Anyone with an allotment?

Just got my new plot for next year, having invested a lot into my little nursery plot this year it seems the committee took kindly to me.
New plot is 5 times bigger but comes with a shed, greenhouse (and most of the glass) and a huge walk-in fruit cage.

Best of all my allotment neighbour is a good friend so we’re helping each other out to get the big jobs done and sharing resources. Last weekend we took down another collapsed greenhouse and took a couple of hundred kg of rusty tools to the dump. Lots of potential :)

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Grabbing a few carrots for Christmas dinner.

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Looks great. I’d class some of those tools as well in the useable category for me.

It's in my garden but figured this is the better thread to ask about growing veg. I have perennial cauliflower and some sprouting broccoli that were doing ok before but have been badly damaged in the snow - some leaves were frozen and gone soggy and some 'branches' broken under the weight.

Should damaged stuff be cut off?
How do people protect things from snow if it comes again - or just leave them to it?

There was something on Gardeners World last night about sporting broccoli, wasn't paying much attention but seem to remember it was cut down to the ground and a cross cut in the stem?

Is the broccoli perennial as well? If the plants are big enough then I might remove some leaves. Ultimately they’re all pretty cold hardy so should recover fine. I had netted my perennial brassicas to keep the pigeons off, but the snow pulled the nets off.

Got my seed potato order through from Bridgend garden centre today. Ratte/Sarpo Mira/Sarpo Blue Danube at £2.20 a kilo. Absolute bargain.

Finally made it back to the plot last Sat, replaced barrow wheel and covered a couple of beds ready for this years spuds. Potato Day is on at my LGC on Sunday, so will go grab 6 each of 6 varieties to start to chit.

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I don't have an allotment but I do have a horticultural question. I planted 9 rosemary plants in a row in the hope of creating a low hedge in my front garden. All was fine for about 18 months but they have all died. They were culinary herb plants from Tesco. Is that my problem? When I wanted some from the garden centre they didn't have any so I bought fresh herbs from Tesco and planted them. They've survived two scorchio summers and failed their second winter.
Around the same time I bought a larger potted up ginger tasting rosemary from Waitrose and that's been in a proper pot outside and survived.

^ not sure, sorry. Gardening thread might be worth an ask in too?

Planted 50 new Broad Beans today as none of my Autumn started ones had survived the winter.

Split my rhubarb too, now have 5 if they all survive.

Am I mad to consider buying some of these £5.70 seed trays? Just want to avoid buying another load that crumble and split after one use. Anyone used these or, preferably, a cheaper alternative?

Or maybe these commercial type ones offer better value for money... I imagine pretty hard to handle though.

I have them. They’re excellent, really solid. Will last 10-15 years comfortably. Think you can get them cheaper on ebay. Containerwise has minimum purchase requirements and postage on top.

You can enjoy the dulcet tones of Charles dowding talking about them here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=R1Sd2czGDBI&feature=youtu.be

Got mine from Oakland Garden Supplies, think the CD-60 is the equivalent product: https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/oaklandgardensupplies?

Some rosemary varieties are only borderline hardy, especially if they don't have good drainage, so could be that. Drainage in the pot much less likely to be an issue of course.

Jekka's is the best for herbs if you want to buy new plants. Or take cuttings from any nearby rosemary bush that's doing well.

Yeah was just watching that, and then his general seeding video. Any recommendations on compost brands? I usually buy whatever but prepared to give it a touch more thought/money this year.

Thanks, that is a better price after postage actually.

Do you sit yours in anything? Was thinking of trying a hotbed type setup this year so big pile of fresh manure, cardboard and just sit them on that to avoid waterlogging, all covered over with a mini poly tunnel.

I have a couple of trays/clear covers which fit them. I bought them from Aldi about 5 years ago and they still seem to be working ok. For stuff like tomato, chillis, aubergine etc. I plant them in the seed cells and put them on a heat mat. For lettuce/sprouts/brassica. I put them in a little greenhouse shelving unit thing (also from Aldi). The covers help keep the moisture in but you just have to keep an eye on the weather on anything outside as they act like a mini greenhouse and young plants can get scorched. You can also get spongey mats that sit underneath the seed trays and absorb water to keep things from drying out.

Nice one. I have some of those lids still I think, they tend to last a bit longer.

I’ve not looked at our allotment since the end of summer

Also RE: compost. Depends what you’re doing with it but for growing seeds I just get a bag of seed/cutting compost once a year. It’s more finely sieved than the “multi purpose” stuff and I think they add a bit of vermiculite/pearlite to help retain water. No particular brand. Think I had John Innes last year.

Yeah that's what I've usually done. Dowding was talking about some stuff being 'digestate' i.e the bi-product of an industrial digester, and it not being great for growth, but that might be overthinking it. I'll have a look about for price/quality comparison.

Me neither i cover mine is a sea of weed repellent fabric in autumn. Uncover in spring - usually weed free

I’m going to cover everything in cardboard. Then horse manure in a couple of months