The even newer good, bad and ugly of growing your own in 2021!

carinjo

Spend a couple of hours doing some tidying. Saw my first tiny tomatoes! Only 2 but it a start. When i weeded the potato beds unearthed a small potato, definately need to add some mulch as soon as possible. 
@Suffolk_lass done my first borage ice cubes, so pretty. The rhubarb leaves are the size of dinnerplates but the stalks are green, think they done for now maybe.
At home both the cucumber plants have got cucumbers the length of a fingernail, last year i never even got the seeds germinated, so already an achievement!

Kantankrus_Mare

Been away for a week in Yorkshire Dales and a fellow allotmenter offered to water while we were away. As soon as we got back we nipped to the plot and cant believe the difference in one week! We picked four punnets of strawberries, some courgettes, salad and spinach which is on the verge of bolting. Have lifted all my garlic and left to dry. Not huge but a decent crop! Tomatoes are forming and cucumbers finally growing. The weeds have also gone mad and am so frustrated as back from holiday straight into four days at work when I would rather be at my allotment getting it straight and tidy. Needs must. Got Weds and Thurs off so guess where I will be? 

ancientmum

Can anyone help with some advice please?
I've got spinach beet  planted last year with a good crop and left in over winter. It's now bolting like mad.  Question is, if I keep cutting it down (and using a few leaves) is it worth keeping it in for next year or should I dig it up?

-taff

Dig it up. It's biennial so it'll flower this year then die.

LessImpecunious

-taff said:

Dig it up. It's biennial so it'll flower this year then die.

Though you might lie to try using the young flowering shoots - we like to cook and eat these (and chard flowering shoots, which are probably better), so we hang on to the plants until we get diminishing returns or need the ground for something else - but, as -taff says, they won't keep going into next year...

ancientmum

Thank you for the advice  -taff and Lesser, I will try the shoots, and dig it up at the end of summer.  

MysteryMe

Getting a decent crop of strawberries this year, the spinach and salad leaves I planted for the parrot are doing well and he gets fresh pickings every day. Toms are in flower but no fruits as yet.

On an unrelated note, I had my pond cleaned last week and the newts outnumber the fish! Got over a dozen but not sure if smooth or palmate. I knew I had them as I very occasionally seen them coming up to nick from fish flake but had no idea how many. Only two frogs though and no spawn this year.  I do chuckle to myself when people give reams of instructions to pond newbies on what ponds need to attract wildlife.  Mine has always been an ornamental pond and geared towards fish and plants with no special adaptions for wildlife and it's always been well stocked with all sorts of amphibians and insects!

MovingForwards

I've a good supply of spinach and onions, got to sample my cabbages and spuds the weekend and while some things are bolting, it's not stopping me eating them; although I'm composting radishes after letting the bees have their fill first! My runner beans and toms are in flower, peas are starting to look like peas and I should be able to lift my garlic soon. 

I'm already planning what to put where over winter.

Second garden is doing well, herbs are slow to pop up, lettuce are being eaten by rabbits, but I should get to keep everything else.

It's interesting seeing and working on both gardens.  What works in one doesn't always work in the other. What doesn't work in one does work in the other.  

Next year I will be back to one garden, but with a lot more knowledge gained.

LessImpecunious

MovingForwards said:

I've a good supply of spinach and onions, got to sample my cabbages and spuds the weekend and while some things are bolting, it's not stopping me eating them; although I'm composting radishes after letting the bees have their fill first!

Some radish seem to make edible pods (very quickly) if you leave them a little longer after flowering (you can buy a variety specifically for this, popular in Germany apparently, as a snack with beer) - have had some winter radishes (Spanish and Far Eastern varieties) which are bolting now and have fat and juicy pods if you pick them young, not stringy...  they can take up quite a lot of space though, v spreading and straggly at this stage, so depends whether you need it for something else...

carinjo

Mulch on the potatoes yesterday, 2 car trips to a nearby allotment for free woodchip, the money we saved!  Also harvested first zephyr courgette and cornflowers for the dining table.