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

Recommended way to harvest is to put a sheet underneath the tree and shake some berries down on to it. I usually just pick berries up from the grass. There is a short period when the berry is black and firm. Sadly it has no link at all to when it will fall from the tree - you're just as likely to have unripe berries fall and ripe berries cling firmly till they rot.

I must try that next year! Thank you

Evening !
welcome MrsIronfoundersson - I think I saw on Countryfile about the messiness of picking mulberries .:)
well its been a bit hit and miss with the weather recently , to say the least .
I did the quickest trip to the plot yesterday to dig up some leeks , and...ta-da !! carrots . am so pleased with those, I have such a lot of trouble getting any worth harvesting normally!
Today , I managed an hour getting up some couch and bindweed on a neglected bit , but it was a bit on the claggy side really . Picked a few sprouts , and had to get some caulis before they went over . Good enough for soup , but the wet is getting to them , they get a bit brown and soft .
Onward and upward. Don't know if I will get tomorrow - it has rained most of the afternoon , and it also depends on when the rain arrives.
I wish we could have a couple of dry days together ..

Thank you for the welcome book, I have been on here before but like the enthusiasm for my allotment, my input/ability to keep up ebbs and flows! However I am now chair of the allotment society so must keep my end up! Am cardboarding and manuring my plot for the winter with great plans for next year. It was beautiful up there today. I am very envious of your lovely harvests.

My harvests get increasingly odd at this time of year. Yesterday's consisted of a few pounds of half ripe tomatoes which i think will ripen better in the warm of the kitchen; a small butternut squash which isn't going to get any bigger outside because the vine has predeceased it, the last of the cucumbers, and a double handful of Physalis berries (cape gooseberry).

Previous day was half a dozen figs, and about 3lb of undersized grapes, some of which went on our morning cereal, the rest into a "Tuscan grape cake".

Sounds good Mere!

Afternoon !
well, it finally stopped raining on Saturday afternoon , so we went to shovel and bag up some horse manure from a friends field . Went and got another load on Sunday . So all I have actually done in the last few days is move manure around . I have used some to cover next years squash bed.
Mere - I have trays of (supposedly) ripening tomatoes , but my summer stuff is basically all done and dusted now . Good job , as we had quite a solid frost this morning - all the car screens were covered , and it was still 0º at 8
Ooh , have to pull the finger out now MrsIron - fitting it all in can be tricky :) , and thank you - I love growing my veg , and spend quite a lot of time planning so I can pick nearly all year round .
Glorious today , when I haven't the time to do much ( of course ...) , but did zip down to pick a savoy for tea .
Not able to go until Wednesday , when hopefully it will be dry enough to cut grass!

We had our first frost yesterday - and the water in the wheelbarrow (which is acting as a rain gauge at the moment) was still iced over at 11am. I should probably be picking the rest of the apples (Worcesters, Herrings Pippin and Forge are already picked)

Yesterday's harvest was a mouthful of purple sprouting (which I took as cook's perks), a single broad bean, a kohl rabi, and a couple of orange beetroot (we added the leaves to our tea, rest will go into a mixed salad for lunch). This haul is a result of sorting out my vegetable pots - an assemblage of 18inch square tubs on the terrace which is where I grow all my outside vegetables having shaded out the rest of my garden by planting too many fruit trees.

My harvest is done for the year, and I'm more relieved that disappointed. I've cleared away the remnants of the cucumbers and tomatoes, strimmed and dug in the clover and covered that end with weed control fabric. Now I'm back to what spring so rudely interrupted and clearing two years of overgrowth ready to start properly next year. I didn't get to plan paths or beds this year, it was all a bit random and disorganised.

Next year I will be ready and armed with my hard learned lessons from my first year. I can now tell a bramble from a raspberry, I know what those bastard networks of thick white roots are and what they get up to when they can't be seen under a layer of cardboard and mulch, and I have an assortment of netting tunnels to stop bird depradations.

I've been storing up all my bindweed and couch grass roots for burning, but since the restrictions ended for the year, it's been too wet. I might just suck it up and take them to the tip in the car.

SoundofSilence spring getting in the way is what happens to me every year . This winter my plan is to finally clear out the old fruit bushes which aren't doing anything and to put in a proper pond rather than just a leaky old washing up bowl. This is at the side of the plot and the other day I couldn't actually find it as it was so overgrown. Just need it to be a bit drier so that I can dig.

We had a frost the other day - not sure how much on the ground but definitely on the cars. I've just walked past the plot and my dahlias are looking very sorry for themselves so they need to come out. Unfortunately it is supposed to rain at the weekend so not sure I will manage it this week.

