The Vegetable Patch Mark 2

[MereDintofPandiculation]

A continuation of the thread for those of us growing edibles, to share triumphs and failures, swap expertise and solve problems

@AdventFridgeOfShame ooh I dont think so sadly, that would have been nice I am desperate for nice allotment neighbours!

Always leave 3 stems per crown, hold at the base and twist off, don’t cut, and don’t pick after Pershore Fair Day (June 26th)

Does anyone know about squirrel proofing?
I have big plans for my four lovely new raised beds but also there's a riot of squirrels around.
Is there I can do without too much time or money? Or should I just abandon hope?

We have squirrels and the only thing I've ever had to protect from them are tulips. I often feel a bit guilty as I'm always digging up their peanuts!

Hmm so there is hope, thank you So far they have been digging in all my pots but maybe there's just taking what they put there.

When I lived in London, we planted all tulips in pots and put old fridge shelves, the wire kind, over the top until the leaves popped up. Worked a treat and utterly foiled the pesky squirrels. They're also easy to store once they're not needed.

Sigh. I don't plant tulips at all now I'm in Melbourne as you simply don't get the range you get in the UK with its proximity to the Netherlands. And they are stupidly expensive.

I loved "Ballerina", a pale orange with a heavenly scent.

It strikes me that most fridge shelves are glass these days, so the up-to-date equivalent would be these storage baskets, to be found on nature strips everywhere.

Can I join please? I’ve got a load of questions.

I have an unheated smallish greenhouse. A large raised bed and a smaller raised bed. A coldframe.

So far this year I’ve tidied up my strawberries, cut off any remaining whips, all my potted babies are doing really well and they are going in guttering on the back of the garage wall. The main patch takes up half the biggest raised bed and the other half is two rhubarb crowns which are years old and already coming up lovely. I’ve done a little mulch with nice compost. Hopefully they are taken care of now.

second bed I’m growing mange tout. Never done this before - have the seeds ready. I can make a frame to grow up. Too early to plant the seeds indoors? And how do I net them? We have birds and squirrels. Do I just drape the net over the frame? Doesn’t that stop the peas growing path?

tomatoes I’ve got moneymaker, sweet success and tumbler in a propagator indoors, sewn yesterday. I planted 12 of each, one seed per
cell, on a sunny window. I have space for 4
of each as plants and will gift the rest - have I sowed too early? I usually buy small plants never done this from seed!

courgette and cucumber (mini ones) don’t sow till later, right?

also my fig has some weird white
cobwebby stuff on almost all the joints between the branches and fruit. Any ideas what it might be?

sorry for the long post!

What variety of mange tout? You can get ones that are short, medium and tall.

I sowed mine this week, and will put them into a bed in a grid [probably] and put a cane at each corner and run twine around the canes, tying it at each cane, in a spiral going up. That way it contains them all. I have two varieties, Goldensweet which are about 3-4 ft maximum height and Carabouy de Maussane which are about 6-7 ft max height.

I don't net anything in the garden, I do have chicken wire that I put over the top of things that has just been planted to stop the kittens from digging them back up, but that comes off as soon as the plant is established. I am more of a 'sow more for the wildlife' kind of gardener. The only thing I'll net against, and it's a very fine net, is allium leaf miner which can destroy all onions and leeks.

Tomatoes, remember a sunny windowsill gets very cold at night. For propagation, they don't need light so they would be better off near a radiator or boiler until they show. Then they can go somewhere more sunny. Don't forget if it gets really sunny they can get too hot on a sunny windowsill.

Courgettes and Cucumbers - far too early. Now you can look at beetroot, lettuce, springs onion if you want some crops before summer hits.

No idea on the fig, you may have to do seperate investigation on that. Cobwebs usually indicate caterpillars of some description.

Thank you. Will move tomatoes to east facing windowsill which has a radiator under it so some heat will help - didn’t think of that!

my mange tout are ‘Oregon sweet’ - medium tall apparently - but I do have very tall canes I can use.

I went to a market today and they were selling Jerusalem Artichokes so I've bought 3 roots and will grow them on in the ground and see if we like them again next winter.

If the cobwebby stuff on the fig is closer to cotton wool, then mealy bug or woolly aphid. In either case, remove. I assume your fig is a small one in a pot, in which case it won’t take long to squash everything between finger tips. If it’s a tree, hang a bird feeder in it.

Funnily enough I spotted some wire shelves in a ditch when walking the dog today, going to go back with the car and pick them up :-)

So have had some much needed time off this week.
managed to get soil for the beds, manure too.Made a pea and bean frame support from an old swing seat frame.
can’t wait to see the last of winter very soon to get going .

