Allotment/Veg Patch Thread 14 ! growing into summer

[bookbook]

Well, here we are - its the end of May and after a cold spell , we are heading for summer .
Everyone welcome to join us in the joy of growing your own , sharing the ups and downs , tips and advice
previous thread HERE

Dinner last night included our first cucumber of the year and a mixture of strawberries and red and yellow raspberries. The yellow ones are allgold that I left a few canes on last year - they seem to be set up to crop nicely despite being out of season; I'll see how they compare with the plants I cut back normally.

Morning!
Finally a couple of hours work done this morning . Weeding of course , ready for planting out autumn and winter cabbages and cauliflowers .
Wedded around the summer cabbages and cauliflowers - they are starting to look good now - when they are under enviromesh, I just tend to give them a quick scan , so pulling it all back to weed lets you have a good look.
Dug up the bolted chard - huge plants , so once they were gone , it looked a lot better. I pulled off some last young leaves for tonight . The lettuces I planted out are looking like a delicious meal for something - every day , one more is munched to the stalk , but as I was given them, and just plonked them in , I am treating them more as ground cover. If I get any to eat , it will be a bonus .
Had a check around everything else -red currants are starting to colour up nicely , raspberries another few days before picking , and gooseberries about another week .
Last sown row of peas have germinated , so need to get ready to sow another row this weekend .
However , the sweet potato in my greenhouse has become infested with white fly and aphids so got the neem oil out and sprayed it yesterday - I had some aphids on the growing tips on a couple of branch ends on my little apple tree too, so that was done at the same time

My first dahlias picked , a couple of sweet peas , and catmint , as it was flopping on the path, - another gratuitous pic of my beautiful peonies :)

A quick nip to the plot for me this evening. I picked lots of strawberries but quite a few had gone soggy, I don't know whether it was because I left them too long or the rain affected them and I picked more sweetpeas. Plans for this weekend are picking broad beans and peas and lots of weeding.

Photos incoming...

Got all my overwintering onions up finally this week, all the ones that had flowered are in a bucket to eat first and all the ones that didn't are on strings as they store longer...these are the reds and I have 4 more of these of mixed reds and whites at the allotment in the greenhouse. Cost 1p per onion.

Garlic all up...left over cloves from a teaching session...so free organic garlic!

Then a summer box of basil and coriander. I prick these out to put into pots but mainly I'll harvest from these all summer...already been taking some as soon as the proper leaves show. Cost about £2 per tray for the seeds.

Strawberries the first picking all eaten by me but you have to check every other day as they do go over especially in this rain.

Back again...my first flax flower is out...and some peas that will end up in tonight's potato salad.

Evening!
lovely onions sack
you have reminded me to look at mine - some of them have the leaves bent over , so ready to lift.
Had the morning at the plot - weeding and finishing prepping up ready to plant out winter stuff on Sunday .
Went back in the afternoon with DH - netted strawberries , cut the grass , and started to tidy the path edges ( always a problem with me , as we have chicken wire to keep out the rabbits , and its the bottom of the list of priorities in truth ) - I'm about half way down one side , long way to go .
Sunday looks like the start of raspberry picking - lots starting to turn pink .
Got home and sowed beetroot and spinach - I also rather hopefully sowed some more swede - I only have 2 survive the original sowing. I may be too late , but you never know .
I have cucumbers set finally , tomatoes set but a way off ripening yet , and seen the first flower buds on the peppers at long last .

Evening all,
Two and half hours at the plot today, mostly just weeding! Another two beds to tackle tomorrow. I picked some peas and a few blackcurrants, the first yellow courgettes have formed but a couple of my sweetcorn are not looking happy, I hope this lovely weather will perk them up.

Enjoying the sunny weather (not looking as great tomorrow).

Been picking loads of mange-tout, over run with lettuce and soon to be over run with spring onions. My runner beans are looking a bit healthier as are the French beans, signs of round courgettes growing and pulled a carrot today just to see how they were doing and I think they have another week or so to go.

Things that are not looking so good... cucumbers have been eaten by something, aubergines not looking great (weathers been too cold?), my early potatoes died off but not many potatoes produced.

