Allotment?Veg Patch Thread 13! Are we weathering the weather?

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well, we have got to August , had heatwaves and thunderstorms. Goodness knows what happens next!
All welcome to join in sharing the highs and lows , tips and experiences of growing your own :)
Previous thread HERE

Hello Scottish, So we've finally heard back and the news isn't great! Parish council offered 10.5k and we were pipped by an offer of 18k. We don't know who the buyer is or what their plans are. There's 15yrs before planning permission will be reviewed so we're hopefull it's someone looking for future development vs land usage now. Possibly we'll get to stay in situ with a realistic rent vs our annual £8 😁

Oh no flying, that really isn't the best news. Hopefully you'll get to stay put for a while. Are there any more allotments locally that you could look to moving to if you need to?

I can't go and officially view my potential allotment plot until Sunday morning, but went to have a nosey through the fence today. Looks great. It's a bit overgrown, but looks like mostly old crops. Also has a little shed, which is a bit wonky but I'm sure will be fixed with a little TLC. It's surrounded by really well tended plots, so I'm hoping me new neighbours will be willing to share some wisdom.

Went to the library today and took out a bagful of allotment books. Wondering how many people used raised beds? Most things I'm reading say they're easier to manage, but none of my allotment neighbours (near the fence I could get to) seem to have them so maybe I'm mistaken (or the books are lying). Off to clear the pumpkin patch in the back garden and to rake some leaves. While we were away my last pumpkin which was almost ripe has been taken off the plant and moved across the garden. Must have been a huge animal.

pyjamas There's another lot of plots about the same distance away from us but they're part of the next village so we'd be back of the list behind any locals. I had a look online and in 2010 there were 34 people on their waiting list. We've also seem a sign in a village 15mins away that are actively desperate for new plot holders. I'm just devastated to lose a 5min walk away and all our lovely fellow holders. Sods bloody law! The allotments have been there over 70yrs, we've had our plot less than a year and they sell the buggers!... On the topic of raised beds that's what we went with and they've been really good.

How disappointing Flying Monkeys about the plots. I wonder how long it will be before you find out who has bought them?

Pyjamas your new plot sounds very promising. Raised beds can be very good - lots of people use them. They take a bit more work at the start to get going - because you have to build them and fill with soil/manure/compost. Once you have built them they are a harder work to dismantle if you decide you want to change the layout of the beds. So I suppose the important part is to plan well - they want to be the right size so that you can reach across to the middle without having to walk all over your beds. We don't use them in our plot at the moment but might build some in the future.

scottishdaisy - that sounds like an adventure! One thing to watch out for on rural plots is rabbits and making sure they don't decimate your crops.

Nothing much to report here. The closest I've got to the plot in the last couple of weeks is to peer over the fence at it the other day (it's still there and the magic digging fairy hasn't appeared to dig it for me!). My new strawberry plants arrived a couple of days ago so I am going to chuck them in this afternoon once I've finished work as they are bare rooted and need to go in.

Well Cedar my magic digging fairy did turn up today aka DM with my asaparagus crowns. We pulled of the black polythene that was covering the bed. She forked over the soil and we cleared loads of bindweed that had come to the surface I then dug the trenches and the manure in all ready for planting tomorrow.

Afternoon all
Glorious day , and back to the plot digging for the first time since Tuesday, and no magic digging fairy came to mine either

Did a good amount though, and generally plodding on. I did find 2 volunteer potatoes whilst digging . Red skin ones ....I have never planted any, but the previous tenant did - he left 4 years ago!
Dug up a couple of leeks, and that was my stint for today. I'm hoping to really get on top of it , the time is really zooming past.
Flying - thats almost worse, not really knowing. Leaves you in limbo .

Nothing much going on here, i've still got a few sweet peas hanging on and flowering!

Also got some garlic peeking up, it's where I planted some in the spring which got nibbled by birds or squirrels as soon as the shoots appeared. No idea what it's doing but i'll leave it for now.

