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

Evening!
welcome Whattodo :) - it can be daunting , but just allow yourself to have a good look, and think out a plan . Best advice I have - its a marathon , not a sprint working an allotment . And only grow what you like to eat . - Get a good look and poke around , see what condition it is in , whether you have access to water , where the sun comes , are you near trees/hedges which can affect what you might want to plant . Come back and let us know .( as I am very nosey - are you North/South/East or West ? )
echt - oh, glad to hear your wrist is better . Those exhibitions look good . You may think AU is a cultural desert , but its not a deal better up here in the wilds of Yorkshire either - we have to travel a fair bit to get to see anything much !:)
Absolutely no work on the plot - busy yesterday , along with some rain , today it has rained steadily virtually all day . So all I have done is watered in the greenhouse !
Hope it has dried up enough to check everything over tomorrow - so much soft fruit just about ripe , so fingers crossed that I will eventually manage to get any of use . Goodness what a difference from last year!
Onwards and upwards eh?

Welcome to the thread Whattodo. Hope your new allotment isn't too overgrown. I took mine on in the summer and it was a good time to do it because there was plenty of time to prep for the following year (mine was very overgrown). If yours isn't too bad you could get some overwintering crops in which would be a nice start.

I've instantly forgotten who was talking about first earlies on the previous page but not all potato varieties flower - we've grown arran pilot and they haven't flowered but our Charlottes are flowering right now. So you can't necessarily use flowering as a sign that they're nearly ready to come out.

I'm envious of your lemons mentioned upthread Echt. Oh to have an orangerie and be able to grow citrus fruit properly.

My strawberry sorbet was a success and I'm making another batch today - I've dug out my ice cream maker from the back of the cupboard where it's been languishing for a while.

Forecast is showing it will be very hot here (south east) on Saturday. I was planning to plant out some seedlings but I'll have to wait until its cooled off a little.

I've now had 3 raspberries and one wild strawberry from the garden - but not enough are yet ripe to actually pick a crop.

One of my yellow courgette plants has wee courgettes that are nearly big enough to pick

In the mean time, I picked this from the garden yesterday

Beautiful flowers pretty!
I just popped up to pick some fruit today. Everything finally seems to be growing now that we've had some warm weather.

Afternoon!
hope everyone is enjoying the sun . It has finally come out here today!
Those flowers are lovely pretty
that fruit Pyxie - looks like a summer pudding to me
So it was actually cold enough this morning for the central heating to click on , but the sun came fully out early , and it was warm work at the plot .
Loads of weeding done - the ground is lovely and soft , so it was easy digging . Ran out of time really, so ran around to check and pick on raspberries and strawberries , peas and broad beans . Had a fast look at everything else - one courgette plant looks like it has a bad attack of aphids, so need to make up some neem oil and get spraying .
Other than that , everything is thriving . including the weeds !
Beetroot and swede I sowed the other day are germinating , and I have my first little cucumber growing away in the greenhouse , and lots of flowers on the aubergines . Loads of tomatoes setting as well :)

Afternoon! I just went home for lunch and spent five minutes with my head in the autumn raspberries eating dessert straight from the stem. This morning, MiniSilence excitedly dragged me over to the redcurrant to point out two red ones as we left for the school run. Soon there will be jam. How soon depends on how much time I spend grazing those raspberry bushes.

The allotment has an absolute bumper crop of blackberries coming through. I finished the netting yesterday.

I'm back! I didn't actually go far, I've been lost in your archives taking dozens upon dozens of screen shots of growing tips and varieties to try. So thank you all for sharing your experiences so generously so far

Everything on our plot is just growing and catching up at the moment, so not a lot to do besides keep the weeds down. I might, might, sneak a few leaves off the kale plants to go with our tea on Sunday. The neighbour who gave them to me has super green fingers, because they're storming along.

The slugs are out in force though, and I've been a bit liberal with the slug pellets. It's not something I want to make a habit of, but I'll cry fat tears of frustration if everything dies on me at the beginning of my first year! The deer have also made short work of the beans. I'm not sure what the solution to that is, but it probably doesn't involve murdering them on the spot

Otherwise it's just a waiting game for now, which is probably for the best what with school fetes and sports day, and the tiny business of moving house next week!

My purple podded peas are purple podding

Purple is a far superior vegetable colour!

Our courgettes look like they are in full flow. Found a load of caterpillars in the cabbage this week which they children have decided to keep as pets... keeping the plants well looked after for now but when we release this hardy bunch they will destroy everything within a 500m radius... sign the allotment contract tomorrow and at really excited. So lovely to see the fruits of your labour coming through

First strawberries finally ripened this week, quickly eaten. First potatoes too, these were my first earlies 'rocket' which were in potato bags. I've been waiting for them to flower but someone up thread mentioned that first earlies might not flower so thought it was worth a gander. I have another 2 bags of the same variety.

