down at the allotment and in the garden what are you up to

[ohareward]

Hi Cheezy, here is a list of BAD companions.


Apples- grass, potatoes.
Apricots- tomatoes,basil,sage.
Beans- onions,garlic,fennel,kohlrabi
Beetroot- tall beans.
Broccoli- strawberries.
Cabbages- rue,strawberries,tomatoes,garlic.
Cauliflowers- strawberries.
Coriander- fennel.
Fennel- beans,tomatoes,kohlrabi,coriander,wormwood.
Garlic- peas,beans,cabbages,strawberries.
Mint- parsley.
Parsnip- carrots,celery.
Pears- grass.
Peas- onions,shallots,garlic,
Potatoes- apples,cherries,cucumbers,pumpkins,tomatoes,raspberries,
Pumpkins- potatoes.
Radishes- Hyssop.
Raspberries- blackberries,potatoes.
Rosemary- potatoes.
Rue- sage,basil.
Sage- basil,rue,wormwood.
Strawberries- cabbages,cauliflowers,brussels sprouts,tomatoes,
broccoli,garlic.
Tomatoes- rosemary,potatoes,kohlrabi,fennel,apricots,strawberries,dill.
Wormwood- all other plants. Wormwood is one of the ingredients used in the making of Vermouth. It also keeps moths at a distance.

That is a list of basic vegetables and herbs and fruit. If you plant other stuff, you will need to make your own judgement.

Robin

[the.fee.fairy]

I've been digging again!

My squash have started to come up in the green house, but no sign of the chillies yet

I've put string across 2 fence panels so that the fruit bushes can be tied on (will actually change it to wire when i get some suitable stuff). They're also going to support the squashes as they get bigger and need to climb.

i've taken out half the path (now i wish i'd taken before pictures...), it was a straight patch made of paving slabs going down the middle of the garden. i've hated it for years, so i'm only too happy to take it out now!

I've also dug half the big round bed for the middle of the garden, and the turf from that bed is going to where the path was so that it doesn't look like a muddy strip.

Next job is to finish the round bed and get a load of compost/soil to put in it, then build the structire for the jasmine in the middle. Then i've got to cut the cutting bed. I've got a rose bush for the back of it, and i'm going to put sweet peas in it too. Need to source some other cutting seeds for flowers. I've got some that are really pretty but i don't know whether they'll be suitable. might plant them anyway!

Got my tea tree seeds today - they're tiny!! The tiniest seeds i have ever seen! Don't know how to grow them at the moment. I'll have to red up a bit before i plant them. I'm hoping to get 4 or 5 small bushes out of the 10 seeds to go round the jasmine, with the lavender. Got some lavender seeds to start too actually. And a small lavender bush to put in.

I've used the paving slabs from the path to build a type of rockery structure at the back of the pond. Its really shaded over there, so i don't know whether heathers will grow. It will provide lots of nooks and crannies for things to live in though, so that's good.

Must get pics...

[red]

sounding good Fee

well I have tomatoes and chilies up - and runnign out of windowsil - lean to greenhouse so far has stayed frost free - It would be really good if that was the case - given that there ar fushias in there from the previous owner that were not cut back by the cold at all, I'm hopeful. Fushias are going.. i want things that make food!

spening alot of time looking at bare earth at lack of seedlings coming up - then making more sowings in modules in the greenhouse

have finished foundations to new greenhouse - thanks dad!, so hopefully we shoudl get the fram up over the enxt weekend and find out how much glass is missing. still never look a gift greenhouse in the glass.. or something like that..

[Ranter]

I've got loads of seeds in trays on my windowsills, as greenhouse still isn't glazed: tomatoes (Tumbler), chillies (Hot Caribbean); peppers; mixed sald leaves; several herbs.

I've started a P/T job & it's aggravating my fatigue making me too tired to do any physical work on the lottie. One of my lottie colleagues has been laying paths & clearing a bed (but has no idea about planting), the other has been busy doing up & moving into a house. I've got more seeds to sow & we'll buy some seed tates etc.

A lot of our greenhouse glass is broken, so we're looking at replacing the broken bits with clear polycarbonite sheeting. This means the final greenhouse will be roughly half glass/ half plastic. Can anyone foresee a problem with this?

