The Vegetable Patch 2024/2025

[MereDintofPandiculation]

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

May I join in?

I've had my allotment for three years now.

At the moment, I have some sprouting broccoli that I’m letting go to seed so I can save them. Cabbages, rainbow chard, carrots, pak choi and rocket too. Courgettes and winter squash going in tomorrow. Salad will keep going in every week for a while so I get a nice succession.

DH (in charge of building projects!) is building me a fruit cage tomorrow - I have tayberry and raspberries planted in the spot that will be covered. Wanting to add a blueberry (in a container) and a blackcurrant to it.

DS (5) wants me to plant an apple tree this year so I need to clear a good spot for it.

I’m also planning to get DH to build me a herb spiral and dig me a little pond to go next to my wildflower patch.

With zero method beyond relocating some peas and runner beans in with too many seeds for (edible -peas, runner beans, french beans) things that will climb, I tried my hand at growing ds a tipi (teepea) today, time will tell if it's awful. Tomatoes are also all out in their pots now and I bought some Brussels sprouts plugs that I'm just waiting to get a bit bigger before I try again!

That sounds great @purplesparklydinosaur . I’ve had a lottie for about 11 years, I’m sure I didn’t do that much in year 3. I’m just getting the hang of successional sowing!

Only four of my sweetcorn have germinated out of at least 20. I've resown with a new packet of seed, but I really don't know what went wrong. My guess is too cold, or the peat free compost dries out too quickly. Have resown into a mix of shop bought and home made compost this time. And the weather has warmed up a bit, so fingers crossed.

Gordon Bennett the weather is a shit show.

I've put 5 tomatoes, 2 peppers and a courgette into the polytunnel, under a cloche twoish weeks ago and lost one tomato and one pepper has done nothing since going in.

I've put 9 tomatoes and one courgette into a bed outside, the courgette is totally slugged to the ground and the tomatoes are looking like they would get their own back if they could.

I bought 12 lettuces at a plant fair, put them out and 2 have already been slugged to the ground.

All the onion seedlings went out a month later than I'd usually put them out and they have been eaten.

Celeriac and celery, I put 3 out of each, and lost one of each.

Beetroot seedlings planted out though is doing fine.

Beets and carrot seeds sown. Nothing up yet.

Cucumber seedlings are stuck in seed leaf stage and have been for 3 weeks. So haven't even shown my proper batch of those.

Tomatillos seedlings, and aubergine seedlings, only just getting their true leaves.

But I do have mange tout Rodney. I even harvested some this week. And the leeks I'm finally harvesting and I have very little leek moth in them.

So much rain here, in SW France, while Spain is in a horrendous drought.

I bought 120 ish onion seedlings at a plant fair at the weekend, and prepped a bed on Monday and it is too wet to even plant them out. So I'm going to add some lime (our soil here is highly acidic and onions don't like it), add a layer of my good home made compost and cover with a thick layer of grass clippings to protect it and try again in a fortnight.

I haven't even considered sowing beans yet. Not until the cold winds finally stop. Let alone the melons and other heat loving crops.

There are so many slugs and snails this year, it's making it really difficult to grow anything. I really need to get a hedgehog. Or some ducks. Even a frog!

You should all head over to the thread with the OP farming and eating her garden snails, it’s the perfect antidote!

I’m planting a tomato out each week and just sort of seeing how they get on. Which is fine but means that my floor is still full of young plants. I’m growing at a community garden too, chard is ok, nasturtiums, but I am having a hard time distinguishing beetroot seedlings from weeds at the mo. I assume I need to look for red on the stem. It’s making maintaining that bed a bit tricky.

Ooh, I've found my people!

So far potatoes and onions are doing well, carrots looking promising.

Tomatoes are just starting, as are chilli peppers. Cucumbers seem to be doing okay... But it's freezing this morning! I've been using a polytunnel and pots for everything, I got so fed up with everything being eaten!

My most successful crop so far is 'spicy salad' leaves that I got free with a magazine. Successful because it's so spicy that even the slugs don't want to eat it.

I have some big, strong looking tomatoes still in their 9cm pots and hunkered down under cover, but outside. A bit at a loss what to do with them - they are big enough plants they need to go into their final place but that was going to be outside in the open and the nights are still too cold for that. I have a polytunnel they can go in - but that means potting on - which maybe I'll just have to do! I also like the plan of planting out one at a time and wonder why I never remember to do that myself. Maybe I'll try that.

My peppers (sweet and chilli) are still reasonable young plants on the windowsill. As are my aubergines. I still think it a bit cold in the polyt. for them.

Cabbage, broccoli, brussels, kale, spring onions all on the allotment and doing well enough.

Carrots were a disaster and I need to resow them. Parsnips weren't much better so I need to germinate a few more.

I put a couple of stepover pears in this winter - they are doing well. They wont fruit yet but the young plants are loving all the rain to get them going.

