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

[bookbook]

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

I have bit the bullet and planted my 2nd lot of courgette and squash outside as well as a few beans (I have back up), put the tomatoes out for a bit today to harden them off and they seem happy.

Red currant and black currants are growing nicely and are netted to keep the birds off, gooseberries growing too and strawberries will be ready soon. Getting super excited about eating my produce.

It’s my first year growing red onions and they are growing fast, how do I know when they are ready?

Also, any tips on growing butternut squash? This is my 3rd year trying to grow them, last 2 years have not been successful.

Evening!
Trebolla - that is the pull of allotment and veg gardening - a sense of order emerging from a tangled mess - it is feeling good about yourself doing something so worthwhile .
Well, I left everything in the greenhouse overnight , it got down to just under 4º , but all survived . I had left my dahlias out without protection , and they were fine , so I went to the allotment this morning and planted those out . Also planted up perpetual spinach . That then freed up the big pots for my tomatoes , so this afternoon they have all been planted up into their pots for the summer , and I have tidied up the greenhouse - it s a bit like those little puzzle games moving tiles around

x post Love - I grow butternut squashes . They need lots of feeding and watering , and they are always later setting the squashes than others in my experience . I tend to put a load of manure on the bed beforehand . I get them fairly big and strong before planting out . Mine aren't ready yet , and its still quite cold overnight . oh , and I do protect from slugs too - they like to eat the growing tip .

Thank you Bookbook, I will keep them in as long as I can, I think that’s where I went wrong last year, the cold nights got them and the slugs.

@MereDintofPandiculation I have stored the seeds in their packet) in a clear plastic bag which hangs near the back doorway. So could get quite cold in winter and hot in summer. I’m trying again with pre soaking, plus the weather has warmed up so maybe it’ll be second time lucky. Initially I showed in individual pots and they were in the back yard. Maybe it’s been too cold lately?

@bookbook thanks for your encouragement. Now I just need to work up the guts to plant out my beloved tomatoes 😊. Weather forecast looks ok ( London).

Trebolla we managed to get the last of the thistles, couch grass and bindweed out of the sweetcorn bed today which was very pleasing! But we still have three beds still to dig out so you are doing better than us!

I'm hoping to get my replacement courgettes out on Monday, along with some beetroot seedlings to fill the gaps where my direct sown haven't germinated. I think I buried lots of them too deep - - not sure how they do being transferred from pots to the ground though?

I found out the run of cold frames at our allotment are for everyone to use today (I thought they belonged to someone!). So I'm going to take my dahlias up tomorrow to harden off ready for planting next week.

whataboutbob That is not good! Fluctuating temperatures are supposed to be the worst thing for seeds. Try and keep them somewhere which is uniformly cool. I keep mine at the back of one of the fridge shelves - they don't need to be in the fridge, but it's that bit at the back you can't see so they perform a useful function in ensuring opened tins don't get pushed too far back and forgotten.

But worth having another try, beans are quite tough. Could have been too cold if you sowed them outside. They're S American originally, so I don't suppose they've needed to develop the ability to sit in cold wet soils.

I’ve got seedlings & small plants for peppers, tomatoes, courgettes and squash that are nearly ready to go into the Quadgrows, plus beans, strawberries and lettuce plugs to go outside into my not overly sunny veg patch once my husband finished the squirrel proof cage this weekend. We have a pair of squirrels that are utter thugs.

My cucumber seeds never came up - is it too late to try again? They’re mini/lunchbox cukes, some kind of F1 type.

@MereDintofPandiculationtha than you for your encouragement. I am chitting them and they have swollen, I can even see a cotyledon peeping out of one 👍.
@jcurve try chitting the seeds I always do that with cukes, I find them very Goldilocks every thing has to be just right and if not they die 😕. Stick them on some wet kitchen roll inside a Tupperware and leave undisturbed for a few days. Check paper stays moist, they should swell and eventually start to germinate. If nothing has happened in 7-10 days they’re probably goners.

Busy day yesterday - tomatoes gone into their final big pots, well overdue for most but i didn't have soil to fill the pots before now. Now it's just about whether i can get other stuff out of the greenhouse before i reach the first tier of removable shelving which is still in use.

Some of the Cosmos have been planted out today, but others need a bit more time. I also have trays and trays of petunias because i like to carefully rescue each tiny plant after germination and put it in it's own little compartment... I'm not sure that's how the commercial growers do it! So now i have trillions of petunias and nowhere to put them. Sweetcorn is still in the greenhouse too (ended up with 80% germination rate so thanks again @elephantoverthehill ), as well as cucumbers and luffas and some other curcubits. Luffas were infested with greenfly (I didn't think they'd be affected) I'm not sure they're going to be a success

More purple french beans sown yesterday, some replacement courgettes, main crop potatoes and some peas that will be grown for pea shoots only.

Jobs for today are to plant up the remaining main crop potatoes in the old bin, get the fruit netted and get some replacement bean netting sorted for my A frame

@jcurve our squirrel only seems to go for brussel sprouts which we net for other reasons and tulip bulbs! Very fond of burying peanuts in my pot plants though, found one sprouting the other day!

