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Cheers Poacher, I will enjoy the digging, theres nothing like the satifaction of seeing a well turned over patch. Think I will double dig it, it will take a bit longer but I think its worth the effort. What size is a 1/4 plot ?
Allotment envy.
I've had my name down for a couple of years now, and people aren't dying fast enough. They've also changed to rules so that anyone from "over the motorway bridge" like me will always be leapfrogged in the queue, no matter how long they've been patient.
However, there is a result to brag about. Today we harvested our first courgette. Yup. I won't say that we have had 20 consecutive years of disasters, but we have tried on 2 or 3 occasions. Each time blossom end rot was the killer. This time we had one plant produce slug-slime fruits, so my wife pronounced it diseased and it was uprooted. I know that most of you drown under courgettes, but we finally grew one!
In my experience with Courgette plants, the first one or two fruits often rot at the blossom end, but from then on, go forward and produce plenty of normal courgettes.
I keep a close eye on new plants, as soon as they show any sign of the young courgettes going bad, I pick them off.
It is quite a good idea to grow them on a mound so that the plants are well drained and the early fruits get plenty of air.
I always grow watery based veg {Courgette, cucumber, melon etc} high for better drainage.Grow on a compost heap too.
Ref allotment size, they are normally classed by Pole. 10 poles is an average,1 pole = 3m x10m approx =
It goes from bad to worse.... the ants are munching their way through my apples! How do I stop the little blighters?
I thought 'something' was eating them but blamed either the squirrel or the birds... but no! Ants!!
Squishy, try using that grease band paper that you tie onto the trunk of the tree. It's designed to stop codling moth grubs climbing the trunk but will surely piss off most ants. Of course, if you have espalier trained plants on a wall you're pretty much stuffed.
There are however two kinds of ant deterrent. Ant powder, and a spray. Both contain pyrmethrin which kills all the ants/wasps/bees family, so use it carefully. It's also not the sort of stuff you want on your food.
I'll use the spray inside the house to stop the pests at floor level, on non absorbent surfaces for preference. The powder needs to be kept dry, but is effective. We use that under external doorways for example.
Er, yeah I came here to ask whether anyone used the trick mentioned in a gardening mag that arrived today. They rest their courgettes on ceramic tiles to prevent them getting cold and damp from the soil. Anyone tried this?
I don't see that the ceramic tiles will stop the cold overnight as they will be at the same temp as the groiund, but they should warm up nicely in the sun during the day and help keep moisture levels down around the fruit and release the heat as it gets cooler. never tried it though.
my courgettes are grown in tubs so the fruit never touches the ground
Tiles would have cracked under the weight of the enormous marrow I found yesterday - it was a tiny courgette when I last looked
. It's now making rum in a corner of the kitchen 
Surprising success of the summer = florence fennel...got some lovely bulbs with good foliage...never thought it would grow properly in the hills.
Anyway....winter crops - thinking about trying broad beans and peas as well as onions - anyone has success with these crops over winter?
I've done OK with the greenhouse stuff, salad, toms & cuecumbers. Strawbs gave a reasonable picking too.
Carrots aren't great, but I'll do a load of soup & it won;t matter that they're all a daft shape or split.
Spud question though. Again. Dug up the first 2 plants & there's something really magical about the soil comming up with these globes of yumminess in there.. About half of them have little holes, a few mm in diameter that go into the spud. nothing seems to be in the bottom of them, they're just there. what might it be & how do I stop it for next year?
Not really allotment related, but I'll ask anyway.
Has anyone been out picking sloes ( for gin obv.) recently? I tried this afternoon at one of my favourite spots and found none at all - not one. I did find enough bullaces (similar but bigger) to make it worth making a brew.
I'm no later than I've been in recent years - was it jus a bad year?
A piece of orange peel in with the damsons adds stg too
So, it's finally Spring and after being so far behind I think I've managed to catch up this weekend.
Beds are all cleared and topped up with soil improver/top soil.
Spuds, strawberries, spinach, carrots, beetroot, onions, parsnip, shallots, turnips, radish and salad are in. Runner beans, chillis, tarragon, courgettes, cucumbers are in seed trays in the greenhouse.
Gooseberries are flowering, Raspberries are starting to grow, currants are flowering and blueberries plus rhubarb are finally out of the greenhouse.
Phew
Happychap, did you have any time for a run this w/e!
Rhubarb almost ready for its first picking.
Had to weed the strawberry plot last week, so don't expect any soon.
Lots of onions showing their heads above ground, no sign of the spuds tho.
Rhubarb took over several weeks ago. Not sure how much more rhubarb crumble I can take.
Looked at my tom plants today and they are quite large already. need to sort them asap.
Been repotting my shrubs, weeding and top dressing today along with the annual patio clean.
Resurrecting this thread to ask if anyone has success growing butternut squash?
We have no problem growing pumpkins here (south of Scotland) so I figured I'd give squash a try. Unfortunately, our lovely healthy butternut plants were trashed by something (beasties? weather?) while we were on holiday a couple of weeks ago, and only one has survived.
The rest of the garden is going ok, and a sunny windowsill has produced lots of chillies and the peppers are coming along nicely
Good to see the return of this thread
.
I have an allotment, full size plot, to the South of Glasgow. Been on it for almost one year after upgrading from a quarter plot on the same site. It was a total jungle, abandoned for years and full of junk.....when you apply for a plot on any allotment what they don't tell you is how bad some of these sites get!
Butternut squash - I have one plant in a pot, but it is in the polytunnel not outside. It was very slow to start and was getting eaten by some bug or other, but this has stopped now that I have put it in a watering tray (maybe the bugs / slugs cannot swim?). It has perked up a bit and is producing new growth. They do need a lot of water apparently.
Just back from a few hours weeding and watering, dug some new potatoes and looks like the raspberry bushes are going to produce a bumper crop this year
.
Tigerspaw, dug up some new pots yesterday, still a bit small, need another 2 weeks
before pulling up the rest.
The sweet corn looks well after a slow start, hope to have a bumper crop this year.
Planted a load of sunflower seeds around the shed hoping to cover the shed.
Turned out they were miniature flowers only grew to 2ft in height.
I think slug damage is the biggest problem I've had growing any of the squashes. Until the plant is well established slugs seem to be able to kill them off. Try using slug pellets, if you've no objection to them.
I've had more success with Festival, or even Crown Prince, than Butternut down here in the deep south.
Thanks folks. I don't think getting enough water should be a problem, outdoors in Scotland in the summer
. It may well have been slugs, there seems to be a bumper crop of them this year.
I'm toying with the idea of having a wee pond* to attract some frogs and toads to munch on the slugs.
*that's a small pond, not one filled with wee