Allotment/Veg Patch Thread 14 ! growing into summer

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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

Cathpot I agree with the peas and mange tout, I had 2 lots of peas, let one lot turn into peas and the other lot we ate as mange tout, the mange tout were far better and we got enough for quite a few meals unlike the peas.

I’m super excited about my runner beans, some will be ready tomorrow or Saturday and my French beans are about a week away so I’m going to be over run with beans, they are my favourite veg for growing as well as courgettes as they both produce a good crop.

When harvesting broccoli, do you chop the head off and then it grows some more? My first time growing it but it seems to be doing quite well.

My fails so far this year have been peppers (I really need a green house for them) and the same for cucumelons. I have struggled with tomatoes outside but have quite a few growing now but again would be better with a green house.

So next year I’m going to plant more fruit, less peas and possibly more carrots.

I’ve not tried carrots - I could maybe do that in place of cut and come again lettuce which always grows far faster than I can eat it and then goes to seed.

‘Less lettuce’ is also going on the list.

Sweetcorn is on it's last chance for me this year. If nothing comes of it I'm not bothering again. I already switched peas for mange tout.

Has anyone grown yellow french beans before? Mine had lovely yellow flowers but now the beans are appearing and they're very green. Do they perhaps change colour as they grow?

A selection of berries, mange tout and a courgette today.

I sewed more carrots last week after pulling up my first lot, they seem to have done well this year. Also chucked some pumpkin seeds in a empty bed last week, probably a bit late but worth a try.

Was hoping for a quiet day at the allotment today but DH is at home and wants to spend some time together 🙄 have so much I want to get done. At least we’ve had rain the last couple of days so no watering urgency...

I harvested 5 mange tout! We did start with 10 plants but some withered and died.

Loving seeing your harvest pics. Volumes much greater than ours!

My aubergine flower has also withered, died and fallen off. Still toying with dragging the growbag into the greenhouse.

My french beans are off the top of the new, taller cane now, going to have to give up with canes. Next year I might try them over an arch instead, though that isn't in such a sunny spot.

Unfortunately (well, only for the garden), we're going away for 3 weeks from next Friday, I suspect we are going to miss a lot of the veg peaking. My MiL will water a few times a week.

Quick trip up just to harvest today, hadn't been since Monday and I can see everything has grown in just a few days. I picked pak choi, kohlrabi, beetroot, purple sprouting broccoli, a few berries and sweetpeas. Just managed to dodge the worst of the rain, no watering required here today!
Chewbecca my first aubergine flower fell off too, I wonder if it's a normal thing? There's a couple more buds so fingers crossed.
Cathpot that's a long time to wait for plums, hope they were tasty!

evening!
lots of my aubergine flowers drop off too Chew and Pyxie Luckily , not all of them - but they are in a greenhouse.
Cath - plums!!!! at last - in fairness its still only a baby at 5 , and you'll find 8' canes are about the biggest you can buy .
tiz - what is the problem with the sweetcorn ?
Love - yes , you will get side sprouts on the broccoli . Not so many or big , but definitely worth leaving in for them .
Just a quick pop to the plot for me today - to weed the fruit cage , Some rain at long last too .
And if anyone is looking to replace/get - Aldi had nice size chilli pepper plants in today .

I love all the pics that are posted.

My chard is ready to pick and the spring onions have come on a treat. More tying-in of the broad beans as it will be very windy tonight. Some flat-leaved parsley has randomly seeded, so I'll let it grow, as being member of the carrot family, it famously does not get on well with being transplanted as a seedling, sulks and dies back when I've put it in pots from seedling punnets. It will spoil my tidy rows, but I use parsley a lot in my cooking so reluctant to cull vigorous, though unexpected plants.

All my Asian greens mix, mizuna and bok choi, have taken off. The warrigal greens seedlings I transplanted for friends and neighbours seem to have taken (never done this before) but will wait for them to go up a pot size before handing on.

Quite a diverse harvest today: raspberries, cucumber, patty pan squash,
broad beans, the last of the peas, and the first pak choi, french beans, runner beans and shallots. Made a lovely stir fry and pud.

Today I planted radishes, the kind that are in a strip, so you don't have to thin , and put pea straw much on the unplanted part of the second veggie bed to warm it up for tomatoes later.

Delurking to say hi & thank everyone for sharing tips & pics.
I don't have an allotment but used to grow lots at home. Recently started planting a few seeds from my old tin (mostly out of date!) to keep occupied & see if any would take ,surprisingly most have.
I did have a couple more but we had a few football related accidents...I've now banned football from my little corner of the garden & things are growing well considering.

