Allotment / Gardening Chat and Advice 2020 Thread

Hello

I’ve closed the previous thread which was here as it is quite lengthy read now and 2020 is virtually upon us!

Anyone who wants a plot on an allotment in Lewisham needs to apply visa the council for a maximum of 3 sites, but waiting lists tend to be quite long (5-6 years or longer for the ones I applied for).

You can alternatively apply for private ones, or ones in Bromley which are self managed, and some are quite close. Cricket Lane allotments (formerly Kent House Road allotments) and Kent House Leisure Gardens are both only a few minutes from Sainsbury’s Bell Green for example. To find allotments in Bromley you need to visit here as each allotment has diffferent application methods - you can apply for as many as you like in Bromley.

Of course, you can grow fruit, veg and flowers in gardens, balconies and pots. So what do people have planned for 2020 to grow? Anything new or recommended?

For me I’m going to finally try and grow some carrots and broccoli, and will be doing a lot of dwarf french beans, peas (my kids view them as sweets when eaten straight off the plant raw) and tomatoes, which again my kids love vs supermarket ones (they love Sungold type ones, and Black Russian) though I have 17 varieties to try out, not sure where to plant them. Will also do pumpkins for Halloween, more scallop squash and will try some different winter squash this year. Am undecided on whether to do potatoes this year.

Am going to try to get a fig tree also - I’ve read it’s better to have them in pots or a base that restricts the roots as you get better fruit this way - let’s see.

Flower wise am going to plant more lavender and borage to get more pollinators in, and more mint also.

Good luck all!

Yeah good call on the new thread!
This year I need to get my garden at home sorted out. After having kept chickens for several years it is in a bit of a mess and it also needs some groundwork done as I need to replace the patio and make some sort of seating area.
We will still be working the plots and I think we already have all the seeds we need, which means I’ll still buy more just that I don’t actually need them!
Next year I need to sort out how much stuff to grow as this year I grew far too many of certain things like cabbages and squash - we can never eat all the butternuts we have in the eves. I want to try to grow some beans for drying and storing. I tried some huge Spanish white beans last year but although the plants were massive the crop wasn’t. Also I want to try to grow more heritage or heirloom varieties and try to save seed - just for the hell of it really. Hopefully the fruit will kick in a bit this year and we get some strawberries, raspberries, currants and blackberries. Gooseberries were good last year so hopefully we have a few more this year.
I really want to try to extend the season as much as possible. We mainly eat from the plot all year round but it would nice to have toms a bit earlier/later in the season and to have longer seasons of sweetcorn and the like.
I am hopeful my overwintered chili plants do well and I will be getting some seeds on soon - as soon as new year is out the way.
I am also going to grow a load of flowers form seed - if we have room. I need some plants for the garden and I have never really grown anything other than veg.
Also a shout out to Columbia Road Market - a great place to pick up some bargains and get squashed in the process.

I’d similarly like to extend the season, partly by getting stuff earlier and later, and also by trying to plan to follow-on crops as soon as possible and getting different crops in the same year out of the same patch, which will take a bit more planning, and a degree of luck I suspect.

It’s a shame this weather was so wet in late Nov and Dec, I had to stop digging anything up as I could not get any weed roots out.

Still planning on the chickens also!

its around our 15th season at the allotment. Currently harvesting purple sprouting broccoli, leeks and carrots. In the ground and growing are broad beans, kale, perpetual spinach and rhubarb showing as usual. Perennials include various raspberries and other berries which are reliable producers later.
We’ll be doing potatoes, carrots, sweetcorn, squash (butternut and crown prince), several varieties of climbing beans, beetroot, parsnips, maybe celeriac. always looking for something new, but these are all usually very reliable.

Meanwhile, having installed a greenhouse in the garden late this summer we hope for a much earlier and longer season. At the moment I have winter onions and garlic growing in the greenhouse- both thriving. Also mixed salad leaves which are slow at the moment, but very tasty. In the greenhouse we should see a quantum leap forward in tomato and aubergine production, and importantly we should be able to sow seed and get things moving maybe a month earlier than we usually do, using windowsills and porch previously. I also hope we can do many more herbs - I’m hoping basil will thrive in the warm greenhouse conditions.

Finally, the hot composter has been good so far- from the heady heights of 50 degrees late in the summer it still manages a respectable 20 degrees plus at the moment, fed with veg peelings, and any other vegetable matter, plus it uses good amounts of paper and cardboard shreddings, meaning we send less off in the green recycing bin. Doesn’t need too much attention - I feed it with new waste about once a week in winter.

never grown my own horseradish - I know you need to contain it, but is it worthwhile or do I just keep buying horseradish sauce?

My grandad grew his own horseradish. But in some kind of container, not straight into the garden. I kind of half remember it as an old chimney stack but might have got that wrong. Mum said he grated his own horseradish as he liked it really strong. I believe you can also pick the leaves and eat them raw, so I think worth trying just for that.

Horseradish is a thug! I planted some in a pot and the roots grew through the hole in the bottom and now I have a great big plant in the garden.
We have some growing now on my wife’s plot and I have always been disappointed in the sauce we make from it - maybe we are just doing it wrong but it is very mild. I remember it being kicking when I was younger. It is like chemical warfare when I grate it and even though it adds a nice flavour it doesn’t have the kick I am looking for.
@marymck is right though the leaves can be eaten and are quite nice if you finely slice them into a salad.

