Penellype's Allotment

[Penellype]

What news of your frost bitten potatoes Pen',,???

The bits that went black have now gone dry and crispy, but the majority of the foliage is fine. Its really only where the leaves were touching the plastic cover.

[Penellype]

Yesterday reminded me of the doubts I'd had that I could cope with an allotment as well as everything else. It was a blazing hot day, and I am not good at hot weather. I mucked out the horses and spent about half an hour weeding my friend's garden. The plan was then to go to the allotment and get on with clearing horsetail. I was too hot and I couldn't face the walk, let alone doing anything else! I caught up with watching Badminton Horse Trials instead.

I did need to go down in the evening to water, so after pottering around doing not a lot at home in the afternoon, I spent an hour digging horsetail out of the tunnel until it started to get dark. The leylandii hedge provided shade so it was no longer too hot.

It is difficult not to feel completely overwhelmed by the horsetail, but at least the raised beds and weed matting do seem to be cramping its style a bit. The next door plot, which was clear of surface horsetail last weekend, is now almost completely green with it.

Everything is starting to look really dry. I'm already onto the 2nd bin of water and some of the thirsty plants (beans, courgettes and tomatoes) have yet to be planted. With a fairly dry May forecast I could soon be having to bring water from home.

[Penellype]

2 sessions down at the plot today, one early morning and the other late afternoon. On both occasions I had to stop after about half an hour because I was simply too hot.

Nothing very exciting today - just digging horsetail (and bindweed), pulling out horsetail, collecting slugs and snails and watering.

Looking round the plot its hard not to feel a bit down. The numbers of slugs and snails I'm catching has dropped, but the lace-effect rhubarb leaves tell the tale - I haven't made much impression, the snails are just hiding. The strawberries are flowering but the bed is thick with horsetail and weeds and some of the early flowers have gone black in the middle (frost).

The lettuces in the hotbed are getting chewed too, and when I cut one it comes out complete with several slugs, but I can never find them if I look in amongst the plants. The spinach is starting to bolt in the heat, the carrots in the hotbed are disappearing (presumably slugs) and the beetroot was wilting today.

The cauliflowers are not looking at all happy, and I don't know why. The 2 at home have been protected by a cloche and are in buckets, and they are romping away, twice the size of the plants at the plot. Maybe the ones at the plot have just been cold. The turnips are slowly disappearing. The parsnips haven't germinated, the carrots and leeks, which have, are disappearing. Some of the potatoes have frost damage. The cat is digging in the onion bed and also the area near the rhubarb which is not covered.

The onions (sets) are not looking happy and neither are the peas. Both look yellowish and sort of unenthusiastic. I'm beginning to wonder if the combination of rotted horse muck, leaf mould and coffee grounds topped with used compost is somehow unbalanced and causing some nutrition problems. The things that are growing well are fruit bushes (in buckets), rhubarb and strawberries (in soil), raspberries (in soil) and potatoes (in buckets), plus the hotbed, which is just horse manure and new compost. I did test the horse manure for weedkiller before I used it (peas and beans grew fine in the house), but I didn't test the leaf mould (which has some grass cuttings in). However, the raspberries are mulched with the leaf mould, and they are growing fine. I think I will take down a bottle of made up general purpose liquid feed for the cauliflowers, onions and peas, just in case something is missing.

Perhaps things have just first got a bit cold and are now a bit dry. Maybe I am just fed up because I can't get on as fast as I would like to because of the heat, which is very frustrating. Hopefully things will seem better tomorrow, although it is likely to be another hot and sunny day here.

Never happy, am I?

[Penellype]

Went back down to the plot last night with a bottle of feed for the peas. Removed the cover from the hotbed - It has been wide open but the wilted beetroot was near the edge on the sunny side so I thought removing it completely might help. Pulled out all the horsetail from the hotbed, which was easier to get at without the cover.

[Bluenowhere]

Horsetail is highly annoying, just pulled out two large handfuls myself from among my onions and shallots. Think this year is bad for it for whatever reason - wet then hot?

Think you are getting yourself down unnecessarily, look at how much you have achieved already. I’m in year two and haven’t got much apart from onions and potatoes planted in the ground yet. Excepting fruit bushes, raspberries and the fruit trees planted last year.