Beans still not doing much, mange tout growing well but no sign of flowers yet.

Need to get everything watered well tonight, we should finally have some warm weather tomorrow (for one day only judging by the forecast!)

Evening!
Sound - autumn raspberries? - mind you , mine are not far behind the summer ones!
Acquitaine - ooh, nice to know the back threads are of use . I still refer to them occasionally when I am trying to remember what weather was like etc . Deer are really tricky - quite robust fencing is about the only deterrent as far as I know.
pretty I haven't grown purple peas - have they a distinct flavour , or is it just the beauty ?
Whattodo - exciting ! - yes the caterpillars will eat down to the stalks given any chance at all .
Interestingly , I have not seen many cabbage white butterflies as yet .
tiz - yes - tomorrow is our heatwave in the North
It was quite cool here today - about 14º this morning while I was at the plot . I weeded all my brassica cage and put cabbage collars around the lot . I have 2 small broccoli heads forming at least.
I was just about to leave , but went to have a check on the currant bushes . The white currants are ready , so have started to pick . I got about half done I think . Its always hard , as you think you have them all, then you move a branch out of the way , and there are more hidden .

Well here’s my plot in all its splendour... overgrown as anticipated... established cherry trees, black currants, bay, few raspberries and a bonus shed.

This mornings pickings. Too hot to do any actual work up there though, full sun, no shade, no breeze, might go back tonight

Bonus shed is great *Whattodo, great to get some established fruits as well. I inherited redcurrants, raspberries and gooseberries with mine, but no shed.

Bookbook - the peas themselves are green, it's just the pods that are purple, and they're lovely and sweet.

It's a heritage variety, quite tall and maybe a bit susceptible to mildew. Must do another sowing, so that once they've gone over, I can replace them and extend the season.

I've just chopped back a load of foliage including chives that have gone over.

i was out there an hour.

I am not utterly exhausted.

I am NOW utterly exhausted.

Too hot here today, I have loads to do but am waiting for it to cool down. Have some spuds to dig up and a couple small raised beds to clear.My first lot of peas looked like they had finished but now have new shoots and are flowering again, my 2nd lot are producing enough mange-tout for a meal each day. Picked my first runner beans today (2) for some reason they are the only 2, the rest have only just started flowering. I have round courgettes almost ready too.

That looks great Whattodo and bonus shed is a win!

Quick trip up just to water everything and pick some more fruit. Lots of peas are almost ready now, I can't wait to pick them. Runner beans and dwarf french are flowering, some kohlrabi are almost ready and my first patty pan squash is on it's way. Exciting times

Afternoon !
well, it was much too hot for me to do any work yesterday!
Whattodo - that plot has potential ( + shed!! ) - did you put the membrane down ? If not, you may be pleasantly surprised when you peel it back .
Ah pretty - did wonder - I grow purple french beans , and if you let the beans develop , they are white . But borlotti beans are coloured red/pink and white .
So I went and did a stint this morning - cut sweetpeas and dug up some Charlotte potatoes for tea. Started to pull up some garlic , and they haven't cloved I thought they looked a bit skinny . Serves me right on buying from a garden centre , not the variety I normally grow , as I was late to get them .
DH came back in the afternoon with me , and we got raspberries and strawberries picked , and did a bit of sorting of raspberry canes - they were a bit wild , and hard to pick , as I hadn't tied them up this year with pressure on time .
I have my first courgette growing away - bit small as yet though

The only thing I would add is that the purple podded peas need to be picked quite young (I'd forgotten that from last year and have just been reminded, having found an "older" pod ) as otherwise they can go a bit dry and less sweet. But that was me eating them raw!

I've dug my first potatoes some were great, some planted elsewhere were very knobily and don't look good at all. I can't remember the varieties I bought, they were Poundland ones and I just stuck them in. I've picked another mass of sweetpeas, I'm going to put them on a colleagues desk who has had some bad news and it is forcing her retirement. We have worked together for the last 21 years.

This weekend's offerings - potatoes and berries

Bookbook - none of my garlic has split into cloves either, still it's progress on previous years when it has just vanished.

A last minute change of plans means we're going away for a week next week so I'm busy planning tomato watering systems.

I really need to cut back my sage as it's trying to take over the world, I've been googling sage pesto recipes as I hate just getting rid of it.

Tizwoz if you dunk sage leaves in a saucer of olive oil and wipe them off with your fingers, then stick them in the oven tray with roast potatoes etc they turn into delicious sage crisps.