Anyone with an allotment?

Good point, I am didn't think of it rooting. It's definitely the crazy invasive kind

Anyone planted lettuce 🥬 in between their onion 🧅 /garlic🧄 ? I’m thinking once they start getting a bit bigger I could try and fill the space.

we're planning on doing a lot more of that sort of thing this year, will report back on how it goes. gap filling with chard, radishes and whatnot. Its been so wet here this week I reckon the garlic will have all rotted though

I’ve no experience but my instinct is the alliums need the sunlight on the base and lettuce might encroach.

A quick google confirms I’m chatting shit but apparently brassicas are the best companion plants for onions but lettuce can work.
I coincidentally bought lettuce plugs and onion sets at the weekend!

Ah cheers. The onions and garlic went in in autumn so are reasonably well established (though possibly rotting away happily under the surface). There’s reasonable space and it’s Gem lettuce so may give it a go.

First Earlies in. Direct sowed(sewed?) some optimistic Betroot & Radish too.

Seeds planted to polytunnel Yellow Dwarf Bean, Purple French Bean ×15 each, 12x Spaghetti Squash, 10x Pumpkin Squash, 12x Pea, and shitloads of Marigolds.

All my split Rhubarb crowns are coming through (6 patches in total now) as are the latest Broad Beans.

Harvested first Sorrel of the year which is a win for my daughter as she enjoys eating it, we never get a look in but don't mind.

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Seed potatoes have arrived. Maris Piper main crop. Let the chitting commence!

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Anyone had success with cauliflower? I may have got a bit carried away at the garden centre and bought a tray of ten seedlings but got home and read they were very difficult to get a good result. I think they’re a bit fussy with soil condition and watering which in our plot isn’t going to be top level and I’m wondering if I just shouldn’t bother if the chance of reward is slim…

Just shove them in and hope for the best?

I guess but I prefer stuff like courgettes and spuds that don’t need pampering. I haven’t really got time to be watering the plot every day. I’m looking for reassurance:)

Sounds like our allotment approaches might be quite similar. I've not tried caulis tbh so can't offer any reassurance. Sorry!

I grew some from seed a few years ago. Got 3-4 I think. They were a variety from the real seed company so maybe less fussy, three I got heads quite early and one took ages but then grew and grew absolutely huge and was the best of the lot. Didn't give them any special treatment but you can cover them with a fine mesh cloche if whitefly are an issue. John the water man from my allotments threw away all his cauli crop last year due to whitefly. And that's John, the allotment don. So if it can happen to him, no one is safe.

Ah cool, thanks. Looks like they might have earned a reprieve then. I’ll document their inevitable demise!
Give John a HTFU from me. x

I desperately wanted to get something in the ground this year having spent so much time clearing grass and brambles. I’ve sacked off the photogenic raised beds until next year… 100 seed potatoes (Charlotte and Desiree), 100 onion sets (Hercules and Sturon) and four bulbs worth of Cristo garlic.
Plan this week is to start the sweetcorn, broad bean, tomatillo and pumpkin seedlings.
I could feel the pigeons eyes baring down on me so I won’t plant the cauliflower or purple sprouting until I can thrift some chicken wire from my parents garden!

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That's an excellent looking patch. I too had visions of a raised bed sort of setup but have happily gone without and not sure I'd bother now.

Cheers, I’ve only cleared half the plot as evidenced by the pile of weeds and roots which I stupidly started slap bang in the middle.
As picturesque as it is, I’m directly adjacent to the wild part which I fear means I’ll be struggling with badgers and other such visitors. Oh and twat kids who nicked some tools and threw the rest all over the shop.

Let us eat Radish! (In a few weeks)

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Nice, what was the reason for lining the bed?

We went to a posh garden centre to get some bits today but I swear the prices are high even for them. We wanted some fruit trees to espalier for our plot but they were £50 each and there was no way I was paying that.
Which made it all the more sweet when we stopped at Tescos and they had healthy looking saplings for £12 a pop. Bingo.

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Finally got the plot today since September. Surprise surprise it’s a state. Managed to sort a fair amount. Mostly weeding and removing dead dying plants from last season. Cardboard and wood chip will solve most of the problems. Also need to find some Hornsey manure for some no dig beds.

I took on another plot last year and it was a state then. Even worse now. The guy who had it basically screwed 4 pallets together to make a square, lined it with plastic and then filled with, anything he could get his hands on by the looks of things. Dismantled those put them in a pile to burn. Now need to remove the 1/4 ton of soil and remove the plastic. Level it all out. Cardboard and no dig beds all round. Also managed to clip the cherry tree bushes into shape and thin out. I was going to. Do the same to the massive pear tree but it was covered in blossom and bees so left it👍🏼

Local stables came up trumps today. Dad wagon wasn’t too happy about it. Or my back.

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what was the reason for lining the bed?

Its an old tile/slab crate so needed lining to hold the soil.

There may be fruit grafting hobby folk around your way or opportunityvia tree projects. For example, I got trees for £5 each from a local member of the Northern Fruit group. I also got more trees via a grafting workshop with The Orchard Project, plus a lot of scions I should graft onto rootstock, mentioning which reminds me I could do that job tomorrow.

👏 very good effort

Ahhh good shout, there are a few specialist orchards not far although no grafting classes I’ve found yet. In Tring we have a big apple festival where they showcase the weird and wonderful so I’ll don my detective hat.

Sorry to keep spamming this thread but my lucky streak continues. The neighbouring plot holder (also a first timer) was rather savagely removing half of his raspberry canes so I made a spot decision to stick forty of them in what was to be the pumpkin patch. Now all of todays jobs will have to be done in the rain tomorrow but totally worth it.

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Cheers, car still stinks.