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

I know from bitter experience that here near the Pennines there is no point starting anything until mid to late March. I just have to hold fire.

In Melbourne, I still struggle a bit because my late DH was veggie patch king. Which explains why the first cucumber of the year appeared this week, the last month of summer. I need to rotate more methodically (and on time). The tangerines and satsumas trees in pots doing well, so a good crop in the winter. The espaliered lemon tree has eight actual fruits!!!

I’m keeping everything crossed that we don’t get a cold March like last year. There’s a few signs in nature that we are going to have a early spring/summer so I am risking planting a few seeds early (I do have spare to sew a 2nd lot if I am wrong). The chances of us getting cold weather like last year is pretty slim despite what people say, I don’t think every winter will be like last year.

Whilst I’m waiting to plant more seeds I will be weeding the beds and painting the fences to keep me busy.

That's a good point @Lovemusic33. I seem to have amassed loads of free packets of seeds from last years mags, so could just get some going for the sake of it.

@bookbook - yeah I've heard that's the case! My back garden is in desperate need of some decent fertiliser, I've really neglected it while doing the allotment, so I'm making an effort to get some organic fertilisers into it this year. Fortunately it is tiny, so once the wormery is up and running it should do the trick.

So I actually got to the plot today, all the best laid plans etc. I dug over half a big bed, removed lots of couch grass and planted the first lot of greenhouse started broad beans. I tackled the raspberry canes which already have buds on them so I just cut them down to just under the last bud and cleared out all the totally smooth ones. My raspberries are mostly Autumn fruiting with a few summer ones and some loganberries. The lines have become very blurred, it this ok or should I be more ruthless to spur them into major action?

elephant - autumn ones you chop down to the ground. summer ones you take out the canes that fruited last year - these will be the thicker dark brown ones - to the ground. if it looks too overgrown you can take out a few of the newer ones too to the ground. summer ones should be tied to a wire attached to poles....but i dont bother - though maybe worthwhile if you are on a windy site/ no idea about loganberries sorry

I’ve just taken all my autumn fruiting raspberries down to the ground (and any of the summer fruiting ones that had grown into their space too!) but a lot of them were in bud so I’m worried I’ve left it a bit late, hoping I’ve done the right thing.
@79andnotout where is your wormery? Outdoors or indoors? I’d really like to start one for our kitchen waste but I’m afraid it will be too cold for them outside and inside we have an inquisitive 2 year old so a significant risk of the lid being taken off, leachate tap opened or whole thing tipped over on the kitchen floor...

Oh and we’ve just put some potatoes to chit in the greenhouse, it’s skightly satisfying my desire to grow something whilst not starting seeds too early. I was way too late last year, seeds went in for everything in late April, having been bitten the year before with the May frost but I think a compromise of planting the first seeds around the end of Feb/start of March inside then moving them to the greenhouse and putting a heater in until the risk of frost is passed is the way forward. Things to go directly outside will have to wait a while.

@DrWhy I've got a little bunker by my kitchen door, I've put them in there. It should protect against the cold and the sun. I've wrapped it in woollen insulation my neighbour gets her weekly meal boxes delivered in (pretty handy stuff). I figured it needs to be by the kitchen door or we won't use it.

Hello, sorry to not have posted for ages, I have been popping up to the plot weekly with kitchen scraps for the compost bin (the one at home is full) but not doing much. Day off work today so planning to go up and chop down my autumn raspberry canes. I haven't planted any seeds yet but also want to go and buy potatoes for chitting today.

It's been nice reading back through the last few weeks and seeing everyone's plans. I'm on clay soil but manure isn't really an option as my plot is some distance from car access and there isn't a communsl pile. So I use chicken pellets and bags of compost. I'd love raised beds but again can't get topsoil delivered. So I spend endless hours digging out couch grass and bindweed every year, but it is quite satisfying.

Hoping for more traditional weather this year, last year's hot summer was a bit of a nightmare both in terms of it being too hot to work till mid evening and the constant watering requirements with everyone queueing for the taps in the evenings. I tend to leave planting out till quite late as although we are in the SE we are in a frost pocket and not safe till the end of May. It worked in my favour in 2017 as we had hard frosts in late May and a lot of my neighbours lost plants. But last year a lot of mine didn't get established before the heatwave and really struggled compared to theirs.

My understanding is that the divide between summer and autumn raspberries is actually fairly flexible. My autumn raspberries started fruiting in the summer last year any way! This year I'm trying a new approach which is to leave half of last year's stems and cut the rest. Basically the theory is that they will fruit on the previous year's stems in the summer and then on the new stems in the autumn. It will be interesting to see what they do!

Thanks Una, that is quite an interesting plan. My problem is that mine have only been in two years, so there was minimal last year growth. I think I'm going to see what happens.

I left some of mine on that basis last year Una and they did fruit in summer, but not heavily and the fruits were small. I'd rather they weren't in full fruit when we're away in summer so rhey are all for the chop this year.

Sorry Una and Meet if I am being a little dense here but if I chop down the canes (that are already in bud) they will shoot back up again in the summer to fruit in the Autumn. Is that right?

That's interesting Meet. We'll be around most of the summer so I'm interested in spreading out the crop a bit.

Elephant, raspberries are pretty tough so at 2 years old they should be absolutely fine - I'd only worry is if they were brand new plants which might struggle a bit if they've put all their energy into the growth that gets cut off.

Well, I cut back about half of them today, also dug out a few while the soil is soft as thry were very overcrowded last year. Hope to tackle the rest tomorrow. Also bought seed potatoes which are now chitting in egg boxes.

Lovely day in the garden today - got a bit of weeding done and managed to shift a rose that has been in the wrong place for ages.

