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Gardening

Leaf-cutters take near exactly semi-circles. (One of my most favourite UK- native insects, along with hornets.)

Dose with a multi-mineral and try to keep the root area moist - no flood and druoght, flood and ...................................... maybe a HEAVY mulch.

I would bet that it is our totally weird weather this year. IOW - forget it......................all will be well in 2023

Will do - thanks for the optimism.
 
As Vinny says. maybe try a foliant feed (soluble feed via a spray on the leaves), but otherwise a soluble fertiliser over the roots, then add a mulch of compost and keep it just moist....don't over water, and see what happens in 2 weeks.
 
After 8 months on a waiting list , As of Monday morning I will have an allotment , Not had one before ,
At my age its now or never.
When you consider the amount of people who are struggling financially that sounds remarkably quick to me.
Enjoy - you can't beat growing your own.
 
After 8 months on a waiting list , As of Monday morning I will have an allotment , Not had one before ,
At my age its now or never.
Good luck Al, I was hankering over a allotment myself for a long while but sacked the idea,
reason being it’s a commitment that I don’t think I can keep,apart from a lazy disposition,
being in west of Scotland, the chances of sit back in the sun with a brew and enjoying the fruits of your hard work is minimal.
 
After 8 months on a waiting list , As of Monday morning I will have an allotment , Not had one before ,
At my age its now or never.

Is there running water? If not you need to plan carefully so that watering doesn't become a dreaded chore
 
Is there running water? If not you need to plan carefully so that watering doesn't become a dreaded chore

My father had two allotments for a great deal of his life. While he did, my mother only bought minimal ammoints of veg', even potatoes, for a family of five. The allotments were about 4 miles from home and most of the time we had no car, so it was bikes.

There was no water on the site as such, although there was a well on one allotment that never held more than something like 40-60cm of water, usually less. The only things that ever got watered were the young brassicas when they were transplanted out. This was in the driest part of the UK - N Essex.

For a long while, the person on the adjacent plot kept pigs, goats, and chickens. He did have problems but the river was only 2-300 yards away, so he used a small bowser that he moved by hand.

Us kids grew up going to the allotment at least once per week, often more, and that lack of any major need for water for veg' is just normal practise. I did have a small plot here at home, and essentially never watered anything.
 
As a non gardener this looks quite impressive to me

Phormium - New Zealand flax (between what look to be a Philadelphus and a Viburnum that appears to have a climber/scrambler growing through it).

Phormiums - JUST hardy through much of the UK, they make absolutely huge plants along the S coast although I saw them cut to the ground by frosts one year when I lived in Totnes.
 
As a non gardener this looks quite impressive to me


They don’t flower reliably. I’ve had one for at least 25 years and it has maybe flowered four times. I’m not sure of the conditions for flowering - it may be a very good spring or a very good summer the previous year.

There are many varieties. The one I have which has flowered has dark red stiff leaves. There are dwarf ones and there are giant ones. There are phormiums with stiff leaves and phormiums with leaves which curve gracefully. There are red, green, variegated and golden ones.
 
They don’t flower reliably. I’ve had one for at least 25 years and it has maybe flowered four times. I’m not sure of the conditions for flowering - it may be a very good spring or a very good summer the previous year.

There are many varieties. The one I have which has flowered has dark red stiff leaves. There are dwarf ones and there are giant ones. There are phormiums with stiff leaves and phormiums with leaves which curve gracefully. There are red, green, variegated and golden ones.

Yeah that's the first time in 3yrs I've been here I've
seen those flowers.
 
They don’t flower reliably. I’ve had one for at least 25 years and it has maybe flowered four times. I’m not sure of the conditions for flowering - it may be a very good spring or a very good summer the previous year.

They don't do anything for me, so I don't take much notice of any, but the dark red leaves may in part be responsible for infrequent flowering. The red is sun-screen - the genes controlling it's production have changed so that lots is produced even in normal light levels. It slows growth, which may indirectly reduce flowering.

They are a bit of a marmite plant, as I said,not my cup of tea at all.
 
I once planted the vanilla species plant as the spot plant in the centre of a paved area in a very sunny, very hot, garden. What a mistake! This thing grew incredibly fast, after about 3 years it as at least 5 feet tall, and thick.

You have to keep them tidy. Their main use is for colour I think.
 
We had a nice downpour last night which my Haricot verts/beurres absolutely loved.:)

Complete opposite here; dry as dust and blowing a hoolie...

It did rain yesterday; had a 10min downpour and that's it. It did fill half of one of the huge water butts we've got, so that's good, means I'll be able to drown the greenhouse and veg beds today...

Will have to see how the rest of the week pans out; I hate having to use the outside tap!
 
I did have a small plot here at home, and essentially never watered anything.

With these long dry periods between rain here in Norwich, I do worry about those crops which cannot be watered (except for copious journeys by watering can). Brassica is under netting, so doesn't get too much direct sun, but my 60 or so various bean plants are thirsty things. My garden is on two slopes and I reckon that water filters down from the top of this steep hill. In 20 years I've not had any drastic failures through lack of rain but 10 water butts don't last long with two greenhouses in this weather.. Besides, I think watering is counter-productive for many plants as it prevents roots from reaching moisture.

Strawberries have preceded Wimbledon this year; by weeks ! Courgettes are early too. Tom's (Sungold) are already a nice orange in the top greenhouse and all 50+ plants have healthy looking fruit; even some outside ones. Looks like a good year for currants, but zero goosegogs (bumper crop last year).
 
Good luck Al, I was hankering over a allotment myself for a long while but sacked the idea,
reason being it’s a commitment that I don’t think I can keep,apart from a lazy disposition,
being in west of Scotland, the chances of sit back in the sun with a brew and enjoying the fruits of your hard work is minimal.
Best bet would be , Grow root veg ,veritys that can store well or be frozen , If you grow onions they can be tied in strings and hung up , runner beans , all sorts
 
Will have to see how the rest of the week pans out; I hate having to use the outside tap!

That shouldn't be the case in Lancs! In the east of East Anglia we do have an excuse! Apart from my hose not stretching to the back of my growing area, I hate using metered water; also, it's the wrong type of water compared to grey water.
 


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