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

Thank you cedar. Yes, I may try again next year. The allotment patch is behind some terraced houses, there is technically access to the entrance gate, from there would need to wheel it to the plot. I'm going to see what the other plot holders do, am slightly worried about piling up the manure there as a way of introducing myself! Although I would like to do it, seems like such a great approach. I've seen foxes around as well, so I guess it could have been either. Will need to think about some protection next.

echt in the UK there is a winter variety of spring onion that we tried this last winter. It survived the weather (not really any snow this year) but didn't grow that big so I don't think we'll bother again

Thanks for this, Cedar03.

Bunnings guarantee that all seedlings sold can be grown at the time of sale. I live very close to the sea, so get no frost worth talking of. Will report back. The present plantings are already starting to straighten up.

My gooseberry plants came today, hopefully planting them tomorrow, do I need to do anything to them before they go into the ground?

All my windowsills are ow full of seedlings, running out of room. Looking forward to moving some outside in a few weeks. My tomatoes were outside in my mini greenhouse but I brought them in a few days ago because it was cold, they seem happy in my window. I think I have finished planting seeds (almost).

Are there any later fruiting veg or winter veg that I can look at planting when things like peas have finished (as they tend to finish early)?

Morning!
sorry a bit late to answer Lovemusic - if you have already planted them . But did you give a good feed in and around the planting hole? If not, you can mulch. I would also look at the bush, and make sure you take out any crossing branches , and it is pruned to leave a nice open centre, to reduce risk of mildew. Just make sure you keep it watered until it gets settled in .
Veg for later - chard, cabbages, sprouting broccoli for winter/ spring , winter squashes - (though they take up a lot of room) . Courgettes will keep going until the frosts , as will runner beans .
I have been a bit busy , so only a couple of trips to the plot this week , to pick veg and get ready to plant potatoes .
I have sown all my winter brassicas , and need to prick out the early cauliflower and cabbage seedlings. Sweet peas and some early peas have sprouted nicely in the greenhouse too, so just need to start hardening those off.

Thanks BookBook, I haven’t planted them yet, they are trimmed shortish and have leafs, they look pretty healthy. I will plant them today or tomorrow. I have ordered chard seeds and squash, will look at cabbages.

We have had very good weather here this weekend and as I now broken up for Easter most of it has been spent at the plot. I've been mostly doing paths and moving soil, clipping back stuff etc. I also have started getting rid of random bits of wood that have been there since I took on the plot, I've only just really found out where the allotment bonfire site is . In moving these bits I have found out there is quite a space behind my shed and the fence but it is all covered in brambles so that's my next challenge. Hopefully Ds2 will help me get some more gravel board from the builders' merchants so I can finish the last paths and beds. My plot neighbour 'Grumpy Ron' was there today and offered me use of his greenhouse if I wanted and gave me some leeks.

Oh and I forgot to say there was a couple working on another plot who have made a raised bed from an old cast iron bed frame. It made me . I wonder if they are going to fill it full of bedding plants?

Evening!
it was actually quite chilly this morning .
I was getting ready to plant out potatoes this week , did some more weeding , and picked some veg . Checked on the asparagus beds - two plants now showing spears - they survived the frost, thank goodness :)
brambles are such thugs elephant - you'll need good thick gloves , and determination. Love the idea of a cast iron bed!

We had 3 spears of asparagus with dinner at the weekend. No idea why those were so far ahead - most have only just started to show above the ground but they were ready to pick and so delicious!

Windowsill is getting a bit full as with this cooler weather it is too cold to get more plants into the greenhouse. Would like to get on with squash and peas but not enough room!

Yesterday I was weeding the area of my new allotment with a couple of grapevines and a load of raspberries and found some little shoots popping up all over the place. A spot of googling suggests that it is bindweed, aargh!

I've removed it from my garden at home, but only in an area where nothing much was growing, by exposing and tracing all the rhizome and lifting it out whole, then training the leftovers up canes and spraying them with weedkiller for the next few years. I don't see how I can pull that off here without sacrificing stuff I wanted to keep. Arse.

I'm pretty chilled out about bindweed now, Sound . I don't think I was at the beginning of these threads though! It's everywhere, yes, but if you stay on top of it you will absolutely dent its vigour. Also, it's really easy to identify so as long as you weed it regularly, it won't gain the upper hand.

I just hand weed - gently pull out the shoots by hand to get as much as possible out, or of my soil is too claggy I chop it off as low down as possible with an old steak knife. And I never throw it on the compost. I dont spray, but if you wish to, you can train it up canes, then shove those bits in an old plastic bag and spray just in the bag.

My seed sowing isn't going incredibly well this year. Germination of tomatoes seems patchy at best, and chillies are very sparse indeed. I've sown the next batch -ie other varieties - of tomatoes so am hoping that these will be better, and maybe I'll pick up some chilli plants of I see them somewhere. I may sow some beans this week too. I've not yet stated any courgettes, squash etc.

But my flower seeds are awful! Cosmos, which I have always been fine with, come up ok but they are not hatching out of their seed properly - its like it is too tough. Different varieties /suppliers too. The soil is damp enough so it's not that. Very odd. And other things are just not germinating at all.

Ooh, I have a mulching question! I keep on reading about people mulching wih grass clippings - usually I just add these to the compost. But given last year's dry weather, maybe I should be upping the mulch? How does it work with grass - doesn't it fly away or turn to sludge?