Winter pickings today. Nice to have veg all year round and eat with the seasons to some extent.

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Some of those look like they could have a starring role in a tasty Steven King novel.

What potatoes does everyone grow? We’ve tried growing many varieties over the years and current favourites are Ratte and Nicola. We go for flavour, blight resistance , ones that seem to produce well in our soil and ones that by and large you don’t get in the shops.

I grow Ratte because they are really nice, Pink Fir Apple for the same reason and Sarpo Mira for resistance to blight. I actually save my own seed spuds for planting so I don’t buy many new ones.
However the London Potato Fair is well worth a visit and not just for spuds - shallots and onion sets at good prices and Pennards are there selling seeds
There are two this year see here for details…

I’m growing Sarpo Mira and Charlotte that I grew last year again, and trying for the first time Pink Fir, Sharpes Express and Vivaldi. I had said I might not grow any this year but that has not gone so well!

Any suggestions on varieties which might grow well in potato bags?

Maincrop spuds tend to get quite big so it might be an idea to stick to earlies or 2nd earlies.
Having said that any spud will grow in a bag as long as there is sufficient space and nutrients - the general consensus though is that you get smaller spuds than you would in the ground.
So spuds like Ratte, Lady Christi, jazzy, Sharpe’s Express, Charlotte and International Kidney might do well…

Whatever you do, don’t do what I did one year and use a large plastic pot with no holes in it - it was all growing nicely til a large downpour and it all got waterlogged as I’d not made holes in the bottom! Good luck!

Has anyone tried growing chickpeas locally? I love them but don’t know how they would do here. My Uncle-in-law as such grows them in Spain, but obviously a very different climate.

Nope. But never been inclined as I simply rehydrate good quality dried ones. Which are cheap.

2020-02-09T00:00:00Z

The Great London Potato and Seed Fair, now finds a home at Roots & Shoots. Loads of Seed Potatoes, onion sets, shallots, seeds, rhubarb crowns, fruit trees and bushes and great refreshments.

Really good for buying a few different varieties as you buy by the spud.

Get there early and prepare for a squeeze - it gets busy…

Roots & Shoots
Walnut Tree Walk
London
SE11 6DN

I might try and make it, but taken one of the boys to a party 10-12.30 so might be tight to get there especially if trains are not running well. so might try the 1st March one - that said I already have too much stuff!

No such thing!

It’s been so wet I’ve not put any peas in the ground yet, but I think I will try this week to put some in a gutter in the greenhouse and get going that way. First spuds hopefully in the ground next month also.

For the first year I will have a Greenhouse, and coupled with a Heated Propagator with lights (Geopod if anyone is interested) I sowed the tomato, cucumber and pepper seeds this morning - the kids chose their own favourites from last year to grow so will have their own plants and hopefully keep an interest for them. Will do a second sowing in 4 weeks or so for backup and comparison.

Tomatoes were - from last year’s seed - Green Zebra, Black Russian, ‘Medium Pink Tom’ and Yellow Bell \ Pear, from my Spanish Uncle in Law, Picon, Rosa and Tumaco and from seed packets Sungold and The Amateur (the latter is new to me).

Cucumbers were La Diva and Burpless, Peppers were Marconi and Colour Rainbow, both first for me.

Have essentially done 4 seeds for each hopefully getting at least 2 plants for each variety.

Anyone else got anything going yet?

I probably need to start some Leeks and Broccoli soon but need to check sowing times - I’ve started a very large spreadsheet!

Waiting to get a slab layed for my greenhouse I got free from Facebook last year. Should be done next week and then the rebuilding starts. Hopefully I can find my reference photos. Then the growing can begin. I have an Aerogrow and plan to get some herbs up and running prior to potting out.

Having taken down a shed, children’s playhouse and various other things to then put together the thought of doing this with a greenhouse filled me with dread, so I was delighted there was one already up and only needing a few windows replacing! I wish you good luck - I’m still trying to work out what to do with the base -it’s slabs around the edges and bare earth in the middle, with couch grass coming up in the slab gaps and in the middle. I think I will try to push the slabs mainly out so I can dig everything out and then try to block anything coming in.

Good luck on that. I had everyone telling me what I should and shouldn’t do as a base and finally got does up and have arranged a really good builder to put down a concrete base. That way, of I ever tire of a greenhouse I can take it down and put up a shed. It also means that I can hose it out. Glass panes are expensive so am buying sheets and cutting myself as I have the broken panes for templates. I have to so, if I did it again I would go for the expense of a new greenhouse and not have to take apart an old knackered one, transport it, and then figure out how to rebuild it.

I haven’t seriously got much on yet - I normally start in March for most stuff. I have got a load of peppers and chilies going despite saying I wouldn’t plant many this year - I think I have over 50 so Ill be giving some away. Week after next I will probably get going with toms and brassicas and they everything else. Over the years I have learned to control the urge to get planting as soon as I see a bit of blue sky!
Not sure what I am doing this year as we are looking to move towards the end of the year - naturally it is pointless growing some things as we wont be able to take them with us…
Debs has all the timings down from last year so I’ll consult her before we start in earnest but if I am honest the potential move away has somewhat lessened my enthusiasm…

Well all my tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers have now come up and doing reasonably well, bar some yellow stuffers that may be dud seeds. Just need to try and keep them going until I can put them in the greenhouse - will probably follow most advice and sow a bit later next year but at worst it’s a good seed test and at best some will keep going and give me some early produce. The cucumbers are definitely growing larger and faster than I expected!

