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

Bucketing down here too, I went to the plot last night and am glad I didn't bother watering. WE also had our first sweetcorn, they were delivious but had done that thing were only about half the cob has developed it's corns properly, the rest were all tiny white bobbles still - I think we've talked about that on here before but can't remember the reason.

I picked a huge bowl of blackberries from the garden this morning, it seems to be a very good year for them.

Sounds lovely @elephantoverthehill. We've got 2.5 corn on the cobs to pick.

My salad seedlings have just poked their heads out of the soil to be bucketed down upon all day and it feels quite chilly too.

Wasn't it this time last year that we had drought? I remember the lawn was bone dry and cracked and i was even using bath water on it!

Marking my place on this and future threads 😁 I love all the produce photos, you're all doing amazingly well!

Second summer in this house. Already have mature apple/pear trees which are in need of some professional TLC but fruiting like mad this year, despite our post Christmas pruning. I was gifted some tomato (Myrto and, er, tomato), courgette and borlotti seedlings in the spring which have gone into raised beds/pots. Lots of tomatoes which need to ripen, enough borlotti for me to eat when I'm pottering in the garden but sadly no courgettes.

I've emailed the parish council to go on the waiting list for an allotment, although when the toddler and I went to find puddles yesterday we also looked at the plots for signs of life and maybe 2 or three look abandoned so the waiting list may not be that long. We'll see.

Oh, and I took my eye off the raspberries and one plant has been decimated by caterpillars. The other one has hardly been touched. The blackcurrants have leaves (they were nearly dead from a pound shop) but need a better spot to actually fruit I think.

Welcome DaleCooper would you like me to post you some courgettes?

WE also had our first sweetcorn, they were delivious but had done that thing were only about half the cob has developed it's corns properly, the rest were all tiny white bobbles still - I think we've talked about that on here before but can't remember the reason.

Each of the threads at the end of a cob of corn needs to be pollinated in order for its associated corn nib to set. When I grow them, as soon as I see pollen wafting around the top, I run my hands over the top and then over the threads to try and distribute the pollen to each one. It's why they need to be grown in a block not a row so that the pollen touches as many of the threads as it can. It is also why the ones in the middle often have more nibs that the ones on the corners.

Wasn't it this time last year that we had drought? I remember the lawn was bone dry and cracked and i was even using bath water on it!

Yes, i was filling all sorts of lidded containers each night in the boot of the car and driving them carefully to the allotment to water the greenhouse.

elephant My aunt with an allotment holds me hostage until I agree to take some from her!

How did the show go book? I love those little pumpkins(?)

What is everyone growing over autumn & winter? I have some cabbage, cauliflower and psb plants in and I was thinking about sowing a green manure where the pumpkin currently is. Is it worth over-wintering onions, garlic, broad beans, peas?
Also does anyone have any kale recommendations?
Really wet here yesterday but nice and sunny today, it's feeling a little cold though.

I am sowing now for winter. I am will put in overwintering onions, garlic, broad beans, spinach, winter lettuces, fennel, kohl rabi, coriander, might sow another row of carrots under the tomatoes in the greenhouse, Pak Choi, and a range of other Japanese leafy veg fron Real Seeds. Plus spring onions in the greenhouse.

Today's pick. And a random lettuce that self seeded against one of my raised beds which I just left to it.

Evening!
welcome dalecooperscoffeecup :) - whereabouts are you ( I'm just nosey ! ) North/South/East/West ? . Courgettes are proving a bit of a challenge for some this year ( including me..) . Nice that you have some mature fruit trees . Caterpillars on raspberries ? - look HERE
Pyxie - they are called ( I think) Jack be Little pumpkins - I was gifted a plant earlier in the season , in a swap with some cauliflower seedlings :)
So , I had limited success at the show - I got a 3rd place for a cabbage ( but as there were only 3.... ) . Everybody telling much the same story in as much as lots were already over ( cauliflowers etc) some were not really ready ( sweetcorn ) - even the courgettes , which last year everyone had one to show , there were only 4 . Some lovely dahlias and gladioli though.
For winter I will be sowing garlic, ( just ordered my bulbs today) shallots and broad beans. I have pricked out seedlings of spring greens and spring cabbage which I will plant out in about 2 weeks time

Thanks Sackrifice. The great thing about this summer is less watering required

At last! A few courgettes sprouting; looking healthy too. Sweet peas put in a pot have recovered and a few flowers evident. Dahlias super-healthy but no flowers yet...

