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

Last of the potatoes pulled to make way for other things. A reasonable amount from a 30 x 60 cm bed. I think I'm going to stick just to earlies next year though.

Lifted the last of my 6 shaws of Arran Pilot. Barely any potatoes and lots of not even marbles Had to riddle a couple of King Edwards to have enough for dh and ds for supper (have 6 shaws of King Edwards plus 2 potato bags with 3 seed potatoes in one and 2 in the other). It's fortunate I'm on a HFLC Way of Eating so only dh and ds eat the potatoes except at Christmas , given how poor the harvest has been!

The runner beans are doing well - picked one that I'd missed that had curled around the frame and hidden itself. Also picked some curly kale but ended up not having any for supper. Pick the lower leaves and come again seems to be working well with the kale.

Still no sign of flowers on my Romanesco cauliflowers

I may try planting some more beetroot in the half bed cleared of potatoes. Or some cavolo Nero.

Lovely harvest photos. I’ve been a bit down about mine as between the chickens and dust from the builders and the dry weather and an overwhelming black fly infestation- I’ve not had anything to show really. However, the greenhouse is doing ok, lots of tomatoes and some are finally ripening, huge chilli haul and the first little green lanterns on my physalis. Very excited about that as haven’t grown them before. I do need to plan better next year and put in a watering system into the raised bed as it is very free draining.

I’m going to give up on the thornless blackberry that I nurture every year and every year it fruits a bit and they all go mouldy. Any suggestions for a more productive variety? Thorns are fine if I also get fruit !

Evening
lovely harvests - miles better potatoes than I have managed.
I do love french beans , I freeze a lot.
Cath - sometimes it feels as if everything is going wrong doesn't it. But its been a very tough year so far for everyone ( farmers as well) , and the blackfly has truly been a menace for me - I dug up all my broad beans, and they are having a go at my sprouts now , which I am trying very hard to keep on top of. I did see quite a lot of ladybirds on them the other day, just hope they survive and chomp away.
I can't help on the blackberry - its the one thing DH won't have due to thuggishness ( we had one in our old garden , and it was a menace) . I make do with bartering for mine :)
No plot today , but have just spent some time in the cool pricking out winter cabbages /cauliflowers /spring greens . It seems wrong somehow to be sorting these in a heatwave, but need to have some crops for winter/early spring .
I have also been trying to sort out a drip watering system in my greenhouse . I'm away for a long weekend , and everything is in full growing/ripening. Its a bit fiddly - too little, or too much ! I have a few days to ( hopefully ) get it right

Well, earlier in the year I was wishing for a glut and feel it's safe to say I got my wish! Courgette and lemon cake on the cards tomorrow. I'll make it in a loaf tin then slice and freeze.

We had runner beans, broad beans, french beans and courgette last night, all braised with roasted tomatoes and herbs. All from the plot.

Everyone was made to say how lovely it was about 5 times.

Evening!
well, another day of watering, and back this evening to more watering.
At least it is cooler now , but I'm keeping fingers crossed we get some proper rain over the next couple of days.
I dug up more sad potatoes, some green and purple beans ,( though they have slowed down a lot now.) Found 5 Runner beans! . More courgettes , and a little bit of calabrese and a lettuce . DH doesn't eat lettuce, so I am a bit green around the gills
I picked aubergines , tomatoes and peppers out of the greenhouse - at last able to start making sauces to freeze :)

Looks yummy.

It’s so lovely to look at all the harvests.
I’m back on the thread after a big gap - slowly grappling our wild garden into submission still!
Not much on the veg front this year, but we have had a spectacular year for fruit in large quantities:

morello cherries, red plums, blackberries, apples picked.
damsons and pears ready to pick
greengages and wild cherry plums almost there
Quince tree amazing, fruit slowly getting larger

I have enjoyed making fruit leather for the first time - apple and blackberry - and the dcs love it. Free fruit probably overrided by having the oven on lowest setting for 2 days in a row though....anyone tried with a dehydrator? I feel happy that we have a jar of this for prepping purposes, though, and lots more flavours planned.

Sweet peas for the first time have been a great success too - directly in soil rather than in pots which I’ve always done before. Also calendula. The house is full of little jars of fresh flowers!

Currently awaiting cherry toms (doing well) , black krim toms and padron peppers in greenhouse (not hopeful as progressing really slowly).
Mini cucumbers and courgettes in pots doing ok.

More photos

And more!