Still in the plot: beetroot, spinach, leeks, possibly some purple sprouting broccoli. Everything else is either in the freezer/jam/shed or loft (onions are up there). Mostly we need to eat squashes and pumpkins.

Managed to pick the last few tomatoes and clear the greenhouse this week. Onions and garlic planted but need to net still. Weather has been ok and weeding is easier in strawberry beds and fruit cage now. Hoping for another few hours of weeding so can start mulching this weekend.

Ooh, I wish I’d found this thread earlier! I first started trying to grow veg last year, when I put in a little greenhouse and have expanded my efforts this year, with somewhat mixed results

My amazing RHS veg book suggests that broad beans and peas can be started off in October under cover for an early crop in spring. So I’ve planted a few seeds in growing tubes in the greenhouse and they’re starting to appear. What the book doesn’t say is how I need to overwinter them. Will they be OK just sitting in the greenhouse, or do I need to keep them protected from frost? I’ve got some fleece and a fleece cloche tent thing - should I use these, or will they block out too much light and make the seedlings go leggy? Any advice from the experts on this thread would be gratefully appreciated, please!

Queen they'll be fine in the greenhouse. The reason you can start them in October is that they're frost hardy. Personally, I wouldn't put the fleece over, I'd imagine their need for light is greater than their need for warmth. It depends where you are as to whether it's worth doing - I've tried it a couple of years, but find it doesn't give me any advantage over a spring sowing. On the other hand, I'm in Yorkshire in a frost hollow, and I grow them to quite a size in the greenhouse before planting them out, so I don't have to "wait till the soil warms' to sow them.

I seem to have fallen off this thread again. I have at last got broad beans planted before Christmas, I mean to do it every year. I'm keeping mine outside in modules until they are big enough to be planted on the plot. I've also got some shallots up, planted from seed, so they will go in as well. I harvested my last lettuce today as well as peppers and aubergine. The aubergines have changed colour from purple to off white does anyone know if they are still ok to eat? I picked up a load of cooking apples after the winds yesterday so I will cook them and freeze them. There were hundreds of fallers, it seems such a waste.

Haven't been on for ages! All going ok here but am struggling to get to the plot much. It's a busy time of year work wise. I'm very excited though as today someone who is letting go of their plot offered me a free greenhouse and is even putting it up for me this week! So happy as dh has very little time to help me and I knew moving it on my own and building a base was impossible. It's 6x8ft so a great size and I've cleared a spot for it today

Afternoon!
welcome QueenOfThorns - its a really good place to ask about anything - someone will know usually! ( whereabouts are you- North/South/East/west ? - only nosey! )
I put my first lot of broad beans direct into the ground about now ( I'm a bit late , as its been rather wet this last week) . I cover mine with thin fleece over hoops , and let them get on with it . They have normally sprouted before Christmas , and its just a small frost protection , but more against crows , which tend to pull them out . You do have to be aware that mice like them though , so I normally sow some in plugs in the greenhouse in January , which fill any gaps I may have . It helps come spring - they are a few weeks ahead , so tend to miss the worst of the blackfly on the growing tips .
Titsy - wow , thats fantastic! How kind they are :)
So the whole week has been a washout , or I've been busy , so not really any plot work done until today . I did pop and pick some small calabrese heads the other day , but today I have dug out couch grass from path edges , tidied up in the brassica cage , and got ready to empty another raised bed prior to the move around . I picked some sprouts which have tried to blow - not quite sure why , all the other plants are fine , and they are not large or anything , just must be under stress. So frilly sprouts for tea . Also a cauliflower , the rain has not done it any favours , its slightly over , but okay., and I finally got around to dig up the asparagus seedlings that popped up too .
It's finally getting tidy , well almost

Not much going on here. My triffids cosmos are in full flower. For reference the scaffolding pole is 2m high.

I got garlic planted the other week, just some clearing of things away needed but weather has been so wet I've not got round to it yet.

Hi everyone,

Our first growing season on our micro allotment is nearly over, and I'm pretty chuffed with how it went! Homegrown sweetcorn really is something else! And my two carrots were a triumph I've written off brassicas in future though - too much of a faff and I don't really have the space for them anyway.

I'm going to experiment with overwintering the beds in different ways. On one them I'm borrowing an idea from a previous thread - I've put all the compostable material from the rest of the site on it and covered it with membrane. Next summer I'll grow squash and courgette through the membrane.

Another one I've mulched and I'm using for garlic, broad beans and flower bulbs.

Another I'm going to sow green manure on.

