Allotment/Veg Patch Thread 16 Weather weirdness prevails !

[bookbook]

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

Blimey, Kiwi you've started with a bang! I've sown basil too. Of course it's not germinated.
But actually I remembered earlier that last year (when I couldn't get basil seeds) I bought a growing basil from supermarket for 50p -which was just a pot of leggy seedlings. I split them and cosseted them and ended up with my best ever basil! So I'll get some more this year...

I'm going to have a big sow up this afternoon, probably. Maybe some greens, and some sugar snaps.

So far:
onions
garlic
wild rocket
winter purslane
radish
broadbean
leek
jerusalem artichoke
globe artichoke
cardoon
carrot
tomato
brussels sprouts
broccoli
cauliflower
kohl rabi
peas
turnips
various cabbages
root parsley

basil (multiple types)
thyme (multiple types)
sage (multiple types)
oregano
marjoram
dill
chives
garlic chives
lovage
borage
costmary

Various types of flower.

I cannot WAIT to be get them all outside. Also, I don't have the hang of germinating yet. It hasn't gone particularly well for most things. Some things just haven't at all.

I can’t seem to get celeriac to germinate, is there a knack to it or have I just got dodgy seeds?

So far I have sown...

Tomatoes (4 varieties)
Aubergine
Chocolate peppers
Lettuce (little gem and curly)
Cauliflower
Kohl rabi
Spring onions
Radish
Rainbow chard (never have much luck with this)
Carrots
Onions
Potatoes
Peas
Baby corn
Patty pan

Maragolds
Lupin
Cosmos
Teddy sunflowers

Just holding back to plant...
French beans
Courgettes
Cucamelons
Pumpkin

I have planted loads because I often kill things before they get planted out 😕, I also gift spare plants to friends.

Have been reading about hilling up potatoes with straw. Would coir work instead?

Indignatio, I don't see why not? I've seen it done with grass clippings as well.

Celeriac is another in the carrot family so I would assume that it’s as slow to germinate as the rest of them

@MereDintofPandiculation

Celeriac is another in the carrot family so I would assume that it’s as slow to germinate as the rest of them

Thank you, one has started to appear this morning, hopefully the others will soon follow 😁

Many thanks, debating whether to plant my second earlies this weekend given the threat of snow. Any thoughts? SE high, quite exposed, brand new raised beds. Help ply

I am going to try to wait another week, even though they look like they need planting @indignatio though I am much further north.

Lovely time potting on tomatoes and chillis today. Going to sow more tomatoes as no spares at all from first lot of germination!

Evening all!
indignatio - coir sounds good . Planting out shouldn't be a problem - it is only the risk of frost when the first leaves appear overground that you need to worry about - you usually allow 4-6 weeks for them to pop up . Everyone around here ( Yorkshire ) is planting theirs up .
A couple of quick trips to the plot - I have the brassica cage netted up and ready to go , and picked leeks and sprouting broccoli , DH went to cut the grass , but the blimmin' lawnmower wouldn't go after the winter hibernation , but he he has got it going now , so that is the next job . Everything but aubergines have germinated , just need to be patient before pricking out . Its all go now :)

I sowed more tomatoes today. Between non-germinators and potting-on casualties I only got 74 from the first batch of 120.

We all spent the whole day in the garden, it was gloriously sunny and warm. We're due frost tonight

Got the potatoes in yesterday.

Thinking of netting @bookbook, do you have to net for allium leaf miner? It's a growing problem in my area (East Midlands). We are pretty strict with our crop rotation and netting is the only solution apparently.

Hoping for a horse manure delivery this weekend so I can top up the hot box in the tunnel as the level has dropped again. It does make a useful propagator.

Time to start sowing tomato, aubergine and pepper. I promised myself I wouldnt start them too early this year as I lost some to frost last year so I have been sitting on my hands.