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Put my charlotte potatoes in the ground as I’d left them in too warm a room so hopefully the ground not so soggy, and hoping the peas planted a week and a bit go get going soon. Have more to plant which I will do in a few weeks.

Going to try and get some companion plants going and some carrots sown in the next week or so.

Any suggestions for some early crops to get in s small patch now?

Raddish are quick and there are some nice varieties.
Pak Choi and the like.
Baby beets (maybe a little early)
Spinach for baby salad leaf.
Cut and come again salad.
Chard - again for baby leaves
Chives
Turnips - not to everyone’s taste!

Any suggestions for the sweetest strawberries to grow in a pot or hanging basket? I really like Jubilee, but it doesn’t seem as if you can buy the plants.

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Some early picking from overwintered plants in the poly.

Well I had a slab laid this week and out up my free greenhouse today. Glass in tomorrow and then glass cutting for the panes that didn’t make it

That’s exciting. With a greenhouse you are going to have a bountiful year for sure ! Wish i had one

Has anyone got a large square plant pot base/saucer they do not want. It needs to be about 40cm square. I could buy one online, but it occurs to me that if one of you has one they don’t want then that would be one less bit of plastic in South East London.

Well the tomatoes have kept growing, pretty quickly. Put up the blowaasy greenhouse today and put the tomatoes and cucumbers in this afternoon, as well as some broccoli, calabrese, leeks and brussel sprouts I am trying for the first time this year.

I also have a tray of sunflowers and dwarf french beans ( 16 of each) to try as an early crop of we get lucky with the weather- will leave those in there overnight but Tomatoes have come in.

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Also have one cucumber plant that is romping away and already has the makings of some cucumbers on it! Have potted it on and will see how it goes - am fast running out of room in the house. This was it a few days ago before I reported it:

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Ideally these would all be going out to the allotment but will have to wait and see how things develop obviously- once our house is out of our 2 week quarantine next week will hopefully pop down and put some more potatoes in the ground.

Plan to sow some squash, more tomatoes for cover and some flowers, mainly borage and french marigold as companion plants, and maybe some lavender. What with staying at home at least I can keep on top of the watering hopefully, though of course not at the allotment if that gets locked down, or I decide best not to go.

I realise it’s not a priority right now but I’ve found it a blessed distraction and a nice hobby that needs daily attention which at present is useful, and will get me some fresh food later this year hopefully.

Looks great mate.
With a potential move on the horizon I have been a little slow this year but I have got a few peppers, chillies, toms and other bits and bobs in.
I am glad I have all the seeds and bits I need as they are getting rarer by the day!

Same re the seeds - that weird thing where you buy too many seeds has come in handy, in addition to saving some last year (will do a lot more of that this year) - and has enabled me to give quite a few away as well. It’s crazy, even getting compost is a mission.

I look forward hearing about your slower year with 60 tomato plants or more!

Only 50 so far this year!

Hello! Does anyone happen to have any spare potting sale that I might purchase/swap for something? We have lots of houseplants that need repotting but Shannon’s is shut and doesn’t feel in keeping with social distancing to drive down to b&q for non essentials!

Shannon’s is taking orders over the phone for various bits - you can collect from the back which I did today. i think they will deliver too.

Good tip, I thought I saw they closed on Facebook but will have to give them a try!

Finally got the free greenhouse together, like a big set of Meccano without instructions. Having said that it was quite easy to do. In typical fashion I managed to break two of the largest pieces of glass. Hoping we come out the other side soon so I can get some glass cut and use it. Glass needs a very good clean.

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looks like a very fine Job. Wish i had one !

Thank you.

Help, we couldn’t find any tomato plants (and even seeds though it’s really late) to buy.

Would anyone spare/sell a tomato plant? Or know for sure a place where you can still find them these days.

Philippe

Hi Philippe

I might have some seeds, if you still want seeds let me know and I will have a look.

I might end up with some spare plants but won’t know for 4 weeks or so and no guarentees!

Some of the major suppliers will still send them out (possibly late), but a huge increase in the amount of people wanting to garden this year means they are all overloaded.

Let me know re the seeds.

Thanks

Al

Likewise @Philippe. I have plenty of seeds but until planting out time I wont know what I have although barring disaster I will have some spares…
Do try some of the online suppliers - https://www.dobies.co.uk/ have some but I dont know how long it will take to get them out…

I have been waiting forever for some grafted tomato plants from Suttons (same company as Dobies). Likewise strawberry plants from Pomona. But I got some nice looking herbs from Shannons yesterday. I also bought some flower seeds, having given up hope that Suttons would ever send them. Got home and the Suttons seeds had arrived. My courtyard will be awash with double helpings of night scented/Virginia stock mix this year.

I have plenty of sunflower seeds and quite a lot of sprouting sunflowers if any one would like some ?

