Allotment News

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  • last year i tried sweetcorn - in one day a fricking squirrel wrecked the lot.
  • bang

    squirrel free zone

  • I love Hostas too- got about 8 sorts in some gravelled areas. Snails still abseil in though somehow.

    We try and shoot the squirrels, no joy but Mr FL got a rat a couple of months back in a neighbour's garden. Cub1 won a Cubs air rifle competition recently so maybe if I offer to pay him per squirrel/ pigeon....actually both are considered delicacies so that's dinner sorted too, or we can feed them to the red kites.

    Rain tomorrow so that will be good for the onions and seeds I've planted.

    No sign of beans still.........image

  • leeks, parsley and spring onions starting to show their heads at last......

    re: beans - where do you have them?? I don't think they take too kindly to being too warm to germinate and can rot if too warm and damp
  • FB- great point. I keep them planting pots in a mini-green house which is wwarm and humid. Where would they prefer to be? I shall move them per your instructions.

    need to plant some spring onions, just remembered, thanks.

  • first off - check that they aren't germinating by poking around in the pot with something soft and narrow (wooden cocktail stick is good) to see if there is any sign of life. if not, and you can't feel the seeds it's likely they've rotted already so you need to throw the soil and start again - if they are still there, stick them on a sunny(ish) windowsill and they might germinate OK. if you have spare seeds stick up a 2nd pot as insurance

    how old are the seeds?? they germinate best from last years seeds - older tend to be not so good. beans should start coming up within a week - any longer than that and I would suspect they aren't going to happen
  • Bought fresh seed this year. Don't think they've rotted yet as I spotted one when I last watered.

    Will relocate them to my spareoom south facing window sill and cross everything. There are 3 different types so i was optimistic I couldn't be unlucky with all.

    Many thanks

  • FB- Thank you!  I left my mini-greenhouse open and all of a sudden I have lots of runner beans.image

    Also have all my sweetcorn and spinach seedlings through and some broad beans.  Salad rows coming along nicely, and onions and garlic doing so well I have risked removing the netting and hoed the rows.

    Just topped up my potato pots and done some more weeding so all well in the veg patch except remembered I bought some pepper seeds and have forgotten to plant them. 

    Also two new strawberry pots have arrived and been constructed and just waiting for some more plants to add in.

    No sign of carrots or beetroot plants yet........

    Feeling good about it all this year. Much more managable amount than the allotment I borrowed last year.image

  • Evening all!

    Glad your beans are coming along now, FL!!

    Things are progressing in my garden too - onions shooting up; peas coming through; salads, perpetual spinach and turnips coming along well, and the first hints of second early spuds showing through the soil.

    No sign of carrots yet, but my mum, who's sown the same variety a little earlier in a warmer part of the country, warned me they might take a while.

    Two courgette 'seedlings' (I always think they're a bit big to be called seedlings!) are up indoors now and looking healthy, but I think the rest of the seeds -  and the winter squash - have rotted, as nothing seems to be happening.

    I sowed them before watching 'Gardener's World' (they had very specific advice one week about sowing courgette seeds pointed end down without laying them flat; a method which I hadn't used).  Still - we're only at the beginning of May, so I've got time to sow another few seeds to see how they come on. image

    Need to get on with the beans though - must get that topsoil!!!! - still says on the packet that May is fine for the varieties I'm sowing, so will sow them this week to germinate indoors and then plant them once I've got more soil in.

    Lots of herbs looking healthy too.  Thyme and oregano that I planted out last year (grown from seed) are looking - and tasting - fantastic.

    Feel slightly aggrieved  at not sowing some tom seeds now, seeing as we're *supposed* to be getting a reasonable summer this year (hmmm - I'll believe it when I see it....image) but I guess I can always buy some plants if I'm that keen.

    Happy growing everyone!

  • Lady P: I'd forget the seeds now it's May and go straight for 6" plants in 2" pots from the garden centre, nursery or school fair (seriously). Most people over sow, and can barely give their plantlets away.
  • Ok, a question about 'earthing up' of potatoes.

    Am I doing it right? every time a plant shows itself I've been bunging a pile of earth on top of it. I've just been reading the RHS website and it says something about wait until the plants are 9 inches tall then earth them up. Which is right? and if I am, then just when do I finally allow the plants to grow without adding anymore soil?

    Thanks!!

  • More runner bean questions- how big should my seedlings b4 I plant them out?

    Mandie- I grow mine in pots/dustbins. Usually I just plant them and bury them as deep as possible, however this time I ran out of compost so mine had sprouted through and when the new compost arrived I just dumped it on top.  Think it will work!

  • I earth mine up from the start and still get a decent crop, so it does'nt matter much Mandie.

    Runner beans I usually plant mine out about 6" so they're strong enough to grab on to the cane in case of strong winds.

  • Rate they're growing that'll be that'll be the weekend then.
  • Don't over water them Foxy.
  • fat buddhafat buddha ✭✭✭
    a little tip for watering runner beans and similar as the water is needed at the roots - insert a plastic bottle with the bottom cut off into the soil next to the plant and water through that. that way the water goes where it's needed
  • it's very appropriate that this forum is paying such attention to RUNNER beans!image
  • Ahermmmm

    [Passes FL her coat]

  • I'm offimage.

    Strawberry Plants just arrived to go in my new plantersimage. Not very warm so I'll need my coat out there.

    Very thoughtful Nicko!!!image

  • If there's a threat of any frost we want the first person to spot the forecast to boing this thread to the top big and bold.

    There's time yet.

  • No more frosts allowedimage- major planting out this weekend, seedlings are out of the cold frame ready for planting.

    Good idea Blisters.

  • The garden's well watered in today. It's a shame that the last big planting weekend is just about to arrive......

    No sign of the baby beet seedlings yet. Perhaps more sowing is required. That usually fetches things up.

    The spuds are like trees now.

  • fat buddhafat buddha ✭✭✭
    aye - my spuds have got some large foliage now......am growing them in spud bags so be interesting to see how they crop.....

    salad leaves (mizuno, mustard etc) are going nuts so am picking loads for each meal....

    broad beans starting to pod up - bit slow but at least started

    tomatoes going well in outdoor pots - not put chillies out yet

    other stuff coming up well


  • FB, I grow my potatoes in big pots/ dustbins etc.  Seem to crop quite nicely and very easy to harvest, do have to remember to water them though. (not after last night though.)

    My new strawberry plants are settling in well and beginning to grow, might be a late crop this year.

    No sign of my beetroots either, and can't find the packet with the spare seeds.image

    Might put some more salads and carrots and some spring onions in this weekend, between the showers and the 10K r*c* on Sunday.

  • fat buddhafat buddha ✭✭✭
    my beets have come up within a week of sowing (and the carrots as well).......will need to thin them out soon
  • Reckon I sowed a couple of weeks too soon then, should have waited.
  • fat buddhafat buddha ✭✭✭
    probably some sort of fungus/algae/lichen rather than eggs haile.....

    scrape them off and dump the surface soil - flowers should be fine
  • JjJj ✭✭✭
    I had no idea this was here! What a splendid resource!

    OK - in a fit of grrrrrness I rolled up me sleeves and actually cleared a whole yard of flower bed out the front this morning (last time I took fork to soil was about 15 years ago). (It's OK it was a different house.)

    So, what shall I put in it? Today. Now. Bearing in mind there's another two yards to clear and I eventually want a cottagey flowery look. But I want flowers now. Today.

    Fankyewplease.

    image
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