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

Oh I wish I had some nasturtium now, note to self for next year ! Just been out to greenhouse and planted out basil plant picked up with last night’s shop and some more rooted sweet potato slips. Soil in greenhouse is absolutely rubbish somwill need to work on that for next year.

Neighbour getting rid is a dalek so that will go to allotment and fill gradually with manure to rot down for next year. Beetroot and fennel seeds just starting to germinate . Friend text to say she’s going away so help myself to beans and courgettes if I haven’t got too many already ! I want a few more herbs for garden so next job.

I'll have to try nasturtiums next year I think. I have sprayed with washing up liquid and knocked off the blackfly but they're still there. Then I saw the ladybird and wondered whether the washing up liquid would also kill off the ladybird larvae. Anyway, we still have beans.

Yesterday I weeded round the broccoli and there's not much sign of a head yet. I think they're calabrese. They're probably going to time it to all come while we're on holiday.

This weekend we need to harvest rest of our first earlies and also the onions. Noticed that Monty Don's were looking lovely and green still on Gardener's World this week. Mine are well and truly over. Not massive this year - in fact a few are tiny. They definitely needed a bit more watering than we gave them.

Overcast today - might we actually get some rain?

Simlar story with nasturiums here! They are great pest diversion and look so pretty too (the blackfly tends to hide on the stems/under leaves)

Book those aubergines look amazing!!!! What variety did you plant?

We have a grand total of 2 fruit set on our 2 bushes! A couple of small flowers growing but I think 2 will be our lot. But they are so exotic that I forgive them for the low yield!

Our red onions (autumn sown) have gone over but we're just pulling them up as we need them at the moment. They are massive compared to last year.

Got around 100 spring sown shallots drying out in a cold frame at the moment. They went over a week or so ago (must be all this good weather). First time I've grown shallots - it was so ridiculously easy that I'm definitely going to keep that in the repetoire.

Afternoon!
I think nasturtiums are on my list too - I did have a small pot of them at home, never thought to take them down to the plot

Had a quick trip up to water today , determinedly, I didn't pick anything, as I hadn't the time, but tomorrow morning I will have the odd courgette ....
clara - I have 2 aubergine plants - the picture further up thread is a new one to me called Jackpot - it was described as early, vigorous , and prolific over a long period , useful for picking young. So as I never get many , usually 3 or 4 ( thats Yorkshire for you!) I gave them a go - it has been everything they say . I picked 2 today, ( ones probably a bit small mind ) after watering. There are so far about another 8/10 set and growing well . I also have Black Beauty , which is also an early one , though that one is about 10/14 days behind on fruiting, but has about 7/8 set ( the other pic )
I am thinking the weather suits them!

My onions and shallots are tiny, they were planted out late and just haven't really grown. Very frustrating, but there's time yet.

I love nasturtiums, so pretty and tasty too. Again mine are struggling in the heat though. Broad beans, strawberries, raspberries and blackcurrants are my only real successes so far.

I did a weeding session on Weds. The long tap roots just lift out of the dry dust! Never has weeding been so easy. Our soil tends to set hard in summer (clay) but it's so, so dry now.

We have rain

We had rain today too. Lasted about 30s. I was in the car and didn't even need to put the wipers on

White onion crop is pulled and drying, reds need a little longer. Bean fest is jogging along nicely.

Yay, finally had some rain overnight!

No rain here. Apart from a very brief flicker yesterday afternoon.

Had an hour on plot today. Picked more runners, first of the french beans, 2 green and 1 yellow courgette, 3 green sweet peppers which was a surprise as I thought they were chilli plants, 2 black chillis and a couple of finger chillis. Oh and 4 mini cucumbers. Whoever suggested wrapping them in plastic thank you. They stay firm for much longer. Am enjoying the smaller sized cucumbers, one is just enough for a salad for us all.

The mystery lemon cucumber has 1 small fruit on it at the moment, and about a billion flowers.

