Despite the very dry weather we've been having, the allotment is beginning to promise food to come. We have gooseberries.....
Dessert apples....
Bramley cooking apples......
Strawberries.....
Broad beans....
There are tons of raspberry canes and Gray has planted sweetpeas in front to encourage lots of pollinating insects .......
Unfortunately we have bindweed entwined within the raspberry canes which is impossible to get rid of. We are trying the trick of a pole for the bindweed to climb up so that we can remove the pole along with the bindweed, but there's so much of it that it's a struggle. Gray thinks that next year he will dig up the raspberries, remove the bindweed and then replant the canes. It will be a lot of work for a couple with bad backs 😕so we will see how it goes.....
The beetroot is coming along nicely alongside the spring onions......
The ground was so hard and dry that Gray struggled to get the supporting canes in for the climbing French beans.......
.....as well as the runner beans. For some reason the runner beans refused to germinate this year and we only have 5 plants. It doesn't matter because we really prefer the French beans anyway. 5 plants will be ok.....
Likewise, our sweetcorn failed to germinate despite using a windowsill propagator and we had to buy some plants from the nurseries. This year we hope to deter the badgers who ate all the ripe cobs in one night last year 😠It won't stop a determined badger but perhaps he will try an easier target......
How is your garden doing? Have you had any failures? Struggling to germinate seeds?
Gray is convinced that the peat free compost nowadays is an issue because it dries out so quickly, but we don't have enough of our own compost to use. What do you think?
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Thanks so much for popping in. Stay safe and well wherever you happen to be,
Angie 💗
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If you ask me the peat-free compost is definitely the main cause of lack of germination and loss of young crops. I had two young courgette plants in peat-free compost that just withered and died, while their sibling, planted directly into my raised bed which is full of home-produced is looking brilliant.
ReplyDeleteIf you simply cut through all the bindweed stems at ground level, over and over again, leaving the stems and leaves wrapping themselves around your plants to wither and die, and then keep this up all through the season you will really weaken the plants and they should be a little bit easier to dig out when you come to do it. You have to persevere though, it took me three years to rid myself of bindweed when I lived in Askam.
Will this technique work for the passion flower which creeps through every year from next door, do you think?
DeletePossibly Angela, if you can get right to the base of it.
DeleteThat's certainly worth a try, Sue, thank you. And, yes, peat free compost is yet to be perfected I think.
DeleteAnother bindweed sufferer here, it's a pain in the backside. I just keep doing what Sue suggests and cutting it off at ground level....the roots all run underneath my flowering perennials so it would be impossible to dig it all out without taking everything else out. And I agree re the peat-free compost - it's rubbish this year, full of large bits of bark and water just runs straight through it.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely agree Sooze....
DeleteIt's taken me years to stop the bindweed here, now I pull any as soon as I see it. The compost is a problem, I tend to mix my own, using compost, topsoil and enriched topsoil and sand if needed, I've had a better year with germination, last year everything failed. I also now keep growbag trays on my benches in the greenhouse and allow water to pool for the compost to stay damp, not too much water.
ReplyDeleteWe're going to try creating more of our own compost for next year too.
DeleteThats 5 more runner bean plants than I have! I am watching out for people in the village putting out tables with plants for sale. Thus far only tomatoes, and I have managed them!
ReplyDeleteOh dear...non-germination seems to be a big problem everywhere doesn't it, Ang.
DeleteI agree, the peat free compost isn't to my liking! Not much success with it.
ReplyDeleteIt's awful, Mrs LH......
DeleteI'm agreeing with everyone! Modern bought peat free compost even John Innes is rubbish and chopping the bindweed off at ground level will stop it eventually.
ReplyDeleteWe've bought several types of compost and none of them have been any good. I would go as far as to say an expensive mistake :0(
DeleteI think the peat free compost they sell now is c***. All the pots dry out so quickly, even with me adding water crystals. I have strawberries, not ripened yet, the tomatoes are doing ok but the cucumbers look extremely sick. Now we have a smaller garden, less room in which to grow and of course, no greenhouse. Still every little helps. Xx
ReplyDeleteI think it's really difficult to tell how much moisture is actually in the compost now. Sorry to hear your cucumbers are sick, Gill, they are very sensitive to temperature changes. As you say, though, every little helps xx
DeleteIs the coir version of peat any better? Or those funny compressed bricks that you hydrate at home?
ReplyDeleteNo, Kirsten, we tried that too and we use a lot of compost so the compressed bricks wouldn't be any good either. Thank you for your suggestions though :)
DeleteYour allotment seems to be doing quite well despite the failure to germinate, peat free compost, and everything else. I don't know if our compost here contains any peat. I must look up the label on the compost bag when we buy one, next. I planted some cucumber seeds, but, I don't think they germinated. The wax beans have germinated and the squash plants are growing, too. I have two tomato plants and so far, they are growing well.
ReplyDeletePeat has been banned from compost in the UK, Bless, and we are really noticing the difference with poor germination. Sorry that your cucumbers have failed. With us it's runner beans. Well done with tomatoes and squash!
DeleteMy husbands tip for cucumbers is planting the seed on its side
ReplyDeleteA great tip! Thank you :)
DeleteYou seem to have lots of lovely things growing on your allotment but bindweed is definitely not one of them. I hope you are able to find a way to at least keep it under control. My pet hate is Mare's tail. I had problems with Cosmos and French Marigolds not germinating this year. Never happened before.
ReplyDelete