I put in a sweet potato last night in the prepped sweet potato bed just to see how he would get on before putting in the rest. If I turn up on sat and he's been eaten then will have to protect them with plastic collars or something.

Has anyone successfully grown melon outdoors? I planted some ‘Queen Anne’ melon seeds a month or so ago, they are a small melon variety and I was hoping to successfully grow them but I don’t have a green house, just a potting shed which doesn’t really get enough sun. I was thinking of growing outside in grow bags, I’m in the SW so it can get pretty warm here but not sure if it will be warm enough?

I have lots of frogs and newts, even they can't make a dent in the slug population.
I have collected thousands of them this morning. It's really depressing. They are even eating things that they never touch, hydrangea leaves, onion seeds, potato leaves.
I put some kale out, as I had extras, all butchered and celery is gone. It's not going to be a good year. I have no idea how commercial growers do it, as I'm literally collecting them every day and setting traps and hiding spaces. Nematodes won't help as I have a huge garden, surrounded by open fields.

@Lovemusic82 I grew melons last year in a mini greenhouse, it cost about £20 or so. They did OK, fruit was small but delicious.

@umberelladay that's not good, if even the frogs can't control them. It seems to be a difficult year every year now!

I have put everything outside in the allotment now ( no greenhouse or poly tunnel). I’m in London.

Toms out, chilis out (under a cloche). Chard has bolted, gah - is this just down to insufficient watering, does anyone know?

Hello! Joining in as I have just been offered an allotment.
We already have a decent sized garden but don’t have a lot of growing space (too much hard landscaping, that’s another story…) but we are currently growing perennial kale, garlic, various soft fruit and apples. I’ve recently planted sweet peas and have a pumpkin plant started and too many tomatoes - that are still looking rather too small for my liking. Usually sow much more but we have had everything decimated by slugs last couple of years so am focusing on the things they don’t like as much.
anyway - the allotment !!
Very excited about the plot as we have been waiting over 5 years, it’s about 5 mins walk from the house and I’ve been to see it already. Lots of weeds as expected but it has a good aspect, two sheds and a mostly intact greenhouse!
I’d guess it is about 250m2 or thereabouts.
Thinking this year we will mainly be observing and planning. Maybe stick some of my seedlings in the ground and get the tomatoes in the greenhouse. Basically use the surplus we have from the garden. Perhaps a few rocket leaves etc.
Would be planning to have it for the long term so I want to take it slow and steady…. tips welcomed !!

It has been a very dry May so that might be it

I feel your pain and no longer grow their favourites… or grow sacrificial plants and replace them often. I gave up on dahlias within minutes. So depressing.

if you can get some robust kale like perennial kale they don’t seem to touch it.
Do you have wooden raised beds? Our problems seemed to multiply when we got these. They just love hiding in the corners. Although tbh I find them all over the garden. I pick them up and put them in the compost bin where they are put to work for me. It is now about 50% slug. But still they come back in the garden!!!

Another thing I had some success with last year was downturned used grapefruit skins. They love the stuff. Needs replacing every couple of days but they all get caught in there and you can then chuck that on the compost (or burn it or chuck it into the neighbours’ hedge, I won’t judge!)

I think this is the kale I have - Taunton Dean. Can be grown from stem cuttings. Amazing stuff. Mine is very robust and shakes off the caterpillars etc no bother.

http://www.livingononeacreorless.co.uk/growing-perennial-kale/

Broad beans, garlic and spring green cabbages planted last autumn will be ready soon. Sowed a variety of beans (borlotti, cobra, runner) and sugar snap peas (later than usual) in the other beds. Usually I start on windowsill and plant them out, but it looked like it was warming up so decided to direct sow. Soon going to start courgette, cucumber, butternut squash and sweetcorn to put in when the broad beans, garlic and cabbages come out. Also have potatoes and strawberries in pots and the raspberry bush is looking good.

Here are pictures.

@Netcam ooh that is looking fabulous!
you have inspired me with your bean varieties…
I wonder if I will have time to sow the ‘three sisters’ this year. Has anyone done it? There are a couple of serviceable beds at the new allotments, will probably do a no dig approach by covering in cardboard then some organic matter and plant into that.
i have bean and sweetcorn seeds. One pumpkin plant that looks like it’s been eaten by slugs 😞

Thanks. It's our 5th year now since we dug up the lawn and put in raised beds. We've done 2 sisters (sweetcorn and squash, or beans and squash). I think you need a lot of space, our raised beds were too small really. The beans got very tangled up with everything and seemed to create a great canopy of hidden soil for the neighbourhood cats to use as a toilet, so won't be doing that again! Will probably do sweetcorn and squash together again this year as it worked quite well.

When did you sow it? If it’s last year’s, natural end of life. This year’s, allowing to dry out completely and leading it to think its days are numbers and it had better breed.