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

[bookbook]

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

We've had about two inches of rain over the last two days. Lovely!

I don't feed my strawberries. I repot them every year but that's it. I think the size of fruit is more to do with keeping them well watered at the critical time.

Some of my strawberries are ready but those in a different part of the garden are way behind. Harvested one of my cabbages as it is starting to swamp the chard. Not much of a head but that’s to be expected I think.

Have any of you been on the Dig for Victory 2020 website?

Afternoon !
well, we had more rain overnight , and light drizzle this morning .
I managed to get lots done at the plot this morning - I was almost by myself .
Lots of digging up of emerging bindweed . I forked over the last bit of bed that hadn't been done , and thinned out the swede row - they all came back after the pigeon pecking debacle , thank goodness , and looking good now they are netted .
The rain has really perked everything up . Just need to keep on top of weeding now .
The peonies are looking beautiful , but as it s very windy , I treat myself by picking a few for home . The first dahlia too , along with a few more broad beans .
Not a good year for the broad beans - I sowed them for overwintering , and the very wet start to the year seemed to stunt them , with not so many flowers .

Yes my last remaining broad bean plant is being destroyed by aphids no matter what I do. Not sure how it will fair but the plant is strong

The cauliflowers are really struggling - watching the grow your own programme with Alan Titchmarsh and it said pigeons like them grr so I think that's what had them. It's my only bed not under cover. I thinned the pumpkins and carrots and replanted the pumpkins where the cauliflowers were. I think 1 cauliflower plant might make it - the pumpkins are v strong!

The thinned carrots we ate for Sunday lunch and they were delicious! I have one line of early carrots and 1 line of later ones and it's the early ones we thinned

@lovemusic that's what happened when I put my melons outside last year so for the time being, they are inside!

I am really struggling keeping on top of the aphids this year no matter what I do!

I share everyone's pain with the cats. I had to abandon the idea of growing veg in a wooden trough as I knew the soil would be full of poo in no time - sadly from our own fat and lazy cat I've let DS2 fill it with one of those shake & grow boxes of flower seeds and we've covered it with chicken wire, hopefully that will do the trick.

The trough had been covered in tarpaulin for ages, when I took it off a spider the size of Aragog scuttled for cover however once that had found a new home and I'd got rid of the slugs, it seemed all ok to plant in.

Thanks for the tip about the website @Wildernesstips, looks interesting!

I have ants crawling all over a raspberry bush, very annoying. I chucked a load of soapy water over it and have moved it to another bit of the garden (it's in a pot), maybe that will sort things out.

We had a big storm here yesterday afternoon with hail and everything. I was congratulating myself on remembering to cover up the greenhouse and protect all the plants when I noticed that DS2 (a very keen gardener) had put them all carefully on the lawn 'to get watered, because plants need water, Mummy'... I'm not sure all of them survived his careful attention

Hi there! I've been really enjoying this thread and as a newbie lockdown veg gardener I've certainly learned a lot.

I was wondering whether those of you with a lot more veg growing knowledge than me would mind answering a couple of questions. I'm growing my veg in large pots on the patio and in 2 walk in plastic greenhouses. My first question is about my pepper plants. Can they be move out onto the patio as it's becoming crowded in there with so many large tomatoes or will they object?

Also, my pea plants are doing well and now producing pods. Should I be feeding them or is watering sufficient?

And finally... Should I be feeding my flowering tomato plants now or wait until fruits are formed. I have read conflicting advice on this.

Thanks so much in advance for your help 😁

Peppers can be temperamental which is why I haven’t grown them this year, I have chillies and will be keeping them indoors, I did manage to grow peppers outside last year but lost a lot when moving them outside, they don’t like wind or a sharp drop in temperature.

I don’t feed my peas but feed my tomatoes once they start flowering.

Another one who doesn't feed peas/mange tout. They seem to manage fine without.

I've never grown peppers, i've always kept chilli peppers in the greenhouse or inside in the past, but last year due to lack of room and greenfly infestation a lot of them ended up outside against the back of the house (south facing) and had the best year yet.

Slightly off topic question, we had to replace the freezer recently and no longer have the ice cube drawer that was perfect for freezing things in a single layer before bagging them up. Has anyone seen any sort of stacking trays or similar, that would do a similar job. I don't really want to give up an entire freezer drawer to freezing things. Or has any other clever ideas? Normally freeze most of our french beans and a lot of soft fruit.

I often just put a tray on top of things in my freezer Tiz and then freeze in bags etc.

Thanks for that... I will try to keep the peppers in then. I noticed flowers today so they seem OK there so far. I won't bother with feeding peas either too.

Evening!
welcome howdidigettobe50something . I wouldn't personally put pepper plants outside , particularly now . I don't know if everyone is the same , but we have had cold nights the last week . They will crop better inside the plastic greenhouse . Tomatoes , I am a feed them and love them brigade . I started feeding mine as soon as the first flower trusses showed up . Peas in pots? In the ground , I really wouldn't be feeding or watering , but if you are watering from the top , and it is dribbling through , I may be tempted to give them a feed , as nutrients may be leaching away - maybe a granular feed on the top of the compost ,but not much . If you are watering from a trough in the bottom , I wouldn't feed - does that make sense?
tiz - I have stacking open freezing trays from Lakeland ( have a big chest freezer) but I have had them for years , and I noticed they don't do them any more . Can't seem to see any alternative ones either .mmmmm.
Did a quick trip up to the plot this afternoon , planted up kale , checked everything over , and tidied up lots. I am really chuffed that the spinach I sowed the other day has all germinated . keeping the sun off it with a fleece tunnel actually worked! And on the downside , aphids over my asters , so joining in the aphid woe .

