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Gardening

Find tips and tricks to make your garden or allotment flourish on our Gardening forum.

Allotment/Veg Patch Thread 16 Weather weirdness prevails !

984 replies

bookbook · 30/07/2020 14:36

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

OP posts:
Thread gallery
226
tizwozliz · 07/01/2021 17:44

They sound interesting, one to keep in mind once I've got a greenhouse sorted.

Really cold here today, barely above freezing all day and -6 overnight but hopefully that should mean my garlic is splitting and forming correctly :-)

I still have a crown prince squash left from the summer, it appears they turn orange if you leave them long enough - i never knew

bookbook · 07/01/2021 17:50

Afternoon!
boy it was cold yesterday and today !
Have been told that the seeds I have been waiting for ( ordered through our allotment association ) are not arriving until the end of January , due to unprecedented amounts of orders , so I will have to twiddle my thumbs a bit .
Really busy helping out elsewhere , so again , its just a dash in to pick veg . This is yesterdays - savoy ( with ice) , leeks and sprouts :)

Allotment/Veg Patch Thread 16  Weather weirdness prevails !
OP posts:
Lovemusic33 · 08/01/2021 13:43

I’m starting to plan and buy seeds for this year, I still have leaks and carrots growing in the garden, hoping to either make my garden plot bigger this year or get an allotment plot.

Trying to remember what wasn’t successful last year. Things I won’t be growing this year will be.....radish (dont like them), onions (I’m still eating last years) and cabbage which got eaten despite netting. Unless I get around to making a frame I will probably stay away from anything pests might eat.won’t be planting as many tomatoes this year.

New things I want to try....I now have a greenhouse so would like to try melons, have bought ghost pumpkin seeds and would like to grow more squash. Pack Choi (sp) is also something I haven’t grown before and would like to try.

Hopefully I will have more friut this year, last year I planted raspberries and black currents but didn’t have much fruit.

ClaraTheImpossibleGirl · 08/01/2021 21:48

We've had freezing cold weather here too (but no snow) although I'm still seeing some unseasonable flowers whilst I'm out and about!

I'm going for more fruit this year too @Lovemusic33, DS2 loves strawberries and raspberries, he usually scoffs the lot Grin

MereDintofPandiculation · 09/01/2021 12:39

I'm going for more fruit this year too Fruit is great - it's more forgiving than vegetables (no danger of losing all your young plants because you forgot to water them after a day of sunshine), and it's so expensive to buy.

Try loganberries, tayberries or some of the other blackberry/raspberry hybrids. They are more vigorous than raspberries, and they freeze very well. I pick every couple of days, and anything that hasn't been eaten by the end of the second day goes straight into the freezer in one of those plastic tubs you get from Indian takeaways. Then we eat them on our cereal or yogurt during the winter. The small tubs are just enough for a day or two, so we don't have to mess around loose-freezeing - it doesn't matter if they are stuck together when frozen.

EssentiallyDelighted · 09/01/2021 13:00

Hello, I haven't posted for ages (months! Blush). The thread just popped up in Most Active so I thought it was time I called in again, nice to read what you've all been doing.

I had a mixed set of results last year, some successes, some failures, my strawberries were a complete failure so I have lifted them all, brought them home to overwinter in an empty raised bed and will relocate them to a different part of the plot in spring. Their part was overrun with bindweed and it was impossible clearing it without disturbing the plants every time so they are going to the other side which has always managed to stay bindweed free.

I ordered all my seeds through the allotment buying scheme in autumn, and have covered all the exposed (ie not covered in fruit bushes) parts of my plot with cardboard and manure. One problem I've mentioned on here before is lack of car access to the plot for heavy deliveries, well I teamed up with 3 neighbouring plotholders and we had a truckload deposited onto a large tarpaulin just inside the gates then recruited our DHs to come and help barrow it all to our plots, it worked very well.

I went for more flowers last year and intend to do so again, some self seeded all over the place which was lovely (California poppies, pot marigolds and borage).

ClaraTheImpossibleGirl · 09/01/2021 22:04

Those fruits are a great idea thanks @MereDintofPandiculation. We usually buy a few ready to plant ones from the local gardening society's Autumn Fair but of course that wasn't on this year Sad

It sounds like you've been busy @EssentiallyDelighted! I wish some of our flowers would self seed but I think the DC's habit of turning most of the garden into mud doesn't help...

echt · 19/01/2021 08:02

I haven't posted for months so am possibly repeating myself. I took two satsuma trees out of containers and put them in the ground. They thrived and were covered in blossom but all the tiny fruit fell off one. The other is smothered in fruit. Weird.

