juice concentrate, jam and muffins. It will depend on how much I get from the second harvest.

Post I'll have to try planting some spinach in a shadier patch. Thanks for the idea.

if I get a glut (not quite there yet) I freeze quite a bit. shredded or in chunks in small portions ready to use.

Today's crop - picked the cucumber (17cm long), a few new potatoes from the one shaw that had been damaged and a few others riddled from the surface (memo to self: must give the potatoes a good water) and the first of the purple podded peas (barring the one pod I tried yesterday).

Still to pick today's raspberries: expect to get about 150g (doing little and often so that the pigeons don't get attracted by too many red raspberries)

Now have one small green courgette on my (large) plant. Presumably that means the glut is on its way

Tried loading with the photo but it wouldn't let me

Have to share a photo of my chioggia beetroot wedges before putting them in the oven - they're just so pretty

They ARE so pretty!

very pretty and probably very tasty!

Lovely pictures of harvests!
We are picking raspberries regularly at the moment. We also dug up one of our first earlies (arran pilot) and it had about 16 potatoes there. Some were quite small, some a good size. I'll dig up some more in the next day or two.
The shallots are ready to come up, some of the onions also look ready - not particularly big this year, probably the lack of water. Some of our garlic didn't actually split so we have some smallish bulbs which are now just one big clove. Good job we like garlic! Interesting that some split and some didn't. We had quite a few frosts last winter as well.
My squashes have got nearly as far as flowers. Nothing set yet.

Those beetroot are so pretty! I'm going to grow some next year.

Bit jealous of some of your lovely pictures. We live high up in the Peak District and I usually blame the short growing season. This year I shall blame the lack of water. My pumpkin is only just flowering!!! Lots of raspberries though

Afternoon!
not only are Chioggia pretty - as shown by tiz , but they are our favourite for flavour too.
Belle - it is such satisfaction wresting food out of the ground - looks fabulous!
Post - isn't free stuff great , lovely pumpkin too .
I went to the plot this morning - had DH and DD with me , so I set DD to work picking raspberries, and DH to water at one end of the plot, where the squashes are. I did the other end where the courgettes are.
I didn't pick courgettes yesterday - ( just dashed in to water) .
So - 5 courgettes today , raspberries , a couple of little calabrese heads , a few peas , sweet peas and dahlias. A couple of my perpetual spinach plants had bolted, so brought the plants home to strip the leaves.
Definitely too hot for proper spinach - mine all bolted, and DH then weeded out all these little weeds ( second succession sowing) the other week .......
DH found 3 squashes that have set - 2 on te 'autumn crown' and 1 on the crown prince, the butternut squashes are sulking, they haven't really got going on the growing front yet .

More purple french beans and a courgette today.

It almost looked like we might have a storm and some rain earlier but it passed. Watering is taking up so much time at the moment and I think it's going to be almost impossible to keep the soil moist for germinating things.

We actually had rain yesterday. Actual proper rain. For about 20 minutes. Hard (probably drowned a view seedlings at the plot). I had to resist the urge to dash over there and attack slugs and snails! (Had to take DD to her violin lesson instead).

It didn't last long and then it got very hot again and about and hour later you'd never have known it had rained at all.

The beetroot I planted at home has all germinated.

I lucky you are yo have had rain, Cedar ! We had a cloud yesterday, but it soon went. I'm I ma bit bored of watering now, especially at the allotment where I am regretting planting so many courgettes and squash. My squash are all behind yours it seems, although they're all butternut type iirc. They don't have a flower between them yet.

In exciting news, my first tomato is nearly ripe. A hanging basket one. And another not far behind. May there be many more.

And I am nowhere near yet having a bean either, although I do have flowers. I'm only really picking fruit actually. Strawbs desiccated finished now, and tays and loganberries nearly over too. My first summer rasps are in, but the leaves are very yellow and there are a lot of worms. I'm contemplating cutting the lot down, in an effort to preserve my forest of autumn rasps.

Ooh, and the plot next to me appears to be available again. So I am contemplating it, again.
If I got rid of the grass paths, it might just be doable. I could have a cutting patch!

Afternoon!
tiz - glorious beans again - mine are no where near yet - flowers yes, beans no so far
Cedar - rain , RAIN

Definitely up for a raindance! Ground is cracking here :(

One reason I chose Sungold tomatoes (along with San Marzano and Gardener's delight) is that I'd heard they were early and they have lived up to expectations - we've had a handful of precocious ones but they are now properly ripening, while the others are still very green.

Redcurrants are looking good, have been googling redcurrant recipes (I fancy a cheesecake). Had our first blackberries but they could do with a few more days I think.

Beans are racing up the poles, no sign of flowers yet but hopefully not too much longer. And I have my very first baby courgette forming at last!

Yay for baby courgettes.

It's got quite dark here, but it's not forecast to actually rain. I've tried to invoke the law of sod by going out and watering everything but doesn't seem to have worked.

Just been out to check for slugs and found this little fella guarding the courgettes

I am so jealous of those raspberries! I have 3 dwarf plants but hardly had any fruit off them - as in I can see 3 raspberries, 1 is bad deformed the other 2 are very green so hopefully in the next few days they manage to change colour. Unfortunately no other sign of fruit.

Yesterday as I was making some sort of frame for my ever growing tomato plants, I noticed that I have 4 small green tomatoes. I am so proud as I have grown these plants from seeds and have managed not to kill them! I have so far managed to grow around 21 plants! My MIL seems to think I have gone mad growing them all but I have decided that I want to make my own tomato based sauces and freeze whatever I do not use fresh!

My baby corn, cabbages, beetroot, runner beans and carrots seem to be doing okay. Only have a couple of each due to not having a allotment but big grow bags at the bottom of my garden.

I have a courgette plant that seems to be growing but there is no sign of a courgette - I only planted it a few weeks go - will it be next year before I see a courgette or am I being inpatient?

I have never really gown things so am rather pleased with myself! (in the past tomatoes but only last year ate them)

I've now got 1.3kg of raspberries - 2 more days and I'll have enough for a batch of jam - pretty pleased given that quite a few of the "good" canes had been sacrificed to put in the greenhouse (they were transplanted but I had to sacrifice this year's canes ).

Had very few slugs this year - think it is a combination of the dry weather and this...... (Pictures taken in cApril beside downstairs' neighbours' pond on the other half of our shared garden)

Morning!
tiz - love that little slug guard! and pretty all those frogs - you lucky thing . I have water in two different areas in my garden ( for birds) and last year I had 1 frog. I haven't seen any this year , though hardly surprising I suppose. He hid in one of the tomato bags in the greenhouse :)
Una - I do Sungold and San Marzano too ( and St Pierre ) -the Sungold are just starting that really pale green , which hopefully means I will have some soon ....
I made summer pudding last night. The raspberries at home are just coming into full flow, so along with those from the plot I have a nice surplus coming hopefully to freeze , but the whole family love fresh raspberries , so there are not often that many left!
I have to get my jam pan out shortly and get going too.
owl - sounds as if all is going really well ! What are your raspberries in and are they new canes this year? You should get courgettes this year - they don't overwinter , so patience I'm afraid . You need to feed and water well, and hopefully have them in a nice bright area. They need to start producing flowers , you can't miss them !