@quince2figs - have a dehydrator. Was plotting bramble jam but excellent idea to make fruit leather with it. Dd demolishes any I make.

How long does the dehydrator take for a tray of fruit leather, bellinisurge? I may be a tiny bit obsessed with planning new flavours (peach, mango and apricot/quince/pear and cinnamon/plum and damson)......Not sure the kitchen can cope with yet another gadget though.
I was interested to read the views on grow your own on the Preppers topic (which I know you are very active on). So far I have lots of tins, no bottled water, but a huge stock of fruit leather.......may need some work!
If I can get some kale, chard, leeks, brassicas going for winter crops, at least they don’t need extra storage.

It depends on the thickness of the fruit. Never more than 8 hours in my experience. Usually less.

Hi- can I join please? We don't have an allotment but have a large corner of our garden dedicated to growing and the greenhouse

Evening!
quince - fabulous pics , lovely flowers.
Well, cool today, at long last , but still no rain. It is now forecast for Sunday .
Only popped to water today, and to give courgettes away - and got tomatoes back in swaps . I also cut a big armful of lavender. to take tomorrow - I am away to a wedding and offered to take some , as I have an enormous shrub which is abundant at the moment .
I made courgette and cheese soda bread today , I haven't done it before, so thats hopefully another recipe to use :)

Thanks bellini. Sounds good!
The soda bread sound delicious, book, was it?
I am de-weeding areas for winter planting today

Good morning all! 'Back from holidays last night. The garden is flowering madly and lots of cherry tomatoes to pick in my pots on the wall. It is pouring, with thunder and lightning forecast for this afternoon, I may be able to venture to the plot this evening, if the weather calms down.

Welcome pinkrose you're the same as me - our garden is our allotment!

Your flower arrangemetns look lovely quince

Updates from me:
-We now have several squash after worrying we wouldn't have any

• Tomatoes are in full swing now. San marzano and orange queen have been a disappointment this year (blossom end rot and small fruits) but the gardeners delight and craigella are fantastic.
• Unlike many of you, our french and runner beans are going like the clappers - not been as hot here as the rest of the UK (for once a benefit!)
• our lavendar bush has gone crazy this year too book! I tried to count the number of bumblebees on it the other day but lost count after 25
• need to start thinking about sowing some winter greens this weekend. PSB, swede, celeriac, parsnips, leeks and cavolo nero are all in the ground and well established.

Hello all, I just wanted to ask this question in an anonymous forum before possibly going public. What do you think about the use of glycophate and similar weedkillers on plots?

Two of my neighbouring plots are vacant and totally overgrown. Mine was too and I have dug out every piece of couch, bindweed, dandelions all the rest by hand. Now one new plot holder has plans to spray his plot. It will drift over everything I am growing. This stuff is on the brink of being declared carcinogenic by the WHO! I think I would bin my crops if nearby had been recently sprayed.

So, should I raise this with the allotment FB page? I think I should at least be notified of nearby spraying so I can make an informed decision. Am I about to start a massive bun fight?

My dwarf purple french beans have done well, i've been picking little and often and we have a bag full in the freezer now. Tomatoes are all coming along now.

We have loads of chillis too, on the plants both inside and out, still very green though, but much more successful than last year when we had a grand total of 2, not even 1 per plant!

Well I made it to my plot this evening, almost between showers, I got soaked on the way back and have started to harvest the holiday glut. I hope the cucumbers will still taste ok, I normally pick them at half that size. I will take the wheel barrow along tomorrow for the courgettes and beans . However I am very excited that I have 2 outdoor melons that are already a good size. Belleend I would approach the allotment committee and ask about clearance. Ours are run by the Town council and are in demand so rarely get very overgrown but we do pay a deposit that is non returnable if the ground has to be cleared by mechanical means.

Thanks @clarabellski
I have ripped out the peas that had gone over tonight and the half eaten lettuces- what do people use to stop them being eaten?!
Thinking of sowing stuff for winter this weekend- any one have an recommendations? This will be my first winter of growing.
I have attached a pic of the bed to give an idea of size :)

Chard is good to sow now.

pinkrose hi, I am looking for recommendations for what to sow now, too.
We are usually deluged with slugs, being very overgrown and on clay - but so dry that I haven’t seen ANY this summer.
The pea and lettuce you have just pulled would make an amazing frenchified soup, sautéed with some leek or spring onion, and blended with a drop of cream and stock.