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

Looks like one of my fruit bushes is an early fruiting gooseberry! Got a bit more digging done today but it was hard work with the ground being so dry. Also planted out some sweetpeas. I've got mares tail on my plot, I gather this is very bad news! Do I just keep digging it up?

Found a good cheap pot for raspberry so now potted up.

Evening!
Well, it was a cooler start today .
Wow , that is early Pyxie ! I think with mares tail, you just need to try and keep on top of it, keep cutting and pulling out. I'm not sure you can actually get rid of it, but you can live with it I think - I know some on here do :)
I did the final prepping up my greenhouse ready for the tomatoes , and am rather pleased, and as no-one else in this household is in the least interested , here is a pic
The tomatoes will be in big pots sat on the gravel ( I am hoping the gravel will discourage snails , which always seem to find my tomatoes - especially the San Marzano) .
This afternoon went and put up the bean wigwams ( not even sown them yet!) and a wigwam for the sweet peas. Picked a couple of leeks too.

pyxie I have mares tails too, I’m pulling them out every day, also bind weed. I’m confused as to what is weeds and what are my beetroot and carrots. I either have beetroot popping up everywhere or it’s a weed that looks similar.

Lovemusic we have a bit of a nigella problem (I love them but they get everywhere!) and they look just like carrot seedlings.

Love - unless you have something a bit exotic in the beetroot line , the stems are red , right from the start :)

Book I have stuff coming up everywhere with red stems, I sewed them in a neat line 😐, I seem to have beetroot in my carrot line 🤣, I can clearly see the carrot line. I will see how it looks in a few days, I’m too scared to pull anything but I also don’t want beetroot popping up everywhere.

I'll just keep pulling them up then, thanks!

Book that looks like a very well constructed and smart greenhouse. Luckily (fingers crossed) I don't have mare's tail, but the woman who used have the plot opposite me did and could not get rid of it in one section so she dug a big hole and put a pond in.

Ooh, very smart greenhouse. I also have a completely disinterested family. Until the jam appears, anyway.

I was weeding around the base of the apple tree on my plot yesterday and the blossom brushed against my face. It smelled sooo good. It was probably a good job I had to go and pick DS2 up from school or my neighbours would have been wondering about the strange woman standing there sniffing her tree all evening.

Anyone else excited about the rain? It’s raining quite a bit down south and for once I am please as I planted out seedlings yesterday in my raised beds so they will be enjoying the lovely rain, also my water butts will be filling up after I emptied them this week.

Book that greenhouse looks beautiful. Will you have anything else in there or just tomatoes?

Love I'm still waiting for the rain here in the NW. Can't wait for my water butt to be refilled too!
My gooseberry bush has sawfly I've picked off loads of larvae, hoping I've got most of them. Luckily it's in a container and not near any other fruit bushes. But I bought her when I was having a bad day last year so I have something of an emotional attachment to her 😄

Afternoon!
Thanks for the greenhouse love! - It is my birthday/Christmas present for about the last 5 years!. DH put it all up ( it took a while ......) and I have lovely slate around the outside which we got from a freecycle type site , so it looks quite posh! I do have a white carpet runner ( 1 ton rubbish sack ) down the middle to keep the weed membrane in better condition .
Love - ah - now that is why I do everything in plugs, as I am useless at direct sowing , and recognising weeds from the real stuff!
Sound - I love going around smelling ( and talking) to my plants - I sniff things when I am out walking - after all, why not enjoy the bounty in someones hedge or wall? - we have a gorgeous Lilac tree up the road from me, and I always stop to smell it :)
Pyxie - at the moment, the other side is full of seedlings - brassicas, leeks, flowers etc, but I grow peppers, aubergines, cucumbers, basil and coriander . Re the sawfly - nearly all young gooseberry plants get them - they strip the plant , and it looks devastated, but they usually recover , and have less problems in future years, so hang on in there :) .
No sign of rain here - we are desperate for some . The ground is now getting very dry . I spent a quick hour at the plot this morning , weeding the fruit cage and surrounds , so when I need to put the net down its all clear. I tidied up around the broad beans too - they are all in full flower now. And my absolute favourite few days of veg picking , with my two top veg - asparagus and sprouting broccoli for tea

booky your greenhouse is indeed a thing of glory - and what a lovely view those tomatoes will have!
Thank you for asking about my cosmos. They're still a bit thin on the ground and rubbish, despite a 2nd sowing. I've been really successful wih them in previous years, and have had too many for me my mum and sister. I'm so curious as to what went wrong, as I tried different seed packets/suppliers, different composts, locations etc. Some I pre-soaked. And all had the same issue of not being able to hatch out of the seed case.

