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

[bookbook]

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

Ruby, I've set up an indoor mini seed sowing station indoors which has made me feel more inspired into action. I don't know if that would help? I must admit I feel similar to you.

I'm not sowing yet either. My early sowings all failed or got overtaken by the later ones last year. I'm concentrating on planning out paths, digging and mulching while the potatoes chit in the coldframe.

I'm hoping my grow light will prevent legginess - plus we're fairly far south so it feels a reasonable risk to plant stuff for the greenhouse, though I'll probably do a second sowing for insurance!

Got to the plot today and thankfully no damage just some black polythene to tidy up. Then the heavens opened so I went home, not a very productive visit.

I've been questioning (to myself!) whether to get raised beds. I have managed without for years, enjoying the flexibility of not having them. Having raised beds feels like it might be restrictive.

Went and checked the damage today. Poly needs fixing. My kale is still growing nicely tidied up fruit cage a bit and longingly looking at my seed collection. Common spring

I sorted all my seeds into "plant now" "plant April/May" etc - now have 4 plastic boxes of seeds in the fridge rather than 3. Then I sowed the broad beans, tomato, chilli, and some mixed acers and mixed species roses that I'm growing just for fun.

What's your soil like, Cat? We're on clay so raised beds are a godsend, plus we're doing no dig so having boundaries helps keep us off the bits we can't tread on.

Una, my soil is lovely. The thought has come to me as I feel it may be less daunting. Dh has come up with a good idea for me that has solved it a bit.

I probably wouldn't bother then!

We had blight on our plot last year-does that mean I should avoid potatoes and tomatoes this year?
mere I’m a bit jealous of your seed organisation!
Hope everyone is ok after the winds, I’m hoping all will be well we don’t have a tunnel up or anything-I often have to retrieve the fruit cage but that’s about it.

You can get blight resistant varieties of potatoes and tomatoes which might be a safer bet. But if it's a big allotment there's almost certainly going to be someone growing potatoes and tomatoes.

Just been for a wonder around my garden and veg patch, was surprised to find loads of purple sprouting broccoli (thought it had been destroyed by white cabbage butterflies), also found beetroot popping up in one of my raised beds, also found some flowers flowering. My garden is a total mess thanks to the storms and high winds we have had, fences down, trellis destroyed but I’m worried about fixing it incase there’s more bad weather to come.

Can’t wait to start sewing some more seeds, the chilliest are growing well as are the aubergine.

Afternoon!
well hope everyone is safe and sound .
Whattodo - definitely look out for blight resistant varieties , and plant them in a different area as much as possible . It is also down to weather conditions too. Never easy , sadly .
I popped down to the plot this morning for the first time for ages - the weather has been truly atrocious here , even though not quite as much rain as forecast, thankfully . We are being truly battered here today though , so only went to check on everything , and dig up some leeks .
There has been some damage elsewhere , and at least a couple of blown away polytunnels , but not as disastrous as some other allotment sites , who have had a horrid time with flooding .
No let up for the next week either :(

Finally a day when I can start tidying up the beds. The ground is so soggy though and so much rain to come.

Dug over the empty raised beds and weeded round the ones which have bulbs/garlic in, dug out lots of cat poo , covered all empty beds over with fleece to persuade cats to toilet somewhere else. Still got to weed round the fruit bushes, amongst the strawberries and rhubarb which is just starting to appear.

Tiz oddly enough I spent the dry spell this afternoon clearing cat shit. It's grim.

May I join this thread please? I'm mostly a lurker but it felt rude not to say hello. I haven't got an allotment, but I've got three raised beds at home. I try and squeeze a few fruit and veg in amongst the plants elsewhere in our (small) garden, too.

Hello @OffTheShelfElf , I have raised beds at home too, as well as a new allotment. What do you grow in your raised beds? Ha e you started anything yet?