I have lots of potato plants appearing where we had potatoes last year - is it best to pull them up now or leave them be?

Now it's just about whether i can get other stuff out of the greenhouse I've been waiting for the return of the warmer weather before planting out a lot of flower plants, and finally remove the bubblewrap from the roof. Once those two jobs are done I can plant the courgette seedlings into big tubs on the floor (garden is too slug-ridden), then I can mover all the rest of the seedlings over to the other side of the greenhouse, and then I can plant out my tomatoes in big pots.

And when the tomatoes are out of the porch, I can bring in some of the choicer flowering cacti so we can enjoy them while having our tea.

It's like one of those puzzles where you have to slide a block out through a small hole in a frame, but you can't do it without moving all the other blocks in a specific order.

I have lots of potato plants appearing where we had potatoes last year - is it best to pull them up now or leave them be? In theory, pull them up, because of build up of virus. I've never bothered, but I've only ever grown a few "special" potatoes, never regarded them as a main crop.

Summer is officially here! I picked and ate my first ripe strawberry at the plot today. I've planted out courgettes and more sweetcorn, I went to water them and noticed a snail on one of the courgettes already. He was swiftly dispatched.

@elephantoverthehill snap! Had my first strawberry this week . Today I planted the courgettes and sweetcorn out. I originally put courgettes out a week ago and they were destroyed by snails, this time I've got hold of organic slug pellets. You feeling lucky punks?

@jcurve my mini cucumbers took 7 weeks to germinate 😳 so don’t assume they won’t. I only had 4 seeds, 1 took 5 weeks, 1 6 weeks and the final 2 7.

I’ve never grown them before and they are in a plastic mini greenhouse.

Evening all!
hahaha Mere - I think we are all the same , constantly juggling space and pots :)
tiz - snap on the tomatoes :) - mine are nearly all flowering too ,( they were in the pots a bit too long really )
oooh , lovely elephant
whatabout - - I too protect my squashes and courgettes with a sparse ring of organic pellets, until they get going , when they don't seem to bother .
Mind you , so far , due to how dry it is , the slugs are too problematic atm
Cucumbers are weird - I had one germinate from first sowing , both from second sowing ( and the excitement - I think I have a tiny cucumber on that first plant )
Morning at the plot , getting on top of weeding the squash bed - three quarters done now , the finish is in sight . . I planted up cosmos , scabious and asters , so all the cut flowers are in now . Cut a little bit of asparagus , as there was plenty .
Then came home and sorted out all my spare 'insurance' seedlings , and am now hardening off beans and sweetcorn , ready to plant out next week .

I have six buds on my artichoke! I planted it last summer and it sulked and nearly died several times, then came back strong as you like this spring. Now I'm up to six buds! This pic is from three weeks ago (I forgot my phone when I went up tonight) and it's literally double the size now.

Oh god I’ve upset an elderly gentleman on the allotments. The steward told me that my plot was up to a specific boundary. As this meant I had a path a meter wide, I extended my plot by about 40cm. He’s left a note saying I’ve taken path - but if anyone used that path, they’d be on my plot? I’ve emailed the steward and I hope I’ve got it right as I planted that strip 😭😭😖😬

Evening!
Tangelo - wow!
oh dear Trebolla - you can only go on what you have been told , after all , but these elderly ones take the rules very seriously!
Another morning at the plot , I am just about sorted with the squash bed , but hit a patch of bindweed that held me up somewhat , but oh the satisfaction of getting it all out !
I got the strawberries all strawed up and netted , just need to be patient now ...
Going to be so hot tomorrow , and we still have had nothng but a tiny spot of rain , and none forecast either

The lack of rain helps from a slug point of view but could really use some now. I picked a bit more rhubarb yesterday but I think it's really suffering from lack of water and i'm not enjoying having to water everything so early in the year.

First beans are just starting to flower and things are starting to look not quite so bare. I was prepping one of the courgette beds earlier and there seem to be a lot of seedlings that I can't decide whether they're carrots or cosmos or weeds. I've rescued some just in case they're something worthwhile, but it's new bed this year so i'm not sure where they've come from.

@but if anyone used that path, they’d be on my plot?@ Maybe the whole area has been subdivided, so that the paths are actually on different peoples plots? In the same way that I have to allow my neighbours access over my garden?

@tizwozliz
I think those leaves are a bit chunky for cosmos - - mine are more slender. Might they be nigella? I think mine had leaves just like this when they pushed through. (how lovely if they are - - one of my favourite flowers)

I think you're probably correct with the Nigella, Tangelo, having googled for seedling pictures. We used to have loads of it so it's definitely the most likely candidate for self seeding, although I thought they normally would be a bit further on than this by this time.

I'm not sure they like being moved, but they couldn't stay where they are anyway so i'll find a spot in a border somewhere for them and hope for the best. They became a bit weed like previously so no great loss!

It’s ok, steward has confirmed that that section of the plot is mine but some path should be left, which is what has been done. Gah.