My espaliered lemon tree is not doing too badly, though it has huge fruit with very thick rind.

A new venture was planting a pomegranate tree, very small but had already fruited. All the blossom was blown away in fierce winds or so I thought. I dutifully kept watering it, as you must for at least the first year. Today I've found eight tiny pomegranates, so am unreasonably proud. They may not mature as the summer has been very sporadic. Like the citrus they are a winter fruiting plant, so we'll see.

They used to be very common in Melbourne; like the lemons and oranges, a real immigrants' garden tree. It must have been a taste of home.🍋🍊There is no pomegranate emoji.

In the veggie beds I fell behind, due to the exigencies of remote teaching but kept up with chard, radishes (I pickle these) and rocket. Mustard greens and white radish self seed. Parsley now seeds freely all over the back garden, so I've cleared it from the beds.

Kipfler potatoes in containers weren't worth the effort as the spuds make terrible salad. Leeks turned into pencils. I use them rarely in cooking so am willing to pay the silly prices.

bookbook · 21/01/2021 10:46

Morning all!
sorry been awol a while - life has got in the way :)
Lovely to hear from you echt how lovely to beable to try pomegranates!
We didn't get as much rain here as was forecast , today it is the tirne of the winds - it os howling . I have been down once a week to pick veg - it is too wet to do any sort of digging or weeding .
What I must do is get some broad beans and sweet peas sown , but am still waiting for my seed order . It seems they were inundated with orders , so are well behind in delivering .
Last harvests - leeks /sprouts/sprouting broccoli/celeriac/cauliflower and a few baby beetroot

Allotment/Veg Patch Thread 16  Weather weirdness prevails !
Allotment/Veg Patch Thread 16  Weather weirdness prevails !
OP posts:
BlackBucketOfCheese · 22/01/2021 20:24

I have a new allotment! I have a new allotment! I have a new allotment!

Can I join in? I’m so excited.

EssentiallyDelighted · 22/01/2021 21:00

Hello Black, all are welcome here. Tell us a bit about it, what sort of state is it in, etc.

BlackBucketOfCheese · 23/01/2021 12:54

It’s a half plot, the shed is a wreck and the bottom is very over grown with trees and full of stuff to take to the tip. There are some beds that aren’t too over run with weeds which could easily be used this spring without much outlay but we would definitely look to getting raised beds in the future.

Every plot on the allotment has a greenhouse with exception of our plot but the committee have said they will help us source one. But in the meantime we can use our friend’s greenhouse as we have been helping on her plot.

We have to decide if we want to replace the shed or just patch it up. It definitely needs a new roof, maybe more.

bookbook · 24/01/2021 09:14

Morning
Welcome BlackBucket - great time to take on a new allotment , time to dig and plan ! Whereabouts are you? ( North/South/East/West ) . Nice to hear you have a helpful committee - it helps such a lot with advice - if the shed is really bad , check that it will be worth reroofing as against a second hand one . There are usually quite a few sheds offered at ours , or someone knows someone , IYSWIM .
Very hard frost this morning here , but still busy in other work , so probably not down at the plot for a couple more days . I did sow broad beans in the greenhouse a couple of days ago , along with a few left over sweet pea seeds fro last year - will see if they germinate .

OP posts:
elephantoverthehill · 24/01/2021 11:44

I managed to get to the plot yesterday and got some weeding done, more to do today around the raspberries before they take off again. Welcome Black I bought a new shed this year, it's a metal one from screw fix, it wasn't very expensive so it might be worth a look.

BlackBucketOfCheese · 25/01/2021 14:13

I’m in the NW of England.
I did wonder if getting a second hand shed might be a better investment. I’ll have a look on Facebook marketplace and ask the committee.

