Allotment/Veg Patch Thread 16 Weather weirdness prevails !

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Hello to everyone !
pull up a garden chair and join in with the trials and tribulations of growing your own , against the odds of weather , pests and diseases.
Previous thread is HERE

Evening all
well, it has been head down and trying to tidy at the plot the last couple of days . Mostly weeding . Picked some late courgettes ( still a couple left on the plant ) flowers and raspberries .Also picked nearly all the tomatoes at home too - there are a few still ripening yet though . Nothing much to report - though heavy rain now , so not sure what it will be like underfoot tomorrow .

Do they stay that colour for several months then If they're left on the plant they stay that colour certainly for a few weeks after leaf fall, but I'm not sure whether they'd make it to Christmas. If they don't make it to Christmas, they'd be too squodgy to paint for decorations.

Golden hornet crab apples I seem to remember used to be still good at Christmas.

Evening!
had internet problems , so not much chance to post .
Mind you , it has been wet , so apart from some picking - savoy cabbage yesterday , leeks , sprouting broccoli and raspberries today , not much done in the way of weeding'/digging gone on - much to soft and wet , and don't want to walk on it .
Hope you are all doing okay

We had a very wet Saturday but yesterday was unexpectedly glorious. Lots of weeding, a few beans, surprising strawberries and some not unexpected sweetcorn disappointment!

Got one of the smaller beds completely cleared and so got some garlic planted. Remains of the courgettes will probably come out this week and I'll put spring bulbs in over the winter.

Morning all. What a thoroughly wet weekend! Finally the sun is out just as I'm back behind my desk.

Have got loads of sleepers leftover from the patio project so think they'll probably go into making raised beds for the veg patch once we finish replacing the fence behind it. We're planting a fruiting hedge along about 10 m of it (mix from Habitat Aid of currants, gooseberries, cobnuts etc) so looking forward to that arriving in November time.

And harvested all our squash! And the rest of the sweetcorn ready to clear the veg patch next week in advance of the fence replacement.

@RestorationInsanity my DC would be absolutely delighted with all those 'little pumpkins' as they call them!!

I still need to have a good garden clear out/ plan everything that I want to plant, but I haven't yet managed to clear out everything that I needed to indoors... the garden is on the list though now the DC are at school I'm finally working through things.

Does anyone know if poinsettias ever go red again on their own?! I have one from last Christmas which has been lovingly tended but is just, well, green now...

(It's me Ruby by the way, but with a new username!)

Poinsettias: They need long nights to trigger the red. From October I put mine in a spare room that we didn't use in the evening, so that it was completely dark overnight. So either find somewhere which is dark overnight (not too cold) or be prepared to put it in a dark cupboard each night and get it out again every morning.

Not much going on here. Majority of my tomatoes that were picked green have now ripened, so pretty pleased. I was expecting to have to research green tomato recipes but doesn't look like I'll have any need.

I've never managed to turn a poinsettia red again, even after messing around with boxes to restrict light etc.

Afternoon all
well, the weather has definitely changed here - some days of rain and wind .
Still weeding and prepping for winter , but also still picking veg at least , and the dahlias are still going strong :)
So Wednesday was flowers , perpetual spinach, raspberries , and I dug up all the remaining carrots . Today was leeks , which are still throwing up flower spikes..
I also picked all the last cooking plum tomatoes and cut down the tomatoes in the greenhouse . It needs a good tidy and clean now ready for overwintering dahlia tubers and chrysanthemum plants .

Hi all, I fell off the thread again. The weather here today has been glorious. I spent far longer at the plot than I had planned, still it meant I didn't have time to rub down windows instead. I'm picking the last of the raspberries and tomatoes. The courgettes are still going but I'm not sure for how long. The reason I was so long at the plot was because I was chatting to Grumpy Ron about getting some bark to replenish my paths from B&Q. He showed a great big pile of wood chippings from some trees that had been felled a few weeks back. So got my wheel barrow and got on with it. I even got help from Smiley Sally who has a plot across from me. I am feeling very smug.

Morning all!
ah , nice to win one , and have good neighbours elephant :)
Got so tied up yesterday , never got around to posting .
I spent most of the morning yesterday weeding and tidying . I dug up the last courgette , and picked the 2 little ones still on . I just have the fruit cage to do , a bit more hand weeding in the asparagus bed , and the cutting flowers to sort , and then it is done and tidied for winter . If we get a few good days , I hope to get a coat of preservative on the shed - the last coat hasn't lasted as long as I would wish - hoped to not have to do it until next year .
Picked a few last raspberries - they are still setting , but a bit paltry now . and dug up a savoy .

I think I'm going to have to accept that the courgettes and cucumbers have stopped growing, so it's time to harvest what I can and throw the rest on the compost heap.

Tomatoes are still coming on - at least, fruits are still ripening on the plants, so they can keep going for a while.

Harvesting is becoming increasingly like foraging. Eg a few windfall apples, one runner bean, two french beans, a tomato, and a couple of cabbage leaves (Asturian Tree cabage - if you treat it as a perennial and just pull leaves off, it keeps going). I even found a radish yesterday.