I could probably be persuaded to part with one or two small tomato plants (indigo rose variety) if asked nicely !

Hi Do you still need one of these?

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Al offered me a few seeds already so we’ll give that a go. I’ll come begging again if we’re unsuccessful

Actually we could use some sunflower - we had good success with them last year, notably a 2.5m giant which peaked in the middle of our garden! Seeds where mostly empty unfortunately.

I have tons of baby sunflowers about 2 - 3 inches tall, some of them are multi headed smaller ones and some of them are real brutes - tall and very large heads. let me know who wants some and we will sort something out,

I have a few bald patches in my lawn. I also have a box of grass seed that is about four or five years old. It’s been kept in a shed that fluctuates quite a bit temperature-wise. Do people think the seed stands any chance of germinating, or would I be better off to try and source some fresh seed from somewhere this year? THANKS!

No harm trying the seed, I had some stored in a garage for about 3 years and it was fine. But I would also be sure to aeriate and at least top dress the patches too, then make sure to keep it moist. I’ve also found slugs and snails eating new grass shoots on my own lawn repairs, so you might want to keep an eye out for that and consider a barrier of some sort (depends on the size of the patch, but a cut in half plastic bottle can work if you don’t mind it looking like litter for a while!).

In warm weather you should see germination within about a week, so if you don’t see anything after perhaps 2, try again with new seed.

Do you have any idea as to the cause of the patches? It could be lack of fertilisation, disease, insects etc…

I find the following a good resource for lawn care:

https://www.lawnsmith.co.uk/topic/repair-renovation

Thanks for the tips. The bare area is basically a shady spot alongside a fence, so it’s mostly that which has caused it I suspect. I raked over the bare patches, sprinkled the seed and put a layer of potting compost over that. And will be sure to keep it all regularly sprinkled!

Sounds like a good plan. I see it’s forecast to be a bit cooler next week, so a shady spot may take a bit longer to establish.

Alternatively another option I got from Monty Don is to use a seed tray or propagator to grow small bits of turf that can be established indoors and then transplanted outside.

You can get a bit of a head start on the season this way, and it also helps to get slightly better developed grass with deeper roots into the ground.

It all depends how obsessive you are about your lawn really! I’d say I’m probably too far gone

@Philippe
Keep an eye on http://www.shannonsgardencentre.co.uk/

We have sold out of all tomato pot vegetables but we do have an order coming to to us this week.

Baby sun flowers, get your baby sunflowers right here. I have lots, more than you see here. I also have a limited number of tomato plants too. Indigo Rose variety. Very tasty.

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Here’s another source of plants and compost delivered locally.
https://plantsavers.co.uk

Great spot - just ordered some!

Surprise, very nice tomato plants for £2 at Waitrose Beckenham!
Also a few other plants, compost, and basic gardening gear.

I planted onions (first time) last Autumn, and I was hoping to harvest them to make room for tomatoes and beans. I am a little confused about when to harvest. This is what the RHS says about the variety:

"Another improved Japanese variety which is great for early planting and can be harvested from late May to early June. It has a mild flavour and will store well until the following spring in the right conditions…

Garden care: Plant this onion from October to January, 3cm deep and 12cm apart. Lift the onions when they are mature (normally in August) and allow them to dry before using"

Do they mean the onions can be taken any time from May, but any remaining should be lifted by August?

I’m not 100% sure, but I’ve also planted some in previous years in autumn and from memory it’s more June \ July they are ready - May sounds early to me and I guess to an extent the weather plays a part.

You can of course lift and try them anytime - I took a young garlic today that looks like a spring onion - will have it tomorrow.

Could you possibly plant some of the tomato and bean plants between the rows so they grow and are in to grow for a month or so before you harvest the onions?

I wouldn’t plant between the onions. You should stop watering them and let them dry out (when ready) other crops like tomatoes will need lots of water.

Yeah that is a bit confusing.
Onions, if you want to store them, really need to be mature with several layers of papery skin. Hence the pick in August text. They will actually die back with the tops going over (that is when you don’t need to water them). However you can start taking them at any point after they bulk up a bit - first for green shoots and then for fresh bulb onions…
If you don’t have much space then you could do as suggested and pop a tom here and there.
Onions actually do need water while growing (but don’t like sitting in it) so you will be Ok for a while if you don’t take the onions till August then the toms will be quite big by then. Bit of a juggling act!

I’m negotiating with the OH about digging up more of the lawn.

Another question about onions if I may. I haven’t grown them before and have noticed some are sitting much higher in the earth so the bulb is exposed. See the two pictures for contrast. Is this just how it is, some onions deeper in the soil and some more exposed? Should I do anything e.g. pack more fresh compost around them?