Our plot is long-ish and very narrow. 3m at the widest part. I’m thinking maybe we could use some pallet collars (have a few in the garage) to create a few 120x100 raised beds with a path down the middle and perhaps something (an arch?) for vertical growing in time.
The only other way to navigate the beds that are there now (mostly broken and of random sizes) is to use the shared paths and I’d rather keep my kids away from the other plot holders, so we don’t annoy them. I’m also disabled and think I would find the smaller raised beds easier to navigate.
We could do that for about half the length and have 10 raised beds and put fruit trees (we have lots in pots in our garden which I would like to reclaim space from), raspberry canes, strawberries in the rest. Along with an area for comfrey, flowers and a herb spiral.

But obviously really taking our time!

ClaraTheImpossibleGirl · 29/01/2021 23:00

Great news about your allotment @BlackBucketOfCheese and what lovely plans you have for it!

@bookbook I would love some baby beetroot, ours didn't grow at all last year Sad

I did a couple of hours in the garden with the DC today, tidying up and cutting back (me) and playing in the mud (them). More snow forecast for this weekend so I don't think we'll be able to do much else for a while!

indignatio · 31/01/2021 04:29

What is a herb spiral please?

tizwozliz · 01/02/2021 16:23

I had the urge to harvest something today so pulled up a couple of beetroot :-)

I've also gone on the waiting list for an allotment. They're long so who knows if I'll ever get one and I'm not 100% sure I want one but figured i could make the decision if/when I'm offered one. Annoyingly they're talking about setting aside some land for allotments just over the road on a new housing development but it's a different local authority area to us so doubt we'd qualify.

Allotment/Veg Patch Thread 16  Weather weirdness prevails !
ClaraTheImpossibleGirl · 01/02/2021 22:24

I love beetroot @tizwozliz! The DC pulled up some of our onions the other day whilst I was tidying the garden, but then spent a happy hour or so reburying them in piles of mud Confused

bookbook · 07/02/2021 16:22

Afternoon all
boy , the weather has just been atrocious the last week - either bitter , raining or sleet .
indignatio - I may be wrong , but think maybe a pretty planting scheme of herbs , in the form of a spiral ( there are many different styles - a clock is also a popular one)
tiz - we do get some people who get to the top of the list , come and look around and say its not for me - ( though we had to disabuse a man of the idea that it should have been all prepped up , cleaned up , dug and ready for him to start growing - hah ) , one or two don't realise how big they are ( even a half plot ) and we try to point out that it takes a certain level of hours commitment a week to keep under control
All I have been doing is running in to pick veg . I now know why I normally go away at this time of year Grin
So here is todays picks - leeks , almost the last sprouts , a tiny cauliflower , and a couple of hearts of spring cabbage ( the outsides had gone a bit yuk in the ice and cold , so cut that all away )

Allotment/Veg Patch Thread 16  Weather weirdness prevails !
OP posts:
tizwozliz · 12/02/2021 17:23

Currently researching apple trees and best time to plant. We've had a huge leylandii hedge removed from our front garden and I'm eying up the 30 SQM of space that's now free. Also trying to work out if it will get enough sun to put some pumpkins/squash out there. It's directly north facing.

ClaraTheImpossibleGirl · 12/02/2021 22:15

30sqm @tizwozliz!! That's a lot of space!

I found a small patch at the end of our garden where the DC could put some growbags. Unfortunately our neighbour (who is, shall we say, rather lightfingered Hmm) can access the patch without me necessarily seeing him, so I can't put anything there which has any value... I bet he'd have an apple tree up and gone before you could say Granny Smith Angry

The DC are busy planning which seeds they'd like to plant next. However it's so cold they're reluctant to set foot outdoors, which doesn't help their plans!!

MereDintofPandiculation · 13/02/2021 11:32

@ClaraTheImpossibleGirl That's appalling!

Notsogreenthumb · 13/02/2021 13:13

Afternoon all! It's been an awfully long sabbatical.

Previously known as RookieGardner but thought I'd change it up for this spring.

My garden is an utter mess right now, neighbours tree dropped so many leaves on my new turf which I never got around to clearing for a few weeks so all that grass is dead (a third of the grass Blush) so need to sort all that out. Got some garlic bulbs peeking through the soil now. And a new fence that needs going up as well as some decking. Fun fun!!

Lots to do but I'm definitely feeling the spring air coming soon Daffodil

Also excited to plant something other than tomatoes this year.

Hope everyone on here is well!

TheSpottedZebra · 13/02/2021 19:58

Clara you could grow asparagus peas there? Look v pretty, look appetising...
Taste SO bad. Really really bad and they suck all the moisture from your mouth.

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