Still impatiently waiting for things to ripen and grow. Redcurrants are nearly there, and we have plenty of wild strawberries to pick daily.

Hopefully the warm weather we've had today will spur things on.

My chilli that was indoors is infested with greenfly so that's gone outside. The ones in the greenhouse remain stubbornly 6 inches tall.

I might actually do some gardening/weeding tomorrow, far too busy enjoying the sunshine today.

Does anyone know anything about grapevines? We bought one last year and it survived the winter fine but has completely wilted over the past week. First noticed it during the rain so it can't have been lack of water.

Afternoon!
lovely pics tiz - I don't know anything much about grapevines - but sounds like root problem ?
Had a couple of hours this morning at the plot - planted out savoy cabbage and 2 varieties of cauliflower and my 2 swede ( ! )
Still have the overwinter cauliflowers to plant , but they need another week to get a bit bigger first . Forgot the peas though

Then - picking is starting , just a very few strawberries and raspberries , a few peas and broad beans . Dug up some Charlotte potatoes , and cut all the flowers I could, as the forecast is looking dire for overnight with thunderstorms .
I always think sweetcorn look a bit sickly before they really settle in - a bit yellow looking sometimes .

Two trips to the plot today.

First to put the two panes back into the greenhouse that blew out during the storms earlier this year.

then we moved the second 1000l tank to it's final position, it was full of PVA glue previously and they hadn't fully emptied this one so I've spent months I tell ya, months scraping and rinsing until it is clean enough to hold water...just one more rinse through the valve later in the year when it starts raining again should do it.

And just been back down to plant all the tomatoes grown from armpits into a potato bed I cleared last week. These don't get staked or anything, just mulched with grass and comfrey that has gone through the mower, and left.

Ee by gum tho - the effects of bad hayfever and the heat and I thought I was going to pass out at one point.

back home now with picked strawbs and redcurrants, and a cup of tea.

First tomato is going red, Maskotka from seeds sown in Jan. Can't wait to pick it and have with fresh basil on a slice of fresh mozzarella. Lovely.

Your produce photos are wonderful!! Nothing has grown in my garden this year (moved house last summer so this is the first time that I’ve grown anything in this garden) - but even the to tomatoes in pots are not doing well

Just back from the plot, more weeding. I picked beans, peas, strawberries, raspberries and sweetpeas. Oh and I found my first tomatoes forming. Funny how a few hundred miles can make such a difference Book I think I've got one more pick left on my strawberries and yours are just starting. I told Dd that it was probably almost the last of the strawberries, she groaned and said 'I suppose it will be courgettes next'.

Our proper strawberries will probably be ready at the end of the week - I always associate them with Wimbledon so last week in June/start of July seems normal to me, anything else unusually early.

Drat, I left netting the blackcurrants too late and most of them have gone. Raspberries in fine form and I think we're going to get a good blackberry harvest too.

We've got a strawberry glut for the first time ever! Blackcurrants and loganberries are ripe and so are some of the raspberries. We had summer pudding and I am going to see if I've got room in the freezer to make some strawberry sorbet.

DH made some rhubarb gin a few weeks ago with the last of the rhubarb and that has come out very well.

Our first earlies have done well (Arran Pilot) - no slug damage to the ones harvested so far and they have some good sized tubers which I wasn't expecting because it has been so dry here. We've watered but it isn't the same as having a good soak.

Rhubarbisevil are things growing slowly or did they not germinate? Do your tomatoes need a feed or are they being attacked by a pest?
bookbook your peonies are beautiful!

Did anyone see Gardeners World this week and the woman with the allotment where she plants lots more flowers/perennials and then puts her crops in between? I thought her allotment looked beautiful and definitely had some ideas to borrow.

Morning all,

I've got strawberries too, but I put down straw and netting a few weeks ago then forgot to check on them, lifted the net last week and found them all a bit choked with weeds and the straw a bit rotten and mushy. So my first harvest about a week ago looked good but a lot of them tasted faintly mildewy. I cleared all the weeds and am mostly picking from higher up the plants now, so the ones over the weekend are much better.