I've weeded or cleared about half of my raises beds today. More garlic has gone in the ground. Pumpkin harvested ready for Halloween - 10kg - think it's the biggest I've ever grown and I don't even remember planting pumpkin! I still have some beans flowering/developing so I've left them for now. Plenty of other things still flowering in the garden so still cutting some flowers too. Picking the odd chilli, really pleased with the hungarian black chillies, they've beem really prolific and flowers so pretty too. Will probably harvest everything left on the plants in the next couple of weeks.

Evening all
I have been a bit busy this last week , so only managed to get to the plot twice - once just to pick some leeks. Today I got the asparagus bed weeded , and picked a few more raspberries, some little baby beetroot and the first celeriac root .It was a bit smaller than I thought from looking at the top , but was just right for tonights tea .. Cut more dahlias , which have been flowering non stop .
Still a little bit to do - a bit of basic weeding around the spring greens , and in the brassica cage , and still haven't found the time to get the manure on the land , but - it is just about ready for winter :)

Back to the plot for a good session day with my boys. Managed to;
Cut down asparagus and compost the bed
Prune black currants
Move compost heap
Membrane and lay bark over a particularly difficult weedy section
Dig up all my herbs and brought them home to go in refreshed beds at home
Outlined a new bed and covered for next year
Cleared all of the courgettes/squash/pumpkin bed
Weeded around generally

Felt very productive... now to catch up with what ever else has been up to...

Hello all, I've been busy trying to juggle a baby and getting back to work. Sadly my garden was very neglected. My fiendish friend mister fox has trampled all my carrots. Does this mean they're a hopeless cause?- or should I just leave them for another month and see what happens? My peas also succumbed to rot (due to me not picking them ).

In more positive news my winter potatoes have grown a couple months early. I found the plant dead and was expecting another loss but hurrah we have potatoes

Is it too late to plant garlic bulbs? I was hoping to clear the garden next week and get them in.

I think now is pretty perfect timing for planting garlic @Rookiegardener and yay for potatoes. Are these from the plants you were worried about up thread?

Yes @tizwozliz these are from those plants. They did wilt and die with lots of black spots but I don't know if they were just dying naturally or if some disease ended their season quicker. Either way I'm happy I actually got a harvest . Wasn't expecting a single potato.

Very novice gardener but I now have a empty bed what can I plant for winter? I'm on the coast near Newcastle so it will be wet, windy and cold until about March 😂

You can plant garlic in the autumn but I've never done it so I don't know details. You could sow broad bean seeds to give them an early start, but if you're near Newcastle I wouldn't bother - it failed me near Leeds as they flowered earlier, and there wasn't anything around to pollinate.

At this time of year I'd expect to have cabbages and leaf beet for picking over winter, and parsnips awaiting harvest, but these all would have been grown from seed sown in summer or spring.

You could sow a "green manure" - a dense sowing of some annual which you dig in during the spring as instant compost.

Morning everyone !
well, its all been a bit much what with horrible weather/rain , and being busy with other stuff . So I have only made 2 trips to the plot in the last fortnight . Last Thursday I picked veg , and manured some beds . Today I rushed in before the rain and picked veg (the first sprouts ! ) and flowers . Checked everything was secure as the wind is howling.
gingercat - sorry I didn't see your question , but Mere has it - you can plant garlic/onions/shallots now . I do usually direct sow broad beans too for an early crop . This normally works for me in East Yorkshire, but last year was so wet , they didn't germinate , so haven't decided yet whether to do them this year . I find the crop comes about 2 weeks earlier , and you miss a lot of the problem black flies. You can also plant fruit bushes and perennials like rhubarb .

Not much going on in the garden, but pumpkins carved. I'm making soup tomorrow with the scooped out flesh and roasting the seeds.

Those pumpkins are pretty good, especially the one with the skull.

Some chap near us arranged a pumpkin trail along a disused railway - got everyone to bring their carved pumpkin and arranged them along about a quarter mile stretch of the railway, with a one-way system for viewing. It proved very popular!

Hello newbie here, justaken on an allotment that seems to have had a good owner previously. There are wild raspberry bushes, rhubarb, strawberry plants and a fair few jersey royals, courgettes and squash in the beds. There is also another plant that I don't know what it is. I will take a pic and post here...''tis all a bit daunting as there is a lot to do as I want to reorganise the plot and put on a shed and greenhouse....thank you all for your inspiring posts...

Evening all!
welcome Bearnecessity - pull up a chair :) . Sounds wonderful . Where abouts are you ( North/South/East/West ) ? I assume you must be south i if you still have courgettes /potatoes and squashes in the beds - we have had frost this last week . Check for the best positions for shed and greenhouse - a nice plan of your plot with where the sun comes , and where the shade is makes it an easier decision .
It is still very claggy here after rain and mist , but i managed some weeding today and DH cut the grass yesterday - so the over winter cauliflowers and spring greens are tidy now.. Have to get around the beetroot done too , and keep on top of the brassica cage . It hasn't been cold enough to stop the weeds , unfortunately !