I've got a baking tray that fits inside our freezer drawers so it just sits on top of whatever's in there. I have some silicone tray liners from Lakeland which are very useful for stopping things sticking to the tray.

Thanks for that! I'll definitely try to keep the peppers in and feed the tomatoes now then as they're flowering well so far. Yes the peas are in large pots.

You'll see if you need to feed the peas as their leaves begin to yellow. But they should be fine - as with other leguminous plants (plants in the pea family Fabaceae) they develop nodules on their roots which contain bacteria which can fix nitrogen from the air around the roots. A symbiosis which helps the plants flourish in lower nutrient conditions.

I shall be picking our first courgette later today. And the first "proper" strawberries tomorrow (though I've already had a few alpines). Meanwhile, here's a couple of pictures of my lettuces - I'm really having fun with these.

Wow first courgette Mere mine aren't even flowering yet.
I should like to ask a favour from you all. As you may know I am a DT teacher. As you know we are currently working from home but that hasn't stopped the exam boards from publishing the NEA (coursework) titles for Y12. One of the contexts is: The junior gardener. Design and make a 3-D prototype to help young children grow their own fruit or vegetables. If anyone has experience of Dcs working on plots or patches and what has worked and what is not successful, or if anyone has thought a gardening product that would help Dcs, a wouldn't it be good if. I would be very grateful to hear your ideas.

These are my thoughts so far, if it is of any interest

ooh you are v good at this elephant

have you been watching Grow Your Own? think it's on ITV with alan titchmarsh and they have a lot of suggestions for small spaces/designing beds etc.

I would add radishes to your quick plants - they grow really quickly and look impressive (nice giant red globes!) - my yr13 was v involved with the watering and harvesting, especially of the vegetables he liked (carrots/radishes!)

in fact, dp is busy developing our own 3d prototype to help with our beds next year :grin:. I would add insect protection (so if you design a cold frame type, you could either have panes like a green house or panes with insect mesh for those that aren't temperature resistant), how you think of watering (should it lift off the plants or work on a hinge), which plants require deep beds and which ones like to climb (you might just need a structure for plants to climb up, rather than a cold frame structure for climbers), will it be inside/outside

good luck and all respect to you as a teacher! I can safely say now that all mine have finished school how I could never do your job!

my peppers are still inside too - they sit in the temperamental category for me like the melons!

Thanks for your suggestions Blue I haven't been watching Alan T but I will have a look and certainly suggest it to the students. I like your thoughts about insect attack.

Evening all!
well , managed to get to the plot this morning with DH . We have resorted out our compost bin - one of the sides was rotting , and we have a spare pallet , so it was getting the old side out , and replacing it . All sorted now . We found we have a bumble bee nest in there . They were not best pleased , but were good , just a bit frantic.
I picked our first 2 strawberries , and the few sweet peas that had popped out . Cut all the grass away from edges/fencing so its staring to look tidy . Still have some couch to dig out , which will wait . It has poured this afternoon , lovely stuff!
elephant - initial thoughts in a random way ( as my thoughts go ! ) are - food security / growing things to store for the hungry gap' ./ pests and diseases - what old wives tales actually work or prove they work eg companion planting .
I have no idea if these fit in with the remit!

Thanks Book will add it to the mind map.

Evening !
well it is pouring it down here now , but we had a dry morning .
So I geared up and have taken a punt on sowing some more peas for a bit of a later crop . I'd heard Bob Flowerdew suggesting it , and I had a bit of space . Also got a fair bit of couch grass dug up around the edges /tangled in the fence , and worked around finding erupting bindweed and digging that up too .
The weather forecast was not good , so I cut some peonies which would have got battered in the rain .
Everything doing well in the greenhouse - lots of tomatoes set , first cucumbers ate swelling , and aubergines are full of flower buds , as are the peppers .

Beautiful pictures book

I picked the rhubarb and I'm making jam with it tonight. The gooseberries and black currants are v happy.

Tomatoes never flowered which is bizarre, first time that's happened so I'm giving up on them!

One bean still survives, the pigeons ate all the cauliflower leaves but 2 plants are attempting to survive. I thinned the carrots and need to thin the beetroot tomorrow. Parsnips and onions are ok.

Preparing the winter beds this weekend for kale and late corn.

I have a few days off work so will spend the time pottering around trying to finish all the jobs! Keeping on top of the weeds is like a full time job! Oh and I watered for the first time today and then of course it rained

Blue how do you make Rhubarb jam? We have a lot of rhubarb! And my usual freezer space is filled with having more bread/milk/supplies due to shopping less.

Not been to the plot for 2 weeks, so thankful for rain, hope to go this weekend to see how the strawberries there are doing and net them if not too late.

Spinach is doing well. Sweet peas are not, as I think I planted them too late. Flowers in the bed are coming into bloom so bees are happy.

RhubarbJelly - I make rhubarb and vanilla jam ,it is lovely, and easy , if you want the recipe?