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

greathat does that mean it will be ok in a pot? It’s pretty small at the moment so I stuck it in a pot on the patio.

We had to take down a huge fig that was pushing over a wall and the sap is really caustic , just so you’re aware. Had a really lovely day today pootling in the sunshine - potted everything up in the greenhouse. I currently have about 25 chillies which even for me is more than enough. The sharpie I wrote plant labels on with faded in the sun ( I’m sure this happened last year and I forgot) anyway I now have 4 different chillies plants and 2 types of cucumber and no idea what is what. Can cucumbers grow outside? I’ve only ever done them in the greenhouse. Planted lots of sweet peas out into the ground and the only two french beans that germinated. Off to the garden centre tomorrow for herbs for patio wall.

Cathpot I do all my cucumbers outside but they are outside varieties, so I guess you will have to check your seed packets. By July I am normally handing cucumbers out in the staffroom as they all seem to come in gluts. DCs love them though throughout the summer holidays.

Afternoon!
glorious day here - sunny!!
Been a while at the plot , planting out kale and the next variety of purple sprouting broccoli. Then got on with weeding .
I do love that there is give and take .
Yesterday I got given 6 gorgeous little eggs for some sprout plants . Today I gave spare broccoli and aubergine plants to another plot holder, and got leeks he was digging up in return .
So with some spring cabbage , thats the veg for tea sorted.
It is fascinating hearing about different problems Never - we used to have a veg grower on these threads in Northern Spain, and she had to cope with immense storms and burrowing animals !
No chance I would be planting out beans yet . Another week - 10 days , making sure they are good and sturdy. As Sackrifice says - we get a fair amount of wind and gales and they can decimate the hardiest of plants .
My direct sown peas are up , and first sightings of potatoes for me too .
And joy of joys - 2 crown prince have germinated this morning from my second sowing . The sweetcorn I sowed as a succession all popped up a couple of days ago , and swede are germinating in the greenhouse. Its amazing how a better light level helps :)

oh yes - the cucumber glut! forgot about that
I only do greenhouse ones - more reliable for me in Yorkshire

I’ve bought some mint plants so that if we get a glut of cucumbers we can have lots of Pimms.... and maybe they can go in G&Ts as well!

Good evening.

Sowed dwarf french beans outdoors today. I also have some earlier sowings coming up in the tunnel to fill in any gaps.

The autumn sown broad beans are in full flower. They look better than last year's which were on a lower part of the plot and kept getting flooded - they were growing gills!

Anybody else growing autumn planted onions and noticed them bolting a bit?

Going to plant out courgettes, squash, gherkins and sunflowers next weekend. Forecast is no frost from now until later in the month by which point we are past our last frost date. My fingers will be crossed!

My peas are flowering. I sewed 2 lots, one are doing great and the others not so great. Tomatoes have been brought back in after leaving them out over night (they didn’t like it).

I’m trying hard not to plant anything else or buy anything else as I’m running out of space.

Glorious day here too, did an hour of weeding, the soil is so soft after last week's torrential rain, and thinned out some self seeded leeks. I reckon I have several hundred of them, all at different stages, some will be ready to harvest soon, so will my shallots planted out this time last year (they refused to grow in the heatwave). My greenhouse is overflowing but I'm not planting out the tender stuff yet.

I am already finding the sun too relentlessly hot up at the plot, I have no shade till mid evening now, its great for growing but makes it hard working in the middle of the day, and its only mid May.

Returning to this thread after a long gap

Potted on 3 more Roma tomatoes (5 in total) and 3 "All Blacks" (mixture of black cherry tomatoes) (5 in total) plus 10 Gardener's Delight (but mixed one of them or maybe one of the Roma up with the All Blacks - am hoping I worked out which one) and 2 each so far of Tumbling Toms and Golden Grapes. Still have a load more of the last 2 to pot on but running out of small pots

Also pricked out 24 red Cosmos (hence why I'm running out of pots) and 2 pumpkins, so feeling pretty pleased with myself. It's the first time I've actually had a greenhouse for a whole season - it wasn't up this time last year.

I have some pretty little rows of spinach and beetroot seedlings, which makes me happy, but everything else is being very tardy at germinating. How long are things supposed to take? Can't actually remember how long everything has been in ...

A question of taste for you all: if your neighbour put this fencing up along their garden, on the road side, would it bother you? We've got a 6-foot fence there already but the palings are quite far apart so the wind comes through easily and the puppy can see everyone who walks past. I don't want to put the screening up on the garden side as I'd have to chop down a clematis and heavily prune some roses that are trained against the fence. I can't decide if it will look ok or not, though.

I don't think that is suitable to front a road. Also you need to watch height limits for sightlines for emerging vehicles. Could you plant a hedge?

Here's what we have already. Vehicles aren't a problem. Can't do a hedge as we need it ASAP. Other option is more palings but we're not sure how easy it would be to get the same ones.

Grouchy you could fit featherboard to the base of the fence on the garden side if it's the dog you're worried about, unless it's a great dane.

Thanks elephant. I'll investigate feather board. Pup is a Newfie so big but not Great Dane big! We're also bothered by the wind, though.

