Story of Hugsville Patch

Smoffi

LESSON LEARNT:

When your sweetcorn get over 1ft tall prop them up by piling more soil around the base in a pyramid shape... also if you have pets build a cage/shelter around the sweetcorn..

My dog has jumped in the middle of them and knocked over them all.. so a busy morning tomorrow!!

Smoffi

Harvesting: 4 more lettuces and a huge bowl of spinach leaves...
Toms growing well..
Fennel looking close to picking... 2nd batch planted out today
Toms in greenhouse had to remove.. they grew 5ft tall and no flowers
made way for watermelon and cucumbers

Pumpkin not looking well.. I had a golf ball size thing growing but it died.. a few more flowers showing at the moment.. hopefully they will grow..

Smoffi

Hugsville Patch
Courgettes are growing.. got about 6-7 starting and 1 fair sized ready
Toms are still green on many plants.. and have others tom plants in different stages so hopefully a prolonged cropping
Beans - Dwarf are producing nicely .. this is something I will grow more of next season!!
Beans - French - TRIFFIDS!!! They are growing out of control. I have 2 plants atleast 10+ feet high!! lol and producing beans
Strawberries are spreading but what I am doing is potting the shoots up until they have settled and then replanting them into hanging baskets at the front of the house...
Leeks are now planted out.. well 50 are... still have alot left in the greenhouse to pot out at some point!!

Question: Does anyone else have tomato plants under their front window? and am I strange?? lol


But most of all exciting news is....

As of Oct this year I will have an allotment!! only 1/2 patch but it is till 30 feet atleast long.. it is huge.. I will put pics up of it when I am down there next (should hopefully be 2-3 weeks) and what other plans I have for it.. I am also working with the woman who has the other half to create compost bin and seating area and other stuff!!
it needs alot of work.. but will happen

First thing I am doing is measuring it all out...
Covering the ground with manure.. and then covering it all up under plastic for winter... feeding the soil ready for next year.

Church Patch is going well... alot of Spuds were donated during "Bring a spud to church day" and hopefully they will grow this year..
Next year I will really have it all done.. just have to find a Rotavator to borrow for a day to turn it all over!

zarazara

I love this thread. The allotment sounds very exciting. What are you planning to grow?

zarazara

[QUOTE=

Pics:
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/album.php?aid=19329&id=100000469883825
Please let me know if you can't see this and I shall post them again to another site I normally use!![/QUOTE]

Hi, I cant see things on facebook, I don have an account.:(

Smoffi

Ah ok.. sorry was not sure if it could be done..

Newer pics for you below taken for you as of tonight

http://yfrog.com/6zdscf2452pjx

As for the new allotment
Sweetcorn, Peas, Beans, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Leeks, Tomatoes, Spuds... not sure on everything else until I check my seed bin

Smoffi

Harvested a huge courgette.. slightly bigger than a tennis ball around.. and nearly a foot long

I have noticed so far this year I have not had the slugs and snails I had on previous year.. as someone elses post triggered my mind. Do I know the reason behind this? no... but what I do think it is, is the horse manure I placed on that side of the patch

Also had to remove the 6 cabbages as they had caterpillars on them.. i had them fully netted and buried the edges so,l i thought, nothing could get through

Smoffi

Harvested today..

Not had alot of spare time to be dealing with the veggie patches.. real life has got hectic

Had a glance at the church patch... spuds looking ok.. will spend some quality time there Tuesday/Wednesday hopefully

But as of a quick walk around this morning I harvested this....
http://yfrog.com/c9dscf2455lj

Smoffi

Well spending today preparing for winter and next season...

Moving the tarp and other patch coverings into the shed so they are easily accessible

Sowing seeds ready such as onions(3 varieties), peas, cabbage, carrots and some rocket for late this year.

Checked the various spud patches in Hugsville Patch ( I have 2 in ground and 1 in bag).. all sown at different times. The spuds are still very small but looking good..

Compost bin has been turned over

Sweetcorn is starting to grow ... 4 or 5 so far just coming up. the actual reeds themselves are about 3ft high
Tomatoes (3 varieties) all growing nicely.. still green!
Beans (dwarf and runner) are sprouting . still a little while to go till picking.
Pumpkin is now the size of a small football
Fennel is growing alot.. TIP: Do NOT grow too much at once.. unless you REALLY do like it!!
Sunflowers are tall but not flowering
Grapes still just growing and no flowers.. may consider moving to a different spot next season
Bluberries... These are being put into the patch NOT pots next year. poor crop this year!

Roof patch MAY be ditched unless I can find something to grow into pots...not sure what will actually work yet!

Gathering material to build an enclosure over all of the patch next year..
Also to cover over part of the allotment (which I can use as of Oct this year!!!)
Planning what to have laid out on the allotment!!

Cucumbers and melon plants have taken over the greenhouse floor... flowers appearing so hopefully I will get something edible!!

Pool has been emptied and refilled.. now thanks to a free recycling website I am putting play slabs around it to make it safer to get in and out!!

Remember.. do NOT buy things if you can recycle someone elses things!!
I have now really got into asking others if they have things I need/want.. or when I am driving passed a skip taking a quick glance in.. if something I could use them I am stopping and asking..
I call it "Wombleing" just like the Wombles

Smoffi

Harvested beans and courgette for dinner yesterday.. was nice..

Pruned the tomatoes back to allow light and growth to the fruit!!

I have also sown some Pak choi ready for next season... which are going straight into the greenhouse
The other stuff I sown as a little growth on it and hopefully will be ok for when it is due to be planted out..

As for next season I am making sure I do not repeat the same mistakes, learning curves, as this year..

Correct growing quantities... measuring for correct space... staggered sowing!

So I shall be measuring the patches over the next few weeks.. and trying as best as possible to note how much space stuff has taken up this season and stick to it!

Also have to get down to the allotment soon, measure and plan out!

Not sure if I will keep roof patch as i have not had alot of success with growing things in pots

Now measuring the Hugsville Patch:
Greenhouse floor: 1ft x 6ft (2 of) and 1ft x 2ft (1 of)
Section 1 of patch: 17 1/2 ft x 3ft
Section 2 of Patch: 20ft x 2 1/2 ft (not including 2ft compost box)
Section 3 of Patch: 26ft x 2 1/2 ft
Section 4 of Patch: 14ft x 1ft (not including 3ft pond)

There will be alot of moving things from this year as I noticed the lack of sinlight into some areas prevents stuff growing.. not good!

I shall start a new thread for next year.. including diagrams and pics (much as I have done this thread) and again including my learning good and bad lol..