I’ve had slugs in my grow house taking a nibble (never had that before) so easy to get demoralised but I try to think that eventually I’ll get there rather than worry about the problems. The allotment is my escape from the stresses of work so if I get stressed about it then it rather defeats the object (although I’m still working on that as I’m a perfectionist).

Having a potter on mine to catch up with jobs today having spent the bank holiday weekend working on the garden - as have a day off - and enjoying the bees buzzing and the flowers on my strawberries together with the late tulips reminding myself why I have an allotment.

[purplekat]

The onions (sets) are not looking happy and neither are the peas. Both look yellowish and sort of unenthusiastic. I'm beginning to wonder if the combination of rotted horse muck, leaf mould and coffee grounds topped with used compost is somehow unbalanced and causing some nutrition problems. :

Are you using your coffee grounds straight without composting?, as this may be worth a read if you are https://www.theguardian.com/lifeands...nts-its-a-myth

[Penellype]

I had a think about why I felt so down yesterday and decided that the main reason was that a lot of what I was doing was effectively running to stand still. The horsetail in the raised beds is very much in this category as there is so much of it lurking below the surface that clearing a bed of it only lasts about a day before its back. Therefore I decided it was time to do something that would make a difference and see if that helped.

It was slightly less hot today but still quite sunny, meaning that it was easier to work in it but I still had to be careful not to get sunburned.

I went down to the plot early and did half an hour or so digging in the tunnel, and put away all of the bits of wood and stakes that have been sitting in a pile in there since I got it. I also took down the piece of plastic sheet that has been pegged to the bottom of the tunnel, the main purpose of which appeared to be as a snail hotel. I made sure that I also removed all the bits of horsetail that were regrowing in there. I also gave the onions a liquid feed.

At lunchtime there was quite a bit of cloud around so I went back with a roll of mesh for peas and pulled all the horsetail out of the bed that I am going to use for beans and sugar peas and some of it out from in amongst the strawberries, which are next to that bed. I then spent some time experimenting with creating pea supports with the bits of wood that I salvaged from next door's plot. The sun came back out and it got too hot so I went home with a bag of spinach for tea.

It was clear from the radar picture that the cold front that brought the end of the hot spell was approaching York at about 5pm. I reckoned I had about half an hour between the time the sun went in and when the rain would start, so I went back to the plot and finished off my supports for both the peas and beans. It took about an hour, and it did start to rain, but only lightly at first.

After I'd been to feed the horses I went back to the plot to collect the water (not much, but worth having) and also put some of the water that has collected in the big water butt into the dustbin that I have been using to water the plants, so that it is full again and there is some space in the water butt. Then I walked round the whole plot collecting slugs and snails. It was still raining and there were loads of snails on the rhubarb and both slugs and snails climbing the tunnel. I filled one and a half jam jars with them.

I feel much better about things today, which has been much less frustrating. There is visible progress and I've got quite a lot done including some tidying up of things that were lying about. I must also have made some sort of dent in the snail population this evening.

[Bluenowhere]

Sounds like you made good progress. Glad you feel a bit happier.

Always a good plan to do something that ‘makes a difference’ to lift the spirits.

[1Bee]

Also always very positive to be able to work out why we feel down about things. Valuable skill, that.

You've achieved so much in such a short time! Re the snails/slugs - I take it the nematodes don't seem to be working? Would you consider using the ferrous sulphate type pellets?

The horsetail is coming into its peak growing season, but then it really does seem to slow down and the occasional hoeing keeps it out of the way.

Perhaps you could do less direct sowing and grow some things on in modules if you think slugs are getting all your seedlings?

In any case, you've done so much in such a short time - it's astounding!

[Penellype]

Are you using your coffee grounds straight without composting?, as this may be worth a read if you are https://www.theguardian.com/lifeands...nts-its-a-myth

Thanks for that - very informative. Yes, I have been adding the coffee grounds uncomposted, and that could well be the cause. After reading that I won't be doing it again!

[Penellype]

Also always very positive to be able to work out why we feel down about things. Valuable skill, that.

You've achieved so much in such a short time! Re the snails/slugs - I take it the nematodes don't seem to be working? Would you consider using the ferrous sulphate type pellets?

