Allotment/Veg Patch Thread 15 - will winter ever end?

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Hi everyone , just putting this up quickly , will add on later
Everyone welcome! :)

Oh my Mere, I will needs tonnes of the stuff then, how depressing!!! Think we will just keep shoving in the manure and top up as and when we get some top soil delivered! Think we will only have room for 2 compost bins but I have 2 at home too so I can use those too, think I have some good stuff I can start taking down. My car is a literal mud bath!!
Ruby, hope you feel better soon. I love the children all planting anything and everything, even the pine cones!

The idea of the kids planting everything they can lay their hands on is too cute. My DS lost interest within the first ten minutes.

Evening!
all ready for Storm Dennis I hope !
Janus - leeks , I use in all sorts of ways - soups /risotto/pasta sauces . They are infinitely useful :) Sprouts I will admit just get cooked for as short a time as possible .
Just plod on adding anything compost- check on your local facebook sites - sometimes free topsoil is offered if you can bag up and take away.
I went and did an hour this morning . I spread out the manure we got yesterday and used some for mulching the asparagus crowns . Picked a savoy and some perennial spinach . Pruned down the autumn raspberries chucked the bench in the shed , and left . Its looking horrendous for us for the next 2 days .

First seedlings up in the propagator and others showing signs of life - so far I have sown tomatoes (sungold, indigo rose, gardener's delight and red zebra), tomatillos, peppers (Semaroh sweet and Fooled you chilli) and melons (watermelon black mountain and petit gris de rennes). I must find time to make sure the greenhouse is nice and clean as I'll have overflowing windowsills before I know it!

I still haven't topped up the raised beds with more manure and chippings and somehow don't think I'll be managing any of that this weekend. Heigh ho.

Oh my Mere, I will needs tonnes of the stuff then, how depressing! You'll actually need more than I implied - 10cm is only 4 inches. I can do the theory of maths OK, it's the actual sums that defeat me!

My DS lost interest within the first ten minutes. Yeah. Attention spans are pathetic at that age. My DS has fond memories of sea fishing trips with his DF - what happened is they took the dinghy out to the middle of the loch, got the rods out, and in 5 mins he got bored and they came back home again - but no, in his memory he had wonderful long days fishing with his dad.

Sprouts I will admit just get cooked for as short a time as possible Oh no! You have to cook them long enough to develop that sulphurous taste I have to cook ours in two batches - mine into the steamer first, then add the sprouts for the rest of the family in a second basket a few minutes later.

Janus you may find this useful: www.compostdirect.com/calculator

Farewell black compost bin. May the winds carry you to a wondrous land of beauty, adventure and flying monkeys.

Or for another plot holder to send you home. Whichever works for you.

Soundofsilence, fly high compost bin!
Went up to my plot today, some poor sod’s shed was completely at a 45 degree angle!
Una, it says I need 24 bags 😂😂. At £100 a bag I think that’s a no!! Will have to keep adding the manure and the topsoil from digging a trench around our entire plot! May allow myself one bag every 6 months and do a thin mulch with it!!

May allow myself one bag every 6 months and do a thin mulch with it!! Better to do a thick mulch on a small area,

You could always take the top soil off your paths.... Though they might turn into canals in the winter.

Remember you can add cardboard and paper and vegetable peelings to your compost heap. It all helps to increase the bulk. Look out for other sources of humus - we used to get hops from the local brewery.

It's still really windy here. I decided that although it was too windy to attempt to fix the polytunnel, we could look at the fence that it knocked down on it's way past, as it flew over a load of neighbouring allotments. Dh was dubious - (he had just cycled in the bad weather but obviously his hardiness doesn't extend to tending my allotment). Anyway, the moment we got there to look at the fence damage, it started to hail dreadfully, right into our faces, just like the day when we rescued the polytunnel. I kept shouting at dh that we needed to go back to the car to wait for the hail to stop. Of course he couldn't hear me and we had nowhere other than the car to shelter as the polytunnel is in bits. We couldn't even see the fence. Gave up and came home. Annoyingly we only have 1 day off a week together and so far the weather keeps messing my repair plans up. We'll try again next week!

Mere I have a 3rd. O post bin but at the allotment nd two at home, the allotment one has never worked for some reason so I am wondering if I can fit it in at home once our extension is finished ... mmm! Does make sense to have 3.

Janus even with 2 compost bins we manage to produce a worthwhile amount to take to the plot. I spread it thickly over one area every 6m when I empty half a bin. I put all our peelings in it, plus plain egg boxes, clean paper and leaves in it, plus anything from our raised beds that are not weeds. Soon fills up.

What variety of tomatoes do people enjoy? Recently I have grown some heritage varieties but have no seed for this year.

Sorry should have said have not bought the seed for this year as was lacking inspiration at the small choice in local garden centre.

Managed to get, later than usual, potatoes to chit anyway!

Not dare go near the allotment to assess damage as lots of heavy rain today and I had the children with me too, all day.

