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

If anyone wants to join me in a little late tomato experiment, then please do feel free.

Just sow a few bush tomato seeds now, grow them on in pots and then transport to a greenhouse once you have cleared that out.

Maskotka are good as they have been bred for cooler temperatures.

Sackrifice I like your sowing list . It’s reassured me that I am not too late sowing my second wave of basil. I’d sow more tomatoes too but I don’t have a greenhouse. I do have a little cubicle with a big window at the top of the backstairs so any late basil could go there I guess.

Yes, @sackrifice, fennel seems good for attracting beneficial insects - always lots of hoverflies around mine, and a couple of parasitic wasps too. Despite me not liking the taste, it's one of my favourite plants as it grows so easily and is so striking, especially in full flower.

I'm starting to read more about companion planting and using natural fertilisers like comfrey. I've got some marigolds next to my PSB, and some calendula and nasturtiums at the plot for pollinators.

Today's pickings. Though digging up spuds and carrots after surgery was probably not the best idea.

Afternoon!
what a great reminder re sowing . I did sow some swede and beetroot a couple of weeks ago , but they mostly got frazzled - I have 2 swede left in pots , so will do some more now with that timely reminder !
Love - how on earth are you digging just after surgery? But a lovely load of veg there .
Not sure I have any room for more tomatoes in my greenhouse - even though I now have a bigger one , it seems to be bursting at the seams ....
At the plot this morning I planted out my winter cauliflowers , hoed around leeks and savoys . Remembered to sort out soaking some peas , so another succession row sown - these are maincrop 'Katrina" which were given me , not grown them before, so we shall see . I pulled up the very first succession row of peas , as they had mostly gone over . Watered the squashes and courgettes . Picked broad beans and pulled the first few beetroot .
Its almost looking tidy . must must dig up onions and garlic this week ..!
Did anyone hear Bob Flowerdew say redcurrants will stand on the bush for months ? - now he tells us! :).

I need to replant spinach, I tried a different variety this year and it bolted almost immediately, I'll be going back to the perpetual one. I need to do some more beetroot too and would like to sow a second crop of carrots. My first Japanese wine berries are appearing. Thank goodness it rained almost all day, it's been at least a couple of weeks without any. I went to a bbq yesterday and was proud to take a potato, broad bean and mint salad. It went down very well, I was also able to take the host some courgettes (she was asking me if I had any yet back in May) and a bunch of sweetpeas.

Great to see people’s crops and you’ve inspired me to plant some more seeds; pak Choi, Choi sum, pumpkins, pirella went in some trays today.

Can you offer some advice? I’m doing no dig beds but what should I be doing with the paths? Raking the long grass (which has already been strimmed) or will this release loads of seeds into my new beds? Should I just cover them? They are really uneven at the moment so I feel like I need to do something more to them...

Whattodo I got rid of my horizontal grass paths this year, they were really uneven and weren't doing much for my ankles they are now weed suppressant and bark. The two vertical paths are still grass and I am beginning to not have to weed so much grass out of the beds.

Just a quick trip up to the plot today, mostly to harvest. I had my first home grown peas and they were so good! Also picked some kohlrabi, lettuce and spring onions for a salad tomorrow. And my first patty pan. I'm also trying to think ahead to winter, I'd like to still have things to harvest towards the end of the year but I need to read up on what to plant.
Nasturtium pesto sounds good, I'll have to give it a try as I seem to have something of a jungle of nasturtiums!

That’s helpful elephant thank you I think that I too will do weed suppressant and bark but just need to find the cheapest way to do it!

Picked more raspberries today, so that I had enough for a full batch of jam. Also picked a kilo of blackcurrants - only stopped because I was worried that I'd drop the container. These are my neighbours' blackcurrants which are much bigger than my neglected ones - but they're away for 3 weeks and with the attention that the big woodies are giving them, they'll have stripped the bushes

Made my raspberry jam and then picked some more raspberries, the broad beans from around the potatoes (500g, which ended up as 160g podded and then 80g out of their skins - but gloriously green), and one onion, which had not only bolted but had pushed itself out the ground fallen over!

Are there any crops I can still plant straight into the ground? My mum killed my cabbage seedlings and my kohlrabi when I was in hospital so I now only have beetroot and carrot seedlings to plant, my beds are becoming empty as other things have been harvested and first lot of peas have finished. Is it too late to plant more beans? Though I’m unsure if I have any runner bean seeds left, i do have French beans or peas?

Here are the tangerines from one of my container citrus. The other is a bit sad and unripe:

Beautiful echt!

I have sewn more French beans (maybe too late but worth a go), and planted beetroot and carrots. I still have a empty bed but could probably fill it with more carrots and beetroot. I’m feeling sad that my beds are starting to look empty. At the other end of the garden everything is in full bloom, runner beans covered in flowers, courgettes, French beans, broccoli starting to flower and peas still doing well.

echt those tangerines look beautiful!

Love could you sow some salad crops like spinach, pak choi or kale?

Had a lovely afternoon at the plot yesterday, planted out the last of my psb and some more beetroot and harvested some butterhead lettuce that was about to bolt. My first aubergine flower opened this morning, I didn't know they were so beautiful!