My redcurrants and gooseberries have all been eaten by birds or pests, but I only ever get about 6 gooseberries anyway (if I could get the roots out I'd get rid of the prickly horrible thing but I can't) and I didn't have any use for redcurrants this year (still got lots of jelly from last year) so didn't net them. I inherited these bushes and wouldn't have chosen to have either.

Everything else is coming along nicely if a bit slowly, weeds are prolific but they are so easy to lift out that it's not a problem keeping up with them. I have a pregnant slow-worm for company up there at the moment too, which is nice.

Can I join? We were offered an allotment plot this morning-am so excited but also starting to think we are taking on a big task. Can’t wait to see what our plot looks like... my DS is completely obsessed by the planting process-I don’t know how dedicated he will be to digging over an overgrown plot for the rest of the summer though

Morning all,
Mange tout have been really good this year despitepathetic staking. Kale and lettuce is being eaten. I have some organic slug pellets but still worry for the birds, are they safe?. I have started to pick strawberries and raspberries. Replaced all my runners this year so the plants are small and not very fruitful.
My sweet peas haven’t really taken off yet, should I give them a feed?
I have a bumper cherry crop from an unnamed tree. Taste slightly sour. Are they eaters that need more time or cookers? They are scarlet rather than dark red.
I saw the Gardeners world piece. My veg garden is like this, I have forget menots, cornflowers nigella, pinks, cosmos. But I do forget where I’ve put my veg, and I tend to feel a bit ashamed when I see real veg gardens with raised beds and stuff.
Oh blimey now I need to post pictures of my cherry and my beds, don’t know what’s more challenging, the technicalities or the peer review.

Hi, Whattodowithaminute . I just got mine in January, and it's been a shedload of work, with things appearing to bring me back down to earth in spring. But on the plus side, by seeing it now, at least you will have an idea of quite how much you have to do. My site supervisor has been pretty understanding with the percentage cultivation rules as long as he saw me turning up regularly and things gradually getting there.

Just harvest my early potatoes, thought they had rotted away as the leafs had gone floppy and yellow and they hadn’t flowered but to my surprise there were some potatoes in the bag, enough for dinner tonight 😁
Now I’m harvesting things I’m worried about my beds being empty, I have beetroot and winter cabbages to go in (growing in my window sills) bit they won’t be ready for at least another week.

Photos looks so lovely. I’m so far behind everyone - it’s been raining for weeks which hasn’t helped. Just took a pootle round the garden to check on everything and my apple tree looks like a sort of summary of all the diseases apple trees can get. A few tomatoes and cucumbers are forming but nowhere near ready- ditto strawberries. Cape gooseberries are happy though which is something. I’m picked hydrangeas as cut flowers which always cheers me up . Sweet peas are about 15 cm and no sign of flowers.

Got a couple of hours child free at the plot today
Lots of weeding, planted the leaks in their final positions, chucked some potatoes in a bag with the idea that they'll be ready for Christmas and picked more raspberries. I have only just discovered that there's an asparagus bed at the top of my plot, which is totally wild at the moment, so lots more weeding is on the agenda for this week. And now I'm not sure what to do about my 2 newly planted asparagus beds, it's only a half plot so I don't really have room for 3!
Oh and 1 of my psb is forming a head!

So many lovely pics.

I'm bogged down with school work until the weekend when we have the winter two-week break when so many Melburnians head for Queensland for the heat.

Now that my wrist is back in action I'll be catching up on the veggie beds and re-potting containers, while catching up on the exhibitions at the NGV and Bendigo:

www.ngv.vic.gov.au/exhibition/terracotta-warriors-cai-guo-qiang/

www.bendigoregion.com.au/bendigo-art-gallery/exhibitions?gallery_type=18&show=

As sad as this sounds, this is the only place I can talk about about the fact that that Au is not a cultural desert.

Echt glad to hear your wrist is better. The exhibitions look great and fwiw I don't think Aus is a cultural desert, you've got quite some opera house from what I hear . The body politics exhibition looks intriguing. Enjoy your break and crack on with your re-potting.