Evening!
Nearly - sorry tagged you as never in my last post ! Don't forget mint is a thug - usually best restricted to a pot or bucket .
Gnome - went to have a quick look at my autumn planted onions today - no sign of bolting as far as I can see, just a touch of yellowing at the tips of the oldest leaves .
hello again pretty - are you planning a glut of tomatoes?
Grouchy - mm thats a tricky one . We had some of that for a while to hide a very ugly wrought iron fence. It doesn't last very long , and starts looking a bit tatty around the edges in truth . Until your hedge develops , could you attach heavy duty wind/shade netting? Still see through , but would certainly help with the wind problem , (.There is a dog up the road from us - doesn't need to see you to throw itself at the fence as you walk past ).
I did another stint this morning - planted out more purple sprouting , and got ready the area to plant out the calabrese later in the week by digging up the very last leeks . Gave away a few more plants , and got 2 pumpkin plants in return - called I think Little Jack - they do small pumpkins instead of monsters .I have had another squash germinate so I think I have enough for proper ground cover now , when they all get going properly
Gorgeous and warm it was :)

bookbook - I'm going to follow TalkinPaece's advice: I have 7+ different varieties (Roma, Golden Grape, Ildi, Ailsa Craig, Gardener's Delight and Tumbling Tom, plus a variety pack of "All Blacks"), so I'll keep the strongest 2 of each and give away the rest

I've resorted to making "pots" from newspaper as I've run out of small pots

I've also got 3 cucumbers and 3 yellow courgettes and 2 black beauty courgettes coming up, plus 2 of the wee yellow squashes that look like frilly flying saucers (my mum's South African term for them was patty pans) and some beetroots and leeks, plus a load more cutting flowers. And sweet peas and various legumes. And 12 dahlias being brought on. And 2 lupins and 5 hollyhocks (sown last year but the only ones that survived after I forgot to water them over the winter before provoking them out ) And some basil and coriander - now needing pricked out.

I've gone a bit mad

It's only a 6x6 greenhouse

Another person running out of windowsill and greenhouse space! Forgot to show runner beans so need to do tomorrow. My second sowing of butternut squash and cucumbers have worked so need potting up and aim to sow herbs as well this week.

Strawberries coming into flower, fruit bushes doing well, rhubarb being picked, potatoes just coming up - and gorgeous sunshine, thankfully I managed to sort out the new water but whilst we had lots of rain so it is full.

hehehe pretty - sounds remarkably crowded!
I only do 8 tomato plants - 2 each of Sungold , Roma , San Marzano and St Pierre - 2 plum cooking ones , 1 cherry and 1 salad .
I think you are in Scotland ? - I think your leeks and beetroot don't need to be in the greenhouse - they are pretty hardy once germinated and growing , and sweet peas too should be quick to harden off.
I like the idea of provoking seedlings -

Yes I'm in Scotland

I have leeks in the raised bed already - the ones in the (one ) pot in the greenhouse was for pricking () out later once the garlic comes out. Ditto with the beetroot. Also had problems last year with the beetroot not developing properly, so want to be sure to have healthy beetroot well on its way.

I've been hardening off the legumes for the last few days: outside all day before going back into the greenhouse. It's been down to 3C even in the greenhouse most nights for the last couple of weeks though. Seems to be warming up again - but I'm wary until the end of May.

I have a raised bed full of tulips which once they're over I can put the "cutting flowers" (including some gladioli bulbs) in to.

Oh - and I wasn't actually planning on going quite so mad with the tomatoes . The Gardener's Delight, Golden Grape and Tumbling Tom were all well out of date seed that I just sowed the whole packet to see if it came up - and they had a better germination rate than my fresh seed The only old seed that hasn't come up yet is the black cherry seeds but iirc, they were really old

Isn't it the way !
I'm lazy with leeks . Sown in a deepish pot fairly thickly . Soon as they are germinated they are put on the the hardening off shelves ( though keep a bit of an eye on extreme cold weather.) I don't bother to prick mine out - I just wait until they are tall enough to pop straight into their growing hole .

I've really enjoyed reading about what you're growing and how its all coming along. It makes me want to do more! I don't have an allotment, but I do have about 50 feet x 5 feet of west facing raised beds along one side of my garden, and I am using these for fruit, veg and a couple of obelisks of sweet peas.

Please would you recommend something that I don't have which is easy? I don't have a greenhouse and have no windowsills (sash windows) which i know is limiting. I don't really want to grow currants as nobody eats them.

In the last few years, I cleared the beds and started completely from scratch. I have rhubarb, autumn and summer raspberries, thornless blackberries, tayberries, blueberries, loads of strawberries, peas, runner beans, carrots, parsnips and beetroot (from seed). Dwarf cherry, pear and apple in the beds too. Tomatoes (tumbling toms), chilies and herbs on the patio.

By "pricking them out" I meant "dropping the leeks into their final positions

Welltidy - what about some radishes and salad leaves? You can do some proper hearting lettuce (eg little gem) and some cut and come again salad mixes. Make one a mizuna/pak choi mix and it'll take you into winter. Also some rainbow chard.

Thank you pretty, salad leaves is a good call. I should have thought of myself. I am always buying bags of salad, so I know we will eat them.