So I went to see the plot properly today. It's a bit overgrown now, but was properly dug last year... in fact the plot holders next door did it as a favour because they saw that the tenant then was struggling. I guess that means it's a friendly place.

First job is going to be to knock down the unsafe shed (which the old tenant was told to demolish previously) and then I can get started. Was amazed to see that neighbours still had raspberries growing!!

Pyjamas - that sounds like a good one you have!

Raspberries will keep going until the frosts, but they do tend to go a bit 'crumbly' and don't keep, but okay for cooking with :)
No work here since Sunday - rain and wind stopping any work .
But - I have had a new greenhouse delivered ! :) - the weather is so horrible and we have had lots of other stuff to do , it is sat in boxes in the garage at the moment. We sold the old one, new one is a bit bigger but going in the same place .The stuff I store in it, and the overwintering dahlia and geraniums are scattered all over the place ....

I've just picked up my keys and am now feeling terrified by the prospect of this mess to sort out by spring. I have to take the shed down because the council have deemed it unsafe, so that's my job for this weekend, but then where do I start? Do I just dig everything up, stick some well rotted manure on it and cover it up for winter? What about raised beds? HELP!!

charles dowding....that is who i would read up on. he does no dig. i would dig out as many weeds as i easily could and then cover the whole thing in thick cardboard/plastic/tarps...whichever i had. Not carpet. and put manure/compost on top of cardboard or under the other things. then come spring it should hopefully be warm soil without weeds.

i dont have raised beds as such. i have pathways across my plot with weedmembrane and bark chippings on. that way i can reach across borders (they are 3ft) and dont trend and compact soil. looks like you have some decent shrubs there

That looks very promising Pyjamas. In much better shape than parts of my plot, to be honest!

If it was me I'd to the same as dreaming suggests - clear the weeds, put down manure and cover until spring ready for sowing. When digging it's better if you have a big plank of wood to stand on, then you are not compressing the soil too much as you go. Start at one end of the plot and work your way methodically across it.

If you want to put down the raised beds then you need to plan a bit more and then get building! Depends how much time you have to get that done I suppose.

I managed to plant up my strawberries last week and they were looking quite cheerful when I was up then on Sunday. Spent most of Sunday over there digging out the very overgrown once was a raspberry bed. Managed to get the worst of that dug out so we've got space to put potatoes in. DH shifted yet more manure - this stuff was very fresh but hopefully there is time for it to break down before the spring.

Proper frosty this morning.

Afternoon!
cold, grey and damp here today, but got a quick hour in this morning to move some manure, and do a bit of digging.
Pyjamas - don't panic! Do it in small chunks that are timed - so allow yourself an hour to do maybe one bit , and move on as and when you can. Remember the allotment motto - "Its a marathon, not a sprint" . Don't expect to get it all done at once. I agree with dreaming and Cedar . So - cover as much as you can , take off the cover when you get to it , and start digging! One proviso -go around and see what you have in the way of perennials and fruit bushes. I would definitely weed around them , and give them a bit of space so you can see for later if they need digging up and moving to a better position. I wouldn't dig them up until I knew what they were IYSWIM , and that will be spring, when they put on leaves ( though if its a blackcurrant, you can smell them easily if you rub your fingers along the branches) . I would measure as accurately as you can. Ask the neighbours where the sun comes, where the worst of the wind comes from, and do a plan on paper of where, ideally, you would like things . Even if it doesn't all get done at once, having a plan helps for you to prioritise what needs doing soonest. Remember to factor in an area for a compost bin, maybe a manure pile , a shed/greenhouse/water storage . I'm not saying you need all of these, just think where they would go to leave the best growing area available . :)

personally i wouldnt dig. my plot has never been dug and is good. read up on charles dowding. nature never digs. just make sure you never compact the soil by treading on it. Obviously you will need to weed.

ah, dreaming - I tend to blur the terms dig and weed! -

For me weeding frequently involves digging - stupid horsetail with it's lovely long roots! And part of my plot was compacted by workmen before we had it as they had to do major repairs to the wall adjoining the plots so that has needed digging over quite a big - I dug up some lovely bricks and some little pieces of wall as well. I don't double dig, though.