The horsetail is coming into its peak growing season, but then it really does seem to slow down and the occasional hoeing keeps it out of the way.

Perhaps you could do less direct sowing and grow some things on in modules if you think slugs are getting all your seedlings?

In any case, you've done so much in such a short time - it's astounding!

Thanks 1Bee.

The slug nematodes kill slugs that live in the soil, and I'm sure they are working as I have found several sick-looking slugs (half dried up and dopey) - this is what happens when I apply nematodes at home, and they do work, but they don't kill all the slugs, just like hedgehogs and toads don't eat them all. The nematodes do not work on snails. I'd really rather not use slug pellets of any description as I am concerned about poisoning other wildlife. I've found a toad on the plot and there are hedgehogs in the area (you occasionally see a flattened one on the road ). I'm trying to encourage them with a couple of wildlife corners, one near the compost and the other a wood pile near the shed. I don't mind picking snails off things and I think if I keep at it I will make a dent in the population. The rhubarb and some of the existing flower plants make ideal snail habitat.

Good to hear that the horsetail does slow down - at the current rate there will be no room for anything else shortly!

I think I was lulled into a false sense of security with direct sowing, which was very successful in the hotbed. There is quite a difference in composition between the hotbed (100% fresh horse manure + new compost) and the raised beds (which contain a mix of rotted manure that has been sitting in a field for a year, leaf mould that has been sitting in my Mum's garden for a year or more and used compost from my pots at home). With hindsight, I think it highly likely that I imported slug eggs with some of that, and it will certainly have provided a nice home for any slugs that were already at the plot. The wet spring will have made the problem worse.

As is usually the case, I've been a bit pushed for space for modules, but I have sown some leeks in pots and all the peas, beans, courgettes and brassicas will be grown in pots until they are big enough to cope. The biggest problem is the carrots and parsnips, which don't want transplanting if at all possible. I could grow some parsnips in loo roll innards, but I may have to admit defeat with carrots and just grow them at home.

[Penellype]

Something a bit different today (in amongst the obligatory horsetail removal).

When I first got the allotment one of the things I tackled fairly quickly was the hawthorn hedge at the road end, because it was overhanging the grass path and I hate being snagged by prickly branches. I decided that as soon as it started to grow I would trim it to keep it in check. Today I noticed that the hedge was growing fast with shoots 2-4 inches long in every direction. So I went along it with my secateurs, trimming it back to where it was before on the allotment side. The council will cut the road side and top later. The advantage of this (apart from keeping the path clear) is that unlike last time, the new growth was soft and not at all prickly, so it could go straight in the compost bin. No doubt I will have to do this again, possibly several times, but it made a welcome change from bending and digging.

I took my camera down with me:



This is the pea and bean frame I made yesterday. Its hard to see, but there is brown pea mesh between the 2 uprights. The jumble at the bottom is there to deter the cat. In the background the raspberries are coming into leaf and some are developing flower buds.



The hotbed without its cover (lettuces, spinach and beetroot - there are a few carrots in there somewhere). Flowers on the strawberries and fruit developing on the blackcurrant (which will be moved into the tunnel soon). Loads of rhubarb and bluebells in flower along the hedge.



Peas are just starting to flower. Meteor at the back, Douce Provence at the front. Another row of Douce Provence will be planted in front of this one (the plants are currently on the shelf in the tunnel. The other side of the netting is for Hurst Greenshaft, which are still at home hardening off.



The road end of the tunnel, with early potatoes, the gooseberry bush and peas and cabbages on the shelves. Thee cabbages were planted out at the other end of the tunnel after this photo was taken.



This is the corner of the tunnel that is still to dig, and it is hard going as there is bindweed in there as well as horsetail, so progress is very slow. The weed matting has made quite a bit of difference to the amount of top growth of horsetail, but it was starting to be lifted by the plants underneath. The columbine plant is pretty, but its in the wrong place and will have to go.

[Bluenowhere]

Looking great.

[geepee]

Fantastic Transformation Pen', 'youve a good look on there Lass.'' As they say in these parts lol.

Great to see all your effort paying rewards.
Gp.

[1Bee]

It's just phenomenal what you've achieved. And that spinach just blows me away!