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The great, good and not so good bits about growing your own dinner 2017
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Just watered everything in the greenhouse - the pot of sorrel is my early warning system when things need water! Picked a few courgettes - going to look up recipes involving spinach and courgettes I think!Save £12k in 2024 - #2 target is £5000 only £798.34 so far
OS Grocery Challenge 2024 31.1% spent or £932.98/£3,000 annual
I also Reverse Meal Plan on that thread and grow much of our own premium price fruit and veg, joining in on the Grow your own thread
My Debt Free Diary Get a grip Woman0 -
Hello all,
Not much to report here.
Feel rather lack lustre and 'missed the boat' in terms of getting things in and producing. So much still needs doing on the plot and its run away from me again. I really may have to pay someone to come and work it all over for me
Hi CAFCGirl sorry to hear that things have run away again. I'm sure it's not as bad as all that. Why don't you cover a bit of it up if it's getting too much. Is it just the weeding?
It's not too late for lot's of things. And maybe you could grown lots of pumpkins to cover weeds.
I thought you were moving over to raised beds with the pallet collars. Perhaps tell us some more - we might have suggestions. Also I thought you drew up a plan - it might help to break it down a little on here.
Hope you manage to turn things around.
It was so hot at the allotment all I did was water the greenhouse. I cut some more artichokes, cucumber and gherkins and peas. Also brought back some raspberries, loganberries, rhubarb and gooseberries. Better get started on them.
Keep cool everyone.0 -
So hot here, watered greenhouse and tunnels. No sign of any more rabbit damage since I netted the tunnel doors.
Weeded the onion patch, the main carrots have germinated which is good but I'm still waiting for the parsnips to show, maybe they wont as its almost a fortnight since I sowed them. Not to worry as I can use their bed for leeks as I use loads over the winter. Picked a few raspberries but they didn't make it indoors, some radishes, salad leaves and peas.
barbecue again tonight0 -
Hi CAFCGirl sorry to hear that things have run away again. I'm sure it's not as bad as all that. Why don't you cover a bit of it up if it's getting too much. Is it just the weeding?
It's not too late for lot's of things. And maybe you could grown lots of pumpkins to cover weeds.
I thought you were moving over to raised beds with the pallet collars. Perhaps tell us some more - we might have suggestions. Also I thought you drew up a plan - it might help to break it down a little on here.
Hope you manage to turn things around.
.
Well plans are all well and good if you actually 'do' stuff to make the plan happen. With this glorious weather and my sun allergy, I cant be out in it for very long plus its too hot to do hard manual labour, such as the digging out thats required.
My plot has a slight slope and god knows what the chap did before me but parts of it are lower than the site pathways so it needs bulking up but I cant really afford to buy bags of compost, my 'compost area' on site is basically just brambles, bindweed etc so not really much good to put back on. I dont drive so cant go collecting free manure even when I do find it....
Ive covered up quite a few large areas but I might need to cover an even greater area.... my deadline I gave to myself for getting it sorted is fast approaching and whilst I've made some good progress, its just not moving at the pace I'd like/need to avoid getting booted off site.Manifesting Abundance in 2023Fashion On The Ration 2023 36/660 -
I really feel for you CAFCGirl. I only have a strip - not a full allotment so I can imagine it's tough. And when you take over from someone with different ideas it's like having to rework the lot!
I know you're worried about loosing the plot so you might need to take some drastic action. Could you nuke half of it with chemicals as a one off - and then cover it with either cardboard or materials depending on your budget. You could ask friendly neighbours to bring some along every time they visit the allotment and leave it for you. They will see you are struggling and most people would want to help as no one wants to see an allotment fail.
There's still time to plant up a pumpkin bed which would grow over or cover some of the brambled area and just keep a couple of the pallet collar beds going with salads for the moment and then think about plans for over wintering some greens and think about next year. This might get you through any inspection as the plot would look worked.
Is there access to your plot for a lorry - if so you could buy in 900 kilos of top soil and get it delivered to the plot. Here's a link to the people I use.
http://www.compostdirect.com/multi-purpose-topsoil/p17
The topsoil costs £78.95 and they do compost to - the price does depend on your post code. I buy in bulk as I grow a lot of plants for others and it works out half the price of the garden centres.
The temperatures are I going down on Sunday and will be around 19 degree on Monday - so you might feel a bit better about being outside then. I don't know if you work but perhaps you could take a couple of days off when it's cooler and have a go then. It would be such a shame to give it up.
Another question - do you have plenty of seeds? I'm sure for the price of a stamp many of us on here would be happy to contribute seeds.
Also wondering if you have any neighbours on the plot with a rotivator - you could ask them to run over the plot next year - maybe you'll have to pay them (as I did) but I think it was about 2 hours work to do the lot.
All the best to everyone - we all struggle at times.0 -
Hi all
Thoughts with everyone struggling with heat, crop failures or motivation failures.
Not much done here as it was way too hot to do anything other than water and harvest a few bits Sunday and Monday. Its only 27 degrees today (only!) so feels a bit more comfortable. Might do a bit of light pottering shortly.
Some successes so far are courgettes - going like the clappers. Picked my first cucumber yesterday :j more strawberries by the day, lettuce going bonkers, runner beans starting to set.