Ok, so I have some tomato seedlings which have done really well after a long hiatus indoors and are around 40cm high. Is it worth putting these in the greenhouse or against a south facing wall in bigger pots? They will still need to set flower, fruit and ripen, so clearly very late. Pondering getting some led lights to keep some going in a sort of sunroom/lean-to we have..... don’t like the idea of just binning them. Have gone down an internet rabbit hole looking at growing toms with led lights over the winter, as apparently they are perennial vines by nature. Most of these sites not UK though.

I've sown some tomatoes to see if I can get a late autumm crop. I'll be putting them in the greenhouse.

How big are your late toms, Sackrifice?

Now, about a foot tall. Well the were until I buried them up the their eyeballs.

They are bush rather than vines, so can sit there until i am ready. They are Maskotka so bred for cooler weather.

Thanks for the welcome book I'm in the East Midlands. Interesting article on the caterpillars, the damage was so quick it was unreal. I'm much more vigilant now!

Thanks Sackrifice - I’ll follow your advice, then. Some are Roma plums which I’m less hopeful for. The others are apparently bred for cold weather like yours, so may be more successful - Gruschovka and Purple Ukraine.

Its always worth a punt.

Afternoon!
well, some work done this morning , not enough as lots of people around wanting to chat ( misery me! )
Dug up some more potatoes , cut flowers , picked raspberries and the ripe plums . Then went to start digging over an area that had had the broad beans in . A few volunteer potatoes from last year had grown, which I had left to develop ( some pink firs , which did really badly last year in the drought) . I managed a pretty good crop this year , and not dug them all up yet . And in amongst the weeds - a couple of self seeded asparagus . I have just popped them in some soil to bring home and pot up . No idea if they will come true, or they will be a hybrid of what I have ( Gjinlim , Pacific 2000 and Stewarts Purple) . Went and weeded the asparagus bed, and I suspect I have a couple more in there too. The new courgettes are into flowering , and it looks as if I may have my first courgette forming , fingers crossed .

My little greenhouse is a jungle of tomato plants, I think there are some fruits in amongst it all but it's really hard to tell. So I'm thinking it's time to sort something bigger, so i an overwinter some things and be ready for next year.

So a quick greenhouse question - with a standard sort of greenhouse with a path down the middle, which way should it face? Does it matter?

A book my sister gave me about greenhouse growing makes a big fuss about orienting it with the path running east to west. This was news to me, since I thought something made of glass wouldn't notice either way!

I've eaten all my harvests before I can photograph them! I'm impressed how much we've grown in our first year though, I thought we'd have a much slower start. Just before the weather set in I managed to weed the paths and get weed proof membrane down on them. Just waiting on a delivery of bark chippings to finish the look!

Book even your half allotment sounds massive!

Thanks for sharing your overwinter plans everyone, they're keeping me very inspired

Ps. It's to do with maximising light entry, and the speed it warms up at in the morning, apparently.

Tis...I cut off all the leaves on my tomato plants. I just leave two or three at the top. If you can't see your toms then cut the leaves back to the stem to get some light in.

I'll take some pics of mine to show you what I mean as I am just off to the plot to water.

I read (I think it was James Wong) that it's good to let some air circulate to reduce the risk of rot but it's the sun on the leaves that generate the sugars that make the fruit sweet, do cutting leaves can hinder ripening.

Pic of one tomato outdoors with very little leaves. Also tonight's harvest.