Bees were very busy today, lovely to see them out and about! They seemed very keen on the hellebores though not on my pluot which is in blossom right now. I did a quick spot of finger pollination to help it out a bit in case they don't take an interest!

@79andnotout we take our green worktop bin down to the council composting bin every few days (we live in an upside down house) so I think we’d use it if it was out with the bins. I hadn’t thought about insulating it, I wonder if that would be enough where we are....
Una thanks for the reassurance than the raspberries I chopped back at the weekend will be fine.

Loganberries fruit on the new growth they made late last summer and autumn. So don't chop those down as you won't get any fruit! The previous year's fruiting canes die off in the autumn so there shouldn't be much confusion.

I live in the south east and the year before last we had a frost in April. Quite a few people got caught out because they'd started planting things out because the weather at the end of March was warm. It is very hard to judge it, as many years we won't have a frost that late.

Hope to find the time to get over to the plot this weekend and attack more blackberries that are trying to take over the raspberries. Last weekend we finally got over to B&Q and bought a new wheel for our wheelbarrow which means we can use it again and won't have to keep borrowing our plot neighbour. DH met the person who has taken over the plot next door. I'm pleased that someone is doing it again as it was a lovely plot but was sadly neglected last year and every started to go to weeds very quickly.

Hi all, lovely to find this thread, hoping to join in if that's ok.

Just signed up for an allotment, it's only small (4 poles, so 40% of a full size) but that suits me for the moment. The previous tenant will be gone by the end of the month, so just waiting for the paperwork to go through and getting all my ducks in a row (i.e., buying shovels!).

I've got a gooseberry bush and a red currant bush already, but need to measure properly once I get the keys. Reading up on all sorts of things because I'm not much of a gardener. Would you say a greenhouse is absolutely necessary, or more of a "nice to have" thing?

@catlady3 newbie here too, I'm considering a greenhouse, lidl are doing a walk in plastic greenhouse next week I think.

We have finished planting up our flower beds now, plus lots of herbs, although I'm going to get some more herb seeds to put in later. Now have 4 raised beds with nothing in them apart from 2 asparagus crowns.
I've got packets of seeds, plus sort of makeshift seed trays and a sunny windowsill. Should I start off some of the seeds inside now? Things like spinach and radish say they can be down outside now, is that right? Feels too early! We are in the SE, south facing beds.

Evening everyone
welcome catlady and Youcant :)
Greenhouses are useful, but I don't think essential - its a useful place to start off seeds , and keep things frost free, but they take up quite a lot of room. I do love mine though - I grow basil, coriander , tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and aubergines , which just wouldn't be possible up here otherwise
From my point of view, you can start off seeds too early . You need to be basically sure that we don't have a late frost - you can check for last frost dates for your area by googling. I am up in Yorkshire, so apart from sweet peas and broad beans ( which are as tough as old boots) I am holding off for a few weeks yet.
elephant - you can maybe risk a heavy prune where the raspberries blur. Bob Flowerdew is of the opinion that summer/autumn raspberries are much the same, they fruit according to when you prune them basically . ( Though you may get a thin crop depending on varieties ) But loganberries are as Cedar says - they fruit on last years canes .
I managed an hour at the plot today - basic tidying, pruning my autumn raspberries, and picking a leek, swede and cabbage . I have to get the last of the tidying up to do, and get my manure bin emptied, as DH is going to rebuild it .

We got a proper greenhouse last spring and I have to say it was great - we were eating tomatoes all the way through from July to November rather than having most of the crop destroyed by blight as we did the previous year. We also had lots of cucumbers which again I've never managed outdoors or in previous plastic greenhouses. Didn't succeed with peppers and melons but basically I think I need to give them bigger pots! The extra space for growing on seedlings was really handy.

Right now the citrus trees are sheltering there and I'm hopeful that we will get our first lemons :). I've also put a planter of strawberries in there in the hope of getting an early crop. I've started lots of seeds for the greenhouse here (also in the south) - things like peppers, tomatoes, melons and cucumbers that benefit from a long season. I've not planted anything to go in the ground yet (other than garlic and broad beans last autumn) as I feel it's just too soon even here. Though the long range forecast suggests a warm spring...

It's 15 degrees today, i have to keep reminding myself that it's only mid February, it feels like I should be planting things out already but I know everything can change yet. I've got most of my seeds ready, just want to find a yellow courgette variety, and i've planned where most things can go taking into account where things went last year.

Picked the last of the brussel sprouts last weekend. There are still some leftover beetroot in the ground but not big enough to be worth picking. Rhubarb is just poking out the ground, i need to find my forcing pot for some of it.

Going to check how last years compost is this weekend and perhaps dig over the beds.

Hi all! I am new to the thread but can't wait to join in and start the growing. This will be my third allotment year, so I'm still learning. I'm in London.

So far I have only started chitting potatoes (international kidney, Duke of York and one other one whose name has just escaped me), and I have sowed kohlrabi indoors and outdoors. I have plenty of seeds so don't mind sowing again if it was too cold for them still. I sowed them ten days ago and have been away since. Cant wait to check on them on Sunday! They've been covered with fleece... Fingers crossed.

Next up will be peas, radish, then beetroot, parsley and celeriac, carrots (tricky in my soil though), then beans, squashes and cucumbers. I buy tomato plants in may because I don't have a sunny enough spot inside my house which is safe from the kids.

My biggest challenge this year is that I'll be away the first three weeks in August and last week if July... So harvesting will be tricky. I'm going to have to rope in some friends! Any ideas on how to manage e.g. my cucumber harvest would be welcome. I grow the small variety and pickle/ferment them...