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@Shannonsgc have a whole load of veg seedlings in stock - pepper, chillis, tomatoes, cucumbers etc - you need to order via email and then collect from the car park once they confirm your order I believe:

vegetable seedlings
list as follows
strips of veg at £3 each

• aubergine, beetroot, black kale, broccoli, Brussel sprouts, cabbage pointed red tinty, cabbage pointed sweetheart, cabbage red, cabbage round, cabbage savoy, cabbage spring, cabbage winter, carrot baby round, carrot chantenay, carrot rainbow mix, cauliflower, celeriac, celery, Chillie pepper scotch bonnet, courgette patio star, Cucumber F, Cucumber Mini, Cucumber Ridge, Curly Kale Red, Curly Kale, Kohl Rabi, Lambs Lettuce, Leeks,
  Lettuces - Baby leaf mix, Butterhead, Cos, Green Oak leaf, Iceberg, Little Gem, Red Salad Bowl, Romaine,
  Onion Mammoth White, Red, White. Parsnip, Purple Sprouting Broccoli Early, Salad leaf Italian Mix, Spinach , Spring Onion Red, Spring Onion White, Swede, sweet pepper sweet banana, sweet pepper, sweetcorn baby, sweetcorn baby, sweetcorn extra sweet, tomatoes - Ailsa Craig, Alicante, Baby Plum Lucinda, Beefmaster, Black Russian, Gardeners Delight, Golden Crown, Moneymaker. Roma, Shirley, Sungold, super sweet 100, totem, tumbling tom red.

• pots of veg at £2 each
  Aubergine Black Beauty, Butternut Squash Metro
  Chilli Peppers - Apache, Habanero Paper Lantern, Scotch Bonnet,
  Courgettes - El Greco, Golden Jemmer, Summer Ball
  Cucumber - Mini Hana, Ridge Perfection, Snack Tiny Tot.
  Marrow Long Green Bush, Melon Cantaloupe, Pumpkin Jack O Lantern,
  Sweet Peppers -Balconi ( patio variety), green bellboy, sweet banana, terrazzi ( patio variety) Yellow
  Tomatoes - Alicante, Baby Plum Lucinda, Beefmaster, Gardeners Delight, Moneymaker. Roma, Shirley, Sungold, super sweet 100, tumbling tom red.

10 cm Dynamte Chillies £4 pot basket of fire, bhut jolokia, demon red, habenero burkina yellow, magnum (orange) , habenero paper lantern, hot scotch bonnet red, inferno, prairie fire, scotch bonnet ( big sun) trinidad perfume, trinidad scorpion.

Grafted vegetables at £5 a pot.
Chillie Pepper Big Devil, Cucumber Baby Rocky, Cucumber Kuper, Sweet Pepper Maccabi, Tomato Agora (San Marzano type) Coeur des Boeuf, Gusta (mini red) Kilates, Maestria, Shirley, Sungold, Supersweet

@DevonishForester Nick will know more than I, but is this not down to how deep you planted them, Mine always end up slightly different heights above the soil, but I believe you are meant to plant with the top of the onion just poking through the top of the soil, second ones looks like it was planted a bit deep maybe, but will hopefully sort itself out - plenty of time to grow yet.

I wouldn’t worry about it - some may just be bulbing faster than others or it may have been planted a bit deeper… They will still be fine whatever…

Got my first tomatoes coming through now. Have today moved all my larger tomato plants to the greenhouse at the allotment with a few squash and peppers, all my smaller tomatoes and the other squash and peppers will keep back to see how the others do.

Need to sow some more squash, cucumbers and beans in the next week. The beans I planted out appear to have all died so that experiment did not work!

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Why have my strawberry plants died? I planted “cold stored” French strawberry plants a few weeks ago. Where I had terracotta pots available I used those, with about half of those remaining I planted in plastic pots. All those in plastic pots appear to have died. Shrivelled and brown. All but one of those in terracotta pots are thriving, with just one plant having shrivelled up.

Soil, watering, conditions have been exactly the same. They’re all in full sun from about midday till sunset.

There are 3 varieties; 6 plants of each type. . None of the Mara des Bois have died. They are doing best. Two (maybe more) of the Manille have survived. I think all of the Gariguette are dead or dying.

I’m giving them all the benefit of the doubt at the moment, but I fear I’m treating them like Norman Bates’ mother.

Can terracotta vs plastic make that much difference? One of the plastic pots (a hanging basket, though not hung up yet) was bought a few years ago with a thriving strawberry plant in it.I have used it for ornamental plants since that season.

I cleaned all pots and crocks thoroughly before use and used new compost (Levington’s multi purpose, if memory serves - I need to check the empty bag.)

Maybe the terracotta keep water longer and don’t dry out as quickly?

I actually wondered if it could have been the other way around? The soil in the plastic pots seemed much wetter to the touch than the soil in the terracotta pots. So I wondered if the terracotta was wicking excess moisture away during all that heavy rain we had recently. I’m surprised it made that much difference that quickly. The plants that seem to be doing best are the ones in a terracotta strawberry pot. I have three little strawberries appearing already on there, even though I must have blinked and missed the flowers. And they’re the Mara des Bois, which I thought were supposed to be a later cropping type.

Bit daunted by the thought of the cold weather coming in now. All could change!

My tarragon has been completely consumed by slugs I think … though I haven’t seen any.

Bronze fennel question: I bought a plant of this for a pot in the back yard, near a window because I love the scent of it and also to screen some pipework. But what size pot can I get away with? I intend to cut any flowers to prevent self seeding. Do container grown bronze fennels come up again for a few years? And lastly, what sort of store bought compost is best?

Thanks.