Hello @MereDintofPandiculation and all, I came on this thread to talk rhubarb ha-ha and lo and behold there's already some talk about rhubarb crowns.

I decided in a moment of madness to buy some crowns online (Suttons) for the very first time, because of the extortionate price of this beautiful tasty fruit in the shops (£2.50 for 3 measly weedy-looking stems, c'mon what a rip off!).

I've never grown rhubarb before but I understand that mulching and top dressing is the name of the game, which I have plenty of, I've been collecting leaves and rotting them down all year round (seems never ending where I live in Forest of Dean! I bet it will be a lot more tasty homegrown. The crowns arrived yesterday (photo attached). I'm even willing to try 'forcing' if only as an experiment. They are Temperly Early and Victoria varieties. Several are already sprouting. I understand I won't get anything off them this season, is that right? Just as well I'm a patient gardener

My other photo is my early attempt at some seedlings:

3 Jan (rocket, toms bush variety and vines, 4 types basil, 3 types chilli from mild to knock your head off , lettuce Rosso and little gem)

15 Feb (Rainbow Chard, some melon and butternut squash as an experiment, never grown them before, a few dahlia just for fun, more rocket and some thyme which is beautifully aromatic).

@MereDintofPandiculation i took your lead from the other thread, and have sowed very parsimoniously, just enough as an 'insurance policy' in case some plants fail, but not a glut. I am going to do another crop in March / April as I have 2 weeks off work, so time to mess around in the greenhouse! Currently everything is indoors in my propagator.

look forward to sharing triumph and disaster with y'all!

Don’t plant your rhubarb in deep shade, it doesn’t flourish! Yes, don’t pick this spring while it’s trying to develop a good root system. Then in later years stop picking after June 1) to allow plant to do some growth for its own benefit 2) because oxalic acid levels get higher, not good for anyone but especially not good for joint problems.

Try sowing more chard in July to cover the “hungry gap”, which isn’t winter as you’d expect, but spring, when you’ve finished stored winter crops but the broad beans haven’t come in.

Seedlings look good, nicely spaced.

The challenge with seeds planted in Feb is giving them enough light. So I find my main seed sowing is April, with only the long season stuff like peppers and chillis sown earlier. I’m in Yorkshire, March is probably more realistic down south.

Hi all, I’m just going to lay out some beds on my new allotment… it’s 18m x 6m with a small shed on one side on the far end and I want a straight path down the middle and a wee space at the end beside the shed for a bench.

There are a few fruit bushes beside the gate and some rhubarb so prob leaving a space for them of up to a metre.

Do you think beds of 1.4 x 2m are about right? I am in NI, it’s in a very fertile region, and I’m planning on using 2 beds for herbs including some less usual ones, about 5 for veg Inc potatoes as it’s potato growing country and whatever’s left for cut flowers like cosmos and dahlias.

@Lightninginabox i think that’s plenty 👍🏻what are the herbs?

Thinking of the usual chives/thyme/oregano plus lots of dill, if I can get tarragon and chervil to work, and I have some soapwort seeds I’d love to make work (for hair wash)

i take it lemon verbena spreads like mint?

Lovin' the rhubarb tips @MereDintofPandiculation thank you. I'm good where I've planted my crowns, they will be in dappled shade by around 4pm in May time (so a good blast of sun earlier in the day - the sun is high in the sky at that time of the year, until it has travelled up and over and then sinks down the Wye Valley.

A bit chuffed you've said my seeds are well spaced 😊 yes light is a challenge. Much to DHs chagrin, I keep them by the double doors for warm and heat and he's on pain of death not to catch his foot on them - until at least March when I'll think about having them in the greenhouse by day and think of some undercover solution (maybe bubble wrap?) if the night temps dip. I'm out West which is a strange mix of wet, windy not too cold, but the winters can sometimes cling on into late Mar/Apr.

@Lightninginabox id never heard of soapwort … I had to Google!! Sounds great though

@DobbleDobble i have NO idea if I will be able to get them to grow!

I think everyone on this thread feels that way about all they’re growing 🤣 hope and optimism with a dash of experience 🤣👍🏻

And a good dollop of each @DobbleDobble

this time of year is miraculous, just about everything you plant bursts forth with vigour. The turbo charged seeds I planted in my propagator (upthread) ie the dahlia, melon, squash and chard have already germinated in a record 4 days. I walked past yesterday and went OMG!! out loud, seeing all the lovely little green sprouty things poking out of the compost.

Small things please simple minds as they say, but it did make my day. I can recommend a propagator for instant gratification at a bargain price 😊 the seeds were free cover gifts with my gardening mag (even more satisfying)