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

[bookbook]

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

Also picked the last of my gooseberries today, they're going to be made into jelly, if I can find my muslin. Might throw some other odds and ends in too. Was reading about testing for pectin in fruit and think I worried the other half by asking if we had any white spirit as I wanted some for jam making!

Sweet peas, potatoes, beetroot, a few strawberries and some onions picked also. Spotted a tomato with a hint of something other than green today as well. Fingers crossed the warmer weather gets things ripening.

Evening all!
gorgeous harvest pictures !
I have had a very frustrating morning at the plot . I went full of good intentions , and a priority list . #1 got done - hoed around the leeks . #2 got half done - hoeing around the sweetcorn . then it all went to pot. We were informed that another nearby allotment site was broken into , vandalised and lots stolen , including someone's chickens ( valuable ones. not your common or garden layers) :( . We had had someone get in and do a bit of damage last week , so went around to check to see if anyone has had anything taken . It doesn't appear so , and we do have gates which are locked , but its a big site , bounded by fields , and however much we try , its just not possible to stop someone determined . So feeling very sad and dispirited about it all tbh .
I did get some blackcurrants picked , but it was lunchtime by then , so I came home. Will have to be back tomorrow for the rest of the blackcurrants , and to water , and to cut the grass , which should have been done today .
Onward and upward eh?
So I have had an enjoyable time in the greenhouse this evening , pottering around checking everything , tying up tomatoes , and sowing into plugs some beetroot , and also sown a first early sowing of winter cauliflowers , which has cheered me up somewhat .

Sorry to hear about the allotments, bookbook

Eek @bookbook people are bloody awful at times.

I watered and weeded today and picked a couple of pea pods from the petit pois that survived my culling (three whole pods! but wow are they good raw) broccoli and blackberries which are insanely tart.

Oh Book do think some people are just bored or do you think the fancy chickens were targeted? I want to say by cattle rustlers but that isn't quite the right phrase. I would guess whoever took them either doesn't know their value or if they did, they will never be able to show them.

Yes, sorry to hear about the allotment break ins bookbook. It is a regular problem here. There is a suspician that there are a few gangs which hit an area then move on taking their swag to sell out of region.

Harvest this weekend was cabbage, the last of the first early potatoes, peas, beans and a courgette (they are appearing one at a time). Also had a good pick of flowers.

Joy of joys, I have had another delivery of horse manure!

Finally dug up some of purple potatoes (Salad Blue) and while there weren't loads they are delicious. Have another plant of the same to pull up, then on to the British Queen, before our Pentlands are ready. Been picking handfuls of dwarf yellow beans here and there too, but the squash, corn and beans have taken on a life of their own! We're trying the three sisters planting method this year. I'll share a pic later. Purple potatoes, pre-washing!

Evening all!
those potatoes look lovely Restoration :)
well, nothing much happened after the break in at the other site , nothing at ours . So it has all settled down , and we get on with life . Basically opportunist thieves they think .
I got to the plot on Monday , but wasn't able to pick blackcurrants as it was drizzly and grey . Did get some of the grass edges cut , and some more weeding . Pulled beetroot , and cut courgettes.

Went again this morning , and again it was damp and drizzly , again no blackcurrant picking . But weeded all around the bean wigwams . Cut flowers and picked more courgettes - they grew rather more than I thought in 2 damp days I am holding out hopes for tomorrow and fruit picking , fingers crossed .
No sign of any beans yet , but my sweetcorn has the tassels forming nicely , carrots are starting to look good , and I will have some brokali to pick tomorrow :)

Some great pictures again here. I've been picking more courgettes and dwarf beans and my peas are nearly over now. Any tips on what I could plant in the large pots when my peas come out would be gratefully received!

Finally got my first tomato yesterday, cucumbers are doing well despite leaf mottling, a few more broad beans picked too. Sweetcorn and sunflowers are full steam ahead, runner beams went in late but are now starting to flower.

Restoration - I tried three sisters planting a few years ago and it didn't work as
the runners got too big too quickly and were pulling the sweetcorn over. My sweetcorn went in a few weeks earlier than the runners this year and it probably would have worked, the corn have got stems like tree trunks.

Book - sorry to hear about the break-ins, that is a great shame, especially about the chickens.

I've tried the 3 sister's method previously without any success, I have an inkling it's more suited to places with a warmer climate.

All varieties of courgettes on a go slow, no sign of any regular (black beauty) or patty pan at all. Golden zucchini are plentiful but small, lots of DiNizza just forming, including some conjoined twins.

Thanks bookbook your comment about sowing beetroot reminded me I want to get some started ready for when the rest of the potatoes come out.

EasilyDelighted glad to see it's not only me with one entirely red tomato while the rest are entirely green.

Potatoes, beetroot and onions picked the last few days. A handful of French Beans too.

@EasilyDelighted yes we waited until our sweetcorn was about a foot high before putting the bean seeds in and so far so good. If needs be we can always stake the beans in between the corn. The pumpkins are also growing like mad which will hopefully minimize weeding. I think this year is probably the best we'll get weatherwise for prolonged warmth and sunny days.