Sungold is probably my favourite tomato - very tasty and they ripen early so really extend the season.

I grow 'Fandango' as they are blight resistant. Still got to get to the plot to assess any damage but the wind has got up again, small bit of sunshine though so I may go this afternoon.

I grew Roma last year (first year so can't compare to much). They grew like mad and I got loads, but they got brown patches on the stems; I think that's blight? I'm growing them again in a different spot because they were amazing, although I'm trying some new varieties too. They were so sweet I had to add wine vinegar to my cooking recipes to offset it, and I've found shop and canned tomatoes really acidic and tasteless in comparison. I plan to freeze them as passata this year so that I have a winter supply.

I grow "gardener's delight" which is reputed to be one of the best for flavour, but I've come to the conclusion that the biggest flavour boost is to grow your own and let them ripen on the plant - even ones not especially noted for flavout taste better than supermarket ones.

Talking to a friend today who has an allotment near the Ure - whole site is under water, and everything - sheds and greenhouses included - has been washed down to one end of the site. He's at the top end, so will have just to retrieve his belongings - people at the other end will have to excavate under a pile of rubble to find their allotments.

Why oh why do I still feel so rubbish?! Every day I think, I'll get out in the garden and/ or allotment to see what needs doing - and every day this cold hits me again!! Some of the seeds we planted last week have shot up and could do with going into bigger pots, but I just have no energy to do it...

We have planted tomato seeds too - 'ildi' and 'moneymaker' - couldn't tell you which ones have been good in previous years as DTS2 watches the plants like a hawk and wrenches the tomatoes off when they're still pea size (and pea colour, unfortunately). Maybe he'll have a bit more patience this year?!

Don't know what we do wrong with chillis but they never grow for us! Other people say that they're taking over the garden and get tons but we have nothing

I let the DC sow mustard and cress the other day too. They are delighted that they've found something which grows almost as quickly as they want it to!!

Oh no, I would hate a flood on the allotment. Imagine all of your well loved tools getting lost. I suppose if an area is flooded though, the allotment would be low on the list of priorities. I have always grown tomatoes but more for sauces and soups rather than in a salad. Last year I had a glut of courgettes and made loads of tomato and courgette soup (a lovely BBC food website recipe). Dd and I have eaten it most weeks and only this week have we finally run out. It really was the nicest soup I have ever had in my life - even dd agrees and she is a teenager, not known for excitement over soup lol - and I am sure it was down to it being cooked with fresh, homegrown tomatoes. When dh said that I could make it again with supermarket tomatoes, I really do not think it would be the same.

Ruby sorry you are feeling rubbish. Pea shoots are quickly growing seeds too. Cat I've only got one bag of frozen tomato sauce/soup left in the freezer now. The growing season better start soon.

Evening
oh , poor friend with flooded allotment - how heartbreaking Mere
Ruby - take care - it is your body telling you to rest and get better , so don't push it . It is only February after all!
I will not be sowing seeds for about another 2 weeks .
The tomatoes I grow , and love - ( and yes - they are so much nicer picked ripe)
Sungold - the Cherry tomato , and early as mentioned .
St Pierre -for the best flavoured salad/slicing tomato - slow to get going and ripen , but worth the wait
Roma - Plum tomato for eating or cooking
San Marzano - Plum tomato perfect for an Italian type tomato sauce for pasta
All my plum tomatoes get made into a variety of sauces for pasta - either simple with garlic onions and basil , or with any veg being picked from the plot that will chuck in virtually. I usually manage to make enough sauces to just about keep us going until early summer . It freezes so well .

I'm glad to hear someone else isn't sowing yet. I don't plan to sow until the first week in March.

I saw this article today about growing loofahs. I think i'm going to give it a go this year

www.nationaltrust.org.uk/press-release/national-trust-staff-harvest-first-crop-of-grow-your-own-kitchen-sponges

Tiz what a good idea about the loofahs, I might look into that although it might take over Grumpy Ron's greenhouse. I'm not planning to sow until March either, I hate plants getting all leggy.

Ruby Sounds like SAD, in which case getting out into the daylight would start to make you feel better. Meanwhile take it in small steps. Make a job list 1. Find/buy compost 2. Find pots (ideally, wash them, but do that as a separate job) 3. Pot on the 3 most urgent seedlings. And so on. Then you're only committing yourself to about 15 mins work, and you have a job to cross off your list when you've finished.

Chillis - try growing a plant in a 6inch pot in the windowsill. The greater heat will help, and they'll carry on ripening through to the autumn.

Beansprouts are another quick grower. Quarter fill a jam jar with mung beans (dried, food quality - no need to pay for tiny packets sold for growing), cover with water for 24 hours. The beans will swell. Tip out excess water, rinse and tip out rinsing water, put lid on. Repeat the rinsing every 24 hours. In a few days you will have edible beansprouts - tiny root, stout stem with a couple of tiny seed leaves at the top.