Those aubergines look fab book!. Am weljel, I love aubergines. Jamie oliver has a lovely aubergine pasta dish if you are stuck for recipes.

Everything else is doing OK. Some of the apples look a bit scabby though, need to have a proper look tomorrow.

Am I right in thinking I need to be sowing spring cabbage about now? Need to have rifle through my seed stash and see what we have. Also want to do some more lettuce and possibly beetroot.

Second earlies look floppy so will potentially have another big bed free soon! It seems so early to have empty beds so might as well fill them.

Lots of weeding to do tomorrow though it has been so dry we are only really getting them in the beds we are watering. And even that seems to be a bit half hearted.

I also started stripping back some leaves on the bush tomatoes. Lots and lots of trusses underneath I didn't realise were there. And a few are starting to blush so will soon have an influx.

Courgette and lemon drizzzle cake tomorrow. And maybe some ratatoullie (can never spell it). I love the stuff. Dh is not a fan but hoping ds likes it. And dd just decided to be vegetarian so will be handy to have some portions in the freezer.

Squash overload! Blackberries and French beans producing at a much more manageable rate. Peas appear to be flowering again after not seeming to do much for weeks after first harvest. Also found 2 'courgettes' that were well hidden and got missed!

I love the look of those patty pan squash Tiz do you cook the same as courgettes?
Tonight I have heard lots of plot gossip from my plot neighbour across from me. Competition between plotmenters about 'In bloom'. It sounds like it maybe runner beans may be drawn at dawn, a guy possibly with SEN who wanders in and sits on any vacant chairs and if anyone was on the last thread.............Grumpy Ron who has the plot next to me (and lets me use his 'private' tap) apparently has a thing for me.

Yes, I treat them pretty much the same as courgettes, have roasted or chargrilled them mostly.

This was today's haul. Dug up 3 shaws of Arran Pilot Only got a few potatoes ; ended up having to riddle some King Edwards in order to have enough for dinner for 3 (as I'm on a HFLC diet, I didn't need any).

Green veg consisted of broad beans, runner beans (just a few) and purple podded peas.

Lamb was flavoured with garlic and rosemary from the garden

Made a starter of tzatziki using the cucumber from the greenhouse, plus hone grown garlic, and some panfried courgette flowers stuffed with cheese - cream cheese and Boursin plus herbs from the garden (chives, basil, oregano and garlic). Finished off with a summer pudding with fruit from the garden.

Sounds delicious prettybird invite me next time please.

1st cucumber plucked! We've another two well on their way. My potatoes are flowering too.

Oh! It's early but looking towards winter already. It'll be our 1st so we're figuring ground coverage... any tips/ideas on weedkillers? I don't know if we'll go down that road or not yet. But I'd love some thoughts on how you all trudge through your winter set ups?

Morning!
Just back from over 2 hours watering and picking at the plot. Glad to be back indoors . And forecast to be hotter next week

elephnat - an admirer - I bet you are thrilled !
Frouby - yes, I will be setting off spring greens this afternoon :) I did an emergency sowing of winter/spring cauliflowers yesterday, as the ones I tried to get going got fried a couple of weeks ago . These I am keeping on my cooler north facing kitchen windowsill, with the hopes they will germinate more easily. I'm doing more beetroot , and some spinach too.
pretty - there is nothing quite like the joy of bringing food to the table that you have grown , and know its all due to your own endeavours :)
Flying - I'm a bit of a digger and mulcher . So as the crops come out of the ground in autumn , I weed, fork over and cover with a thick layer of rotted manure . I try to do that over as big an area as possible. I also use winter to bring into cultivation extra space. So this year it will be the grass paths between beds which will be going, and the spare grass near the shed will have raised beds put on them . Well, thats the plan anyway. I like to get everything done as much as possible by end of February . As the winter/spring crops are harvested, I do the same , so (hopefully!) by the end of March I am tidy and ready to go . Fingers crossed .Winter is when I catch up!
I watered well today - 20 watering cans- but will go back later with DH to do a good job with the squashes . We have this thing called a whale, which fits in the wheelbarrow, but it takes 2 of us to use and tip .
Harvested courgettes, purple and green beans , the 2 sad little caulis that are trying to bolt , and little bits of calabrese ,( ditto) ,
Loganberries and sweet peas .

