Allotments 4 All
Produce => Edible Plants => Topic started by: GRACELAND on April 04, 2018, 14:30:09
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Had my polt about 25 yrs and this yr has been the Wettest i have known this late :BangHead: .Usually i have had it all dug over by now but up till Friday last week it was still Water Logged !
So Looks like i A need to have some dry weather And B Really get going to catch up when i can get on it !
iTS WEED FREE AT MOMENT AND WAITTING FOR A FEW DRY DAYS !! :icon_cheers:
Anyone else seeing this this yr !!
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Really damp here too... 2/3rds of the path on the bottom plots is underwater...
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Been down this morning hoping that I can set potatoes this weekend. No chance I put a spade in and realised just how wet it was. Five years ago I set my early potatoes in similar conditions and the lot rotted. Forecast not too bad for next week so I will check again after a couple of dry days. I have excellent soil and it does not take too long to dry out.
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This is the main reason I like to get my plot prepared prior to Christmas particularly up here in The Pennines. We never know how long winter is going to last, or how wet the soil will be.
Added to which I always think when you dig in Spring the cold soil is buried and the slightly warmer soil is on top meaning when I plant out my tender seedlings their roots are in coldish soil....OK that's me but I think it is logical hence my reason for digging prior to Christmas.
This reminds me of watching Gardeners World on telly many years ago.......the pundit of the day when telling the viewers what they can do this weekend said you can sow this and that, however when I looked out the window my garden was covered in a foot of snow. Ever since I do not take much notice of advice like this from TV pundits!
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Tee Gee So do i but since Nov its been rotten on our plots here in Gloshire Just so wet Globall wetting i recon !! Like you said about Gardeners world ,He said about putting spuds in this week !! wahat in a foot of water !!!! :tongue3:
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Not only is it wet, but the forecast is for more rain. The other aspect is that here in N E Hampshire, the forecast is for almost 100% cloud cover, until 16/04, and /but temperatures around 6-8 deg C, rising just into double digits. So no frost (good), but little solar energy to dry the surface. Spring is looking late, my guess now is 2 weeks behind, in 3 weeks time, its going to be 4 weeks behind.... The year of the cloche!
Slugs will be ' lovin' it'
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Yep ... our plot can't take much more ... the ground water level is only about 6 inches to a foot under the plot and some neighbouring ones are under water. I'm incredibly glad this is the year I planned to do potatoes in buckets ... I've got half of them planted out already and they are raised up. We need a week or two of sun before there's a chance of preparing the beds and planting properly.
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So when can I plant my potatoes and onions? I'd usually have done it by end March.
I'm on holiday from 15 - 22 April and work Monday to Wednesday.
It's the next four days (not likely!) or the following Thursday, Friday and Saturday (who knows?) or the end of April!
I guess they'll catch up whenever they are planted.
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You can start your onions (I'm assuming they're sets) in pots or modules and transplant them out once the ground is dry enough - that should give you a head start on people that have to wait until the ground is dry!
As for potatoes ... this guy is one of my favourite YouTubers and he has grown his potatoes in buckets for years ... here's him harvesting - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xNfy0qYFrs ... and this one is him planting them https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEKXDfl2IW4 ... no volunteers, early start, easy to harvest ... I'm sold!
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My plot is, thankfully, very well drained and I hope to be able to plant potatoes tomorrow.
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West Country just as bad, wet, wet, wet, greenhouse full of stuff that can't go out and tatties sitting waiting in their trays in the house. Needed a plank path to get the last of the leeks in. On the good side, did get most of it dug in the Autumn so should be ready to go as soon as I can rake in some compost and manure.
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Over in Brum its one of the wettest starts to the year I can remember in 26 years (our plots are on clay soil). The combination of snow melt (we've had more here than usual) and rain has left the plots a quagmire. No chance of digging or rotavation at the moment.
I wouldn't worry about getting the spuds in too early. I've put them in at the end of April and had a great crop. (first, second earlies and maincrops at the same time!). They just will mature a bit later.
Also soil temperatures are lower than usual for the time of year because of the cold prolonged winter so seeds sown in the soil will not germinate and will simply rot.
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Usually It's wise to wait until annual weeds begin germinating before sowing seeds outdoors. So far there is no sign of weed growth at all. Under cover they are growing well and with the recent milder temperatures I expect to soil to be warm enough soon.
I did sow some parsnip seed under planks last week and beetroot, turnip and radish under double layered debris netting yesterday. I also have some peas and broad beans sown. Lot's of things are in pot and trays ready to go out when the ground becomes workable.
Tentative steps but at least I'm making a start. :happy7:
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I agree... the speedwell is starting to germinate so self sown annuals will come up fine!
