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

Another use for radishes - if you have some slow germinating seeds like parsnips, sow radishes along the same row to mark where it is. They’ll be ready for harvest before the parsnips need the space

Afternoon all !
well Cavemum - I often think soil disappears into a black hole . First year I had my allotment , I took every scrap of compost I had made at home . I thought it was loads - when I spread it out , it looked pitiful!
No rain as yet - praying for some tomorrow .
It is still sooo cold overnight, so still bringing in tomatoes/peppers/cucumbers/sweetcorn inside , and outside stuff hardening off into the greenhouse . It is a right faff .
So I got my caulis and cabbages planted out , the squash beds are all prepped , just need a final top dressing of manure to put on . Planted out first succession beetroot .
I have sown today - more leeks , autumn cauliflowers and cabbages , kale , swede , and some more cutting flowers - scabious and asters .
I have my succession peas almost ready to plant out .
I picked sprouting broccoli ( most of the plants will be dug up this week - and will leave just a couple for another week ) and asparagus ( 3rd picking) . If it doesn't rain tomorrow , I am going to have to water everything

Hi - can I join you? I’m in the East Midlands and have a south facing allotment - it’s my 4th year. The soil seems really cold still to me.
I’ve not got a greenhouse so I’ve only got tomatoes, celeriac and dahlias growing to date as they take a lot of space. I put them out during the day.
I intend to sow squash, sweetcorn and some more flowers this long weekend.
I’ve only just got my spuds in - it feels like I’m a month behind.
I hoe weeds rather than dig and find I get quite a few plants coming up that have self sown.

I’ve been out thinning my lettuce seedlings this morning. Potatoes and radishes are coming along nicely. I don’t think my garlic is growing any bulbs though, just long red roots?

Welcome ariana!

I spent ages yesterday removing an invasive but pretty grass from my garden that I planted a few years ago. Had to take everything out of that bed and then put it back in.

Also finally got around to weeding another section of my vegetable patch. I could only dig down about 5cm, the ground is so solid underneath. I'm thinking of dumping a load of compost on top and then covering with newspaper, wetting it thoroughly and leaving it till next year. Would this help? Or are there useful plants (lettuce?) that would be OK with compacted soil?

The soil is my garden is warm and so dry. We've had rain but it seems to have hardly touched the garden so I had to give it all a good soaking yesterday. Lots of rain promised for tomorrow and maybe Tuesday so we'll see!

@didireallysaythat my grandfather was the same although I was always a little anxious speaking to him because my Nan always told us to 'not mention the war'. Shame really

I'm in the middle but my south facing small garden is a bit of a sun trap!

GrouchyKiwi Brassicas are quite happy in compacted soil. And alfalfa AND BROAD BEANS are used as a cover crop to break up compacted soil. You could either wham in a load of broad beans, or brassicas and then follow up with broadies over the winter? There's also a big radish that is used for compacted soil. I don't know the details but you plant it, it makes big roots then I think you chop the tops off and the radishes die- rotting into little hummusy plugs.

I'm hoping that last night was the last SUPER COLD night and that I can start moving stuff outside. I have so many tomatoes in my conservatory that I need to wipe down the windows each morning where they have respired!

I've sown corn already and it's mostly up. First sugar snaps are planted out (but may have since died of cold), my courgettes are still in my propagator but the 1st variety is up and next to... all my many tomatoes. And today Ive sown my first runner beans and french beans, also inside.

Hopefully this week, chard, spinach, kales etc can get hardened off and planted out. And I need to sow more beetroot and turnip and similar. And radish! I am still yet to successfully harvest a radish

@TheSpottedZebra

GrouchyKiwi Brassicas are quite happy in compacted soil. And alfalfa AND BROAD BEANS are used as a cover crop to break up compacted soil. You could either wham in a load of broad beans, or brassicas and then follow up with broadies over the winter? There's also a big radish that is used for compacted soil. I don't know the details but you plant it, it makes big roots then I think you chop the tops off and the radishes die- rotting into little hummusy plugs.