Problems: I think I have some early blight on my Kestrel potatoes :eek: need to check if anything can be done to save the plants. I haven't planted all of my maincrops out yet so if it is the worst ie I have to bin them, then I have some back ups.
Not too many problems with slugs at the moment, but I do have at least 4 hedgehogs visiting the garden nightly so they must be eating a lot of them.
Take care all in this weather
Let's get ready to bumble! :rotfl:0 -
well I came back from my holiday to find that my dear husband had not seen the cabbages and pak choi were being eaten alive by cabbage white caterpillars. I know he's short sighted but..... Needless to say they have all had to go. I did think growing veg in pots was going to be problem but the OH doesn't eat any veg or salad at all so is loathe for me to dig up the garden for a veggie patch. Anyway on the plus side, my tomatoes are going great guns as is my cucumber and butternut squash. Nothing to eat but salad leaves so far but I've planted a good variety and the flowers I grew from seed are now all planted out and were doing well before this heatwave. Sadly the delphiniums don't seem to have survived the wind then rain and now blazing sunshine but the lupins are coming along in the greenhouse. Got to pot out the last of my marigolds and wild flowers but I just can't bare the heat of the greenhouse again just yet. Watering early morning before it gets too hot and again before bed. Sat out in the garden until 11pm last night. Felt positively tropical. Enjoy your gardens/plots0
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Nice and cool here today. dragged my myself outside and (with help) planted some runner beans (I forget the make, I usually go for enorma - which these aren't). I've got some spares, let's see what happens. Slow start to the outdoors courgettes, but the greenhouse courgettes are also going like the clappers - I've three good ones in the space of a few days.
Why am I in this handcart and where are we going ?0 -
I really feel for you CAFCGirl. I only have a strip - not a full allotment so I can imagine it's tough. And when you take over from someone with different ideas it's like having to rework the lot!
I know you're worried about loosing the plot so you might need to take some drastic action. Could you nuke half of it with chemicals as a one off - and then cover it with either cardboard or materials depending on your budget. You could ask friendly neighbours to bring some along every time they visit the allotment and leave it for you. They will see you are struggling and most people would want to help as no one wants to see an allotment fail.
I am very loathed to use chemicals, but I think I will have to strim close to ground and then cover. I do have a large piece of membrane that should cover a good bit. I was planning on the newspaper and cardboard method for much of it and attempting the no dig method.
There's still time to plant up a pumpkin bed which would grow over or cover some of the brambled area and just keep a couple of the pallet collar beds going with salads for the moment and then think about plans for over wintering some greens and think about next year. This might get you through any inspection as the plot would look worked.
Yes I think I am definitely going to do this over a nice 3x3m area
Is there access to your plot for a lorry - if so you could buy in 900 kilos of top soil and get it delivered to the plot. Here's a link to the people I use.
Its right on a residential street, houses on one side and the allotment on the other so they can deliver roadside/by the gate and I'd have to do bucket trips/wheelbarrow down the steps from the gate to my plot which isnt too dreadful in all honesty just longwinded but thats about the best price Ive seen for buying any in. Thankyou for posting that. I think I will just bite the bullet and order some next month
http://www.compostdirect.com/multi-purpose-topsoil/p17
The topsoil costs £78.95 and they do compost to - the price does depend on your post code. I buy in bulk as I grow a lot of plants for others and it works out half the price of the garden centres.
The temperatures are I going down on Sunday and will be around 19 degree on Monday - so you might feel a bit better about being outside then. I don't know if you work but perhaps you could take a couple of days off when it's cooler and have a go then. It would be such a shame to give it up.
I dont work (makes it even worse really) but I do have a 7 year old who we home educate who isnt all that entertained by the allotment. But I will need to assign some days to get a good chunk of work done in the same manner as if I was working full time I think
Another question - do you have plenty of seeds? I'm sure for the price of a stamp many of us on here would be happy to contribute seeds.
That is probably the one thing I do have in bucketloads
Also wondering if you have any neighbours on the plot with a rotivator - you could ask them to run over the plot next year - maybe you'll have to pay them (as I did) but I think it was about 2 hours work to do the lot.
Bindweed is a huge problem on our site so rotivating it would probably just make the problem worse for myself in months to come
All the best to everyone - we all struggle at times.
Thankyou for your post Fruittea
It can just be incredibly overwhelming, and I guess I had such big visions for it this year that I feel disappointed in myself. Onward and upward though, the weekend looks cool and the DH can childwatch so I can hang out at the plot - should rain too hopefully :TManifesting Abundance in 2023Fashion On The Ration 2023 36/660 -
Morning all
Just been out in the garden and it's lovely and cool 17 degrees. So much better.
Well done on the courgettes Unrecordings - it's lovely when you get your first produce.
I picked about 2.5 kilos of gooseberries yesterday and I should get the rest in today. I had a little blackbird fighting me for them, he was a brace little feller sitting right beside me and I know if I don't get down to the plot today they will be gone.
So pleased to see you plan CAFCGirl - that really looks doable. One other thought is fill a space with some quick growing flowers they always give a good impression. Something like Nasturtium, Love in mist and sunflowers and they will be good for the bees.
No rain predicted here for the next week so I'll do my best to keep up the watering.
B & Q have lots of marigolds and begonias going cheap at the moment for anyone interested £1 for a tray of 9.
All the best to all you growers.0
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