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

[bookbook]

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

As long as the ground isn't frozen of course.

Afternoon
It stopped raining! And its sunny!!!!
so - went and got my veg picked .
Happy Christmas everybody , and hope the New Year is peaceful and fruitful!

Well, it's been so long since I posted that it has fallen off TIO. I have been popping up to the plot with veg scraps etc as my home compost bin is full and we don't have a food waste collection here, but not done any actual gardening for a while. I popped up this morning with all the peelings from veg prep yesterday and it was lovely and peaceful.

Wishing you all a Happy Christmas and looking forward to chatting again in the New Year.

Happy Holidays.

Went to the allotment yesterday and started fitting the greenhouse with the hooks and canes to grow my tomatoes up next summer.

We will take a walk there later, after dinner.

Thank you @sackrifice . Merry Christmas 🎄

Christmas chez Elephant is staggered this week, but gifts so far have included some with a distinctly horticultural theme - a new pair of gardening gloves, a kettle and propane burner, a 'lady' size digging fork and a sprayer. Merry Christmas to all.

Carrots, parsnips, sprouts and redcurrant jelly for Christmas dinner. All from our garden this year.

Finally got out with new secateurs this afternoon and chopped things out until it was too dark . First camellia is out and quince buds on the cusp. More worryingly my rhubarb has popped up which seems dangerously early/ if it looks like frost should I cover it?

Also I finally pulled out a thornless blackberry which has been rubbish- lots of fruit which immediately go from unripe mouldy year after year . Any suggestions for what I replace it with? Thin bed with wire supports

Japanese Wineberry. Bloody lovely but spiky.

i was wondering if anyone wanted a january fruit pruning thread, with instructions and pictures etc?

Thanks sackrifice I’ll look that up. I would definitely appreciate any pruning tips- I was literally pruning my apples tree yesterday with a copy of gardeners world magazine in one hand and I’m still not sure I’ve got it right.

Cathpot I have a rampant Japanese Wineberry, please pm me if you want to try a cutting. I am now back home after Christmas, I have boring jobs to do first but will hopefully make it along to the plot tomorrow.

Afternoon!
well I finally got to the plot at long last this morning. I got a bit done, dug up a leek and cabbage for tea . Not much else as I was constantly interrupted ( nice though!) and ended up getting some free things for making raised beds ! I think they are some sort of container, but are hinged planks which stack . So pleased with that .
Ooh Japanese wineberry . I got 3 cuttings a couple of years ago, planted them up - DH dug them up last year thinking they were stray raspberries ......
Cath - look at tayberries - or loganberries as well , they are both delicious .
really good idea on the pruning thread sackrifice :)
DH and DB are hopefully finishing putting up my new greenhouse today . It was a birthday/christmas present, but the weather has held us up. Its a bit bigger than I imagined ( well taller - I knew how wide/long it would be ) but I am so looking forward to getting it all sorted and back to sowing some early broad beans and sweet peas .

Hello, just popping back in to say hi. We had a rubbish plot year in 2018 due to one thing and another but are back to it now. Desperately trying to get it cleared and the lay out re-jigged so it works for us next year (especially as dc4 is due the beginning of March)

Some plants are obviously confused about the time of year in our garden.

Have also discovered that if you leave a marrow for long enough, it turns orange like a pumpkin!

Sprouts and the last of the beetroot are being picked for dinner tomorrow and then it's time to start thinking about the upcoming year.

I got a mushroom growing kit for Christmas so might get that started off in the next few days.

Main decision is whether to upgrade my greenhouse to something a bit more substantial.

There is an ornamental cherry in flower in our village. Derbyshire. UK. Bonkers.

Hello all, haven’t posted for ages...garden slowly getting clearer and clearer. I have become an absolutely obsessive composter.
I went on a Sarah Raven course in October, which was amazing (pots). Bought far too many tulip bulbs, and have only just made a start today on planting up some window boxes and large pots. Also some very late narcissi and crocus to get in quickly! Kale, spring greens and rainbow chard seedlings from shelf of doom in garden centre doing really well.
Happy new gardening year, all.

