[JDParticipant]

If they produce fertilised squash, is there a maximum number I should leave on per plant?

[JDParticipant]

Good luck!
These are some pics from the new allotment mentioned earlier with sandy soil, very little rain and also three quarters of it is under the canopy of an oak tree. Just been told that I can move to the adjoining plot which has more sun (hooray) but it will be a shame to move after all the work. Hopefully the mole won’t come too!
Jan

[JDParticipant]

I’ve had slugs in my cabbages but mostly not a problem this year. Moles have been more evident. Have used the sheep’s wool slug deterrent around susceptible plants and (apart from the birds throwing it everywhere) I’ve not had a nibble. Had another person on site say she’d tried it unsuccessfully last year. Most of the other allotment holders have been dousing slug pellets pretty heavily around peas/beans/lettuces, so sadly it looks as though we still have them here!
Maybe you could put a survey on your main website with boxes for people to tick??
Jan

[JDParticipant]

Hi there,
I am also thinking of buying a polytunnel. Maybe 12 x 20ft. However I’m in Cambridgeshire and the temperature last week was 34 degrees in the shade. I’m worried about ‘cooking’ any delicate plants in the obviously hotter temperature in a polytunnel. Is a door each end really enough for this temperature? This would be on an allotment and I can’t always get there to water/open/shut doors. Any other suggestions to keep temp down in extreme conditions? Thanks for help
Jan

[JDParticipant]

Hi Jacquie
I would be tempted to add the green manure foliage to your compost bin. If you leave it in situ it could well attract a lot of slugs, particularly covered with plastic bags as they’ll love the dark and damp. This would not be a great start for your new brassica plants! I would cover with a layer of well rotted manure or compost instead and leave your green manure to rot down into lovely compost for use at a later date. Good luck

[JDParticipant]

Hi Don and everyone.
I have been wondering about getting a polytunnel for our allotment to extend the season but have been put off a bit by the fact that I can’t get there twice a day to open and close up and there is no water on site. The soil is stony. I was intrigued by Don’s modification to use greenhouse vent openers. How would you do that? Also what do people find to be the best size in such circumstances and do people get the ‘five ply anti-drip’ covers or just basic. Thanks for your help. I really like the idea of one, but am worried that it would just cremate everything.
Jan

[JDParticipant]

Hi All
As a follow up to your posts here, I’ve usually found that the normal-size insect netting (not ultra-fine) usually lets through both whitefly and mealy cabbage aphid which can then reach plague proportions in the protected conditions inside the netting. However,I do live in Cambridgeshire where brassicas (oilseed rape) can be somewhat of a monoculture so we may have more of these pests around than most. Also, if anyone’s interested, you CAN get insect netting in black which is less obtrusive. I’ve seen it on the ‘Harrod Horticultural’ website, but not tried it myself.
Finally, there are some compensations for the rape fields. View from allotment.

Attachments:

You must be logged in to view attached files.

[JDParticipant]

I’ve never tried these things but just wondered if they were close enough to the growlights? They do look very leggy.

[JDParticipant]

Hi Marcus
I have an allotment 7 feet away from a mature oak tree. Three quarters of the plot is directly under the tree canopy. It’s early days yet as this is my 1st season. I’ve put down cardboard and then some raised beds to grow veg in and am just hoping the tree roots take a while to penetrate. These photos of both ends of the same bed were taken earlier today. There’s broad beans, beetroot, carrot and spring cabbage. They’ve been under fleece to keep the wildlife and pigeon droppings from the tree off. Unfortunately by now the bed may look somewhat different as a few days ago a mole moved in and is causing havoc. You can see one of its tunnels in the gooseberry on the top right of the second photo. Just added third picture of lettuce. Fingers crossed!

[JDParticipant]

Hi Ruth,
Yes I thought of that but I’m not aware of one in the local area. It seems to be all wheat, barley and rape around here with the very occasional field of maize, presumably for biofuel. Thanks for your input anyway.

On the positive side we managed to get to the recycling centre today to collect some municipal compost. When I stuck a thermometer in it in situ the reading was 60 degrees. Pretty fresh then. We took some anyway.
I also managed to find a farm with beef cows and on speaking to the manager he said they might have a little bit of year-old manure left which could possibly be delivered (yippee!) before Christmas. If this happens my question is this. I’m assuming that these composts are both too young to be spread on the ground, so would I be better to put down a thin layer of the woody manure from the trial bags, then cover it in cardboard and then cover that with the woven weed membrane I already have for a few months? If I stack the composts when do you think I may be able to use them? Or alternatively would it be better to mix them together and/or feed them in thin layers into my general compost heap? Also do you think adding some chicken manure pellets and/or seaweed meal would improve the situation or make them be usable faster? Sorry that’s a lot of questions but I’m just trying to plant asap.
Thank you.

[JDParticipant]

Thanks for your advice guys.
Just got to work out how I can gather a few tons of compost from the recycling centre about 12 miles away…. without a trailer! As you say, I like a challenge!
J

[JDParticipant]

It IS weedy. I’m the one with the overgrown allotment with several trenches, 6 feet away from the oak tree (and roots) and 7 feet away from the prairie field of rape.Think I’ve dug out all the brambles now but not sure what else is under there. Since discovered the soil is sandy and stony too. Oh joy. No wonder people kept giving it up. However, I’m determined to succeed….
Just wish I’d got some aged manure so I might get some success the first part of the year. Anybody got good initial results with municipal compost?

[JDParticipant]

You’ve come a long way since the dairy farm!

As a quick follow up have you ever done any experiments on comparing veg grown in your own composts from a ‘cold’ mainly fungal heap verses a ‘hot’ mainly bacterial heap? Or know of research by those who have?

Secondly, do you know of research by anyone who has tested compost made from ‘conventional’ veg, mainly brassicas, sprayed in a gamut of pesticides including the said neonicotinoids, to see how far the residues break down and whether they are ‘safe’ to use? Might be the only way I can find enough material at the moment to build a compost heap but I’m wary of the residues which might remain. Echos of aminopyralids.

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions Charles. I appreciate you’re a busy man. Good luck with the diary. I shall be adding one to my collection.

[JDParticipant]

Exactly!

So what got you into organic then Charles? For me it was the ‘All Muck and Magic’ TV programmes run by HDRA/Garden Organic many moons ago in my formative years. Been a member ever since. I can still remember a programme featuring Beth Chatto saying she would never eat a non-organic apple because she used to work in the industry and the number of times apples were sprayed was insane. I can never quite get my head around the message that something toxic enough to kill other creatures is totally harmless and without effect on us! We have so much DNA in common.
Been a member of the RSPB for years too. I didn’t know they sprayed.
Hope you’ve not been flooded!
J
PS Do you ever sleep man?

[JDParticipant]

Do you think raspberries would crop well under the oak tree canopy? I’m told it gets afternoon sun. If so, would I plant into the soil and then mulch afterwards, or plant into the mulch? I’ve never grown raspberries before.

Thanks, Charles, for replying to ‘the toxic bouquet’ post. Just trying to get the message spread a bit further. What also concerns me is just how many of the garden centre plants marked ‘perfect for pollinators’ have themselves been treated with pest/fung/biocides to make the plant more appealing to purchase. Seems to be routine to spray many plants with dwarfing agents too!

[Author]

Posts