And the last... I'm just pretending I can't see

I'll be adding all the fruit plants around the beds over winter too

Now I'm looking forward to spending lots of time lost in seed catalogues and drinking mulled beverages.

Thanks for the welcome and advice people! I’m in the North West.

I’ll leave the beans and peas where they are, then (I’m very pleased that so many have germinated) - their final location is currently occupied by sprouts and red cabbage, which is why I didn’t sow them direct. Hopefully the greenhouse is mouse-proof, but I have two killer cats on patrol. My ‘growing tubes’ (aka the cardboard bits from inside loo rolls) are starting to look a bit mouldy, so hopefully they won’t disintegrate before spring!

Another question - my leeks are still really small (think glorified spring onions), are they likely to get any bigger now, or is that likely to be it?

The aubergines have changed colour from purple to off white does anyone know if they are still ok to eat? Usually they go pale brown when rotting. Basically all you can to is slice in half and see if the flesh is still white. Even if they're beginning to rot, you can still cut out the rotten bits and eat the rest.

apples What I've been doing with mine is spreading a layer of cooked apples in the base of a large grill pan, spreading a layer of sponge cake mix on top (the usual recipe of equal weights of egg, sugar, fat and flour, cream fat and sugar together, add eggs and flour and maybe cinnamon), bake at 180 then cut into squares and leave it around for snacking. It disappears quite quickly. Have noticed DH is a bit more bulky so maybe it's not such a good idea.

I can also lose quite a lot of apples in stews and meat sauces. And for sausages or solid chunks of meat I make an apple sauce by stewing a few apples with a spoonful of sugar and equal amount of vinegar - a sort of instant chutney which balances the fat nicely.

Evening!
I will not say good - it is a wet one again ..
Queen - I suspect by this time ,the leeks won't grow too much more sadly . Mine have thickened up now , but they have been in the ground a long while . I plant them by making a nice size hole in the soil with a dibber ( an old spade handle repurposed by DH for me ) so its quite a decent size , then just some water added when I have dropped the seedling in the hole . I know lots have problems with leeks - usually when growing in clay - it seems to restrict them somehow . My soil is chalky and quite loose.
MereDint - love the apple cake idea - I have a big bag of cooking apples that are not really in a state to store well , these will go in the freezer for a quick pudding :)
It wasn't actually raining first thing this morning , so I was able to dash up to the plot to do some harvesting . The only time I have available this week , it has been too wet . But I picked leeks , calabrese and PSB , and a load of kale to make a casserole with borlotti beans. I did a small amount of weeding , then it started to rain , so I came home . The weather forecast is looking dreadful , and I still haven't sown my broad beans ..

Evening
I hope everyone is okay , and not affected by the floods
It stopped raining yesterday and din't rain today either -woo- hoo !
But we have had frosts overnight .
So today I weeded the asparagus bed , and finally got to sow some broad beans . I picked sprouts , and dug up what carrots I had left too. Tried to cut the grass , but could not get the lawnmower to start , so had to go back with DH and a tin of carb cleaner . He managed to get it going , so the grass got cut too .
Its all ready to move the raised beds now - thats for the next fine day we have free , fingers crossed .

Not affected by the floods bookbook but the heavy rains meant doing any real work at the allotment has had to stop this week. Managed to net the onion and garlic bed, but the soil on larger areas was just lumps of clay and unworkable. So no weeding!! And did not want to stand on it. The smaller beds are reachable and have paths around them, but they are the sorted areas!

Planning ahead and thinking of trying some new varieties or crops next year.
What have people had successes with or new varieties they liked or old favourites? I tried a new type of pea, which had a disappointing yield which my children were disappointed with. And the cucamelons I grew differently and not having a netted area to attach themselves to meant they also had a much smaller amount produced! Also can say 6 chilli plants wa s probably 5 too many as they were profilfoc - Apache chillis!

Morning all.

I am busy digging over new beds at the moment. I am totally doing chillies next year. Plot neighbour gave me a few and they were delicious, perfect level of heat and didn't need a greenhouse. She said they grow true from seed so I've saved some to try myself next year. Another neighbour has given me some parsnip seed heads.

I've realised that I forgot to plant out my autumn onion sets, although there might not be that much point since a neighbour warned me there's white rot in the plots this end. I could plant them at my workplace communal allotment, but not sure there's much point now we're well into November. Does anybody know if autumn onion sets will do okay if planted in the spring? I did read a suggestion to overwinter late planted sets in trays in an unheated greenhouse then plant them out in the spring, so I could put them in the cold frame if they won't thrive on a spring planting.