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

Book - I'm even lazier with leeks, Ilet some bolt last spring, they have self seeded in thick clusters so all I've had to do is thin them out and move a few. The heads were beautiful all last summer too.

Well - sash windows, aargh. We have just replaced the cheapo 1990s plastic casement windows in our Victorian house with replica sash windows and I have realised to my horror that I've lost most of my prized seed incubating space. Not only that but we are all shortarses and no one can reach to open the top halves . They look lovely though.

Another hour at the plot last night, weeding, thinning leeks and watering.

WellTidy, I love perennials for their convenience - you could add artichokes and herbs like thyme, rosemary, sage and oregano, Chilean guava (delicious berries!), garlic chives/society garlic. On the annual side it's hard to beat chard and kale for winter crops that look good too, perhaps also some winter oriental greens (realseeds have a great collection)

Chard, kale and salad. That's what I am going to do. I am very excited!

Good luck with all your planting and tending.

Has anyone managed to grow cucamelons from hanging basket/containers? Will they grow downwards? I was going to grow them up canes but am short of space, I grow herbs from hanging pots which hand from painted pallets (hope that makes sense) and was wondering if I could grow cucamelons on my pallets?

Quick trip to the plot today to water and plant out a couple of tomatoes. My beetroot have germinated which I'm quite surprised about given how lumpy the soil is. I've only had 3 sweetcorn germinate so far so keep sowing more (in pots) but might give up on it soon!

WellTidy.

I have a jam jar of seeds that I broadcast sow.
I then net them loosely to keep the birds off, and once they are all up just continually harvest.

First the radishes, then the lettuces and then leave the beets to carry on growing. You can start cropping about 3-4 weeks after sowing. This was sown in Feb, and we've been cropping continually since latish march.

Has anyone managed to grow cucamelons from hanging basket/containers? Will they grow downwards?

Yes but they will try and climb up the hanging basket chains, and then any guttering you have.

My hanging pot things are coming today for the cucamelons, they will be hanging on pallets so will probably take over the pallets which is ok. Just been to my mums to nab some more canes to grow more beans (runner beans are my absolute favourite, can never have too many), everything growing well and I am super excited as i took a few years out from growing veg, I had forgotten how much fun it is.

I have just planted out 6 sweet peas into one of my big planters with 3 twisty support things, with a runner bean seed beside each support

The runner beans that had been coming on my greenhouse I'll plant I to the legume bed. This year it's in the bed that that is a bit shaded by the cherry tree so I'll give them as much of a head start as I can.

Anyone else forget to put on sunblock? Xxx 😬
Planted out some marigolds and sown some more lettuce. And watered everything. I feel like I'm a bit behind with my runner beans, my first lot got attacked by the toddler so I'm back at the seedling stage. Hopefully they'll catch up, pretty sure I planted them really late last year and still had a good crop.
Has anyone planted out their squash yet? I noticed a few up at the allotment today.

I sowed my salad leaves on 15 April and they're still at least a week away from able to crop them The cold snap really stalled them

Pyxie I haven't planted my squashes out yet but I noticed that someone had last weekend. It has been chilly this week at night but they look OK. I'm still bringing mine back into the house.

My runner beans are only just germinating as the first lot didn't work (old seed) but they'll soon catch up. They're hardier than french beans so can be put out quite quickly.

Not much seems to be happening with some of the seeds we sowed direct. So will probably start sowing again. Although I may be being impatient. I'm trying to be better at making a note of how quickly things germinate so that I know for the following year. Last year my notes run out in mid May so that's not very helpful

I'm running out of space in the house, though! And also have sash windows so not much in the way of window ledges. Our dining room table is currently home to a couple of trays of seeds - if I plant any more we won't have room to eat

I have lost some of my seedlings due to cold weather and the dog/cat 😡

Today I bought some plugs from the garden centre in hope they will survive. My cabbage seedlings got trampled by the dog so have now been replaced with sprouts (they look strong and healthy), also bought mini cucumber plants today and aubergine. Most things are now outside apart from tomatoes and peppers, I still have beans germinating as I lost my first lot, I do have a few planted out and hopefully more to go out next week.

Afternoon!
Love could you protect the seedlings with some hoops and nets ? more as a visual barrier
pretty - my (old seed) salad cut and come again never even germinated ....
No chance I will be putting out my squashes or courgettes just yet - firstly they are still in the greenhouse , not hardened off , and I like to put them out when they have a fair number of biggish leaves - slugs decimate them when they are first planted out on my plot otherwise ( its the one set of plants that get a little protection from some organic slug pellets when I first plant them out , just a few days until they settle in and get going )
I planted up my calabrese , and the last of the purple sprouting broccoli ( summer variety ) this morning , and picked asparagus , which has ( halleleujah! ) started to produce spears again after having a bit of a sulk . I picked sprouting broccoli , and pulled one of the last remaining 3 plants up . It was covered in black aphids - hope its not a sign of things to come. But I do have the Neem oil I bought last year to zap them before they can establish hopefully . Note to self - need to check my flowering broad beans .