Spotted I DO love broad beans and have plenty more seeds. Hmm. Though maybe I need another type. Decisions decisions.

[quote didireallysaythat]@AppleJane my grandfather didn't say a lot but I can picture him grinning. Plants were his life and passing on his experience was a goal for him.

Where in the country are you? It's still feels too cold here (East Cambs) but I don't direct sew a lot.[/quote]
@didireallysaythat you can’t be that far from me I work over in that there horse town, but we live in East Cambs.

I seem to be drowning in plants waiting for the weather to change so I can plant out.

Today I accidentally bought another gooseberry bush and a pink currant bush (never knew such a thing existed) and I now have to work out where to plant them.

Has anyone else got the same problem that they can’t go to a garden centre or drive past a plant stall without buying something? I also bought a monkey puzzle tree from outside someone’s house this afternoon😬😬.

@CaveMum I am familiar with the horses! And I hope you're familiar with Simpsons in Fordham?

Lovemusic...I am exactly the same! I 'accidentally' bought a couple of new perennials and a tray of dahlias when I went to buy some more compost for potting on. It's a weekly occurance which is met by 'not more plants' each time it happens. I love it though and it's been my lockdown pleasure. I had to pot on all of my cucumber and tomato plants yesterday as they had got so big. However it's meant that the 'taking them in and out' scenario is going to take considerably longer. I think I planted the seeds too early again!

A blackbird has dug up all of my strawberry plants that were doing really well! 😥 that serves me right for not getting netting yet.
My raised bed is now finally full so I need to get that netted.
I’m a bit confused though, I’m planning to put a net on canes across the bed. But what about the tomatoes and French beans as they are taller?! Do they not need netting? Also do pollinators still get through the netting? Finally is it worth paying more money for netting? It differs a lot in price.

Enjoying the thread, so in awe of those of you with allotments, I find keeping on top of my garden hard work!

[quote didireallysaythat]@CaveMum I am familiar with the horses! And I hope you're familiar with Simpsons in Fordham?[/quote]
Very much so - my daughter goes to Rainbows in the Scout Hut next door!

I have lost my beetroot to something (possibly birds), no sign of slugs or any bugs.

My lettuces are netted but still taking a battering by the strong winds.

Another one who is drowning with the plants indoors - my house looks like a cross between Day of the Triffids and Little Shop of Horrors. I’m in the North West - any idea when tomato plants can go in an in heated greenhouse?! It’s at our plot which I can only get to at weekends and one night in the week at the moment so worrying a little about water as well as frost.

I think Thursday is looking like a cold day, after that things are looking up.

I have a few tomatoes out in my greenhouse but I’m in the SW, they have survived low temps of 2/4, the rest will go into the greenhouse next week once I have planted a few things outside to make space.

Interesting that the thread title is as true today as it was when the thread was started

Totally agree @MereDintofPandiculation - we were up Dow Crag in the Lakes and in the time it took us to get up Walmart Scar we had torrential rain, then sleet, then snow, and by the time we got to the top the sun came out.

chunkey - tomatoes and beans dont need netting. if its something that needs pollinating then you should get the netting with the bigger holes in so that bees can squeeze through the gaps.

My tomato plants are in my house at the moment and have just started getting flowers on them. My hayfever today has been shocking. Could I be allergic to tomato pollen?! 😂

I have never managed to produce one bean due to aphids grr. Get me every single year!

could it be mice @Lovemusic33 at your beetroot? mine had only just popped up so I'm worried the wild weather this weekend might have destroyed them!

It could be mice, half of my lettuces are gone this morning. We do have a few fat pigeons hanging around at the moment and the sparrows. I have been out and netted most of it in hope I can save the remaining lettuce. Whatever it is has eaten one of my sunflowers too. Luckily I have about 100 more lettuce seedlings in the greenhouse.

Looking at our forecast, Thursday night might be the last frost; from then on, lows are above 5. This is on met.ie, weather.com and accuweather.com. Can I trust that and start planting out from Friday?