Anyone with an allotment?

@richardshill do you have a raspberry gin recipe?

Came home with a nice selection yesterday, and won a first prize for the Crown Prince squash in the annual show. Rock ‘n Roll.

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Woah, nice.

Not very scientific I’m afraid, just made it up! 75oml of Gordon’s, small (expresso-size) cup of white sugar, maybe about 200g of fruit (just enough for about one-sixth of the litre bottle.) I put the raspberries in the fridge overnight after I washed them in salt water (to drive out and maggots) so they were quite soft and it turned into a bright red liquid almost instantly! Will leave it til the end of the year to try - hopefully it won’t be tooth-crackingly sweet...

Nice haul, what variety are the yellow tomatoes? We've got some Ildi growing in the garden which look similar but were so late sowing them we're still waiting for most of them to ripen.

You could get some heavy duty ones from here, not so cheap though
https://www.cactusoutdoor.co.nz/clothing/mens-pants/overalls.html

I've got a load of PYO raspberries, currently frozen, but need to be put to good use. Did you do any sterilization?

Thanks - those are indeed Ildi. Ours got planted late (in Mancunian greenhouse) and have only been ripening in the last few weeks, so you should still be good as long as there’s a bit more sun.

Thats the sort of thing - thanks - but yeah expensive.

Mancunian

Might have asked before, shit memory... Which allotment are you on? We're at Seymour Grove nr Old Trafford.

Aha, very nice, I nearly ended up living on Ayres road a while back. We’re on Highfield Road in Levenshulme.

sterilization

Er, no, should I have?

No idea, possibly scaremongering. I guess you'll find out at Xmas

Cool, does it get full competitive with the annual show? We don't have that kinda thing. Might have won the most prolific courgette category.

Ha ha!

A few seriously competitive plotholders had a ‘year off’ to give everyone else a chance, but it’s all a bit of fun. It’s an open show so you could definitely come along with an avalanche of courgettes next year.

The high concentration of alcohol should see you OK.

Before or after testing?

late blight? anything I can do? :/ Had a couple of leaves like this on Sat - so I snipped them off. Went back this AM and certainly spreading. They're late Maris peers so definitely still a month or so from even thinking about harvest - pulled one on Saturday and tubers were still tiny. Can anything be salvaged here?

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Slugs have been my biggest issue this year so will be going full bore from now on. I'll to avoid the pellet is I can but will try nematodes, submerged cups of beer, marigolds, nasturtiums and maybe see if I can interest a hedgehog in a home on my plot.

On a sad note I chopped down the cooking apple tree yesterday evening. It's in the way and the yield has been awful this year as well as it looking pretty ratty.

I've also taken delivery of some horse manure. I've just spread it on a spare patch for now.

Marigolds always look great as well as being an awesome accompanying plant.
Nasturtiums look lovey but shit do they come back forever. I planted them once and they still creep up in the most random places.

'With over 20,000 classified species, and a possible million unclassified, nematodes are the most numerous multicellular animals on earth' - Just read this, wow!

I have considered these in the past and would be interested how you get on with them.

The only other thing you can do is keep a super tidy plot but it's normally in vain at allotment sites as they'll just crawl in from someone else's plot.

I'm not so fussed about the flowers themselves but found advise that says they are good companion plants and that they are good at keeping certain pests away.

My allotment is super tidy and it was reasonably productive for a first go, however the couple next door to my plot have the messiest plot and its really productive. I think the additional greenery acts as a barrier and also cannon fodder. So i'm going to be planting some green foliage to keep the bastards out

Ha! Thats definitely one way to go.
I learnt early on that as well as feeding myself I was feeding a whole lot of wildlife. As long as you win over all :)
I don't own a green house but being able to establish plants before you plant them is always best. Even if the slugs do get to them the plant should still survive.
I actually used netting for the first time in 6 years this year. Purely to keep the cabbage white butterfly away from my brassicas. Can't wait for a bumper crop.

Nudge next year and I might give it a go!