Anyone with an allotment?

Amongst other things I saved Poppy Seed this year, quite a satisfying process.

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Busy day trying to ignore our national parasite problem. Just about finished digging out the brambles, anti-weed membrane, rotten carpet, extremely annoying weed barrier stuff (like a 30cm wide strip of lino buried lengthwise, zero discernible effect on weeds), defunct fence etc etc. Filled four of those massive builders bags so far and have a large pile, got about another four—six bags to go I reckon.

Couch grass is everywhere and roots v deep, a healthy bindweed and nettle patch mingled with plastic carpet remnants at the back.

Big shout out for (Chillington) digging hoes; bought one for the job, and it has been ace. Also a bastard file to keep it sharp because there are stones everywhere.

I’m all for blitzing the whole thing with glyphosate on a calm early spring day, but we’re going to try “mulch organic”. Hopefully more manageable than trying to sort out 100+ m² of cardboard; ~6km to the allotment, no car, and no bastard plastic from tape used to make up boxes, have picked out so so much of that.

Found a dozen wild spuds, so have already had a mini-harvest.

Do you seed save?

Ive done pumpkins before but after two years the seed were a hybrid courgette thing so I stopped. I’ve done potatoes, which I’m doing again this year for a few varieties. I’ll do elephant/regular garlic too. Not technically saving seed but ridiculously straightforward.

#figchat found one or two of my figs had turned a nice ripe colour so tried one. Wasn’t amazing as it was so small but tasted ok. Maybe next year.

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Also accidentally grew another huge squash. Not as big as last year’s, but will have to share it out with friends.

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When can we expect the first frost? It’s getting chilly

Had first frost on the house roof about a week ago, didn't get frost on the grass as I guess the ground isn't that cold yet. Thinking about putting the citrus inside.

Yes that’s where I’m at. Also avocados

When can we expect the first frost?

It depends.

Does anyone find themselves running out of steam at this time of year?

It’s a slog though especially the summer peak.

Plenty of steam but no time at the moment.

Put some onions in, nice chilli haul too

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Finally put my shed base down

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Squash harvest 2022. Eaten one and two more to come.

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I put in some potatoes pretty late, obviously they went into pretty dry soil but have seemed to do ok since we had some rain. A recent air frost has burned some of the foliage and I'm not expecting much from them before a hard frost comes and kills the tops off completely. Given I always find old potatoes that I didn't plant that growing season so I'm thinking about leaving them in over the winter to harvest next year - genius or terrible idea?

If I plant some first earlies and stick them in the green house will they be ready for Christmas?

Better off doing it slightly earlier in September but should be fine, it’s fairly mild still.

Woot, finally reached the top of the allotment waiting list and confirmed with my deposit. Might drop down this evening to see just how fucked plot #079A is…
I’ve already looked on the site map and it’s next to the wild bit which makes me think I’ve been given a sacrificial plot to feed the badgers. Ah well, beggars can’t be choosers

Congratulations!!

Figs have really swelled up the last couple of weeks. These were lovely. #figchat

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Anyone done much grafting fruit trees (or any trees for that matter) onto rootstock? I'm thinking @mespilus or @edmundro may have some experience.

Broke ground today for the first time and spent three hours removing mostly grass, brambles, nettles, golf balls (?), mint, sage and dandelions. Turns out half a plot is gonna be waaaay more work than I anticipated - I’ll be happy if I can get it back to a blank canvas by the end of the year.
Considering it’s only five minutes from our house, the soil is so much more fertile. I guess the result of years of cultivation.

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Also need to get a bench because we’ve got the best view of the whole allotment!

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I went on a bud grafting workshop the other week. In short Cut a bit, slice a bit, line up the green bits, wrap it to fuck with stretchy magic tape. Hope for the best.

(Edit: clearly not an expert here and my fullwrap pic is out of focus, but does capture the albion bag nicely ).

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