[Millymollymandy]

I have loads of plants on my windowsill, some which are big enough to plant out already (the courgette and the pumpkins) and I only sowed them on 12 March.

[red]

I spose the last frost where you are M3, will be about the same as for me - mid May? - so you may have sown some a tad early - but you can prolly keep them going for a bit longer. I wont be sowing my courgettes for another week or so

[Millymollymandy]

They say generally mid May in France but in fact I've never known a frost in May, although I'm still careful. I guess I'll start hardening them off beginning of May and plant out mid May. I've got some great 5 litre water bottles to use as mini cloches which hopefully will protect them a little bit.

Was just trying to get started early this year but I didn't know they would grow so quickly!

[the.fee.fairy]

I'm jealous of the tomatoes and chillies growing!! i've 100 or so seeds in the green house and not one has even thought about sprouting yet!

Got to sow the tomatoes at some point. I want about 4 plants for the roof, and then i'll find spaces for the others.

I also want to sow my sweetcorn. I've got the normal large variety, and the minipop. Got to sort that out at the weekend - i've got 4 days off work so that'll be just about enough time to ge tthe garden sorted a bit more!

OohOOh, i've been offered a large plot at the ends of someone's garden. they said we could 'come to a deal'. I'm going to grow some seedlings and then take a wander to their garden and plant them and see what happens.

[Rohen]

I planted the desiree seed potatoes yesterday and planted the second cherry tree too

I suppose now I have a green house I can start sowing all the other crops

Boy am I going to be busy as I want to grow more sweetcorn this year.

[pskipper]

Planted turnips, purple brocolli, beetroot, cabbage, yellow chard, 3 varieties of carrots and some spring onions in my little garden. I've currently got chillies and aubergines starting to sprout on the windowsill and squashes, melons, greens, herbs, tomatillos and hardy physalis just planted and under propagators!

I love this time of years when you get all the new growth

[red]

well got the spuds in - traditional on good Friday an all that. Still building the greenhouse - the problem with it being a freebie -that someone else took down is we are still trying to work out what goes where. seem to be down about 16 bits of glass - someo f them shapped so now have to buy/cut some.

[Millymollymandy]

I finally planted some seeds! Spinach beet and spring onions.

Something ate the lettuce that had germinated in pots in my cold frame so I've resown and put the pots somewhere else.

Still got to clear the plot where my roots are going but there's still leeks and last year's spinach beet there!

[mattachinelee]

It all sounds very cool, could make some amazing recipies from the combination of fruit, veg & herbs likely to grow from this lot!

I'm chuffed to bits, got 4 marrow plants growing from seeds which I dried from a gift marrow last September (used the marrow to make rum which is sitting potently in the airing cupboard). They only have seed leaves on so far but are between 3 and 6 inches high, so potted them on this afternoon. Still keeping them indoors at the moment. I'm told they will grow as a climber given some support - anyone tried this??

Also have spuds in container & spring onion seeds but nothing showing yet, and parsley, chives, dill and mint growing from seed on my window sill. Have on order more salad and veg seeds and a yummy plum tree that has blossom budding already. Have to start digging the hole for it tomorrow - new build homes have gardens with more rubble than you'd think possible!

[Merry]

Still digging! Second bed of spuds went in today - and the broad beans grown in pots. The Autumn-sown broad beans are flowering prolifically! And the asparagus is showing - And I`ve got flowers on my strawberries!
Good innit?

[red]

planted my spinach beet modules out - dunno if it will work from modules - but I'm just so pants at raising things from seed directly in the ground. having said that, spotted a few parsnips amongst the radish catch crop - so we shall see. sown more peas, more dill, potted up the green sausage tomatoes

and finsihed putting the new greenhouse together

urg - its been such a slog - first needing planning permission, so having to make a drawing when we got the gh second hand, and in bits, so did not know what it looked like and had to half build it to find out, the swine of a job making the foundations on a sloping site, then putting it together for real without any instructions, (himself says instructions are for wusses anyway) buying more glass, finding some more of the original glass was broken, cutting some acrylic we had lying about from another project and fitting all those W clips that make your hands hurt to use. and getting a bit sunburnt in the process (and its only April for goodness sake!)
but now its there, all waiting for the tomatoes that are growing on my windowsill. yay!