So yesterday I finally finished putting all the raised beds in at the allotment, and we got them all filled.

Hurrah! No more builders bags of top soil waiting for a home.

Tomorrow I will move a fair amount of the spinach that is currently cropping into the greenhouse beds, and possibly put the remaining Kohl Rabi in between, and sow some cool weather salads. I might even turn another compost bin and sieve out the finished compost - if the weather is good. I've turned 4 already this week.

Over this holiday there has only been today and christmas day that i haven't done a fair amount of gardening. It has kept me active and i haven't run into that late night/later morning cycle which ends up being a shock to the system when you go back to work. I hae really enjoyed it and coupled with not eating any more than we would normally eat, keeping it on the low down, has been a really enjoyable break. Usually by now I am climbing the walls.

Next step is to sort out the shed, now that we don't need anywhere near as many tools as we have.

Tomorrow I'm planning on heading down to the plot for a bit, although I'm getting frustrated that I can't bend and dig very easily with this bump- I'm hoping I can just supervise DH and get the small people on board to help. I checked my compost bins and have 2 full bins ready to go so hope to get those emptied soon as I have a growing tump of stuff ready to go in.

Hello, I’m new to the gardening thread. How soon can I plant sweet peas, please? I realise October is the golden time for early blooms, but I have missed that boat...

Happy New Year everyone!
Still doing greenhouse here - at least it won't blow/fall down in a hurry . And still been a bit too busy to get up to the plot - hopefully tomorrow .
lovely to see some familiar names ,
and welcome HotSauceCommittee :) . In truth sow my sweet peas in the next week or so, and they are not so early, but still earlier IYSWIM ? They just don't take quite as long to germinate, as I do them in my greenhouse .
nightshade - if you can do anything while pregnant, good on you , however little!
sackrifice - its all been worth it - I'm sure after years of trying on heavy clay, it will be plain sailing now I hope :)
tiz its just so topsy turvy, and its been so mild its just weird, no real surety of what will happen these days - my sprouts are miles behind for example, but once we got a bit of cold, they are finally getting good to pick - only about 4 weeks later than normal! :)

Popped into Wilko yesterday and they have their seeds back so picked up a couple of things that looked interesting

• a dwarf yellow french bean (polka)
• yellow tomatoes (ildi)
• carrots (harlequin) - determined to have a purple carrot this year!

The Christmas tree is currently occupying the space I use to germinate seeds but once that's down at the weekend I'm going to look to sow some bits.

Good evening, and a Happy New Year to all plotmenters. I am feeling quite smuggly satisfied and a bit achy after clearing one and 2/3 paths of couch grass, dandelions and bindweed. I have leveled one and put the weed suppressant fabric down and will finish the other tomorrow and then get bark chippings down. I hope to manage the other 3 by the end of the holiday. If not they will have to wait until is as mild as it is and the ground sufficiently damp. Tizwoz my St. John's Wort has burst into flower and I have a marigold in the border. poor plants indeed.

To carry on talking about confused plants, at the plot today, in my new asparagus bed (I planted the crowns in November) I have maybe 4 spears poking up already. As it is just about their first year I obviously won't be cutting any but should I cover them up? Should I use soil, compost, manure or fleece? If they get frosted will it affect the crown? I've tried telling them to go back to sleep until April but I don't think that will work.

Evening!
sound yum tiz
elephant - I would cover/mulch with either compost or soil, or even well rotted manure . You don't want to let them get frost on them, but it has been so mild . I usually mulch with about 4" . Look lovely though , and shows they are heathy and settling in!
I managed a nice hour this morning - gentle weeding around my asparagus, and picking chard and sprouting broccoli . It was cold though - sign of winter finally? We are due a frost tonight