Evening!
welcome OffTheShelfElf :) - we can all budge up , no problem !- and even a small amount of space to grow is worth it . Whereabouts are you ( only nosey) - North/South/East/West ?
We have had 2 lovely days here - dry , sunny , but cold .
I went and took the fleece cover off the spring greens , and replaced with net - the fleece kept on blowing half off , and the birds keep on getting at them , so hopefully I will get some eventually ...
I dug up all the last of the sad cauliflowers ( the autumn ones which didn't curd in autumn , waited until I was going on holiday ). The small curds had gone brown and mushy . So that was another set of hoops and environmesh tidied up and put away .
The garlic and shallots are all nicely through. ( Rhubarb at home is nearly ready to pick )
Picked some sprouting broccoli .
Hoping to get down tomorrow - if its dry enough , I can prep up ready for broad beans to be planted , and get the pea bed ready too , but shall see - it was incredibly wet the other day .
I sowed sweet peas about 12 days ago in the greenhouse , and they are showing signs of germinating

Need to sit on my hands for another week before any serious seed sowing , though champing at the bit

Finally stopped raining today and i did a quick turn round the garden to find the plum tree blossoms had pollinators on them so I can stand down. I was surprised there were any flowers left to be honest , the wind has been relentless. One of our chickens went across the patio sideways yesterday like she was doing the grapevine in aerobics. I’ve spent all my spare time doing bare plaster painting in the house so the garden is way behind and the sunshine today did make me impatient to get going. I’ve got a few bits germinating on my classroom windowsill but the greenhouse at home is a state . Plus a hawthorn blew over so I need to sort that and I’ve not cut back the thyme or oregano from last year so it all looks straggly and wind blown. My peas were awful last year so I’m just doing mange tout I think this year. The kids at school want to grow carrots and garlic as well which I’m not very confident about but I’ll give it a go. Also potatoes which I’ve never tried. I’ve got some seed potatoes sitting on the window sill and a big bag to plant them in- how sprouty do they need to be before you plant them?

My peas were awful last year so I’m just doing mange tout I think this year. I prefer sugar snap - they're a mange-tout type pea, but instead of picking them flat, you wait until the peas inside have swollen. If you're feeling really selfish, you can take the peas out and nibble them raw for that beautiful childhood raiding the pea-patch taste, and serve just the pods to your family.

Potatoes - don't need to be sprouty at all (else you woudn't have potato peels turning into potato plants in the compost heap) - I presume it just gives them a bit of a head start, and reassures you that the tuber is alive. You don't want them to be more than an inch long else you'll keep knocking sprouts off as you plant

The other advantage of sprouting is that if you have a lot of land, good soil, and not many seed potatoes, you can cut the tubers so each piece has at least one eye (the bit that grows the sprout). Useful in the days of big gardens and saving your own seed, but not relevant nowadays.

Thanks MereDinto - my issue with potatoes is I’m growing them in limited space rather than the other way round. They have just started sprouting so sounds like now is a good time to plant them? I like sugar snaps and I love these enormous mange tout the Real Seed people sell

Cath - check your last frost date . Plant potatoes no more than 6 weeks before then . Being tender , they really don't like any frost at all.
I think they are chitted to weed out any duds - and as Mere says , you can chop them up to one sprout per chunk if need be . ( I thought that caught on when the country had to 'Dig For Victory" during the war .... )

@bookbook I'm really fed up with the weather, jealous that you've had some nice days! Rain, rain and more rain here, plus I have an ear infection that won't shift and grumpy DC who don't like being cooped up indoors. Usually I'd stick waterproofs and wellies on them and go out anyway, but it's so miserable even that's not an option!

Plenty of the seeds we planted indoors now need repotting - I hoped the weather would have improved a bit now so they could go outdoors - but no

Hoping to splurge on a few more seed packets soon, plus am starting to save some from fruit & veg, all part of Frugal March (February has been far more spendy than I'd like, with half term and illness). Hoping to keep the DC occupied in the garden once the weather turns...

I love these enormous mange tout the Real Seed people sell Yes! You mean Bijou? Although they classify them as mange-tout, I always leave the peas to develop, ie treat them like a Sugar snap.