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

Evening @bookbook! Glad you had a productive day and some sun. Also lovely that you were gifted those leek seedlings. Hope they grow nice and plentiful :)

It was dry and sunny here too hurrah! I managed to repot my aubergines and get them into my portable greenhouse (let's hope no more strong winds). I also reported the chillies and bell peppers. It's my first time attempting such sun loving plants. I hope the aubergines produce some fruit, it's what I look forward to the most this year.

Planted my tomato plants out today, bit nervous with this weather but hopefully it's smooth sailing from now.

Managed to build my first teepee for runner beans today, not sure how great it is but felt good trying to learn something new . Need to plant them out tomorrow once I've researched on spacing and how to plant them.

Lillies are peeping through now and just planted my dahlia tubers.

Overall a good gardening day

A good gardening day here too, warm and dry. Took the strimmer to the allotment fir th first grass trim of the year, took half an hour as it was up to my knees (edges and paths). Planted out sweetcorn, pumpkins, cucamelons and sunflowers, plus a bit of bindweed removal (lots more popping up everywhere though). Only about 1/4 of my plot has bindweed so I have made a strategic decision to move my strawberries away from that section as I was always uprooting them accidentally while trying to weed. I have now got onions and broad beans in that area as they are easier to keep clear by winkling out each piece as it appears.

Dug out some bramble shoots at home today too, it was the first day in ages when its been dry enough to kneel on the grass (we are doing No Mow May and its pretty long now).

Debating planting cucumbers and tomatoes in the greenhouse today, and courgettes in the ground. French beans are beginning to flower. Sadly, had to sow more runner beans after only 3 grew leaves from the first batch. Hope they catch up! Need to straw the strawberries soon, think next week will be a gardening week with the little ones!

Lovely looking at your photos @bookbook - cannot wait for our first harvests.

Hoping the warm weather will spur everything into action. Harvested some rhubarb today and potatoes are going great guns but everything else looks a bit sorry for itself. Pigeons have attacked my broccoli so need to rig up some protection this weekend, I have spares in pots still too.

Well it has spurred the weeds on here @tizwozliz
At least the soil is not dry and hard, so easier to weed.

I have taken the plunge and put cucumbers and tomatoes in the greenhouse in final positions. One cucumber in its pot had just collapsed, most strange. Peas are planted out and I need to pot on chillis and peppers into the bigger pots. Will do courgettes tomorrow, but I have run out of compost.

Afternoon !
Yes sun +rain = weeds
Yesterday DH and I got the cane wigwams up ready to plant out french beans tomorrow .
This morning , I planted up 3 courgettes ( 1 left at home , a bit weedy , but back up ) and a few sweetheart cabbages . Everything that has been pricked out in plugs for weeks have just perked up and started to grow properly , at long last , so won't be long before I can finish planting out - I have squashes / kale /savoys /more leeks / sprouts/ cauliflowers and some more flowers .
Happy days :)

Beautifulllll day here, the sun is out and it finally feels like Summer is coming.

Today the garden furniture will come out again and I think a bbq is due tomorrow. My broccoli is suddenly peeking up, as are my beans.

Even my sad courgettes seem a little happier. I've deweeded, and decluttered everything. Also happened to find what looks like a cocoon on my onion plant. Need to post a picture soon.

My strawberries are in hanging planters but seem a little wilted. Hope they're ok up there.

What does everyone mean by strawing the strawberries? Would I need to do this if they're in a planter?

Hello, ok if I ask a newbie question here? We moved in December and now have a beautiful and established garden, and I have very little experience! There’s a lovely veggie patch and in one area where I know potatoes were last year, there’s loads of new shoots. I thought potatoes were one year only though? Could it be something else or will they be duds?

Meant to post a pic, do these look like potatoes?

Yup they are potatoes. I usually dig out 'second year' ones because I am rotating the crops. They may come good.

Thanks. Will I just leave them then and see what happens? We have a bit of space so can manage without that bed.

Bit of an allotment politics problem I’d appreciate some advice on. I share a large allotment with a friend, have had it 4 years. Two friends asked if they could help - we said yes as they wanted to learn, and it would help spread the load when we have a lot to do.

One friend is great - really takes things on board. The other I’m having problems with. I try to do things that will help the environment- don’t buy new plastic, peat free compost only, no glysophate or neon option ifs. She’s a bit more of a hippy, bleeding heart type and is vegan; wants lots of “wild areas” (we already have a pond, huge insect hotel, bird boxes etc), strips the plot of fruit and veg to take to the food bank, doesn’t want us to leave plastic bags on the plot to take stuff home and is throwing away stuff for moral reasons - eg blood, fish and bone. Found out today that she confiscated and threw away a full bottle of ant powder which I bought (our plot is infested with ants) because it’s cruel. I do my best but really don’t like other people making decisions about what is essentially my plot (I am the leaseholder) when I’ve put so much time, effort and money into it. any idea on how to tackle this nicely?

That's a tricky one @SweatyBetty20, do you want her to stop helping altogether or to carry on but without interfering? It doesn't sound as though your way of gardening is compatible with her views TBH. Honestly, she's come onto your property and thrown away your posessions without permission, I don't think I'd be able to continue but it's hard if she's a friend. Can you suggest that as she's so keen maybe its time she got her own plot?

