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

We have had quite a bit of rain, plants are pleased but so our the weeds, it’s now even more confusing to see where my beetroot and carrot seedlings are popping up.

I came home this afternoon to find all my sweetcorn have germinated, that's a win. Everything else is happy in the greenhouse.

Ahh, isn't it lovely when you get germination! I have the first lot of my beans up now. Unfortunately I think my previous beans have rotted away, (much like last year...)

Right. Who has grown Mexican tree spinach / Chenopodium giganteum ? Please come and tell me how great it is. A late night, spur of the moment plant order has arrived today and I have some.

spotted I think you might be on your own here. Let us know how it goes.

Surely sackrifice has grown it?!!

I'd not even heard of mexican tree spinach. But as a South American plant it will fit right in with your tomato forest

Showery here this morning, which is good news for the garden. First early potatoes are just starting to come through, and we picked the very first proper asparagus crop yesterday. DH is feeling pleased as they are his plants and he was a bit discouraged last year with how they were doing. Hopefully there will be more (although one or two crowns seem to have died).

After posting yesterday about peering into pots I noticed last night that something was actually growing in some of them - red cabbages, broccoli, brokali (this is cross and I've no idea how it will do) and cauliflowers. I only sowed the seeds on Sunday so they've been fast.

If the weather allows I hope to pop over with my strimmer later as the grass has grown so fast.

Surely sackrifice has grown it?!

Ahem. Yes sorry.

It's lovely. To look at. Be sure to cook it to eat it.

Related to Fat Hen. And Quinoa. Which if you grow for seed you end up with less seed and more bugs than you ever thought possible. Put me off Quinoa for life.

Raining here, started if sunny this morning so I managed to do a bit of weeding.

Left some of my pepper plants outside and I think I have killed them (I was over run with them which is why they ended up outside). I’m watching for this to spring up from seeds I planted, disappointed that my Swiss chard doesn’t seem to be sprouting, only one or 2 seeds have sprouted out of about 20. I planted some herb seeds from seeds I bought cheap last weekend, not sure how well they will grow as I have never grown herbs from seed (usually buy plants). My gardens living the rain and things seem to be growing well, early potatoes are doing well and so are my peas.

Afternoon!
well, we finally got a pitiful amount of rain yesterday , and its just starting to rain today , ( and blowing ) but nothing to write home about .
No plot for a couple of days, but at home my cucumbers and courgettes are just sprouting out of the compost .
May sow my beans and sweetcorn this weekend .
I read about the spinach Spotted - I walked away when I saw it was a menace , so nice to see that corroborated by Sacrifice! - I think it was you that got me to try cucamelons- never again ....
I have been leaving my tomatoes/peppers and aubergines in the greenhouse overnight , but I am glad I brought them in the house last night - we almost had a frost ( about 3º ).
Cosmos doing okay - I got those pricked out yesterday , along with a lot of sprouting broccoli . Basil has germinated quickly , and i have one sunflower

Cedar - I grow brokali every year - its nice to have it to pick early - about July/August time for me , its a favourite here.

Thanks for the reassurance on the gooseberry. It's not looking too bad today so fingers crossed she'll be okay!
Plenty of rain here, my waterbutt is full again - hurrah!
Oh dear book, what's wrong with cucamelons? I have 6 growing!

I think it was you that got me to try cucamelons- never again

Oh no I'd never say that. Achocha yes, cucamelons, no.

Oh dear book, what's wrong with cucamelons? I have 6 growing!

EEk. They are fine for the novelty...but give me a chunky gherkin any day.

Pyxie - I was offered 2 from a lady who I swap plants with. I had heard of them from James Wong as well I think . They were vigorous , produced loads and I was totally meh about them , a bit of crunch, but no flavour to my mind . I seem to remember MeetOnTheLedge pickled hers . I couldn't give them away . I don't have young children though, so maybe that is where I went wrong

Thanks sackrifice i knew you'd be the one to have tried Mexican Tree spinach - so not a resounding vote of confidence then ? It's not going to be another asparagus pea is it, where everyone mocks it and I have to brazen it out for the 1st year, then never speak of it again? They were quite memorably horrid.

Good point re Mexico theme, Cedar. I'm also growing the last of my James wong seed packets tomatillos again this year. My inca berries failed to germinate. And with my spinach, I also bought blackcurrant sage - from Mexico apparently. I love sage, I love blackcurrant and I love Mexico, so triple hurrah.

NB look how pretty my tree spinach is though. IT HAS INTEGRAL PINK GLITTER.

Ps also not growing cucamelons again. I too had a glut. And tried pickles...

don't remind me of asparagus pea Spotted - mine didn't last long - I ripped them out. What a waste of space .... The plant is very pretty!

You never tasted it then? Wise move! So full of tannins that my mouth puckered ---> : - •

We've had rain of biblical proportions both today and yesterday, along with a load of lightning and thunder.

First early potatoes are just coming through, I'll need to earth them up this weekend. I've also got lots of tomato seedlings to transplant. I think i'm going to sow some more sweetcorn. I only had two germinate and seeing as last years crop didn't pollinate I think i'm going to need some more if I'm going to have better luck. If I don't have any success this year I'm going to abandon trying.

DH took new wider bed in patio wall situation without breaking stride so when it’s finished I’ll be taking advice. Currently have foolish bit pleasing idea to turn part of it into fish pond- long thin one. I get to ‘plant’ lily pads- result!

Morning !
miserable here - just not raining yet ..
Spotted - I did try eating them - small, medium and large . Like eating stringy beans , however young we picked . Thats why they got ripped out :)
Cath - a win ! How wide ? I would say as a basic start to have chives, thyme and marjoram . You won't want mint in there , unless you can put it in a pot or container , its so invasive . You could do sage , but that gets quite big and woody - same for rosemary

Photo! Happily you can’t see into my embarrassing greenhouse from this angle. Wall will be rendered and painted white . I’m a bit worried about how windy it is so might have to do alpines including thyme in the wall and then other things in pots.

Although rosemary would be ok? Might look nice trailing over the edge

trouble with rosemary is that it gets quite tall and bushy , with a bit of a bare woody stem - though I see there is a prostrate one . My most used herbs are bay , thyme , rosemary , sage and chives , but there are lots of others. I have lovage , which has just re appeared in its pot , having survived winter . I have tried tarragon a few times, without much success . But alpines are a lovely idea .

Cathpot I've a 'trailing' or 'weeping' rosemary in the top of a brick gate post, which is similar to your wall but its roots have kind of sprung through the brick and have gone down behind the render. It looks ok but my gate post is old and quite frankly will have to go at some point. It's been there about 20 years, so I reckon you could use rosemary if you were willing to get it out about every 5 years and curtail the roots.

Thanks- I’ll look up that rosemary. I’ve got a huge huge bay hedge so I don’t need more but no sage anywhere, so that’s a good idea

maybe a lavender too ( I have eaten , but never used lavender in food ), though that will need keeping a bit in check to keep it looking nice

my i comment rather than just lurking? The tree spinach looks like the Magentaspreen' Giant Goosefoot, i got it from real seeds. plants grow very big and if you let it go to seed it grows everywhere next season.....as i'm now finding out. i quite like it as its no work at all and provides loads of leaves