Finally dug up some of purple potatoes I grew some dark potatoes once. Never again! They were the same colour as the soil and quite a trial to harvest .

Any tips on what I could plant in the large pots when my peas come out I fill them with cabbages (kale, purple sprouting). But then all my garden is in shade and the only place I can grow is in pots on the terrace where we park the cars.

I was going to say the same as tizwozliz, that the three sisters originates from the US, with a lot more light and sunshine. I was interested to look at small family gardens in Portugal, where their main focus is to keep veg out of the sun (in contrast to ours, which is to find sun for the veg) - so gardens surrounded by a grapevine giving shade to the veg area in the middle, little squares dug in the shade under orange trees and filled with broad beans, etc.

Courgettes for tea last night, and we continue to have an abundance of strawberries, raspberries and tayberries. Freezer is filling nicely (and I haven't defrosted it yet!)

I think the main issue will be the beans outgrowing the corn, as individually we have been able to grow all three successfully but it's always fun to experiment. Who knows, maybe the squash will just take over everything like enormous triffids! 😂

@MereDintofPandiculation oh yes this was an issue! There may be some lurking down there that we passed off as big stones! The other two types we've grown are white potatoes, might reserve purple for pots/grow bags!

Love seeing/hearing about everyone else's harvests. Always find I spend the next two months constantly checking if there's anything I can pick, especially this year as all our stuff has gone in the space we had cleared in time. When we get our final veg beds and fruit patches and trees etc sorted it should be a lot more productive.

Quite pleased with tonight's harvest - two lettuces (green with red splashes over the leaves - if I'm going to have to eat salad I want it pretty), two sorts of sugar snap pea, broad beans, courgettes, and a couple of very fine radishes. I've left the berry harvesting till tomorrow.

Morning!
howdidigettobe - plenty you can do - I think Mere covered most of it , but salads, spring onions , pak choi etc . and for a quick brassica maybe raab 60 days .
Managed to get to the plot yesterday . Put the flags out - I finished picking blackcurrants ( and found a branch of white currants I had missed ) More weeding , picked loganberries and brokali , and then went for courgettes . I found the monster hiding - how do they do that??
I have opened the door and lifted the nets on the fruit cage , the birds can have whats left . I also picked the small amount of strawberries - I had to throw most of them away , as the damp days just turned them to mouldy mush . Again , I have taken the hoops and net of those , so I can give them a good feed and sort out for next year .
About to head off to do more weeding , and shall have to water the courgettes and squashes today - it is warming up

It was a lovely evening last night, managed to get quite a bit tidied up. Guided some of the squash in different directions, pulled a load of radish that had gone to seed in the warm weather early in the year, sowed some lettuce. I'm trying a combined sow things in straight lines and cat proofing method - that's the string bottom right of pic.

@EasilyDelighted with regards to the odd leaf mottling on the cucumber plants, mine were looked at by an RHS pathologist who said it's due to uneven watering. Not sure if any use to you but thought I'd mention it anyway. Congratulations on the first tomato of the season!

Thank you Stitch - I did wonder about that, when we had the hot few days a few weeks ago I struggled to keep up with watering. I have cut off the mottled leaves now and the rest of it seems healthy.

Thanks for the tips for the pots. I think I had the last pea pickings today along with some French beans and yellow courgettes. Also found a few random radishes that I'd forgotten I'd planted around my runner beans. I think my baby carrots are ready to pull too so they'll be eaten this weekend. All of my tomatoes are green still but plenty of them....we just need another run of warm weather don't we!

Evening!
tiz - that looks so tidy !
Was down at the plot this morning - mostly weeding/digging over in the brassica cage , then planting some more savoy cabbages . Cut flowers , and courgettes ( nearly at glut stage with these , bit not quite) . Pulled up some bolting spinach , which will go into making a soup with courgettes , unsurprisingly...
Went back in the afternoon with DH , cut the grass and watered courgettes and squashes . 2 crown prince and a butternut now set , they are just starting to cover some ground :)

I have squashes growing but I’m not sure which type as I planted butternut squash and ornamental squash, I’m really hoping butternut as I have never successfully grown them, whatever they are they are taking over 🤣

Afternoon
Glorious day here today , sunshine and bright blue skies .
It was weeding in the fruit cage day , but so much bindweed , that I haven't finished yet .
Cut a cabbage for tea , and just another 4 courgettes......
Love - I always think with mine , the butternuts take much longer to set and get going than my crown prince - they only seems to show thier shape when much bigger and further on -

oooh , I forgot - picked this yesterday from the greenhouse :)

Lovely aubergine bookbook mine are only just flowering.

Picked a couple of golden zucchini, and my conjoined twin di nizza, also onions, beetroot and potatoes. So good all roasted together with garlic.

I'm going to sow some chantenay carrots later this week in amongst the carrots I have. Didn't get great germination rates of my other variety so plenty of gaps to fill.