She’s an ex-colleague rather than a mate - we don’t socialise other than at the plot. She could put her name down for one but we have 150 on the waiting list and only a small site. The other two don’t want to rock the boat but I think I’m going to have to make a stand on this one. Just don’t know how yet!

Ouch @SweatyBetty20 that's a tricky one, and I commend your patience 👏. I'd have spoken up once she got comfortable enough to throw my possessions away lol.

Perhaps you could casually bring it up the next time you're together, just gently remind her about 'your' plot and how nice it is that you've had others come and help on 'your' plot and it's been a great experience for them working on 'your' plot and you appreciate all her help on.. you guessed it .. 'your' plot ... and then I would outright tell her to stop forcing her way of life/ views/ moral compass whatever it is, on you and your plot. And suggest that if she really struggles with boundaries and not interfering in the others ways of doing things perhaps she ought to seek out a plot where she can do as she pleases and not worry about conflicting views. (All of this much nicer and amicably of course)

I'd cut her loose @SweatyBetty20 and I say that as a vegan myself!

It's just too disrespectful to start making demands and throwing peoples property away. Her problem isn't her lifestyle, it's her attitude

We decided not to throw away non-vegan stuff we previously owned but to use them out. What's the point them sitting in landfill? And we draw the line at pest control, we're not Buddhists!

I get the blood fish and bone thing but it's still your plot, your shout. Maybe she could have her own little section to grow veggies with alternative fertilisers if you don't want to get rid of her. But I fear her type will only get worse unless you nip it in the bud! Communication is the problem here.

And your plot should be your sanctuary.

Yes, I think it would be "sorry, this isn't working for me" in true MN style. She has effectively stolen from you.

Thanks for the feedback, for some reason it’s bothered me more that I thought it would. The ethos of our plot has always been “do our bit” when it comes to the environment, as I’m of the stance that while China is making millions of disposables and pumping out great volumes of chemicals into the atmosphere, saving one plastic bag is like screaming into the abyss, but we do our best. I got the ant powder because we lost a whole crop of artichokes to them last year - I don’t use any pesticide lightly, this is the only one, and other natural solutions haven’t helped. I just feel like she’s trying to change the ethos of the plot by stealth and I don’t like it. Time for a quiet word.

I thought potatoes were one year only though? Potatoes are perennial, dying down in winter, then growing again next year using the energy they've stored in their tubers - what we eat as potatoes. So any small potato that has been missed in the harvesting will come up again the following year.

The main reason we plant anew is that we've eaten all the tubers, so apart from small plants from tiny potatoes we've missed, there aren't any stores of energy to produce new growth.

(The secondary reason for planting each year, and growing in a different place each year, is to avoid pests and diseases.)

Yes, you can leave the "volunteers". You should get something from them, but possibly, depending on the size of the tubers they're growing from, not as much as you'd get from a new "seed potato" - which are usually quite large.

I get a few volunteer potatoes every year, some I remove if they are in the way, others I leave. Got masses of them this year

Afternoon all!
phew - it is hot today!
At the plot this morning , and planted up french beans , and a few savoy cabbages . Weeded the asparagus bed - slow and tedious , but needs must , and then picked some .
Everything is really getting going now , which is lovely ( the grass and dandelions too )
Notso - my strawberries sit directly onto soil in a raised bed , so I tuck straw under and around the leaves , so the strawberries are raised off the soil , and don't rot . You should be fine in a hanging basket , and a lot of the newer varieties are bred to hold the strawberries higher off the ground ( mine are not)
SweatyBetty - this is obviously a tough one , but ultimately it is your plot , and having been invited , she needs to to run it as you see fit . I would personally be livid at her getting rid of anything that isn't hers , and as much so about stripping fruit and veg for others than you without asking . I would try to be diplomatic , but what EverSo has said is probably the least aggressive . I would say something along the lines of - you had wanted to let her try her hand , but everyone has differing ideas on how to do things. You are not comfortable with her trying to dictate when it is your plot after all , and unless she can refrain , it would be best if she found someone/somewhere else to help more in tune with her way of thinking .

straw around my plants NotSo :)

Busy day, lots of weeding and potting on. First lot of tomatoes in their final pots.

After buying onion seeds yesterday for one last try I found plug plants available so will save the seed for next year. I don't normally have a problem but I managed two plants from two trays of sowings!

Pulled some beetroot that had overwintered as needed the space. Finally feels like things are growing. Potatoes seem to be coming up all over the shop, even in places they've never grown before. I'm blaming the squirrels. They're going to be disappointed as I've moved an awful lot of monkey nuts whilst weeding today.

Your plot is SO NEAT, tiz !

More planting put for me, lots and lots. Inexplicably I have grown loads of kale from seed, so I have been slotting it in between all the things. I'm awful at building protection for brassicas so I am hoping that by having so many in so many places, some will survive...

Runner beans are out now, and so are my home french beans but I still have my plot french beans to plant out. And I've also just sown some new to me beans, merveille de Venice. Yellow flat ones.

Still have many many more tomatoes to plant, and my squash -many of which are ailing.