Allotments 4 All
Produce => Edible Plants => Topic started by: RSJK on March 21, 2006, 20:34:40
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Had a good few hours in the greenhouse today and managed to sow 6 trays of s cabbage ( Spitfire ) 5 trays of onions ( Bristol ), 2 trays of dahlias and for the first time that I have tried starting these under glass % trays of beetroot (Pronto ). Usually like to have them sown direct in grown but I think that the soil is not warm enough yet.
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hi, I went over lottie and planted 4 rows of taters,and weeded me strawberry bed.
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Well next on my list is parsnips, and I have a new toy in the form of a planter, so perhaps tomorrow if the weather is clement ...
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Started my onion sets off in trays inside seedling house (as i always do),as i tend to find it gives them a tremendous "kick start",compared to the sets planted directly into the ground,and that the birds can`t pull them out after a few days ;D.
Started tom`s at home,trying parsnip in tray start this year,cabbage,caulis,shallots.
Spuds,- maybe today,(day off) :P
Fruit trellis to be built,- etc,etc,etc
Best wishes,
Mark.
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Hiya all,
Is it warm enough to start planting first early 'taters? I ask as I've never done this before and have a bag chitting away in the dining room - I'm itching to get them in the soil but don't know how frost/cold tolerant they are.
Cheers!
Jon
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Well I have two out of three rows just planted - in the Midlands. They will be a few weeks before they start to show anyway, I will just keep raking the soil over as they start to appear, then they should be protected from frost damage.
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I too have put mine in and then put a layer of hay over the top of them to keep them snug. I went up to our local riding stables and asked if they had any old/mouldy hay/straw that wasn't fit for the horses and they gave me a few slices from a split bale...if you don't ask you don't get!!
Helen
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some of the lads put there spuds in today i,m in south shields i was going to put some in this weekend but weather is going to be bad so will wait :'(
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I'm waiting to see what the weather's like this weekned. The tatties are ready for planting and I need the room to plant more stuff so here's hoping.
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I put 2 rows of Arran Pilot in on Sunday along with about half me onions (400ish), a mixture of Sturon, Stuttgarter Giants and Red Baron.
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My spuds are nearly all in. For me it is more a case of making the most of the time I have rather than sticking to a rigid sowing/planting plan. I seem to do okay.
I have just sown 100 brussel sprout seeds! Why?? Seems crazy especially as I am still picking Brilliant and Red Bull sprouts by the bowl full! Also trying cauliflowers again, even tho I have almost zero success, but I have lots of advice from you crowd all stored up, so they have to be worth another go!
Going to sow a load more seeds today - was hoping to get to the plot, but rain stopped play, so the warmth of the greenhouse is where I am destined!
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Thanks for the feedback... looks like the spuds will be leaving the safety of the dining room and out into the 'lottie.
I've another beginners question though, will the foxes dig potatoes up? I ask as I planted shallots a few weeks ago, some under some netting I inherited from the last plot owners and some not. The ones not under the netting have all dissapeared!
Ta.
Jon
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I hit it lucky, yesterday rotovated the entire allotment 80' x 60' , double dug and planted my earlies Duke of York (prtected with loads of shredded newspaper), planted out 200 shallots and dug loads of muck into my pits for courgettes and sqash. Even more satisfying to wake up today to find everything well watered in ....now that's a result. It's raining outside and I'm tucked up cosy in the garage watching the Commonwealth Games and planting out all my seeds into loo rolls and root trainers. Life is sweet.....Dinger ;D
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well last Wednesday, went to the lottie & planted all my onion sets, white & red plus my shallots...forgot to take the garlic with me but was getting tired by then anyway.
Today I went back this afternoon - hoping it wouldn't rain!....no sooner had I started preparing a bit more ground than the rain started, getting more & more steady....was determined tho to finish getting the garlic in, which I did so now have 2 rows planted - so feel well chuffed in spite of coming home like a drowned rat!....and still the steady rain is falling - lovely ;)
next visit will be to sow the broad beans (( think) or maybe taters first - we'll see.
H.P.
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Lovely day here so I 've planted Lady Christl and Orla first earlies. Just arrived home when the rain started so that worked out well for once! Weather permitting I'll be back tomorrow to finsish the onions and shallots.
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nothing done today rained all day
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Another good day managed to get 5 50ft rows of early potatoes planted today quite surprised after the rain we had that I got onto the grown but it dried out well this morning. Looked in the propagator in the greenhouse when I got back and noticed that the spitfife cabbage that I had sown Monday was 1/2 inch high already, so things are looking up at last.
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Went out early and planted shallots and Red Baron onion sets till the skies opened. The rain eased off but the ground is so wet I decided to call it a day. Since then of course the sun has been shining and the ground has probably dried out. Sod's law.
Broadbeans are now outside to acclimatise then they'll go to the lottie too. Tomatoes and carrots are up (indorrs). Planting peas and parsnips next.
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Raining all day again,I know we need it but it does p-- you of
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We had a lovely morning while I was in church, then it peed it down when I was on the allotment. Typical! I managed to plant my last onion bed anyway, so now I have to mulch two beds and gett the potatoes in. Hopefully I can make a good start on that next week.
