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

Wow those look like they're thriving @bookbook.. wonder why they call them strawberries . Thanks for the info, I was going to plant a few plants into a raised bed as well so it's good to know.

Your plot looks serene @tizwozliz. I got happy just seeing a picture

Evening all
yet another hot day here .
Had a trip to the plot this morning , before it got too hot for me . DH came and helped cut the grass and blow up and oil my wheelbarrow wheel - the squeak was driving me crazy ! Picked the very last bits of spring cabbage .
I am going to try and get as much planting done this week as possible - the cauliflowers and savoys have suddenly had a burst of growth in their plug pots , and the squashes are now looking decidedly healthier , so thats my jobs sorted for the next few days

Well I feel like a proper gardener now. My very first tomatoes grown from seed have appeared!

Oh wow @AppleJane that's brilliant! Where are you based? Mine are still barely 2ft and yet to flower 😂

@Notsogreenthumb midlands but I made the rookie error of starting them off too early indoors and struggling to keep them going while my house looked like a jungle I'll definitely start them a couple of weeks later next year!

Gosh it's hot. I went early to the plot to chuck water around, especially on the newly planted things. And it was very hot, before 9! I have loads more that I should be planting out ASAP but I really cannot in this heat and sun. So instead I will skulk in the shade like a budget vampire.

I may sigh a lot too. Because it is too hot.

I did no mow May (at home) and I REALLY need to mow now, but it is too hot. And the grass is so long now, it will be a chore!

I did mow! I felt the rains coming in and raced out to beat it.
And now it IS raining - huzzah!

At this time of year I love my shady garden.

Afternoon
gosh , it has turned hot again this afternoon after a cooler morning . But a quick trip to the plot to plant out winter squashes , and pick asparagus Lots of planting out to do tomorrow - will have to see how much I can get done , as the brassica cage needs a good hoe first , after a proper weed last week

At home , I have flowers on the sweet peppers and tomatoes , the cucumbers are getting ready to set I think , and the aubergines are looking good and healthy :)

Hello all, you rolled off my active threads there!

So far the only thing we’ve lost are the cucumber plants, as predicted on here! Everything else is flourishing, as are the weeds! The tomatoes and strawberries are starting to flower so I’m hopeful of getting something!

What plant food do you use? I have Tomorite, am I ok to use that on most veg?

Also I’ve noticed a lot of ants in and around our beds, should I be concerned?

hello again CaveMum - good to hear all is going well :)
I use tomato food for my greenhouse salad plants , the plants in the ground no , I don't feed - there is lots of manure and compost instead . I do use chicken pellets ( chicken manure in pellet form) if needed - they are cheap and easy to use , and organic .
Ants can be a real nuisance tbh . I try to leave them alone if at all possible , but they have form for me in 'farming' aphids for their sticky secretions which can cause a lot of damage . I try to not let aphids build up and try to keep them under control wit dilute washing up liquid sprayed on them .

Evening all, another courgette plant lost here. Lesson learnt: grow them bigger indoors before transplanting, I think I moved them too early.

My chillies are showing buds and my bell pepper is showing one hah but slugs are really attacking it and it's lost most it's leaves. It really is not a good gardening year for me this year. Well veg-wise anyway. Only my potatoes seem ok.

I will sow some more carrots tomorrow, my first two batches failed (dud seeds I wonder), and think I'll sow some peas and spinach, perhaps some more broad beans too (as I have so much space from my lost courgette and cucumbers 😂). I really hope I can harvest something at least or I'll be really sad. My tomatoes are half the size of last year and are nowhere near flowering .

@bookbook how are your aubergines? Mine just aren't growing anymore, they did really well as seedlings and then just stopped in midgrowth. Some leaves are now yellowing and it say at best they're 8-9" tall

well, another hot one .
Planted out first lot of cauliflowers , perpetual spinach and another couple of sprouts this morning .
Checked everything over , and all seem to be settling in nicely .
Notso - I am quite pleased with mine - flower buds are showing on the Moneymakers But I did start with 2 x Moneymaker and 2 x Jackpot ( which are the small egg size ones ) - one of the Jackpot did much like yours - I potted up to next size pot , then it stopped growing and leaves started to go yellow . The other day being cruel I tapped it out of its pot and took a look at it , and there didn't seem to be hardly any roots . I don't know if I was too rough when repotting , over watered or what , but I binned it , so now have 3 healthy ones . ( fingers crossed ) The trials and tribulations eh?

I have flowers out on a couple of tomatoes and some definitely on their way on my courgettes.

Need to get some more courgettes in the ground this weekend and probably think about netting the redcurrants. Might sow some more beans and peas too. Feels like forever since I started the first lot they're only just starting to get going

They look great @bookbook, I might try moneymaker next year. I opted for black beauty this year. I do wonder if I was too rough too as I had all 3 aubergines in one pot together. I might just go uproot it and see what's what (I can then use that ginormous pot for something else )

So I've just had a read that purple sprouting broccoli takes an awful long time to sprout .. and that it grows ginormous . Now the back of the packet said to give a couple feet space and should be ok so that's what I did.. but I'll probably move it to the end of my veg patch rather than dead central like I had it... which means I'll have some free room to grow some veg that would be next to potatoes and peas and would get 5-6 hours of sunlight a day. Probably 5ish.

Any suggestions to what I can grow? I have roughly 3ft by 4ft spare now

Notso few ideas - Calabrese (Thats the tight headed broccoli that you tend to see in the shops ) , beetroot , Borlotti beans - climbing or dwarf ( these are great for storing over winter ) , lettuce , leeks , spring onions ,

Well it rained for about 5 hours solid here yesterday so I anticipate a weed explosion in the next few days!

What do you have growing already @Notsogreenthumb ?

I normally stick dwarf French beans in any spare spaces I can find, they freeze well so doesn't matter if I end up with loads

Thanks @bookbook I've ordered some Calabrese seeds.

@tizwozliz I currently have potatoes, broadbeans, runner beans, onions and garlic. I have tomatoes, bell peppers and cucumber in the greenhouse.

I've resown some courgettes and pumpkin.

That's a good idea @tizwozliz. I think I'll do Calabrese and some dwarf beans I tried last year. I also have spinach which I can sow. Hoping my slug pellets arrive today as it's taken me far too long to realise they've been causing most of my issues. Last year I grew most things in the greenhouse so didn't have a problem with them except my potatoes but I used pellets around them.

Facebook tells me that i was harvesting garlic this time last year. I had a little peek at one when I was weeding but it doesn't look like they've cloved. Disappointing if they haven't as last year they did and this winter was much colder than last.

Huh, I was actually pondering my garlic this morning! It's made scapes but I can't remember to tell if it's ready. Maybe I'll pull one up? I coud do with the room...

tiz could you tell it hadn't cloved when it was still in the ground? How, just by feel?

It was in a planter so soil quite loose so when i pulled out some weeds that had been growing in there I could see the side of the bulb. Mine is softneck garlic so no scapes and autumn planted.

@TheSpottedZebra I pulled one up but it hadn't formed cloves. Almost there but not quite yet. Think I'll wait a few more weeks

Looking at last year, first garlic picked 7th June, but most wasn't picked until 10th July so just need to be patient!

Actually looking back through photos, although it feels like everything is miles behind this year it doesn't appear to be the case. I had some french beans nearly ready but that's about the only difference.