Gardeners' Chat

[MmePoppySeedDefage]

Chat. For gardeners. About gardening, but we can go off piste and chat about things like non-gardening clothes, or food or whatever, without being told off

@Tricyrtis2022 regarding the raise beds , the recommendation is to put them on top of the soil, fill them with a mix with good organic matter, if you need to improve drainage put sand at the bottom.
The organic matter will break down and enrich the soil and the plants will be able to grow good roots.
it is not suggested to put stones or rocks at the bottom as that can create a pool basically and be bad for drainage.
if you have a solid foundation underneath, then you need to treat the raise beds as you would treat pots.

the RHS website has good info, skip the bit on setting it up and follow from the Filling the Bed section.
https://www.rhs.org.uk/garden-features/raised-beds

@Redandblue11 wasn't me who asked about raised beds, but good advice 😀

Lol @Tricyrtis2022 all the names I get confused!

@IcakethereforeIam - I think you asked about raised beds? See my reply two posts above

Yes, was me and thank you. The beds will be going on bare soil (probably on top of cardboard), I was wondering if the sides needed support, to keep them level.

Depending on how long they are icake normally when you fix the four sides and fill is enough, but if you feel it needs more stability I would use small metal rods and secure a bit at the sides in the ground against the side? My grammar is awful hopefully you get the idea

How lucky you are to have that big blank canvas to work with! And is that a black and white cat inspecting their vast new litter tray?

@Gorgeous flowers, @Thurgie .

Lol yes that’s exactly what he thinks we have constructed for him!
It does look big now it has been cleared. I’ve thought of it as a small garden for years.

Can anyone give me some ideas of foolproof things to grow on an allotment please? I've been gardening for years but only my second year on the allotment. Last year hardly anything grew because of the weather. This year I'm a bit disheartened as everything seems to get eaten or covered in pests immediately, and I don't want to use pesticides. So in a nutshell... what have you grown that actually flourished, and how?!

Squashes are quite pest resistant as long as you don't plant them out until they have 5 leaves.

Rainbow chard is pretty, prolific, and may get the odd thing nibbling a leaf but not enough to cause real damage.

Potatoes are a good starter crop for clearing and breaking up ground, but a bit late to plant this year. Choose a blight resistant variety.

If you are somewhere fairly well south, or have a greenhouse, try achocha and physallis.

Ans there are ways to deal with pests that don't involve pesticides. Plant flowers that will bring in hoverflies, because their larvae eat aphids. Net brassicas to keep the butterflies off.

Peas, beans, raspberries, strawberries all seem pretty fool-proof.

I don’t have an allotment but I volunteer in a community forest garden and we do not use pesticides and we manage/let grow a lot of the ‘weeds’ that grow there.
from the stuff I have seen grown well without getting eaten is strawberries, if you go for some of the alpine they will cover everything and some of those varieties are very nice, squash (as above with a few leaves on). I was also going to suggest some fruit bushes, celery pretty tough too.
good luck Hazel, I admire people who have their own allotment, it is hard work until you find what works.
Is not the same but in our community garden is taken years to work out what can grow and still learning.
… just remembered another point, can you introduce some bird friendly plants to encourage a natural cycle of predators of pests? Some places do a mix of seeds like this one (I have not tried this one)
example of bird friendly seeds

Perpetual spinach did well for me and has the advantage that it is good for more shady areas.

Jerusalem artichokes are really easy to grow - just be certain you know where you want them before you plant because they are very easy to start growing but quite hard to stop.

Strawberries seem unkillable and on a mission to take over the world.

We planted chard 2 summers ago, totally neglected it, and yet are still harvesting it.

Ask the other allotment holders perhaps, they'll have an idea what works in those particular growing conditions. Some varieties are more resistant than others, I've grown 'Kestrel' potatoes in bags. They're supposed to be resistant to slug damage and I've never seen any (really pretty too), but last year I also grew some 'Ratte' and they weren't damaged either.

Thanks everyone. I've got potatoes in already, and fingers crossed they seem to be OK. Have put in my biggest squash plants but keeping a couple back to get a bit bigger first. And definitely yes to rainbow chard! I've just harvested some rhubarb (finally!) so I'm hopeful that this year will be better than last.

Probably a stupid question but how do you know when potatoes are ready to harvest? We are growing some for the first time this year and I haven’t got a clue

I start dithering about harvesting mine when the foliage starts to die down. I grow 2nd earlies. I think around mid to late August.

First earlies might actually be quite soon, depending on where you live. The guys at the allotment said mine aren't too far off (a few more weeks) and that they might not flower anyway. So apparently the method is to dig up a plant and see!

90 days from first leaf (and when they flower), for 1st earlies; 100-110 days/after flowering for second earlies; 120 days/start of foliage die back for maincrops.

But if you're not sure, just have a rummage under one without digging it up and see what you can feel.

Last night's harvest to dinner. 4 portions like that. Rolls and chilli sauce not from garden, nor butter and cheese in the vegeburger things that I invented. Made them with celeriac, carrots, broad beans, onions, herbs and spinach, all overwintered stuff from our small garden, along with the carrots and spring green cabbages on the side.

@Netcam - ooh recipe for the vegeburgers please!

That looks yummy!

There is no recipe but I'll give it a go.

I picked all that lot yesterday afternoon alongside doing some weeding and thought, what on earth am I going to make with it?

Loads of miniscule celeriacs that really had be pulled out to make space, tons of baby carrots very crowded in pots, a few of the first broad beans and a bed full of perpetual spinach that looks like it is starting to bolt. I grabbed a few of the onions while they are still spring onion size and some fresh herbs and got chopping, not really knowing what it would become.

Ended up boiling the celeriac with some of the carrots and then sautéing spring onions, spinach, broad beans, marjoram, basil and thyme in butter. Added the softened celeriac/carrots to the spinach mixture in the pan and mashed it all up. Decided it needed some structure so broke up 2 slices of bread into breadcrumbs and some grated cheese and mixed it all together further. Made it into 4 big patties and stuck them on a big glass baking tray with a blob of butter underneath and another on top and put then put them in the oven for a bit.

Cooked the cabbage and carrots and worried that hungry teenage sons might not be that keen and also might need more carbs, so grabbed some ciabatta rolls from the freezer and stuck them in the oven too.

"Did you make these?", asked DS1 (19). "I can tell from the shape".

All plates cleared from teens and DH, despite a few fibrous celeriac bits found in the vegeburgers.

"Are you going to make things like that when you retire?", DS1 asked DH, "instead of the regular Saturday bolognase?".

"No", DH replied, "I'm not like your mum, I prefer to follow a recipe".

"What did you think?" I asked.

"It was nice", said DS2 (16) and the others agreed.

Good job, I thought, spent about 3 hours in the garden followed by 2 hours making it all! And I have a huge blister on my hand from chopping all those celeriacs.

But at least it was all home grown.

Sounds yum.