Hows your allotment doing?

[Magwat]

I tried growing parnips this year in two different ways; Seads soaked in water for a few days and dry seeds direct into the soil. Not one germinated and I love parsnips.

Parsnips will only gernminate successfully from fresh seed. I'm always dubious about the 'freshness' of seeds from big commercial companies. I either get them from the Real Seed Catalogue or try & leave a plant go to seed & collect my own. They can take a long time to germinate & you tend to end up with a bare patch of ground not knowing whether or not anything is going to appear. What I have done successfully for the last 3 years is to put parsnip seeds in between my rows of broad bean plants when I plant them out (I start the beans in modules). I put 3 seeds in holes about 6 inches apart. The parsnips germinate in between the bean plants & as soon as the beans are finished I cut them down & let any parsnips that have germinated carry on growing. This way, if the parsnips fail to germinate you don't end up with an empty space for weeks not knowing whether or not to give up waiting.

 

[busybee53]

Just picked all my red, yellow and yes green tomatoes from the plants I grew from seed. Those plants had blight and I wanted rid of them. I have more tomato plants which self seeded and they are looking good so I will get more toms from them later in the year I hope. Picked all the cuecumbers, marrows and sweetcorn and dug the plants up too. Hoping to get on with cutting out the old raspberry canes and tying in the new ones. This year though the new canes have been fruiting more than usual so there may not be too many worth tying in for next year. There are more weeds than you can shake a stick at so weather permitting I will have another go at them in the morning.

 

[For want of a better word]

My shoo fly has produce a megga amount of seed.... and I have have little problems with caterpillar / bugs this year... goint to collect the seed and sow it amongst eveything again next year ( behind SWMBOS back he he he !!)

PM for my address if you want some shoo fly seed . send me an sae and I will send you a "pod" of seeds

 

[gingerbees]

Our latest allotment work and blog

http://www.landshare.net/users/guy-and-tracey/blog/18092011-a-garden-tidy-and-a-new-polly-tunnel/

 

[mystil]

We have put some winter greens and leeks in at the moment and afew other things I need to go a dig up.

Got to keep the maintenance up on the plot or else we get a letter from the town council. They are having an inspection today.

Got tomotoes coming out of our ears and alot of potatoes aswell. Just debating about what seeds to get for next year aswell. Thinking a pumpkin would be good as it will take up room!

 

[Cazza]

Thinking a pumpkin would be good as it will take up room!

Butternut squash takes up room too. They are also tastier and as they are smaller,don't have to be used up all at once. My tip for butternut squash in soup is not to bother peeling them. The skin cooks well and liquidises smoothly. Had squash, lentil and thai spiced soup for lunch today. Yummo.
Cazza

 

[milkermel]

Ive grown spagetti squash this year, Love them so differant and taste ok too!

I have decided to give up my lotty next year so have just met the new tennant, given her the option of starting work on it now for nothing (ie weeding!!) there is lots of space that she can use all i want to do is harvest my stuff over the coming months. Its great to see her enthusiasum and the fact that she doesnt think my plot is as bad as i think it is.

Sorry to see it go, but still have space at home for growing so am going to concentrate on that instead.

Tried tomato Ferline this year and it has grown some stunning fruits, will be doing the same again next year. Have a load of chillis to come as well hoping they are going to rippen in time

 

[Bob Bee]

Picked a few runner beans, loads of raspberries (about 2lb) some spinach, potatoes and turnips. Manured the empty beds and marked out another 2 mtrs of space to enlarge the fruit cage for next year.
Pleased to see the hungarian grazing rye (green manure) up and about 2-3 inches high.

 

[gingerbees]

ours is looking very battered now after all the storms. We have some runner beans left but leaving them to go to seed for next year. The broad beans have all gone, the raspberries weren't great this year. Got some jerusalem artichokes and some sweetcorn still in and growing, also some beetroot and radish still in and ready.

Other than that the place looks set for winter and we are turning our thoughts on expanding the beds for next year.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oh2EA2we4Yw[/ame]

 

[pargyle]

I thought I'd bump this old thread as there are a few friends from the past in there ... today I did a bit of tidying at the allotment, I was going to empty what is left in a well composted compost bin .. took the lid off and this little beauty slipped out of the bottom. Picked her up and put her back in the top .. fully grown female slow worm .. just beautiful. I didn't have the heart to turn her out of her home clearly doing very well in there.

Then, went to move a plant pot that has an overwintered marigold in it and blow me down ... one of her offspring I think ! Put the pot back down and that will have to stop there as well ...

 

[Barbarian]

I'm struggling to get some Borage seeds to germinate.
Any tips ?

 

[pargyle]

I'm struggling to get some Borage seeds to germinate.
Any tips ?

Borage is usually dead easy to get going .. it self seeds every year on my allotment - I've taken seeds off my plants and kept them for other people to grow. Literally just throw them on a well dug patch of soil and cover them over ..bit of a good water and then depending on the weather .. a week or two later you should see the seedlings coming up.

It's not a plant that responds well to transplanting so it's best started off in the groiund where it is going to remain. At the end of the season leave a few plants to go to seed and you wll have new plants next year.

The only reason for it not germinating is seed quality .. how old is the seed, how has it been kept ?