Other than that , the second lot of french beans have not germinated yet , but better news - I have had another crown prince and an autumn prince pop out , also from a second sowing .

Very windy here today, which has dislodged a shelf holding some of the young plants in my mini greenhouse. Hopefully they will recover as not broken but may start planting out at the weekend as long as weather stays fine.

Very excited as I have been given two, metre-high Fuerte avocado plants. They're type B so I should get fruit next year with my type A Wurtz (sold as self-pollinating, but not so in reality) which is 7 years old, flowers prolifically but needs a pollinator. Now I have to rush round making sure I've got some cheap bee-attracting flowers that can go in during the winter; alyssum is good for this.

I'm on my 3rd sowing of my green (Defender) courgettes (sown 2 days ago). If these ones don't come up, I'll have to be happy with the yellow (Atena) and "black" (Black Beauty) courgettes that have germinated, plus the yellow patty pan squashes (like frilled flying saucers), grown in me memory of my mum as they were a favourite of hers

I've sown a old wee packet of French mixed salad today in the area where the runner bean tripod will go. My thinking is that I should get a few crops from it before the runner beans take over.

Here is my pot of cut & come again salad leaves that I sowed on 18 April (with a single chard plant that survived the winter). Another week or so before I can crop it - it was really checked by the cold spell.

How lovely to have fresh avocados echt. How many could you potentially expect from one plant? We've grown one before from germinating a pit but didn't have room for the plant, it was done for the challenge of getting it started!

prettybird I normally sow flowers underneath my runner beans and that works quite well. The runners don't crowd out all the light and so they grow up and the flowers bloom underneath. I reckon you might get your salad leaves growing throughout the summer.

Trying to rain here this morning, what a good job I've just put the bath towels on to wash with the plan that they can dry in the garden!

Evening!
Just a tiny bit of work today at the plot - got the area prepped up for planting out some perpetual spinach over the weekend .
Question - I assumed it would be a fools errand to try and grow sweet potatoes, but my DD loves them . At the local garden centre today they had lovely big strong plants all potted up for £2.50 . Have I any realistic chance of getting a crop from them up here in Yorkshire , in the greenhouse ?

I've no idea about sweet potatoes Book but have an experiment, it would be fun trying. I can't think that the garden centre would sell them if not but there again...............

bookbook - iirc, Beechgrove had success with sweet potatoes in their polytunnel up in Aberdeen. So of they're healthy plants, go for it.

Cedar - my runner bean wigwam has quite a small base, restricted by the size of the raised bed and I tend to over plant it so plants underneath tend to get swamped. Last year I tried radishes and although I got a few, they then got difficult to get at so got forgotten and flowered

Hello, Cedar. My mature container plant is the one that will fruit, assuming the two new ones flower. Though they have buds coming on, they won't fruit for a few years. I've no idea yet how many I'll get.

Left to their own devices, avocado trees can grow about 80 feet tall and need to be pruned regularly to keep the fruit get-atable. A neighbour told me her avocado tree had fruit year after year, but as houses were sold, knocked down, and trees cut down, there are no other trees to pollinate hers.

Well I went for it yesterday and planted out some runner beans, patty pan squash, courgette (1 of each) and lettuce. I snapped a second patty pan plant on my way to the plot
I still need to work out what I'm doing for supports for my cucumbers. Any recommendations?
Does anyone have a pond on their plot? I have a shady area at the top with lots of tree roots so I was thinking about maybe putting in a small pond, maybe just in a container for now rather than dug into the ground.

Afternoon!
funny weather day today - heavy, grey clouds but no rain .
Had 2 trips to the allotment today - this morning went and planted out some perennial spinach and beetroot .
This afternoon, DH came with me and we sorted out the net over the fruit cage and cut the grass . Picked asparagus and spring cabbage .
All is starting to move a bit - the first flowers on my peas , and a nice display of loganberry flowers - just about enough bees around them to hum a bit :)
pretty -- oooh I watch Beechgrove and had forgotten about it - I have to catch up on iplayer , as its on at a funny time for me , so must hunt out the new series . I much prefer it to Gardeners World .
Pyxie - I don't support my cucumbers just let them roam as they please along the shelves and down to the floor ( in the greenhouse ) .
I have started hardening off sweetcorn , courgettes and squashes and now I need to repot the peppers , and pop them in their summer place , and sow yet more french beans - going to go with last years seed of Cobra , fingers crossed .