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Thursday and Friday were warm and dry, so I got my potatoes in. The onions may well have to go into modules later this week, unless it's good weather at the end of this week.
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The answer to next spring's waterlogging is putting raised beds in the worst areas ASAP. They also warm up much faster - I now get tomato volunteers all over in April/May and the first flush will give a crop - before the beds I never saw a single one before mid-June.
Personally I prefer bringing the minimum amount of stuff to the plot and try to maximise the resources that are already there.
This means filling the beds by digging topsoil from 50-60cm wide trenches that will become paths between 4' - 1.2m wide beds. On my plot this means 30cm deep - there's no point in removing subsoil, but that topsoil will be much more productive in a raised bed than it was under your feet. You can make a huge difference by doing just this - more than enough to cope with even the dampest spring, though you can do better by putting similar paths in the flood-free areas, but stealing the topsoil to raise the problem areas.
If you get woodchip deliveries then filling the trenches is no problem - it becomes incredibly good soil conditioner (it only takes 2 years to get past its nitrogen-theft stage and go chocolate brown), so that's a massive inducement to dig it out regularly (before it rots to nothing) and replace it with fresh. Obviously it's best to overfill the trenches and top up ASAP so it settles - then it's all 2yrs old when you take it out.
Without woodchip, prunings are the best trench fillers - they take 3-4 years to make soil conditioner, and you may have to chuck any big bits back in the trench (sort of hugelkultur) before re-filling. It's worth including a bit of your own woodchip to fill the voids and stop soil coming into the trench, but you can also line the trench with cheap plastic sheet/tarp - it doesn't need to be expensively UV protected - it's not going to see any UV down there.
Actually, putting the prunings in a bin bag can speed up the rotting - you could just chuck the bags in the trench and tread them down (but make sure you remove all the exposed plastic as soon as it starts to crack - or it will flake all over the place - unless you covered it at the very start - with more prunings?).
The raised sides of the bed need to be supported - I tend to skip-dive for planks and old iron pipes as stakes, but you can also drive thick straight prunings into the ground like a palisade - if you hold the tops in with a single rail (estate agent signs) and a few decent stakes it will last 2 years.
As a last resort, batter the exposed sides at 40o.
Cheers.
PS. I may copy this to Top Tips if it doesn't get rubbished - fire at will.
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My soil drains ok, but there has been very little sun so the soil is cold. There are a few weeks starting. And the stingers and quite happy. Was going to get rid of the white death nettles but saw a bumbly bee so thought I had better not grub up his dinner, not much else in flower. Been a good year for the daffodils the cold have keep them going longer than usual. There are signs that the comfrey is growing which is a sign it is time for potatoes.
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At long last I have managed to get my onion sets and early potatoes planted. I now have a damaged back due to some one's out of control dog so I may not get much done for a while. Many say that cold weather reduces the number of slugs etc. but despite this winter being extra long and cold we have more slugs then ever. My daffodils and narcissi are like lace curtains. The shows were last week and this but I have none to show from almost 100 show varieties.
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I'm in Harrow and still not planted or sown anything on my soggy, but thankfully not waterlogged, plot. I looked round this afternoon and doubt if I'll be doing so for at least several days providing there's no more rain.
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Sorry to hear about your back Laurie.
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:icon_cheers: :icon_cheers: :icon_cheers: :icon_cheers: :icon_cheers: :icon_cheers: :icon_cheers:
Got one bed dug over yesterday just before rain so that will help break it up a bit nice going though !!
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Standing water in the greenhouses again!
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Rained heavily Monday, plenty more overnight and this morning. More predicted overnight tonight and scattered showers tomorrow morning.
I despair.
Will it ever stop raining?
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All dug and ready to go. But apart from the autumn planted stuff and some peas in a raised bed the rest of it will have to wait for a while. I am away to Salisbury for a fortnight, Then hopefully the season will start for me.
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All dug and ready to go. But apart from the autumn planted stuff and some peas in a raised bed the rest of it will have to wait for a while. I am away to Salisbury for a fortnight, Then hopefully the season will start for me.
Were you in Salisbury a few weeks ago, Ace and have your picture taken outside Zizzi's? The caption on this photograph which has been going around Facebook is: "Nothing to see here!".
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Sorry to hear about your back Laurie.
Likewise, and hope that all mends in good time for the main planting season L aurie. Great shame about the daffs.
I have planted peas and broad beans so far which seem to cope with the very wet conditions. Nothing else yet. Our rhubarb is still very short but finally putting on some growth and we had a first taste. Spring this year is very late. Daffs are in full swing, but the tulips haven't opened yet
The kales are finally putting on a bit of spring growth too.