Can be a bit of a thug as it gets big quick so you might need a biggish pot if you want it to reach its majestic glory! It should come back year after year but anything in pots is more susceptible to drying out or freezing so take care in the off season as much as you would through the growing season…
Compost. A source of much argument as to what is good and what isn’t.
New Horizon is good for a peat free variety. Wicks home brand stuff is pretty good but is peat based if you care about that. Jacks Magic gets good reviews but isn’t cheap. Don’t like the B&Q stuff much myself but it is good for the money…

Thanks Nick. My husband has made me some very nice sort of trolley things on wheels, complete with drainage holes. They’re pretty heavyweight affairs so I can wheel it into a sheltered spot for the winter.

Does anyone use the garlic scapes from their garlic plants? I would be interested in culinary uses that have been tested by SE23’ers.

This isn’t a proper answer to your question, but I buy stuff from the Isle of Wight Garlic Farm and they occasionally sell scrapes. So far, I’ve missed the window in which they sell them. But they have ideas and recipes on their website …

https://www.thegarlicfarm.co.uk/cooking/recipes/how-to-cook-garlic-scapes

Thanks! I’ll try some of these recipes. I saw the scapes on my garlic plants last year and had no idea what they were.

Do you know if any varieties of onions have scapes or only garlic? The reason I’m asking is that I planted garlic and onions close together and there are a couple of plants that I’m not sure whether they are onion or garlic!

Onions tend to blow or go to seed about this time of year and you can treat the “scrapes” like a spring onion. If you let onions go then they are useless as they tend to produce one big hard flower stem using all the reserves of the bulb - you can still harvest them early, as in now, but they wont keep.
So if mine start to blow i tend to take the whole thing - or if in a rush break the flowering stalk off and eat in a salad…

Watch out for you tender plants tonight - 3C forecast overnight which could mean a touch of ground frost. Looks like the beans out on Kent House Road site are a goner and last night wasn’t as cold…

Is it really forecast to be that cold? I thought it was closer to +3, which is still cold! I have 5 rows of Charlotte potatoes up but not sure I can earth them all up (well I can’t so will just have to risk them!).

Either way I am fleecing my tomato plants (as have done this week) in the greenhouse, and have some tealights with some terracotta pots to see if that helps. A couple of the toms already appear to have some damage but hoping most will get through, and the others recover as it looks like it’s getting warmer.

Sorry that is my bad habit of using - instead of ,
it is 3C tonight but that is still cold enough to produce a frost at ground level…
Debating whether to bring in my tender stuff from the garden poly…

I’ve still been bringing in all my tomato and squash seedlings at home each night - I think it’s worth it as it should only be for another 2-3 days and it’s been a fair bit of work getting the to where they are now! I’ve not even taken them back out today!

We didn’t pay enough attention to the forecasts. Just covered over our potatoes and courgettes at the allotment. The potatoes took a bit of a hit last night or the previous one. Slightly blackened tips- but I think they will recover fine. Not so sure about 4 courgette plants we put out last week. I’ve fleeced over them but they may not recover. - growing some backup anyway.

Just back from checking on my potatoes, tops not looking amazing but bottom 23rds seem fine- just have to hope they survive tonight!

Does anyone know what kind of tree this is?

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Copper beech maybe?

More of a shrub than a tree. *Cotinus coggygria Smoke bush

@Dave_Benson looking at your posts on the forum, you have an impressive talent for identifying plants and trees! Are you a horticulturalist by trade?

Lovely trees aren’t they?
I have one out front and it is impressive - big ones are expensive too.

Thanks very much, and, as Chris said, impressive!

So nice to find this chat ! We are fledgling gardeners and just built some raised beds. We want to grow veggies and would like to get a big bag of organic top soil to fill the beds. When we’ve had a look online we see mixed reviews and thought it would be good to hear what local gardeners have used! Does anyone have any recommendations of where to get soil that would be suitable for a veg patch?

Hi there,

I have several spare tomato plants (I think Gardener’s Delight and Outdoor Girl variety) I have been growing indoors. They range from about 10cm-50cm. Unfortunately I am running out of space for them - would anybody like one or more for their allotment/garden? Pickup on Wastdale rd or I could drop off if nearby.

Many thanks

Hi @Cheddarbird

I don’t need any per se but someone at my allotment lost all theirs at the allotment in the cold, a d someone else was isolating so didn’t get started so if you have any spare I’m happy to collect and hand over to both.

Thanks

Al

I suppose it depends how big the beds are. I’ve always just put compost and sometimes manure (latter mainly for squash but some root veg do not like it) . You can order bulk deliveries online, I’ve seen a fee people getting mushroom compost to add to existing soil but not sure how it works if it’s the only thing in the bed.

So how much do you need and what veg? Shannon’s have them and so will other diy centres though availability is hit and miss (or was last time I looked).

How exciting. I used to have raised beds in my last house and they were very productive. We haven’t the space now. I can’t remember how we started them off. My husband made them, but the garden had been a sheep field before we came along and never cultivated, so we planted a huge area with Kerr’s Pink potatoes the first year, just to break up and condition the heavy soil. A TV gardener I was working with had warned me to expect those first season potatoes to be riddlled with wireworm from the grassland. But they weren’t. I didn’t have a single wireworm. The potatoes were the best ever.

I think you’re very wise to go for a recommendation for soil suppliers. We bought in a lorry load of topsoil for our front garden here and it came with the most annoying weed. You can’t go wrong with Shannons, even if it is a bit more pricey than some.