Disappointed that I didn't get any potatoes in though ,I always had good crops ,will have to make sure I don't miss out next year !
Will be picking the blackcurrants tomorrow,not my favourite job

Afternoon!
echt - makes me smile to think you need to warm the soil, considering!
Watcher - hello and welcome! :) those are lovely pics - just shows what you can grow in such a small space - the tomatoes look amazing .
Yesterday , we went to a really big nursery nearby , mostly for garden stuff, but I actually picked up some pots of leeks , and a pot of germinated calabrese too. These will plug the big gap in my leek beds, and add a few more plants for later on too. Was surprised they had anything , but cabbages and PSB were there too, along with some french beans.

So today I planted up the leeks , harvested potatoes , picked peas , a few raspberries and loganberries , a courgette and then cut flowers . I think thats the last of the summer raspberries , the autumn raspberries not started yet , just a few outliers .
Going to be hot this week , so I expect to be watering a lot!

Today I've done quite a bit of hoeing and weeding, the brambles in the hedge had gone bonkers after the recent rain. They are a good deterrent but I need to to get to the shed without thorn attack. Lots of lovely blackberries just starting to ripen behind the shed. I picked the last of black currants an gooseberries today, as I finally unnetted them I found a dead frog tangled up in the netting . I am going to rethink this one for next year. The broad beans are going to be harvested tomorrow and plants put on the compost heap, so I will have a 'hole' I will check out the GC Book unless anyone has any other suggestions?

My harvest today: most of my broad beans and more peas, which together were enough for 3 of us with our turkey steaks. Double podded the broad beans, so they were gloriously vibrantly green.

Froze 900g of summer pudding mixture yesterday. Unfortunately, the birds got most of the redcurrants as we hadn't got round to netting them

Today's harvest - first potatoes, second picking of runner beans and raspberries, sweet peas just keep coming. Broad beans are finished now, sweetcorn are swelling nicely and miniature chard plants are popping up all over the place with their pretty bright stems. Lots of tiny pumpkins and cucumbers appearing too.

We've got 3/4 of the potatoes in.

The Epicure earlies had a fair bit of scab but the mains, Desiree and Picasso, are perfect, no scab, no slug holes and no damage whatsoever.

We'd usually have to chuck around 1/3 of the ones we grew in the clay because of the slug damage.
All soil sifted, and back in the beds, with 3 fresh beds now to plant up and sow into, and one remaining which i may keep until my niece comes tomstay somshe can dig them up.

I store spuds in big garden sacks, in my garden room office, covered in shredded paper which absorbs any moisture from them.

I think I have 10 or more courgettes growing, anyone have a good recipe for courgette soup of something similar?

Yesterday I got excited about my first cauliflower starting to grow and then dd went and picked it ,I am still angry with her, will it grow another? Or do they only grow one head?

Love I would recommend Delia's Gardener's soup. A bit more than just courgettes.

Pretty similar harvest here - potatoes, mange tout and courgettes.

Lots more potatoes to dig up but I'm holding off until I have the energy to cat proof the bare soil that will remain.

I make courgette cake and courgette fritters, both of which freeze well if I have a big surplus.

My potatoes are still looking crap - don't think I'm going to get much from them at all this year.

Popped to the allotment today to check how bad the weeds are! I'm working all week and away next weekend so they'll have to be left to go wild for the next 9 days which is a pain. Courgettes are plentiful and everything else is looking great. Picked some beans, few early pots and lots of courgettes.

What do I do with the pots? Do they need to cure?

I do love my tomato's Book ,I saw that a few other Pp do also ,which prompted my post .
I'm intrigued about the aspirin too as I've had years when blight completely destroyed my beautiful variety of tomatoes.

My pots and baskets do get spread about but the pics show where they get placed when the football is out!
In my little area I have so far :
Courgette
3 varieties Toms
Basil
Coriander (spice bag)
French beans
Peas
Blueberry
Thyme
Sweet peppers x2
4 varieties strawberry & a wild strawberry
Grape vine (gift)
Raspberry cane
A small fig tree from a cutting taken by my neighbour.

I also have a long thin bed at the end of the garden with plants from years ago
a ginormous blackcurrant,tayberries(tied in to grow across the wall) & another sad little blueberry that still isn't looking very happy.

I ordered a garden arch this weekend for the climbers so I can fit more into my little space .
Also planted a few seeds of broccoli,carrot,lettuce & more peas.
My bright idea is to put some pots along my wall out in the lane ,it's gated both ends & no one else seems to use it unless it's to take a heavy garden delivery,if that happens a few pots lined up wouldn't be in the way .
DH thinks I've lost it !

What do I do with the pots? Do they need to cure?

Eat them!