Help MBE grow his dinner 2013.

Dizzy_Ditzy

Well. Project family allotment has begun :eek:

My parents have a huge garden, which is wasted, so we've agreed that I will do the donkey work and get everything set up, and general ongoing maintanence, and we will share the produce between us, saving lots of money on both sides.

The garden needs a lot of work. I knew that when I decided to do it.

Today I realised just how much work it's going to be :eek:

There is bindweed everywhere. So far today, I've raked a load up and trialled a salt and vinegar solution on a pile of it. I'll see tomorrow just how good it is.

I found a cheap greenhouse on eBay, so a group of us are going to dismantle and move it tomorrow. The area I want it to go on is hard standing, but needs soe more clearing. It's not going up for another 6 weeks or so, so that gives me chance to get things ready there.

I need to get a rubbish clearance guy in to get rid of all the brambles and bindweed that I need to get rid of.

I guess I'm just feeling a bit disheartened about it, realising the extent of what I'm taking on

Please someone tell me that they've completed a similar project and its turned out ok?

And all this on top of keeping my own garden!

annie123

qoc, the bindweed would be better of with a systemic weed killer. If you've already cleared it, next year when you see it growing back, put canes in for it to grow up. Then remove the cane and put it in a bag and spray it and leave 'till dead. Otherwise you'll be fighting it for years and I doubt you fancy digging every bit of root up.
My son had 60'x40' and 8' tall of brambles garden, every bit of it was like that and bit by bit we've done it. Just don't expect to have it looking perfect in 6 weeks time and you'll be fine.

I've just had a blight text, probably due to the most amazing amount of rain here on Saturday, don't done that for 6 months or so, but it's dry now for the rest of the week so hopefully will be OK.

I've planted up the shed roof, 20 small plants don't look much on 8'x7' area but they will spread next year.
Picking around a kilo of toms daily, and the courgettes have decided to produce all male flowers again, not t hat it's a problem I've got 3 in the fridge, and more dehydrated and frozen.
My blackberries have finally started to turn black and so tasty too can't see any of them making it into the freezer for winter.
There's an apple tree near me that has started to drop apples so I've made a home made picker and off now to see if it works, or as it's hanging over from a school grounds, could I get arrested for scrumping!

lemonjelly

Harvested all the tubs of carrots now. Last 2 tubs were the bigger tubs, & had a few corkers from these. Still have the carrots & onions in the ground to eat/harvest.
Have started picking cucumbers. Really pleased with the quality of these this year. They've also grown bigger, longer, thicker than before.
Harvested the biggest beetroot crop I've ever managed earlier today. Over the next 2 days I'll be pickling and roasting.

Tomato crop coming along, & definitely have a decent sized crop, but still none are reddening yet...

Definitely got chilli flowers. However strangely I have noticed a few of the leaves have also been shrivvelling/looking dry. Using the logic of how tomato plants work, I pruned these leaves off, assuming that the plant would try to heal them, & this would divert nutrients away from flowers/plants. Does anyone have any idea whether I've done the right thing?

Dizzy_Ditzy

lemonjelly wrote: »

Harvested all the tubs of carrots now. Last 2 tubs were the bigger tubs, & had a few corkers from these. Still have the carrots & onions in the ground to eat/harvest.
Have started picking cucumbers. Really pleased with the quality of these this year. They've also grown bigger, longer, thicker than before.
Harvested the biggest beetroot crop I've ever managed earlier today. Over the next 2 days I'll be pickling and roasting.

Tomato crop coming along, & definitely have a decent sized crop, but still none are reddening yet...

Definitely got chilli flowers. However strangely I have noticed a few of the leaves have also been shrivvelling/looking dry. Using the logic of how tomato plants work, I pruned these leaves off, assuming that the plant would try to heal them, & this would divert nutrients away from flowers/plants. Does anyone have any idea whether I've done the right thing?