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Just got back from the allotment and put in some more early potatoes and weeded round my broad beans, garlic and onions using my Mothers Day present a mini hoe (didn't use my new gloves though). Dug over another bed ready for veg. Got slightly wet as it was raining when I left. Its looking good and i'm well chuffed.
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That's how I feel too today despite the achey bones from yesterday's digging. :'( :'( :-\ :-\ ;D ;D
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I'm staying with friends in Norfolk who allow me to play in their veg garden. Yesterday we built a new compost heap, weeded the beds, planted patooties, and discovered a pile of perfect leafmould to mulch the blackcurrants. This morning I was allowed to incinerate twiggy garden waste of two years, two old christmas trees, and uncomposted stuff from the old compost heap (11' x 8', just contained by rusty corrugated iron). Atop the old heap sat a 12" layer of wet sticky stuff mixed with dry meadow hay, now bagged up for runner beans and squash to grow in. Underneath was pure gold - around 60 cubic feet of GORGEOUS crumbly compost, ready to spread. I'd call that an idyllic day ;D
Sadly for the achey bones their house is a Work in Progress and they don't have a bath yet :'( ;)
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Lovely to hear Supersprout, but sorry to hear of no soak afterwards. I hope the kitchen was fully operational though, as you had a good appetite no doubt.
I also had a good weekend, planting potatoes, parsnips and onions. The greenhouse is also filling with seedlings.
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I think parsnips are next on the list for me. Do you plant them among your onions like the carrots Curry?
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Just to update everyone after getting my ten pole uncultivated bramble patch at the begining of the year I have managed to clear off all the top growth and build a shed.This week end I started the real pain and marked out an 18 x 4 foot bed and dug it over removing bramble & nettle roots as well as twitch.Then on Sunday planted up 26 toilet roll tubes with broad beans and 30 tubes of early peas.
I also ended up with aches in bones and muscles I had forgotten I had,but what a joy - don't you just love it when a plan comes together.
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Got to the plot for the first time in ages on weds: weeded & raked the whole plot, admired garlic, onions, daffs & tulips romping away and planted a double row of lillies and my first row of tatties (Rocket) Think I've finally banished the SAD - toms are all up, dahlia seedlings need transplanting, sweet peas looking good and loads of bedding plants under way. Just thinking about what to sow today....
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Not just a good day, but a FANTASTIC day. Spent all day at the plot, met more neighbours - one guy has had his plot for 36 years :o
Finally managed to plant -
Spinach - Hector - seedlings and direct sow
Peas - Feltham First - in loo rolls
Broad bean plants
Sowed a bed of carrots - 3 varieties - Amsterdam Forcing, Early Nantes and Maestro
and Gladiator parsnips in their own individually tailored parsnip pits, fashioned using my own parship planter design - a 1"x1" pole pushed down about 8" and then rotated and waggled about a bit ;D
and a little rown of Little Gems to fill in the gaps
If it doesn't rain on Friday, I'll be back to the diggin' and weedin'
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Sounds like an ideal day, lots of sowing and planting AND communing with the neighbours (very important, that!) Hope the parsnip planter does its stuff ;)
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Always important to stay in with the neighbours, this old chap was telling me how lovely the blackberries on my plot are - he picked 30 lbs of them last summer :o :o
I've planned for losses to birds and marauding kids but elderly neighbours ;D
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Because of the wind, we decided it would be good to Finish the Greenhouse instead of building a shed. SS & son headed for the plot about noon for the first time in ten days.
As we opened the gates, we saw the sad sight of our newly built greenhouse tilted at a drunken angle with several panes missing :o Close up, it was clear the wind had given it a real shaking - five panes smashed, some roof panes sliding out, nuts and bolts scattered on the ground, one corner dislocated, and the whole thing shifted off its foundations on the skew. It was actually shuddering and twisting in the wind. We both took a Moment ??? :'( :-[ :-X
BUT ... big BUT ... SOMEONE had taken lengths of rope and lashed down the building to iron posts, inserted props inside and outside, removed some panes of glass and stacked them at the side of the plot, and obviously done their best to save the structure. Which they had :D. In spite of the wind, and the unfinished state we'd left the greenhouse in, the damage was limited to five broken panes of glass. Along came lottie neighbour Percy, and it turned out 'twas he and Tony the lottie supremo who together had spent an hour toiling around the greenhouse to save it on Tuesday afternoon.
Son repaired dislocated structure, lottie neighbour put more props in, the greenhouse stopped quaking, and we all stood proudly round in the gusts to admire the result. Once the wind dies down, son will shift the greenhouse back onto its foundations, screw down the structure to the foundations, put in the missing panes and attack them with the sealing gun.
Always important to stay in with the neighbours
I feel we had a LOT to be grateful for today. Nasty old wind >:( Three cheers for vigilant and selfless lottie neighbours ;D ;D ;D
Now, what can I do to thank them properly? ::)
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How nice to have lottie neighbours like you have.Glad the damage was not too horrific.
Best wishes Lorna
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Last time I went to my lottie I found someone had left a bag full of gardening books in my greenhouse. Awww