The Vegetable Patch 2024/2025

[MereDintofPandiculation]

Come and share your triumphs and failures in your vegetable plot or allotment.

I'm in the Home Counties and still patiently waiting for an allotment plot to come up so in the meantime I'm mainly growing in pots on the patio in my small garden. I mainly grow what I can do easily in a container and using my mini plastic greenhouse but 2023 was a good year and I still have dwarf beans, courgettes, chillis and tomatoes in the freezer to use up from last summer.

So far, my Victoria rhubarb is almost ready to harvest. I also planted a second Victoria rhubarb last year, am I ok to harvest that one lightly this year or should I leave it? And I've planted a third variety (Timperley Early) this year..... I really like rhubarb!

Six potato bags planted up. Two different varieties, Casablanca and Cameo. Neither of which I've tried before.

Tomatoes (Tumbling Tom and Garden Pearl) are in the greenhouse along with chillies (Apache and Cheyenne) the garden pearl tomatoes and apache chillis did really well for me in 2023 so I'm hoping for another good year this year.

Dwarf french beans and courgettes also sown. I need to sow my pumpkins too.

@newtothenet growing your own food is such a joy, so go for it! Don't be put off if it isn't all perfect straight away, sometimes it's a bit of trial and error. What you choose to grow depends on what your soil is like (clay, sandy etc) and whether your plot is in sunshine most of the day or mostly shade. Most importantly, grow what you like to eat. I have had success with growing blueberries in a large pot (just make sure you use ericaceous compost), french beans, tomatoes, and purple sprouting broccoli in my raised beds. It's quick and easy to grow radishes, but I don't like them so I grow things like carrots and rocket instead. Last year was an excellent year for courgettes, so maybe try those?

Chard of the Region first crop, not exactly a glut just yet, just enough to have with dinner.

yup veggie and fruit growing always exceeds expectation and any imperfections are their perfections.

Wow! If it cheers me up seeing that you must be over the moon 😊

Novice here. Can I sow veg straight out in a cold frame now or do I need to start off inside?

@OnHerSolidFoundations it really depends what sorts of things you're planning to grow and whereabouts you are in the country/which country if not UK.

My peas are up and salad leaves. I can take a few levels of coriander this week for my curry.

My main effort this week is to save my takeaway coffee cups to use for sowing beans this weekend - I find they are great temp pots as they are so long to get good roots growing before planting out into ground or window boxes.

A tip if anyone is trying not to spend huge amounts but needs netting cages - I've repurposed a pack of those "build a fort" kits you get for a tenner in the works - definitely not fancy but so far so good and you can configure to the shape of your plot

Those are amazing
@Ozzyskye

Signing in! I have three raised beds at a local community garden, and occasional help. So far we have weeded the beds, added a bit of topsoil and covered in cardboard while peppers, chillies, toms and chard warm up in my utility room at home. I think I'll try a bit more chard direct-sown too, though I'm skeptical. Main battle will be slugs I think.

London.

My kids are mainly in it for the worms I think. So many worms.

And I'm finally on a waiting list for an allotment. Three years or so, they reckon. They can be up to 15 years in this part of town!

I just checked my plot at lunchtime because of wind etc and all my French beans have been eaten. Completely expected but still...

Everything seems to be more at risk of slug attack this year, it's so rainy but also the lack of sun and gale force winds mean that growth is very slow. I'm interested to know if anyone has found reliable slug proof varieties of crops... or whether that's just a dream. So far I've found that chard is generally unloved by slugs, and rhubarb.

Good thing I bought a pack of seeds, it’s going to be chard all the way! 😊

Yes, normally I put them out a lot bigger and then blue pellet them but this year they were more spindly and I cant hover over them at the allotment like I do at home - not enough sacrificial plants as well <looking at you hostas and tulips>

I've got my fingers crossed that anything planted a bit late will catch up in the end. Otherwise we'll be enjoying stir fried chard, chard curry, chard soup, chard cake...

I bought a roll of copper tape and put it around the perimeter of my veg bed and around some pots - apparently slugs won't cross it. Seems to be working so far, my little lettuce seedlings have survived anyway!

I was going to try the beer trap but a). I felt a bit morally dubious, even about slugs; and b). I read it can actually encourage them to come!

Half my peas have been eaten, I've wrapped fleece around the rest, hopefully they'll survive but I might sow a few more just in case.

I need to resow my sprouts, and get started on the sprouting broccoli as well, feel so behind this year, but it's just been so wet so can't put anything outside.

I noticed on Monday that a few pigeons were using my balcony for a wander in the sunshine. I may need to net things after all (I thought I was high enough 11 floors up...but no).

No sign of any of my courgettes or pumpkins germinating. I think they'd normally be poking through by now (sown Easter Sunday). I'll give them another few days and sow some more if no signs of life.

Picked some rhubarb today and managed some other bits in the garden. Going to start some sunflowers started too.

We applied nematodes to the garden about 5 years ago and that seemed to really help with the slug problem. Didn't seem to have an issue at the allotment last year

Has anyone grown ‘Turks turban squash’? Can’t they be grown vertically? I have just planted a few seeds, I’m not sure how many one plant produces, I don’t want loads as I only want them for decorations (not keen on eating squash). Last year I planted spaghetti squash and they took over my plot 😬

I set up my pea supports today, hoping to get my peas in tomorrow. First time up the plot in a week and the bind weed is popping up everywhere, the grass is growing fast and I am unable to use a strimmer or mower for another 2 weeks (due to hysterectomy), it’s going to look like a jungle 😬.

So far I have planted…
raspberry canes
2 x blackberry plants
1 row of early potatoes
1 row of red onions

Rhubarb is growing but slowly.

I was worried I wouldn’t get much done this year due to surgery but I’m doing ok. Peas, mangetout and beans in the green house, planted marigold seeds todays and my cosmos are almost ready to prick out. Sunflower seeds are just starting to pop up. Just need to clear my 2nd plot of couch grass and dig the rest of my 1st plot over.

The only crops I have found which they don’t go for is alliums. Although they will go for leeks when at the pencil stage. My Swiss chard has several snails in it.
What do you make of this- they are encouraging us to make friends with molluscs. I’m not convinced
https://www.rhs.org.uk/press/releases/The-Wildlife-Trusts-and-RHS-ask-gardeners-to-make

If I were to make a nice big 6m x 1m raised bed, will I be too late for this year? Also, how to stop the millions slugs and snails (I don't want to poison them- I'm thinking about other wildlife)?

@tizwozliz i chit my courgettes and cucumber seeds in a Tupperware, on damp kitchen towel that way I always get great germination rates.

@Whenwillilikehimagain I’ve never had much success with raised beds ( because the ones I constructed were shonky) but i don’t see why that would be too late. Especially if you start the seedlings on indoors and plant out in May.

You still have time to plant lots of things. You could put copper tape around the raised bed to keep out slugs and snails?