Chilli plants are quite finicky when they want to be- they don't like too much water, or even a lot really, so the first thing you need to do is make sure you're not watering too much

Dizzy_Ditzy

annie123 wrote: »

qoc, the bindweed would be better of with a systemic weed killer. If you've already cleared it, next year when you see it growing back, put canes in for it to grow up. Then remove the cane and put it in a bag and spray it and leave 'till dead. Otherwise you'll be fighting it for years and I doubt you fancy digging every bit of root up.
My son had 60'x40' and 8' tall of brambles garden, every bit of it was like that and bit by bit we've done it. Just don't expect to have it looking perfect in 6 weeks time and you'll be fine.

I've just had a blight text, probably due to the most amazing amount of rain here on Saturday, don't done that for 6 months or so, but it's dry now for the rest of the week so hopefully will be OK.

I've planted up the shed roof, 20 small plants don't look much on 8'x7' area but they will spread next year.
Picking around a kilo of toms daily, and the courgettes have decided to produce all male flowers again, not t hat it's a problem I've got 3 in the fridge, and more dehydrated and frozen.
My blackberries have finally started to turn black and so tasty too can't see any of them making it into the freezer for winter.
There's an apple tree near me that has started to drop apples so I've made a home made picker and off now to see if it works, or as it's hanging over from a school grounds, could I get arrested for scrumping!

Thank you Annie

I've got a mate who is getting me some stuff from work to get rid of bindweed, so hopefully it won't be a problem for much longer

annie123

Opps!on page 2.

My black russian tom plant collapsed and died. No blight etc so had a rummage around the roots and it looks like vine weevils. Picked the green toms and put the soil in a black bag and binned it.

berkshirelady

I last posted a 'hello' to MBE in April. Since then I've been totally off the radar and also totally in love with my new allotment :-) since March I've spent nearly every weekend there and I've managed to dig over 50ft of a derelict 60ft plot, and now have...a shed...a chill out patio bit with old garden chairs and parasol, water butt...6 4ft x 4ft raised beds made out of old decking planks...and thanks to people donating stuff and a good summer I've had - blackcurrants strawberries TONNES of courgettes runner beans mange toute spring onions salad cucumbers tomatoes. Next up is butternut squash, potatoes leeks kale.

And it's been blinking hard work but I've got a fab tan, lost 2 stone in weight, and even if I've had a totally rubbish day at work, I walk in through that allotment gate, I get that vibe and the weight lifts from my shoulders. It's like a mini holiday for a few hours.

this is the best thing I've ever done!!!

:-) yey much smiling and eating of green lovely veg :-)

Dizzy_Ditzy

berkshirelady wrote: »

I last posted a 'hello' to MBE in April. Since then I've been totally off the radar and also totally in love with my new allotment :-) since March I've spent nearly every weekend there and I've managed to dig over 50ft of a derelict 60ft plot, and now have...a shed...a chill out patio bit with old garden chairs and parasol, water butt...6 4ft x 4ft raised beds made out of old decking planks...and thanks to people donating stuff and a good summer I've had - blackcurrants strawberries TONNES of courgettes runner beans mange toute spring onions salad cucumbers tomatoes. Next up is butternut squash, potatoes leeks kale.

And it's been blinking hard work but I've got a fab tan, lost 2 stone in weight, and even if I've had a totally rubbish day at work, I walk in through that allotment gate, I get that vibe and the weight lifts from my shoulders. It's like a mini holiday for a few hours.

this is the best thing I've ever done!!!

:-) yey much smiling and eating of green lovely veg :-)

This is exactly what I want for me, it sounds divine (apart from the courgettes maybe )

My tomatoes are finally starting to go red :j:j

I know we were late in getting them started, but I didnt think it'd be this long!

Just how annoying is it that you have to add tomatoes to your shopping list when you've got so many in the garden waiting to turn??

Dizzy_Ditzy

So that you guts can see the enormity of the task I've taken on in my "other" garden, here are a few pics

This is from Wednesday morning



Wednesday evening



Friday afternoon

Leif

annie123 wrote: »

qoc, the bindweed would be better of with a systemic weed killer. If you've already cleared it, next year when you see it growing back, put canes in for it to grow up. Then remove the cane and put it in a bag and spray it and leave 'till dead.

Yes, do the above. It has massive underground roots. Glyphosate does the trick.