Also, woodchip. We keep on getting wood chip deliveries so I keep on taking it. My paths are something to behold! It is coniferous and has lots of leafy bits. I've bunged some on my raspberry bed as it just dried out last year, but is this silly? I thought that they were established enough to cope with any acidity...

I. Running out of window sill space, I don’t have a greenhouse so I have a few weeks to wait until my window sills are free again, I still have seeds I could plant but haven’t got enough space so I just need to hope that what I have planted is enough.

Afternoon
Sound - I am like Spotted - I doubt I will ever get rid of the bindweed, I just try to keep it under control by hand weeding it out .
mmm Spotted - I have my tomatoes/peppers and aubergines on my south facing windowsill. They have all pretty much germinated , though last years Roma and San Marzano seeds took 2 days longer . In the greenhouse, everything is doing well on germination , but I only did my flower seeds yesterday , so will await with bated breath .
Raspberries like a bit of acidity I think - they are a woodland plant , but other things really don't like it so well - brassicas and the like will benefit from some lime if you think its getting very acidic.
I have never used grass clippings as mulch - I too put them on the compost heap , so can't help there .
Well DH and I went up to the plot this afternoon , and lo! I have a newly created manure bin all made. I had to finish emptying it , while DH wreck barred out all the rotting pallet sides .
It is now a thing of beauty usefulness . The two sides are pallets, and the long back is made from a salvaged aluminium garage up and over door cut in half longways . This means I can now fork out the top of the compost bin stuff and put that into the bottom of the new manure bin, and get to the nicely rotted compost underneath, and get that emptied too, ready for the new growing year .

Mulching with grass, yes put it on 4 inches deep and it will sink down in a few days and keep the moisture below the mulch.

And raspberries will be fine with that mulch, they will love it.

I'm back from holiday and all my tomatoes and chillis survived; I'd put them in a tray outdoors, in a sheltered position and even though we had rain it wasn't enough to drown them. Whoop. Just one looked a bit annoyed at me and was flopping down. The rest are totally fine.

One thing that has been so successful and what I will be doing every September from now on, is spinach. I sowed a packet last Sept and we were eating spinach every week all winter from November on; but since Feb we have had more than we are able to cope with; i cut a bed back and gave the whole lot to the worms before we went away, and coming back it's all grown back and I've got tonnes again.

Plus I am not harvesting radishes sown mid feb. Usually, they would get eaten before I had time to even pull them but in these beds, no nibbles, they are all shiny and round and lovely.

I really like the method of sowing mixed seds, so am picking these radishes out of the mixed salad bed and leaving the salads, beets, claytonia, new spinach and all the other stuff in there to grow on in a cut and come again style. It means it crops over a very long period and wastes no space. Splendid.

Zebra my tomatoes are a little slow too, mind you it is still quite difficult to work out what is coming up and what is a gate crasher form the greenhouse disaster. I have brought them inside from the green house to see if that speeds them up.
I've cleared lots of brambles, old carpet and rotten wood from behind my shed today, I've got off quite lightly with scratches, but now at least I can get to the other side of the shed and store waterproof stuff.
When I was walking passed all the other plots today I heard 'Bollocks' being uttered, not very quietly. The plotmenter had just managed to break his spade putting in fruit trees. I was able to lend him one and in return he helped me out with my over tipping wheel barrow.

Pretty good here germination wise, I've started to move a few of the less delicate plants out to the greenhouse to free up some space. Fingers crossed the new fixings keep it upright against the wall, i've been having to rescue it half the winter.

My cosmos have ended up a bit leggy. I think i'm going to sow some in pots in the greenhouse as insurance.

I mulched with grass clippings last year and it definitely seemed to help prevent the soil drying out, i just threw it round the bottom of the courgettes and squash. I could have used more clippings but we hardly had to mow the lawn last year.

I've harvested the last of Lebanese cucumbers and aubergines, and composted the plants. My seedlings of spring onions and rainbow chard are racing away. The bed is also peppered with cotyledons of something or other. I think it's warrigal greens, AKA New Zealand spinach. If so, I'll tease them out, pot most on and give away at school. It's marketed as bush tucker and stupidly expensive for a plant that simply won't stop seeding.

Rhubarb and PSB harvested this week.
Flower seeds sown and chillis potted on. First courgettes are on a windowsill, but still waiting for tomatoes and butternut squash to germinate. First sowing of peas done - but still not planted the potatoes. A job for the weekend!

I love this time of year - the preparing and seeing seeds germinate. Hopefully my windowsills will be full also.

Waiting patiently to harvest rhubarb, it’s only it’s 2nd year so I’m not sure I will get much?

Frost forecast for tonight and possibly tomorrow so still holding back on putting anything outside. I do have early potatoes in bags that I hope will be ok.

Ooh, I don't know, Lovemusic33. The rhubarb in my front garden went mental in its second year. I had to make cordial out of it because the kids wouldn't eat any more after a while.

elephant I did laugh at the thought of hearing random cussing from other gardeners as you walk past. Shared suffering.

It rained fairly steadily here for the last two days so I didn't risk a lunchtime escape to the allotment in case I came back covered in mud. Now the sun is out so I may need to engage in a spot of weed warfare today. I have had mental images of those sodding bindweed shoots making a big push while the gardener is stuck indoors.

I’m now hoping my rhubarb goes mental, it is sprouting, maybe it’s just a later variety, I got it for mother’s day last year and managed to get a couple crumbles out of it. I was given a couple more plants off my mums rhubarb last summer so I’m hoping they will produce more too.