I am currently experimenting with using one part of a bed as a compost heap and then planting through it. Last year worked sort of OK but the heat meant that a couple of the squash plants I'd put in really struggled. One got going and produced a lovely squash so that was enough of a success for me to try again this next year.

I was inspired by the gardens at Great Dixter where they do this on a massive scale - a couple of their heaps must be the size of my entire plot! I think it's only realistic if you have a bigger plot otherwise you sacrifice too much space to something that might not actually fruit. At the moment the heap looks suspiciously like I've left a dead body there

Afternoon!
yes Cedar - thats me , no double digging, but constant digging up of couch and bindweed .
It was actually quite nice first thing this morning, so I managed another hour at the plot. I harvested a couple of leeks , and realised I still had 2 beetroot left , hiding next to a row of swedes :) . It soon turned damp again, but I had had enough by then. getting there now , can see where I have been at least!
My squashes coped rather better than I thought they would this year in the heat , I have just chopped up my first Crown Prince, and the texture is a little drier than in previous years , but still good to eat

I spent a couple of hours in the freezing cold trying to get started with my plot today. I found lots of forgotten potatoes so dig enough up for dinner..: they were delicious. I also found lots of asparagus plants, so I've trimmed them down ready for next year. I started wedding too. Going to have to completely rethink my plans due to the amount of asparagus and random fruit bushes dotted about. It seems a shame to just dig them up and waste them.

Does anyone have any experience with moving raspberry canes?

Pyjamas it sounds as if you have inherited an interesting amount of plants. It rained all day here so I didn't venture onto the plot but tomorrow should be better weather wise. IME rasperry canes have an annoying habit of moving themselves . I have transplanted some from another garden onto the plot with about a 50% success rate but they did travel about 3 hours in a car.

Gave up on the last of the carrots this weekend, the squirrels kept digging them up whilst burying their nuts. Still better than nothing.

Sprouts coming along nicely but nothing much else going on here

Afternoon !
well, best laid plans - went to the plot this morning, very light mizzle, so I thought I could get on. By the time I got there - pouring down rain so I picked the sprouting broccoli and came home.
Pyjamas - I have found raspberries move easily - they are almost a weed. If you dig them up with some of the small roots still on the woody bits underground , and get them moved relatively quickly , that shouldn't be a problem . Its more a case of whether they are summer or autumn ones , as you treat them differently re pruning . It won't make much difference thus next year I suspect , as you tend to put one stick in the ground , and they gradually produce more canes over the years ahead.

At least you have had carrots tiz - I can't grow them well!

I do hope all this awful weather has not washed all the soil away from my freshly planted asparagus crowns! I will have to wait until Saturday to go and nurture them.

Morning
It has been horrid here for the past week . I managed a very sneaky hour first thing on Tuesday , got some hoeing done around my winter onions, picked a cabbage and that was it . I should have put the bench in the shed - goodness knows where it will end up.....
It isn't actually raining atm , but so claggy underfoot, and a howling gale , so thats this morning crossed off too

elephant - fingers crossed, they do need to get themselves hunkered in, so I hope they are safe and cosy :)
Hope everyone else is safe and well in the gales

Nothing to report here. It is dry today and the sun is out but the ground will be too sodden to do anything even if I wasn't working. Supposed to rain over the weekend too so doubt I'll get near the plot.

We had sweet and sour squash for dinner last night. Jamie Oliver recipe. It was very nice. And squash risotto the day before. One more eaten about 15 left to go!

Had a busy afternoon making the most of the lack of rain today. Cleared half the plot and have covered it in some black membrane and started to tidy up the back.

Man on the plot next door said the huge bush was a cross between a gooseberry and a blackberry, but now it was so huge wasn't as good... so I pruned it today, but considering just removing it. Also pruned what is probably a raspberry.

A friend is dropping round a trailer of manure on Sunday so feel like I have to decide what to do with the plot. Had planned no dig raised beds, but wonder if that is a bit permanent for my first year? I'm paralysed by indecision!!