The Vegetable Patch

[MereDintofPandiculation]

Now bookbook has sadly left us, and stirred into action by @DobbleDobble, I think it’s time to start a general thread for those of us who try to grow edible produce, fruit, veg, herbs, to share successes, failures, questions and answers

I say that and then I looked at the weather and it's going to be 1 Celsius tonight 😂

I think I've planted my courgettes out too early 😖 they were looking leggy on the windowsill so I hardened them off and then potted them out. They look ok but seem to have slowed down their growth a lot, I'm hoping that a homemade cloche at night might get them through 😣 considering planting a couple more indoors in case they're needed.

Pak Choi are looking good though!

Freezing here. Ground is too dry for planting anything, we do need rain, pronto!
Will sow French beans, courgettes and whatever else I find interesting today. In modules of course and keep them nicely coddled in greenhouse.

Dry as a bone here too! Forecast says we have 40% chance of showers overnight which would be nice as we’re planning on visiting garden centre tomorrow to buy some veg!

Hope everyone having a good weekend so far?
bought some sweetcorn and butternut squash yesterday which are huge ( my ones at home are quarter of size) they’re in the cold frame to acclimatise for a few days and I’ll put in.Going to try the “three sisters” approach in one bed of corn, with a pea placed next to it, so the pea uses the corn for support and then pumpkin and squash to mulch the bottom.Fingers crossed for this experiment !

Morning all, I'd like to join you if I may. I was a regular on these threads for a few years but haven't posted much for ages. I recognise a few names. I recognise a few names, @bookbook I hadn't realised you'd given up the allotment but glad to hear you are carrying on at home.

I have a small allotment (about 10x7m) which I have had for 7 or 8 years and a medium sized garden at home which is mainly shrubs, flowers and herbs in pots. My allotment has about 2/3 free growing area and 1/3 autumn fruiting raspberries.

Last year I did the minimum I could get away with weeding-wise and have paid for it with couch grass invading from all sides so I have spent the last few weeks patiently removing it again. I actually enjoy it but it is time consuming and the ground is now so dry I've had to stop. Teen DS helps sometimes. I have lots of seedlings in my greenhouse at home, mainly tomatoes, sunflowers and sweetcorn, got potatoes needing to go in, garlic and onions in and need to sow broad beans.

Arrived home to the first mange tout of the year!

Potatoes are just pushing up from the soil, these are in bags up against the house so should be safe from any late frosts now.

Please can I join? I’ve just taken on an allotment and have also moved house which came with a greenhouse! Ready to dip my toes into gardening and veg growing again so would love some virtual chums to keep me company.

I have had a few days being unable to do any gardening due to a trapped nerve and sciatica 😭. The weeds are taking over and the birds have been attacking my pak Choi and broad beans. Strawberries are fruiting as are some of my currents (luckily I covered them before hurting my back). When can corn go outside? And French beans?

Arrived home to the first mange tout of the year! Goodness! Mine aren’t even flowering yet.

I looked up the difference in growing season between Yorks an SE - our season is at about 5 weeks shorter. Makes a difference when the season is only about 8months in the first place

@MereDintofPandiculation - the mange tout are from plants that have self sown/over wintered up against the house. I haven't sown this year's crop yet :-)

I bought a few tomato plants and vegetable plugs as backup in case the stuff I've sown is too late.

@MereDintofPandiculation - the mange tout are from plants that have self sown/over wintered up against the house. I haven't sown this year's crop yet :-)

I bought a few tomato plants and vegetable plugs as backup in case the stuff I've sown is too late.

@MereDintofPandiculation - the mange tout are from plants that have self sown/over wintered up against the house. I haven't sown this year's crop yet :-)

I bought a few tomato plants and vegetable plugs as backup in case the stuff I've sown is too late.

Our potatoes (in bags) are shooting up too - we didn't chit this year so see what happens.
Wild garlic is now in full flower. Normal garlic is growing nicely.
Got buds on the loganberry; & the cherry is teasing me with tiny green set fruit that I know won't be there in a few months.
Fig has some leaves but it's still tiny.
The peas & lettuce the children set are doing ok - will probably have to plants the peas out soon. Lettuce needs longer.
Really run out of time to set squash & toms etc so going to a plant sale this weekend in hopes I can catch up.
Wild strawberries are flowering, as are the blueberries, which the bees love.
Mint is coming up, but I had tubs of thyme & lemon balm last year & neither seem to be reappearing sadly. However the Mediterranean herb garden at the front of the house is going great guns - unlike my blackberry hanging baskets.

I've just evicted half of the jungle from indoors to my greenhouse and discovered an inch long chilli on one of the plants! The rest of the chillies are also flowering but tomatoes seem a bit behind from this time last year.