:wave:
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Had hopes that this week would be better but its been wet,wet,wet and there's more rain to come for the Midlands overnight.. Sitting in the conservatory at home typing this and torrential rain is hitting the roof. Looks better for next week but it will be a long time before there's a chance of rotavation. Perhaps by Xmas!!!
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this week it was really wet in the algarve
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... and with your green fingers five minutes later you had water lilies in bloom there!
I'm hoping the sun will shine in Italy next week for me, and that despite all the wine and pasta my waistline doesn't grow.
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It rained heavily for a couple of hours early morning, but the for rest of the day it was just a cold drizzle. Does that count as an improvement? More rain forecast overnight but thankfully mostly only a 10% risk tomorrow.
Forecast over the coming few days actually looks quite good. Fingers crossed.
I braved the drizzle and harvested some purple sprouting broccoli. Then did the only useful task I could think of, watering in some nemaslug treatment, a job best done in damp conditions. I found it quite uplifting to see some broad beans just breaking through. It's impossible to be miserable pottering about on an allotment!
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... and with your green fingers five minutes later you had water lilies in bloom there!
I'm hoping the sun will shine in Italy next week for me, and that despite all the wine and pasta my waistline doesn't grow.my waistline grew i mean really grew lol
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Well, I was supposed to be on holiday but the towing car has problems, Never mind I have an alternative holiday booked now so I am loafing around at home for a couple of days. Scrub the loafing bit, I got my first earlies in. The ground has drained quite quickly so I thought I would risk it for a biscuit.
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Spent this last couple of mornings on the plot, ideal digging weather not too hot not too cold.
I found the soil to be quite manageable, I managed to dig & manure one thirty foot long bed and prepare two I had dug prior to Xmas.
I then watered in some weedkiller onto the dividing footpaths so that it could do its work and dissapate prior to me planting out next month.
A good 4-5 hours work I thought considering I have been pretty much idle for the last three months or more!
BTW When I got out the old watering can I use for such tasks and was surprised to see it had its buying price written on it!
One pound three shillings and sixpence (roughly £1-15p in today's money) I shudder to think what a zinc watering can would cost to day. Apart from it having a few dents in it I worked as good as the day it was made.
Correct me if I am wrong but did £sd go out in 1972? if so that makes it at least 46 years old and still going strong.
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I have bought a couple lately in the local equivalent of car boot sales at 4€ a piece. Was intending to paint them for decorating bits of the garden but in fact their roses are very good for my seed trays so they're still working cans at the mo. Much better than the plastic roses for gentle spraying IMHO. I shall look for more.
Got my wee toms planted out this morning as we finally have warm sun and blue skies. Just about to go and cover them for the night before it gets too cool but better than cooking in the polyT. 40C in ether the other day when I went to sow so OH has put the shading on for me and we open the doors early.
No digging here. We put cardboard and/or compost on the empty beds and are forking over and weeding as and when I have things to plant out. The only dogging will be when we make new flower and shrub beds to get as much bindweed and friends out as possible before adding compost, planting and mulching.
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Spent this last couple of mornings on the plot, ideal digging weather not too hot not too cold.
I found the soil to be quite manageable, I managed to dig & manure one thirty foot long bed and prepare two I had dug prior to Xmas.
I then watered in some weedkiller onto the dividing footpaths so that it could do its work and dissapate prior to me planting out next month.
A good 4-5 hours work I thought considering I have been pretty much idle for the last three months or more!
BTW When I got out the old watering can I use for such tasks and was surprised to see it had its buying price written on it!
One pound three shillings and sixpence (roughly £1-15p in today's money) I shudder to think what a zinc watering can would cost to day. Apart from it having a few dents in it I worked as good as the day it was made.
Correct me if I am wrong but did £sd go out in 1972? if so that makes it at least 46 years old and still going strong.
We went decimal in February 1971. I remember is mainly because we got married that year and half the arrangements were done in £ s d and half in £ p!!
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all dried here on the sunshine coast cut the paths today and the 2 lawns planted 20 Savoy and 20 cabbice just have kalibos , primo and calabresse to plant this week then lettuce and beetroot all ready to go out
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The lagoon has finally dried up....
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finished all cabbages planted
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finished all cabbages planted
Now what are you going to do for the rest of the year :happy7:
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finished all cabbages planted
Now what are you going to do for the rest of the year :happy7:
he he tee gee as you know all too well i have no time to dwell
tomatoes beetroot beans peas and sweetcorn.
soft fruit with sharp thorn
apples peaches plums and green gauges
then time to clear away the greenhouse stages
then all the other tasks i forgot to mention
to bore you with this poem was not my intention
the wife says rest
and stay home at the nest
but love my plots and thats your lot
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He's a poet and I didn't know it :icon_cheers: