Topic: Your allotment

[Chloe]

Well, the growing season is well under way now.  What crops are doing really well, on your plot, and what crops are you a bit disappointed in?

Ideal growing conditions with all these showers and plenty of slugs and snails about.  Do you have any tips on how to combat these dreaded pests?

[Admin aka Dan]

Chloe,

Good to see you back online.

[bugboy]

The Broad Beans we put in (November 2002) are now doing really well (check out my web site for pictures !). Also the onions, garlic and shallots. Last year our courgettes were quite big by May, but so far this year , they have not even germinated.

[snuffyzee]

Well it's our first year and it is a bit of a mixed bag so far... the slugs ate all the lettuce, the sunflowers and my sweet peas (although the sweet peas are making a bit of a comeback).

Anyway, the spuds are doing pretty well, as well as the courgettes, spinach and radish - plus the red lettuce is flourishing. Yah boo to slugs.

:P

[Chloe]

Have to say everything is doing really well at the moment.  Was looking at the runners, this morning, and think they could do with a feed of something, not sure what I am going to give them yet :)

[mad_jo]

I'm new to the allotment game but things seem to be growing well especially courgettes, spuds, onoins lettuce, spinich and chard. Cabbages been eaten by pigeons any suggestions to stop this. Slugs not to bad but I have lots of vacant allotments around me and sloe worms golore which I belive eat the slugs!

[gavin]

Cabbages and pigeons - I string a criss-cross of twine or thread backwards and forwards across my brassicas.  

Black thread is supposed to really throw them, as they don't see it until it's too late - once caught, and they don't come back!

It's also handy having a neighbour who strings CDs over his brassica - acts as a signal to pigeons for mile around!!!  Diverts them from your plot (shhhhhhh!  Don't tell him!!!!)

All best - Gavin

[Chloe]

I don't know if this is the right place to put this but here goes.

I think it has been a really bad year for runner beans and my poor swedes don't want to do anything either.  On my plot the season looks as though it is over and I wish I hadn't been so keen and planted things so early.

The best thing I had from my plot this year were the potatoes, not eaten at all and a very nice size.  The cabbages were good and the carrots but with the heat I haven't been cooking, so a bit of a waste.

We had out yearly BBQ, today, down the site and it was very pleasant, do other sites do things like this?  Would you go if they did?

September 5th we are having a collection for charity, but doesn't look that good.

By the way, how were your tomatoes this year?

[LynneA]

So far this year we've has success with broad beans, purple podded mange tout, shallots and garlic on the veg front, raspberries, blackcurrants, gooseberries (until one of the fox cubs took a shine to them) and of course our brambles.

Red onions have been a let down.  We've just finished lifting the first earlies and will be starting on the Seconds (Kestrel) next week.  Bar a small bed of Pink Fir Apple, the maincrops went n very late (due to waiting for the second plot to be rotovated)  I'm hoping the blight misses them

Not much luck on the beans & squashes front - what I did get round to sowing in modules got found by a very enterprising snail, and I decided to stick to Parabel on the carrot front this year.

But my biggest haul is yet to come - I have a bed of Jerusalem Artichokes  which we will start to lift around Christmas.  If the yield is any where near as good as last year, I'll be cursing the day I saw them.  ???