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

Potentially daft question:

Once the white butterflies have disappeared is it safe to un-net brussel sprout plants? Mine are rapidly out growing their netting.

No, because the pigeons will get them

@EspeciallyDivided , thanks. I have some netting with slightly bigger holes. Been looking at the hoops and they do seem very expensive for what they are. I remember Monty Don making his own plant supports once,out of mild steel on Gardeners World.I have some thick wire from buying the wrong stuff once, wondering if that will work if I bend it into shape round a tree. Don’t have a big enough tree, so would be down the park doing this, looking like a weirdo!

I bought a reel of blue pipe for the allotment, from wickes, for £20. 20 meters I think it was. Then cut it down to 1.5ish m lengths and use canes stuck into the soil, put the pipe over them and then put netting over that.

Here the last owner already had a load of wide 10cm mesh chicken wire like stuff, cut to size - so I lay that over the beds and just drape the netting over the top and pop a stone at the edges to keep it down.

Ah I forgot about those pesky pigeons! @MereDintofPandiculation

@AlisonDonut that is genius. Thank you.

One of my plot neighbours uses hoops made out of some sort of builders/plumbers tubing too. I can't remember where I got my metal hoops from now.

Can I join please?

We are in a new house, so preparing the beds for next year / some winter veg. I spent the summer sorting out the back garden and we are on a private road so the veg patch will be to the side of the house on the front. We have a patch about 12ft by 10ft to use so I'm just trying to work out the best way to organise that.

We have brought a gooseberry plant, Phyllis, and some beetroot from the old house, all of which have a lot going on. Ive since purchased two apple trees and a a cherry tree and planted them along the drive. Very excited for next year 🙂

One of the guys on my allotment is growing cantaloupe melons outside and has about 20 coming along! Benefit of the long hot summer I suppose.

Loads of tomatoes here too and none of the usual mass of green ones. Sweetpeas , which grow alongside the veg, have also been amazing! Runner beans and courgettes been poor sadly

Have been enjoying a good crop of tomatoes, courgettes & aubergine here

Now that salad season is pretty much over, I’ve been thinking about what green veg I can sow (mostly in containers) for the winter: so far chard & spinach are doing well, but I started kale & pak Choi over the last few months & they have been decimated by slugs/caterpillars

are there any other green veg I can start in September that might have a chance of giving me (rather than slugs) a harvest? What about Chinese broccoli or tenderstem? Or would netting my containers help?

With cabbage family , I would expect caterpillars (and later pigeons) rather than slugs. Netting would help.

… provided you first remove all caterpillars

Nice crop of kale today (bit unexpected) and the broccoli and cabbage are coming along well. Allotment is as scruffy as ever but it's productive!

Ooh can I join?

Ive got an allotment and have been growing beans up cheap garden arches strung with bird netting. Unfortunately they've grown so strongly that the shit arches have collapsed! My bean harvest now resembles an archeological site.
Courgettes have been bonkers - really impressed with Burpees Golden courgette. Its been the most prolific and regular sized out of all the ones ive grown this year.
Tomatoes are doing well, if a bit late. The outdoor ones were actually cropping just as early. I'm growing the Poona Kheera cucumber too, but most of the baby fruit have rotted on the plant and only 2 are growing! Not sure what I'm doing wrong.

With regards to brassicas, I grow my pretty red autumn cabbages in my mixed flower beds as the cat keeps the pigeons away. They look like giant purple roses. If you spray them every 3 weeks with Bacillus Thuringiensis, you won't have a Caterpillar problem. Its harmless to other insects and animals but gives caterpillars indigestion.

Hi.

Only just seen this.

Yes there is loads you can start now, spinach, lettuce, spring onions, late carrots if in a greenhouse or polytunnel, pak choi, Chinese cabbages, mizuna, mustard, claytonia, kohl rabi...check out Real Seeds for a more productive list.

I put all my winter seeds into a jam jar together the other week, and I've been waiting for cooler weather to rake over the patch and sow them all. We have had rain this week so I'm sowing a load, a few rows each week, starting on Monday. I like to mix it up a bit and see what grows and I'll be buying fresh seeds for next year so it's a good way of using them up.

@TerfranosaurusVagina 😂 at your username!

My Poona Kheera have not been as productive as my other cucumbers but they're lovely to watch go from lime green to orange.

I had the same problem with a few baby ones. I put it down to the strange weather (if it's not that they need feeding?)

The cucurbit family have been very odd this year, my melons were going great guns and then one day, all the Charente plants just went brown whilst the watermelons right next to them stayed green.

The thing with gardening is, it is not always you but new gardeners blame themselves and give up, experienced ones shrug and try again.

Back to winter stuff...

I've just sown a new foot wide row of winter veg, I've got about 5 to sow over the next few weeks. I'm staggering them to see the latest I can get away with sowing them so I know loads won't grow. Those that do, are likely going to be transplanted into the polytunnel once the tomatoes and chillis are done. I have to know this as I'm growing in a new area and the seasons are longer, I just don't yet know how long.

@PoseyFlump 😁says it all really.

@BlooberryBiskits Other things to plant now are garlic and broad beans. If you want a really decent crop of garlic, plant undercover. You can interplant with tomatoes in late spring and harvest the garlic a few weeks later.

Ive just sown some florence fennel for under cover too. Apparently it should bulb up late winter but we'll see...

Just joining this thread, hope nobody minds.

I’m a total beginner. I need someone to tell me what I do with my tomatoes over the winter, please!

I have butternut squash & they are flowering like crazy. Will they be ok!

Yesterday I made cuttings from lettuce, celery, spring onions. They are indoors. Will they be ok to transfer soon?

I hope to grow spinach for the winter & already have spring greens.

can I use to cover my patch? It’s fairly small, maybe 4 x 2 metres.

Oh yes, and garlic. I put a couple of gloves in the ground in spring & have enjoyed the shoots in salad. When do I dig them up?

Just got the following from my local Aldi:

2 Summer Raspberries (Tulameen)
2 Autumn Raspberries (Autumn Bliss)
2 Loganberries
1 Blueberry (Bluecrop)
1 Blackcurrant (Titania)

All £1.79 each in store only.

Garlic typically goes into the ground during Sept-Dec and is ready for harvest June-July.

Ooops, I've done it all completely wrong on the garlic front! Oh dear. I can put out some more cloves soon. Might make a few cuttings.

Just wondering what people do about the marigolds planted next to tomatoes? I have had the most beautiful flowers this year. Is there any way of keeping them going? Or do you collect seeds? Showing my ignorance here!

@EverydayMusing

https://www.gardenfocused.co.uk/calendar-veg-personalised.php

If you go to the above website, they have a calendar that you can set to your location for the frost dates and it tells you when to sow/plant what