Not much plot action for me as I mostly sow at home and transplant. I have direct sown some beetroot and sugar snapsnaps, and it was a bit of a faff keeping them watered in that heat. We've been promised rain now for the next few days (I have all my buckets out to harvest all the rain!) but it refuses to arrive. The ground is incredibly dry.

Any ideas for what could go into an area of dry shade? It will probably get late afternoon sun only due to tree cover. It's for the plot, so edible is better, but failing that bee friendly. Sweet cicely is good for shade I think?

Oh Pyxie sending healing vibes to your goosegog! I am also very sentimental about everything plants.

Sawflies are very sad - but I have also found that if the plant gets through the attack it is never so bad again. I believe that you can get nematodes for sawfly.

I had awful sawfly last year- an alarming amount all picked off by hand, was grim- but it was later on in the summer. Feel I need to go and check my gooseberries now in case they’ve been found. Got home to find the builders doing walls round the new patio have made the gap between them - which I’m going to plant up- twice the size DH agreed to. I’m ok with that but I’m not sure he will be! I think I will need planting advice when it’s done - at least some of it I want to put herbs in as it’s off the kitchen. Maybe I could do edible flowers as well.

Your greenhouse is a thing of wonder y the way book, I would be embarrassed to post a photo of mine!

Can anyone give this allotment newbie some tips on avoiding rabbits eating everything? Just feel like whatever I plant is part of a massive brand new allotment rabbit buffet situation at the moment 🙈

PossiblyPFB - we had a dreadful time with rabbits a few years ago. I'm afraid the only thing that really works is chicken wire with smallish mesh , and dug into the ground . They can dig under if it just touches the soil. I managed with freecycle/salvaged at first held up with occasional posts and bamboo canes . It needs to be high enough fpr them not to beable to jump over as well . ( I have seen them jump! )
Thanks for the compliments on the greenhouse - thats the photogenic side!

Sorry PFB I luckily have no incidents of rabbits but whenever I am hoeing this quote goes through my head
'He went back towards the toolshed, but suddenly, quite close to him, he heard the noise of a hoe— scr-r-ritch, scratch, scratch, scritch. Peter scuttered underneath the bushes.'
You could make a little blue coat and hang it up as a scarecrow to warn the bunnies off.
However a long time ago when I owned a rabbit, the outside run had to have the chicken mesh buried quite far down to stop them tunneling out, so I suppose the same would be in reverse.

Can anyone advise re blueberries please? I've heard you need to grow more than one variety to pollinate and to use ericaceous (sp) compost?

I've stretched wire net over our raised beds as something was digging around. Will remove once the seeds get established.

LIZS - i think you can get away with just one, but you get a better crop/yield with 2 . And yes , acidic soil , and water with rainwater if you are in a hard water area .

We've actually had some rain overnight/this morning. I can see some snails happily mooching across the lawn.

We planted our onions and main crop potatoes on Good Friday. It was hot work! We were away for a week just beforehand and came back to find that the rhubarb has finally taken off and is growing very well. I've been patiently waiting on it for the last couple of years every since I discovered a row of it - previous pot holder had strimmed it all off and let weeds overtake it. I found it when I started digging what I thought was just grass. So last weekend we had first rhubarb crumble and there is a lot more to come.

I also started off quite a lot of things in pots at home and now keep peering at the pots to see if anything is happening even though I know there won't be anything happening.

I have mare's tail on my plot and it is OK. Keep removing the black roots (don't compost them) - as much as you can manage in the autumn/winter/spring when digging. In the spring/summer the shoots will keep appearing. I find it best to just keep chopping them off. They don't really affect the plants you are growing if you keep weeding them back. We are getting a lot less each year - the beds we've cultivated the longest have less of the stuff coming through.

I don't know anything about gardening with rabbits except tough wire. Or encourage some foxes.