We had rain on Friday - gentle rain for several hours. It hardly made any difference to the ground. Digging and weeding yesterday you wouldn't know it had rain at all.

We dug up our first earlies - Arran Pilot. They've done well. There's a bit of slug damage but good sized spuds overall. Also harvested most of the onions - some a shallot sized this year not nearly as good a haul as last year.

Flying Monkeys - we will also be manuring as much as possible for the winter. And putting down tarpaulins on anything that is bare. I've tried green manure before and that worked quite well too. Last year there were two small beds next to each other - one covered, the other open. It took about an hour to dig over the covered one. The other took me several hours as the grass had taken over.

there has been no rain here , and none forecast for about another week .
Just got back after watering the squashes , and DH went around putting tiles underneath the bigger ones, so they don't sit on the soil. Pic is if the biggest 2 on the Autumn Crown . I have about 9 set so far ( off 8 plants ) including a tiny butternut :) ( the plant is small too , but at least its healthy looking, its just not put out any runners ) . After picking some loganberries this morning , I picked just as many this afternoon , which I'd missed !

I threw some dwarf nasturtiums seeds in late May and forget about them and am thrilled with them, they're thriving, along with the zinnia and cosmos.
Lots of tomatoes and runner beans, and my strawbs are flowering which I'm thrilled about.
Sick of watering, takes me at least an hour every day!
Lovely photos as usual.

Been away for weekend so been down to plotnand not long back. Froend away fir a bit and said help myself to beans and courgettes if I wanted so went over to her plot. Her sweet peas were starting to go to seed so stripped the flowers off them to keep them going , her tomatoes looked sad so they got water along with beans. Found about 5 very large cucumbers. She didn’t mention them but figured if left they would be likely to stop the plant producing and we’re gett8ng to size where they go funny, so picked them plus beams and courgettes to keep them going.

Then got the beans and courgettes from my plot along with 2 very large bags of spinach and some sweet peas. Needed DH’s help to deal with it all when I git back.

No idea if we had rain as wasn’t here. Didn’t look like it but hopefully it did as Una got some!

Friend’s allotment very productive and soil seems better than mine, think the chicken bedding she’s been adding really paid off as all very productive. I’m definitely adding things in the Autumn. My first pumpkin is starting to go orange.

I think winter work and manure etc are my big allotment fails and it shows this year. I didn't get the plot completely clear last autumn so I was behind from the start in spring (I'm mainly en evening gardener so hardly get up there between Oct and March). Then getting organic material up there is a problem, there is no car access to the plots so you can't get it delivered (also nowhere by the parking that you could have it dumped and then move it, theres just a narrow grassy path from the access road). So it has to be bought in sacks and carried or barrowed ftom the car, which is very expensive and I haven't bothered much in the last year or so. I need to address these problems somehow next winter.

It's raining here in Glasgow!

....but even a few hours rain and am not holding my breath that this will last that long is just getting slurped up by the top 1cm of earth and going no deeper

This was my haul last night (MN wouldn't let me post the photo). I picked the first few courgettes. The raspberries are nearly over and that was the last of the blackcurrants the pigeons got most of them I've still got some redcurrants to pick (3/4 netted so the pigeons can only get at some of them) and then I'll make some redcurrant jelly.

Evening all
WhoKnows - Is it worth thinking of chicken manure pellets, or even the concentrated manure in bags ( though I don't know how that works out cost wise ) .
pretty welcome to the courgette corner!
we had a blackish cloud today, that was the nearest we got to rain. Waited until 5 to go and water, but still so so hot. Was really only watering , but you have to keep picking ......