Great - when can you pick up?

Does anyone still want any tomato plants.
I have spare, they aren’t huge but they are in pots and ready to be potted on or planted out. They are a variety called Tamina

HI @DevonishForester did you try any of the recipes for garlic scapes? I have bought some at last, but they they look tougher than I’d expected and I’m not sure whether I should cut off and discard the flower pod. I was thinking of maybe blanching them then frying in tempura batter, as the Garlic Farm suggests. But they look a bit hard for that.

I have a old (and rather grubby) Water butt and some plastic pots/trays, I no longer need if of use to anyone. I can leave them outside for contact free collection.

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Help! Fungi are appearing on my runner beans and I don’t know whether I should throw them away or what?

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I haven’t grown runner beans for many years and in the past always planted the seeds straight into prepared ground.

This year I followed a tip from the Internet and started them off in loo roll tubes. They were slow to germinate and now I have fungi appearing - maybe from the roots?

This was a new bag of compost and I don’t have fungi on anything else I planted using it. I planted sweet pea seeds on the same day, also using loo roll tubes. No fungi on anything other than the runner bean tubes.

The bean plants themselves appear healthy.

They are White Lady runner beans, planted 9th May. I bought the seeds from eBay but from someone with good feedback.

(Edit to clarify: I didn’t buy them from Sarah Raven. That’s something else back of shot.)

Let them dry out a bit and they will be OK, or better still get them in the ground as soon as you can.
It’s just the cardboard being constantly damp, it makes a great atmosphere for fungi… Although why it only affects the beans is a bit odd.

Thanks @Foresthillnick. I’ll plant them out tomorrow. I only noticed them today and have been in a right fret. When I saw you had posted on the Shannon thread just now, I thought “Oh please, please let Nick see my question. He’ll know what to do!”

Could anyone here spare some perlite please? It seems like the 100l bags are still available so I wondered if a gardener who uses it regularly enough to have a big bag might have some. I’m struggling to find smaller bags for a sensible price - 4-5 times the normal price is more than the plant I want to repot cost!

Am trialling growing a new tomato plant from a sideshoot I cut off a tomato plant. It seems to have developed one root - been in the glass a week now.

Might be useful (if it works) and you have only one of a type of plant, if you want some backups or where seed is expensive and you want to grow lots etc.

Will update with how it goes.

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I have got 6 or 7 in water but I do this most years to get a later crop. Normally i just stick them in a pot with wet compost and they root in a few days…
Fun though init??

My lettuce are rotting. Any ideas why?

Rotting from the leaf edges or more in the middle\head??

At the moment anything that goes wrong is put down to heat!

Do you just do this with bush varieties or for cordons also? I’d try a few more but I think I cut everything off, though might try a sungold as I have a greenhouse now so can pop it in once I have a larger sideshoot.

Do you effectively sow less seeds with the idea of doing this each year?

I do it with indeterminate varieties like sungold - I am going to take them off regardless so I usually just pot one or two up for fun and for a later crop. I dont really plant less seed but I get some free plants!

From the middle, some are OK, some just liquid.

Garlic Question - I’ve never really grown this succesfully but have hope this year!

I think I’ve lost 2 rows to white rot or some fungus, but they are far from my other garlic which is goign well with thick stalks and some leaves starting to now turn yellow.

I realise it’s very early to start harvesting (these are November plantings, mixture of hard and soft neck varieties, but with unusual period of hot and sunny weather could they be nearly ready?

So here we are time to put in a pot (well maybe that was a few weeks ago). Amazing how much it roots from a side shoot stem- makes you understand the value of getting the tomato plants planted deeper each time you pot on.

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Nothing like the first home grown spuds of the season with a bit of fresh mint

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Nice ! I had some last night as well - just butter on mine, and for lunch today cold with chives, eggs and mayonnaise- very good!

Have started pulling up some garlic and onions as think I have some white rot. Garlic looking better than last year so far, but got rid of quite a lot that was infected.

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We have seven or eight of these plants growing in our front garden. Does anyone know what they are?

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I think they’re ash tree saplings.

Thank you - I thought they may be some sort of tree.

Good morning all,

I’ve inherited this bush/tree from the previous owners. Each time it seems to be on the verge of dying it sprouts new shoots. Anyone have any ideas what this could be?

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Looks like Buddleja to me. Probably just a blown in ‘weed’, rather than a named variety of which there are many. It is one of 5 major invasive species in the uk and will grow pretty much anywhere so not surprising it comes back after cutting it hard. Personally I would get rid of it and plant something nicer but it will flower and encourage bees and butterflies

Yes buddleja are lovely in the right setting but I had one in the garden and it was just too big. Lots of butterflies - hence the name of Butterfly Bush. I cut it back every year but it just encouraged it to grow harder so it had to go in the end… I have seen them growing out of tiny crack in concrete and walls and of course is seen up and down railways across the land. It can cause issues and is incredibly prolific, self seeding everywhere…

Thanks @Dave_Benson and @Foresthillnick . It’s decided, I will get rid of it. I didn’t want to until I confirmed what it was.

