How Does Your Allotment Grow?

[YnysMon]

This is the first year that I've sown so many different types of seed, and now that they are starting to sprout I'm finding it quite exciting to see how they are developing day by day, so I thought I'd share some piccies.

This lot on my windowsill were sown Easter day.

Sweetcorn, beans, various squashes etc.

 

Sent from the Norfolk Broads Network mobile app

 

 

[BroadAmbition]

I have 'Liked' your post, but to be fair I have not a clue what I'm looking at.  My MrsG would get it though

Griff

[YnysMon]

I also sowed some seed mid-March. The peas were ready to plant out earlier this week.

I have two types, 'Boddington's Tall Soup Pea', the row at the back, and the row at the front are 'Golden Sweet' Mangetout. The soup pea is supposed to grow to about 6', so they should grow pretty quickly. 

[SueH]

Hi Helen.  We haven't got an allotment, but this is the first time in a number of years we have used the greenhouse for what it is designed for and not storage.  Shadow and the caravan used to take all our time.  Now no Shadow, and all caravan sites closed, more time for the garden.  

[YnysMon]

Hi Sue, I keep thinking how difficult it must be just now for people who live in flats with no outside space of their own. Must be awful.

[YnysMon]

Hmm, I think I've made a mistake in sowing beans  so early as they are growing super fast and I'm not supposed to plant them out until after the risk of frost has passed (mid-May). This is what they look like this morning...(just compare them with the second photo I  posted yesterday!).

Beans (half French beans half runner beans).

Oh dear!

[grendel]

its been a warm month which will have encouraged their growth

[Paul]

As you might have read elsewhere, our beloved Parish Council have padlocked our allotment, along with a number of childrens play parks, contrary to current government advice. There is an ongoing battle between the Parish Council and Community Garden Association which manages the allotment. I am currently in isolation but had an email from a fellow committee member yesterday to advise that the PC have been instructed to remove their padlock, or it will be removed.

The village is getting militant!

[Poppy]

Good for the village !   We have a comminity woodland on the edge of our village which is a very pleasant walk.. There is a car park. It has been closed by the Parish Council  - " in line with Government regulations and to prevent congregation".  I've asked for chapter and verse, Nothing is forthcoming

[Paul]

The padlock was duly removed at 3pm this afternoon.

[YnysMon]

That’s very good news! Good for the village!

[YnysMon]

Had a bit of a setback. The peas and beans that I planted a couple of weeks ago have been looking more and more unhappy. I had heard of a problem with weedkiller lurking in composts/horse manure and googled to find out more. There is a very helpful YouTube video by Charles Dowding, and it confirmed my suspicions that a couple of the beds (ones I topped up with hose manure in March) are tainted with aminopyralid weedkiller. The tips of the plants are curling up.

Sad looking peas.

Fortunately, I had some more broad bean plants to put out, and I've tried moving the peas to another bed. Not sure if that will work.

The good news is that sweetcorn is not affected by the weedkiller, as it is a member of the grass family (the weedkiller is designed to suppress weeds on grassland), so I've planted out my sweetcorn seedlings in those two beds.

At least my seedlings in the polytunnel are doing well.

With gardening, you win some, you lose some. 

[Timbo]

Afternoon Helen...looking at the images I would say the problem isn't weed killer but the 'oss muck itself or rather where you've put it.

Old Dobbin produces quite a bit of uric acid and those 'oss toffee's look a bit on the fresh side. If you've been watering your beds in this dry spell, you will have been washing acid over your plants. Ericaceous plants like having your 'oss muck sprinkled on the top of the bed. On veggie plots, dig it in two spade spits deep. Manure needs to have two words in front of it for the gardener. Those are 'well' and 'rotted'.

Extract taken from Uncle Albert's Guide to Vegetable Gardening On Two Acres The Easy Way By Making Your Son Do The Digging By Hand Hoping His Future Career Will Involve A Shovel..

[YnysMon]

Agree, not a good idea to use unrotted manure. I’m going to stick with no dig though, as it worked really well last year.

[SteveO]

You don't really need to put nitrogenous fertlizer on peas or beans, as they make their own via nitrogen fixing "nodules" on the roots. They do, however, appreciate something buried under their roots to help the soil retain moisture. We tend to dig a trench, bung a load of old newspaper in, torn into strips, replace the earth. Water well and then plant on top of that.

 

[MauriceMynah]

Buy tinned. Quicker, easier and quite possibly cheaper!

[Poppy]

2 minutes ago, MauriceMynah said:

Buy tinned. Quicker, easier and quite possibly cheaper!

Frozen taste better