Anyone with an allotment?

Onions look great, when did they go in, this year?

They’re autumn sets, Troy IIRC. Think they went in October/November time. I did this variety two years ago and got a bumper haul so gone back to them this year after last year’s onion disaster.

Thanks! Yes the hoops are from the old trampoline. The fabric is actually pretty much the same as the stuff they make garden shade sails from so will hang onto if for now as feel it could be useful- covering beds if nothing else.
All the straight poles were from the polytunnel and I’ve got plans for the last few poles I’ve got left. I chucked the cover in the end but it’s serving us well since its demise.

Honestly I’m happy just to see all 4 corners of the plot at last. Finally measured up as well- 13 x 15m roughly.

That’s a lot of land, good luck!

Cheers, it’s allegedly a half plot but due to its location on the site we def get a few more yards than most. The back 2-3m is taken up by the trees and compost so it’s a little more manageable than it looks on paper.

10+yrs of being vacant meant it really had become a dumping ground, even from the houses behind the plot.
I know everyone deals with plastic and trash when they take a plot but this was in the same league as some site clearance jobs I did as a young labourer 😅
Do need to find a decent, legit waste clearance firm to take away the 5x ton bags of shite we pulled out the ground now we’ve finally finished clearing..

Slightly embarrassing it took 2yrs to get that last patch done but was so manky I didn’t really want to tackle it.

Loads of amaranth popping up all over the plot. Bonus.

1 Attachment

Sage, chard and California poppies looking particularly colourful today

1 Attachment

And there I was thinking that was just a word Model/Actriz made up

Signed up to this website the other day expecting nothing to come of it. Got a call today from some friendly arborists looking to dump some green waste. Quite green, to be expected at this time of year I guess & some coniferous material in there, but wow, should be enough to cover my paths for now!

1 Attachment

Managed to get some of that mulch down last night, slowly getting the place a bit more child friendly. Crown prince still struggling, pumps and courgette now fully going for it. Think I'm going to have to cut down the fenugreek as it's swamping the corn a bit. Should be able to leave it on there as a mulch.

5 Attachments

Lovely stuff. Looks like a nice carbon/nitrogen mix, be interesting to see it in a week or after rain. Worms will go mad.

Maybe, I suspect not actually that much nitrogen, the green stuff is already going cripsy and turning to dust, don't think it probably represents much of the mass.

Looking good. Re: Crown Prince, I read you shouldn't plant squash out until they have three true leaves. I usually wait intil the true leaves are a good bit bigger than the cotyledons. If you sowed direct then the above obviously doesn't apply. But the colder nights and windy days probably aren't helping.

Yeah I fucked up there, they had true leaves, maybe not 3 each, but were looking pretty strong in the CD60 cells I had them in, but I got lazy and just put them straight in to the ground rather than potting on/hardening off on like I have with everything else, they weren't up to the sun and the true leaves just fried. They seem to have grown a few new leaves but looking a bit sickly. Will give them another few weeks as I've nothing germinated to replace them with currently anyway.

Just planted 10 chilli plants, still got 6 more which are more exciting varieties but growing dreadfully slow.

Can I trim all the excess foliage off my tomatoes yet mine have gone crazy

Depends if they’re bush or cordon types. Bush type you can leave, cordon type you can pinch out the side shoots.

My chillis (sweet and hot) are taking aaaaages to grow. Should probably pot on and feed them a bit.

I forgot to water yesterday and I’m knackered today.
It’s sunny in London, will everything die if I wait til tomorrow afternoon?
Obviously I should just ride down now(and sure I will later on.)
How often are more folks watering at this point in the year?

I've been going down every other day where it has been so dry and I've not got any established plants. Hopefully will get some rain at the weekend.

Yeah most things have been in 2 weeks tops. Will pop down shortly to be on the safe side.

I’ve been going about twice a week. Not ideal but it depends what stage the plants are at. I have a few seedlings been transplanted and they’re a bit more needy.

Was dry but nothing serious, lots of new poppies appearing.
My toms have been in the ground for about 2-3 weeks(but been on the balcony for a couple of weeks prior) and tbh they’re looking a touch pale and peaky, they’ve definitely grown but I’m not blown away with their progress so far.
That bed had onions last year, soil is nothing special but not bad at all.

Bit of tomato food in the water or too early for that? They’re about 12-16” tall on average. Ours toms were trouble free last year.
Will take a pic next time I’m up there

Looks like we’re getting a new water tank(no idea why ours was fine).
Arrived to water in the perfect window between council lads leaving and cement drying.

2 Attachments

Planting and weeding in the sun today.

2 Attachments