First tomatoes from a late February sowing starting to come through now. Red ones are ‘The Amateur’ and orange ones ‘Sungold’ - these have been mostly in a greenhouse. Other varieties in the greenhouse still a way off ripening, same as outdoor ones.

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Had one squash plant die (think it was eaten at the base) andy Turks Turban has fruit but is clinging off for life as all the leaves are getting eaten alive, unlike the others.

Lots of peas but none making it home as my boys just eat them there and loads of strawberries though mostly coming to the end. Plenty of raspberries also.

Excellent stuff! My first tom looks to be just about ripe but I may have to wait a while for a whole salad.
Plenty of lettuce here, a few courgettes, a couple of gherkins, more broad beans than you can shake a stick at, a few french beans and other bits and bobs means we are almost back to self sufficiency in veg. Had some great overwintered onions although garlic was a bit poor with some white rot knocking some out…
This is the time when everything grows like crazy - long warm days and some water in the ground and suddenly everything is galloping along.
By the way do you need any chicken stuff? We have feeders and waterers plus a few other bits - PM if needed…

Any idea why is eating my hop?

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Hops in the top10, so caterpillar would be my guess.

p.s if you ever make beer and need tasting volunteers…

I don’t make beer with it, but last year it was hugely productive so maybe if someone is really motivated to get the flowers we can discuss.

This query is about indoor growing. Does anyone has a solution for dealing with an infestation of tiny flies in compost I have used to re-pot a big house plant? (Fly paper?) I guess these are the flies I call “fruit flies” because they look like the kind you see taking an interest in a fruit bowl containing over-ripe fruit.

I had a similar problem a few years ago with some orchid compost I’d bought from a garden centre and within days of re-potting several of my orchids I had loads of tiny flies all over the flat. I contacted the company who had made the compost and they sent me a packet of several sheets of bright yellow sticky cards, with a small hole at one end to go over a stake which then was placed in various pots around the flat. The flies are attracted to the colour yellow and then get stuck on the sticky stuff! It took a couple of weeks but did work. I can’t remember what these yellow cards were called but found lots of similar things on ebay and Amazon by googling for “yellow sticky card for flies”! However you may be able to get them in Shannons - our local garden centre on Stanstead Road…

A bit if colour from the allotment - french beans, peppers, tomatoes, onions, garlic, courgettes, cucumber, plums.

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In all honesty my onions and garlic were a bit of a disaster, lost a lot to white rot and some if the onions hardly grew (not sure I watered them enough).

Used my last lot of ‘Spanish’ peas so decided to try and save seed from most of that crop, hopefully they will be good:

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Has anyone grown ginger? I had some in the kitchen which started sprouting, so I planted it. Seems to be growing, but very slowly. [problem uploading picture]

I always struggle with growing leafy greens in the garden - every creature wants a piece of it or wants to dig it up. I’m going to try New Zealand Spinach which apparently is resilient. It’s a bit late in the season, but I’m going to do it anyway. I’ve bought seed from a company I haven’t used before. They recommend keeping seeds in the fridge - does anyone here do that?

Thanks Chris, macabre but effective …

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Pleased you managed to get some and they’re working!

Hello,
I was wondering if someone of you know someone who has a garden to share.
I’m growing vegetables and flowers on my balcony, but there is not enough space to plant all year long for different seasons.

So what I’m looking for is a green space, where the owner allows me to grow vegetables in exchange for a part of the produce. Ideally should be accessible through a gate and not the house, others sun hours, and has a way of collecting water or other ways of watering.

If you know someone please let me know, super keen to start some urban farming.

Thank you
Kevin

Have you tried getting on a waiting list for a plot?

@Foresthillnick do you know how I can join the waiting list for Barriedale Allotments? Many thanks

I do!
Ill PM you as we tend to keep it quiet - it’s a small private site and there is a waiting list…

The plots around me have a queue of around 3 to 8 years, at least looking at the Lewisham website.
I’m living between on a border between Lewisham and Southwark and being a resident of Lewisham crosses a lot of Southwark allotments out, like one tree hill.

Tending for another’s garden is a win/win for both, and maybe a faster option to have access to a green space.

Anyone had success with getting a match through https://www.lendandtend.com ?

Hi Kevin - good luck finding a garden, it would certainly be a win win though perhaps in covd times people without a side entrance might be more nervous of this?

With regards to allotments, I am sure there were some in Dulwich you could apply to that seemed better than Lewisham- I ended up in Bromley just past Bell Green and it’s been great. Huge site which had just under a year on the waiting (imagine it’s gone up now). Well worth putting your name down either way for some near you, you can always come off. I similarly gave up with Lewisham (still on the lists I believe) as they did seem long but not sure how well moving people on is being down via the council - I think the dedicated position is no longer there.

FYI: there’s a Kickstarter for a photobook taken on local allotments. It’s not for profit, proceeds go to the Trussell Trust which supports our local Lewisham Foodbank

Hi @Foresthillnick, I would like to put me on the Barriedale Allotments waiting list as well, if that is possible. Many thanks.

I live in Portugal now
I’ll dig the email out la

Look what I found in the garden. Yes, it’s November…

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Weirdly we had 3 poppies bloom yesterday.

It’s so mild nowdays some seasons are extending I think - hope it tasted good!

This thread will now close - new 2021 thread here.