Anyone got an allotment?

stratts

Well-Known Member
If you have how you finding things this year, been feckin slow on ours and that's in good old fen soil too!! This time last year we were lifting spuds, carrots, beetroot, salads, etc no probs!! All we've had so far this year are raddish, little gem lettuce and rhubarb!!

Took these this morning and some bits are still bare coz it's been so cold, the seeds aint germinating!! Don't seem to stop the weeds though!! :doh:











 
That's not looking too bad. I have a little garden where I'm attempting to grow tomatoes (big and cherry), lettuces, radishes, carrots, strawberries, raspberries, courgettes, cucumbers and peas. I germinate most of the seeds indoors and did that back in March. The tomatoes were planted outside perhaps six weeks ago. Only in the past week or two have they started to actually grow, they were just stagnating before and one plants was entirely obliterated by slugs and snails. I planted some more indoors because at this rate, I reckon the new plant will catch up. The cucumbers just wouldn't grow and all died. The courgettes only started growing properly two weeks ago. Lettuces look alright, the radishes just produced long red roots and leaves. The peas are taking their sweet bloody time growing up the damned nets.

So broadly, everything's just been on hold. There are no flowers on anything yet (apart from the berries), and none of the plants are actually big enough for that to happen. It looks like it's beginning to happen, but I'm worried it's going to be another one of those years where things take so long to grow that they start rotting or shrivel up and die before anything's come to fruition. I mean the tallest damned tomato plant is only 30cm high!
 
From which to hide and take pot shots with my BSA Airsporter. If I could be 15 again all the better!

K

Ah happy days, unfortunately they are council owned and they won't give me permission to shoot the pidges, so I have to spend most of the time netting everything before it gets gobbled up!! I do have a rocking chair and plentiful supply of cider in my shed though!! :drool:
 
Been on the council allotment list 7 years now and don't seem to be getting any closer.
In the garden / greenhouse
Carrots- loads of leaf but nothing much below ground
Tomatoes - plum, cherry & beef just started to come on this last fortnight, all now in flower
Plum tree - no flower at all
Apple tree - no flower at all
Cherry tree - flowered & fruiting
Rhubarb - started ok but rotted
Black currant - flowered & fruiting
Raspberry - flowered & fruiting
Strawberry - flowered & fruiting
Grape vine - just getting going this last week
Dandylions never seen so bluming many
 
Not an allotement but container garden. All new spuds in containers in greenhouse, flowering, been eating new spuds for 3 weeks. Outside one flowering. Klevdon Wonder peas 1 week off being ready being grown for the kids. Hurst Green shaft failed twice now in tray in greenhouse. Toms on 2nd and 3rs truses. Cucumber starting to move. Sweet peas 5ft tall and flowering profusly (Kearton specials) but planted last Oct in greenhouse and then transplanted into big trough. Garlic hopeless,Minimal fruit on plum despite profussion of flowers. Giant sunflowers 3ft.

By the way growing many varrieties of spuds all seed was from reduced organic spuds from Tescoe and Morrisons, including Picolo Star, Marris Peer, Venzela. Also have Arran pilot, Swift, and some others. Probably 1 month later than last year.

D
 
Correct me if I'm wrong but it sounds like you've had to grow most things under glass for a good chunk of time to arrive at that stage. Is that fair to say?
 
It's probably also relevant to mention that I buy pretty much all my fresh food at the Ealing farmer's market, and that it's only two weeks ago that the smallest courgettes I've ever seen started to turn up. This weekend, there was a very small amount of peas. There's the odd cucumber too. But until then, it had been spuds, brassicas and roots since bloody October pretty much. Enough to make me eventually crack and buy some vegetables from the Middle-Eastern supermarket up the road. I really want to support British farmers but it can be hard to do when they can't actually produce anything, due to circumstances beyond their control.

The asparagus has been good though. Last year it was pretty bad as a week into the season, the heavens opened and didn't shut until the Olympics, and that was just temporary respite.
 
Yes I grow all my early spuds in the greenhouse, I use plastic grow bags available from Wilkinsons, put about 4 in of compost in bottom and plant 3 spuds. I first tried some supermarket spuds which I discovered in the bottom of the fridge and they grew well, so now I dont buy seed potatoes, just use a few organic spuds left over from when i buty them at a reduced price in Tescoe/Morrisons. Best to use organic as many spuds a treated to prevent them from sprouting in storage. Also being in the greenhouse no issues with blight but they can get leggy, need lots of water wgen they come into flower.

By this method you can grow at home varrieties which are not available to the general public. Also in August I will put some first earlies in the bottom of the fridge and will plant them out in the greenhouse in early sept then i will have fresh new potatoes for xmas day. Normally work on 12-14 weeks from planting to being ready.

Start of peas in greenhouse and buy my tom plants from the same guy every year 50p each, 3 is plenty. My sweet peas are superb this year and they are best planted in the autumn under glass.

For years i had a huge kitchen garden but now with a small garden and an empty greenhouse then best to grow high value vegs and i wont buy any spuds until the maincrops come in.

Cucumber came from Northumberland as did one gardeners delight as my mum had them early.

Strawberries are also v good in the greenhouse, I grow alpine ones, just delightfull.

D
 
Start of peas in greenhouse and buy my tom plants from the same guy every year 50p each, 3 is plenty. My sweet peas are superb this year and they are best planted in the autumn under glass.

D

I have 18 pea plants growing along my fence, and six of them have started to produce pods, but all but one are no more than a foot tall. Come on, I need you to climb up the fence some more before you do that! What am I going to do with six pea pods? How can I encourage them to keep growing? Should I remove the early pods?
 
What type are they mate? Kelvedon Wonder only grow to a couple of feet tall and I'm led to believe the more you pick, the more they produce!
 
I can't remember, I'll have to check this evening. One of the plants has gone most of the way up the wall, but it's the only one. But all of them have really taken their time about deciding to grow. I sprouted them inside and transplanted them outside when they were maybe 15cm tall, and most of them just sat around not doing anything for a month to six weeks. It's only in the last fortnight that they've started to even try, with varying degrees of success. Although it's noticeable that the ones that are producing pods have also started to produce a lot of leaves and tendrils, so it could be that they are going to start growing properly now. We shall see.
 
Right, turns out that they are Hurst somethings, and that they're supposed to be 75cm tall. Not as tall as I'd hoped, but only one of the plants has reached that so far. The others are way behind.
 
We have only got a few Toms plants in. However next year we hope to be better sorted and get the polytunnel operational. had it re-sited due to wind damage but did not know the damned builders buried laods of concrete instead of removing it and yep you guessed it right where the polytunnel now is.

Later this summer we hope to get a rotovator to go on the compact tractor and in the autumn till a couple of areas with it to plant. Right now the tractor is on grass cutting duties. The spot where the polytunnel used to be will be cleared and cultivated again for a veggie plot.

Our old cultivators are in need of rebuilds, not surprising I suppose as dad bought the Monro Tilled used back in 1963 and the Wolsley Twin rotovator was bought used off a commercial grower back in about 1988 so they are collectable now I suppose. We hope to be able to grow most of our needs next year after all we have the ground to do so and used to. I am not a gardener the parents were and mother did the pretty stuff and dad the veggies stuff but of course he has been unable to do so for several years now. I was content with trying to keep things tidy but with the cost of fresh produce I suppose now we had better get it working again.

Just having a cuppa before going out to cut the field. Have half to do so about 2 1/2 acres left to do.
 
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