I have lost a few seedlings over the past few days, not sure if my greenhouse got to hot or too cold (or both), it’s mainly purple sprouting broccoli and cauliflower seedlings I have lost, everything else looks healthy and growing well. Not too upset about the dead seedlings as I have planted way too much anyway 😬. I think I’m going to bring a few things indoors Sunday night as temperatures are meant to drop.

Hi, does anyone grow cranberries? How many bushes are required for an average family's cranberry sauce requirements please.

@UtterlyUnimaginativeUsername

I sowed more tomatoes today. Between non-germinators and potting-on casualties I only got 74 from the first batch of 120.

We all spent the whole day in the garden, it was gloriously sunny and warm. We're due frost tonight

As a matter of curiosity, what will you do with the crop from 74 tomato plants?

Wow and I thought I was a bit short with just 5 tomato seedlings @UtterlyUnimaginativeUsername

In our greenhouse the peas seem to have been munched with quite an indentation where it looks like something has dug down. Do I assume this is mice? If so putting them on the shelving did not work. What do other people do? I have netting but it if lays on top not sure if that will work. Brought the French beans inside but I have now run out of windowsill room!

@indignatio

Hi, does anyone grow cranberries? How many bushes are required for an average family's cranberry sauce requirements please.

I don't grow them bit saw a cranberry bush/plant and was tempted, im unsure if you need 2 to get a good crop, I know its advised with some berries that you have 2 to aid pollination?

My tulips for cutting are doing quite well. These are last year's bulbs, dug up and stored over the summer then planted again in the autumn once there was space in the raised beds again. I wasn't 100% confident they would flower again.

@tizwozliz that's a good show! We too grow flowers for cutting. Just coming to the end of daffodils now.

Do you grow any other flowers for cutting?

Only tulips, I don't have the space to grow things during the summer. The tulips can come out at the beginning of June which leaves the space free for growing veg over the summer.

As a matter of curiosity, what will you do with the crop from 74 tomato plants?
Eat them! Snaffle them warm from the sun as I'm gardening, give them to the chickens (they adore them), give them to friends, family and neighbours. Put them in salads, in pasta sauce, pizza sauce, stews, pot roasts, on burgers, sun dry them, make salsa, make soup and ketchup. Freeze them for the winter. I'm hoping to have enough for the year.

I've started bottom watering my seedlings and it's going much better than top watering. I'll never go back.

Heavier frost forecast for tonight. I'm hoping my sweet peas are okay, but Monty said on Gardener's World last night that they're more hardy than he had been giving them credit for, so I'm risking it.

Waiting for a replacement wheelbarrow wheel. I got 10 tons of mushroom compost delivered, moved about 18 barrows and the tyre basically exploded. It's in shreds. I've ordered a puncture-proof one this time.

@UtterlyUnimaginativeUsername nowhere near your quantities but we also do a lot of canning, creating sauces and ketchups to see us through the winter months.

I like your quantities! We have a fairly large allotment and tend to think of things like manure in tons rather than bags!

One of today's tasks is going to be spreading fertiliser round the trees in the orchard. Fish, blood and bone has a wonderfully ancient sound to it. Like I'm making a sacrifice to the gods or something!

I usually grow about 12 tomato plants and have enough for daily eating for 4 months, that’s why my mind boggled.

Envy you having enough space for 74 plants

74! That gives me something to aspire to! I probably average about 50. I just really like tomatoes. I don't do much canning, but I do freeze bricks of (cooked) tomatoes sauces, and I oven dry some and bottle them in oil. But my favourite way to preserve them is probably just freezing cherry tomatoes as is, or cut in half if they're bigger ones. Then I just add them in to stuff as I wish.

Hi, hope it's okay if I join. We had over 150 tomato plants last year - we couldn't get in the greenhouse come the end of summer! That's what I get for letting DP plant the seeds whilst I was feeding DS 😂 have planted tomatoes, corn, peas, sweet peas, courgettes, carrots, parsnips, spring onions, perpetual spinach and mixed lettuce so far. Hoping to pop some more seeds of the same in this week if the mice don't get to the peas and corn again like they did last week! 🤬