Afternoon!
oh echt - so jealous , they look lovely , and you never see proper tangerines in the shops now
and all these fantastic pictures of harvests , it so makes me happy .
Love still time for cabbages /lettuce / salads - and some quick growing things like turnips and Broccoli raab 60 or 90
Pyxie - the first time I grew them , 3 years ago , I was the same ! No one tells you these things .
It was just a very quick picking trip to the plot today , but saw my purple french beans have flower buds on , and I have 2 small courgettes set on a healthy looking plant ( ooh , and you know I sowed some more courgettes the other day - one has already germinated ! - I only sowed them on Saturday )
So flowers , raspberries , and about 4 of the very first tayberries , the first of the loganberries , and a few strawberries . The strawberries are old , and coming up this year , but a bit sad I'm not getting more - but there again , was utterly sick of them last year .
It rather looks as if my netting over the jostaberry has been somewhat lacking - I don't seem to have as many coming up to ripe as I thought

I made blackcurrant cordial last week with Grouchy's recipe from last year . It is wonderful , and I now have to make more..... :)

@echt, those tangerines look good! Wish we had the climate for them here.
@prettybird love the jam making pics. How wonderful to have all that stashed away so even in winter you can have a bit of summer.
@bookbook beautiful flowers! I love sweet peas.

A quick trip to the allotments today for me and everything doing well still. My late down carrots are starting to grow, and I picked another couple of baby beets. Some peas are forming on my plants, but the plants haven't grown much so I'm not holding out much hope of a decent crop. I'm loving my calendula flowers, they are so pretty.

Last night's strawberry jam (1st time I've made it): will give one jar to downstairs given it's mostly their strawberries ; one to my gardening buddy (a few were from his garden); and one for us. I still need to decide what to do with the alpine strawberries - have about 120g so far. I've found a recipe for a single jar of jam, which would be lovely and intense. Alternatively, just plain wild strawberries and cream would be lovely.

The sweet peas were from GB's place: he's away for a week, so I'm doing him a favour by picking them

Cropped some salad leaves and a few peas, cut off a double courgette that hadn't been pollinated, and thinned some carrots and spring onions.

Just found this thread - may I join please?

We usually grow tomatoes and cucumbers but this year are trying loads more, starting with a pack of plug plants we planted out first week in June. Still working things out as we’re going along.

We’ve got
Tomatoes - lots of flowers and a couple of green ones. Trimmed some stems this week following Monty Don’s advise last week.
Sugar snaps and mange tout. Have two mange tout. The SS don’t look very happy.
Cucumbers - lots of flowers.
Courgettes - several finger sized ones now, not sure how big they should be.
Kohl rabi - no idea what they should look like but are growing up!
Broccoli - growing upwards rapidly.
Beetroot - still small but leaves looking healthy
Sweet corn - about 1ft high now
Aubergines - growing, some leaves eaten. No flowers.

Watering daily - assume that’s needed. Just watching and waiting!

Well the Big House Move finally happened on Friday and the best bit of all - I have a greenhouse now! And it's even bigger than I remembered! The garden is more established than I realised back in March as well - it's a gorgeous oasis of different foliages. I spotted this... red gooseberry tree???... in a bed as well - can any of you Wise Growers identify it?

The allotment has been largely left to its own devices for a week, and it's gone BESERK. I've got my first round courgette on the way, and the very young lettuce seedlings I had to take a chance on planting out before the move have flourished. Lots and lots of buds on the Tesco bargain dahlias too :)

Gratuitous greenhouse shot!

Evening!
Welcome Chewbecca - pull up a chair , and join in - so whereabouts are you? North/South/East/West ( just me being nosey! ) Aubergines need a fair bit of warmth - are they outside ?
wow Aquitaine - that greenhouse - how big is it - loads and loads of room for growing in there! They do indeed look like red dessert gooseberries ,trained as a standard . Looks like a good idea , I have one in my flower border , but just a bush . ( Mine is Hannomaki Red )
Morning spent harvesting onions and garlic , with a quick trip to get some broad beans later , that I had forgotten to do .
Not sure how well they will store , as most had tried to bolt. But we use a lot anyway , so they will get used up fairly quickly .
Dug up another sickly looking courgette , on the better safe than sorry principle , but on the upside , I have a second courgette germinate at home

Morning all! Amazing produce pics! This is yesterday's crop. It's small but I'm very happy to have grown something. I hadn't realised the squash should be picked when they are small, so I'll be picking those more often as there are loads growing. The peas are going crazy. I must plant more next year, they have been very easy to grow. And a bonus, 2 of my pumpkin seeds have finally and randomly sprouted after I'd given up on them weeks ago, so I'll transplant them to the spot left by the cucumber plants that got eaten by the slugs.
Sadly only 6 of the 30+ bean plants have survived the slugs so we will be low on bean chutney this year.
I'm finally getting to hack down the brambles that don't have any blackberries growing, and hacking back the undergrowth around our neglected fruit trees.
I love the aubergine flower, so pretty. And that greenhouse is amazing!

We're south east, very dry area.
The aubergines are in a gro bag, getting a fair bit of sun. We do have a small greenhouse they could move into but they look happy. Having seen the pic of the 'flower' on this thread, I think I do have a flower now, it just doesn't look as I expected!

QQ - how frequently do folk water their veg plots? We are on daily but I wonder if we are overdoing it!