Saw a 'snacking' pepper plant outside a shop yesterday with lots of peppers on it for £10. Ive got about 15 of those I sowed from a supermarket pepper, wonder if I could flog them for £150

I’m struggling with pests this year, every time I plant something out it vanishes over night 😬, I’m a big wildlife lover and I don’t like killing anything but I’m losing the will to live with veg growing. My peas have been eaten despite me trying to net them, same with broad beans. Yesterday I put my corn out and one has been munched on already. I have seen rats and mice around, we have loads of sparrows and starlings as they are nesting in our eves, the slugs and snails are coming out and we seem to have millions of ants this year. How do you keep your veg safe without using chemicals and without killing pests?

all my fruit bushes are doing great, strawberries are starting to fruit but having no luck with veg other than potatoes. I’m scared to put anything else out (I have French beans and courgettes to go out next week).

How do you keep your veg safe without using chemicals and without killing pests? My worst problems are slugs and cabbage white caterpillars. So I net the cabbages, grow peas and beans in containers and keep them in the relatively slug free greenhouse until they start flowering.

greenhouse whitefly I use the vacuum cleaner on.

You won’t keep veg safe without killing pests. The reason they are pests is that they multiply so fast, and they multiply fast because they’re so used to high levels of predation.

Rats and mice will only be a problem to newly sown beans and peas, so use a barrier. Sparrows and starlings are liveable with, and both have suffered worrying declines, so treasure them. Ants aren’t a problem.

Thank you, I feed the sparrows and starlings in hope they will leave my veg alone, same with fat pigeons. I think rats and mice are probably my biggest issue but I can’t do much about them, they seem to come through from next door (they have pet rabbits and used to have chickens), all my bird feeders are now rat proofed after I caught a rat pinching a fat ball a few weeks ago. I no longer grow cauliflowers, broccoli or cabbage because they would get destroyed by cabbage white and slugs. I’m going to try and lest proof the peas and sweet corn today. Last year I grew peas in containers (flexi tubs) and had no issues with anything nibbling them but this year they are in my main veg bed and getting destroyed. My cat has been catching a few of the younger rats but he’s an old boy and can’t keep up 🤣

lovemusic - i too am struggling. I'm on second load of broad bean plants. They have been netted, sprayed with chilli, and sprinkled with garlic, and surrounded by holly and still a few have gone. Same with peas. very frustrating.

I planted out my pumpkins and courgette today. I didn't want to for another month but they're starting to become really leggy and not doing well at all in containers. Hoping the ground does some good for them. Last year I transplanted too soon and they went into shock.

Tomatoes are much much better over the last few weeks, sunshine plus greenhouse heat has got them thickening nicely and growing much faster. Hoping they can catch up and keep growing large.

My carrots all disappeared as did my parsnips and beetroot. I think the wind blew them away as they're growing in random places in the garden so need to resow those.

I bought some beetroot from Homebase but there were like 10 per module, I had to separate them. I've never grown beetroot before I hope they haven't all died from me pulling their roots apart so much 😬😬.

I bought some beetroot plants too from the garden centre, I have never had much luck with sewing beetroot directly so thought I would give plug plants a go, so far they are the only thing that nothing eaten 😬

I sewed some pumpkin and butternut squash today, not sure if it’s a bit late but wanted something to replace some of the things that are being eaten by pests, squash always grows well. I only have one healthy looking tomato plant, all my others are still tiny, cucumbers are doing well though, I moved them up to bigger pots today.

I sowed courgette and squash today too! It's not too late at all.
Things grow so much faster now, compared to even just a few weeks ago.

I have sown broad beans and got my potatoes out this week. We are prone to late frosts here so need to keep my sweetcorn and tomatoes in the greenhouse for another couple of weeks to be safe I think. Although there is no frost actually forecast its not unknown here at the end of May.

At home I am letting things grow quite wild, lots and lots of self-seeding going on. Primroses which are nearly finished, a few cowslips, aquilegia popping up all over the place, forget-me-nots, dandelions, alkanet, pulmonaria. We are going to do no mow May on part of the garden. Herbs are all doing nicely but we don’t do fruit and veg at home apart from blackberries that I can never completely eliminate.

@APurpleSquirrel blackberry hanging baskets sound intriguing. I'd love to have blackberries.

I have bruised the arch of my foot trying to remove turf from our rock hard clay to make a squash bed, and put a courgette and two pumpkins in. Half the bed isn't dug but just covered with mulching fabric (why didn't I do this in the first place???) so tromboncino will have to wait until the grass gives up the ghost.

Apparently pigeons don't find brassicas as readily if you grow them in amongst flowers and other plants. The pigeons didn't seem to find my kale when I tried it (kale didn't grow particularly well either tbf)

Broad beans are going terribly this year but the first lot of lettuce is looking great and untouched by slugs. No idea why they annihilate some plants and leave others untouched

I spontaneously ordered 18 asparagus crowns so now I'll be setting up an asparagus bed!

My cucumbers are getting quite big, and I'm not really sure how to support them.

Tomatoes, aubergines, peppers and chillis need potting on and I'm sowing peas, squash, sweetcorn, courgettes and dwarf beans this weekend.

My herbs need a bit of help. My basil seedlings are looking a bit sad and I haven't sown dill etc yet. My sage plants died having looked great last year.

My summer raspberries are finally showing signs of life though! And my new Serbian Gold quince is finally coming into leaf, more than a month after my Sibley's Patio quince.