Our Allotment Journey - Day 1 !

Frugaldom

Hi all, it's been a mixed bag, weatherwise here. One minute it's torrential rain, the next it's bright and sunny then the next it's blowing a gale. Still, it hasn't stopped progress completely.

I've now potted up 8 hanging baskets with lettuce & tomatoes, sown more tomato seeds, finished picking the first 2 pots of radishes and sown more seeds, risked moving a few carrots, planted out the Marian swedes and replaced the garden canes with wooden stakes alongside the fruit trees. Things do seem to be growing. Shaz, I now have 4 of the 6 squash seeds germinated and have rinsed the seeds scraped from the squash I bought in Aldi last week to dry drying them for planting at a later date.

The cherry tomatoes in the greenhouse are now tied up and flowering and that's me just planted the black Krim and tumbling tomato seeds plus sugar snap peas and cucumbers. It isn't too late for more carrots, so I'm going to try something new - one carrot per 1L milk carton. Apparently they grow really well if you put drainage holes in them and fill them with compost. I think it's ingenius and plan on planting seeds just as soon as I can get more compost.

Still eating salad leaves/lettuce most days and now have 5 out of the 6 hens laying every day, so eggs are becoming part of the staple diet as well. Can't wait for other stuff to grow but reckon it will be another month before there's anything else worth harvesting.

shaz_mum_of__2

Just potted on another 16 yellow cherry toms
16 chilli plants and 18 Marmande tomatoes i have been ruthless and thrown stragglers away...............i have too many already

Planted 8 tomato plants and 16 peppers out in between showers there is enough room for another 16 peppers in the bed but the other 2 vaieties need to get a bit bigger before going in the ground

Hoping for nicer weather at the weekend when most things will be going out for good .....at last

Then i need to tidy the shed and greenhouse ready for the tomatoes, chillis, and peppers which are staying indoors.

potatoes in buckets have taken a battering in the rain and wind but hopefully ok underneath?

planted out the last kohl rabi today too and have to find a space for the beetroot seedlings to go yet ??

Anyone know if birds are partial to celery...........the bed i want to put it in i unprotected..


Shaz

shaz_mum_of__2

Been digging the last few weeds from the patch which will have the tomatoes in ................phew

Need to check i have enough canes and then i am planting them out ................wanted to wait abit longer but they are getting to big,thirsty and in my way!

Hoping to get 20 plants in the space but need to leave room to get in to remove side shoots and pick them

Now i have removed all the weeds the rhubarb looks better than it did ,it is it's first year and it is growing just very slowly and small shoots will be better next year

Got another older plant which has provided enough once added to some apple for a crumble for the boys for tea

Off to a free craft event at a local museum soon so no more digging today ..yay


What you lot up to it's all gone quiet .............obviously out digging too ;0)


Shaz

rhiwfield

shaz_mum_of__2 wrote: »

What you lot up to it's all gone quiet .............obviously out digging too ;0)


Shaz

Sobbing quietly just now. Asparagus I sowed 3 years ago seems to be failing this year after growing ok last year. Not been cropped yet but 5 out of 21 plants not yet shown (Connovers so they should have) and 2 plants which had small ferns have rotted back. Dug up one affected root and it seemed ok (no purple rot). Have everything staked but no idea whether the 2 beds will recover for next year or whether I will have wasted 4 years establishing them

shaz_mum_of__2

rhiwfield wrote: »

Sobbing quietly just now. Asparagus I sowed 3 years ago seems to be failing this year after growing ok last year. Not been cropped yet but 5 out of 21 plants not yet shown (Connovers so they should have) and 2 plants which had small ferns have rotted back. Dug up one affected root and it seemed ok (no purple rot). Have everything staked but no idea whether the 2 beds will recover for next year or whether I will have wasted 4 years establishing them

Thats gutting ..............theres a farm near here that sells asparagus so i don't bother and because of the space and commitment too .............i hope it recovers

Maybe its just confused by the weather

Whilst at the craft event i picked up a couple of herbs .........

I have a space .....honest...........where the compost bins were

I think its about to become a herb ermm rockery?? because
a its poor stony soil
b i have loads of rocks lying round

Off to take a before picture report back soon

Shaz

shaz_mum_of__2

Look what we had for dessert!!

Shaz

Laura_D_3

I got 2 strawberries today, but they weren't that sweet, the slugs got a couple of others I bet they were nicer. Will have to put some straw down sharpish to stop the rest from rotting before they even go red.

Can anyone tell me why they're not that sweet :eek:

Frugaldom

I'm still here - have been digging a bit, weeding a bit, sweeping, raking and planting more potatoes. I'm following an idea on a link Shaz showed me for growing loads of potatoes in very little space

We have the mini-heatwave so I'm hoping thisngs will grow quickly if I keep up the watering. Nowhere near getting strawberries yet, mine are still flowering and one of them has sent out runners already!

Hope everyone had a great weekend and didn't get too burnt.

shaz_mum_of__2

Hi guys

This is my attempt at a green vegetable wall



There will be another 2 rows yet hopefully ,these ones have assorted cut and come again lettuces in some red and some greens.


the lower ones will have trailing plants in but not sure what yet !

Shaz

Frugaldom

That looks great, Shaz! I could be doing with something like that but don't want to drill holes in the front of landlord's house and then find out all that grows in the resulting pots is the number of chickens perching there. LOL

Got my straw delivered and it's wrapped in a huge hessian type bag, much like the ones used by builders' merchants that hold a ton of whatever. It would make a really good veggie growing receptacle but I'm guessing it would take quite a few bags of compost to fill it. Haven't checked to see when they need the bags returned by, so might have time to grow something edible. Any suggestions for what's quickest and easiest? Perhaps I could just add the rest of the broccoli, as there's still quite a few plants needing moved out of the greenhouse.