Allotments

Sounds idyllic mamie. Have always found the French to be a hospitable and generous people, with the possible exception of the Parisians.

I can't tell you how many bottles of the stuff we have got Nanadogsbody - and a little goes a long way. My lovely French friend gave me a bottle made in 1948 by her father, to celebrate our sixtieth birthdays. Whenever we do anything for our neighbours we get given calva, cider or Pommeau which is a sort of fortified apple wine. We have a tumble-down building just next to our house where the calva was hidden during the war.
Apparently Calva used to be used (maybe still is) to treat all sorts of ailments. Lots of people have told me that their grandparents drank cider at every meal.

Calvados? Ah...just read some of the back posts, you live in France. How lovely.

Mamie - Bravo for the gardening. It's been an awkward season weather wise, hasn't it. Still - glad to hear those robust little butternuts are doing well!

Oh yes and two little Butternuts!

Not a great year here either. Lots of courgettes, leeks, strawberries, salad of various sorts, mediocre first crop of rasperries (should be some more soon), onions OK, garlic no good at all, beans, spuds and tomatoes good, apples, plums and pears OK. It has either been very wet or very hot and dry. We are still watering every day and the butts are nearly empty. Everything is late and the weeding has been really hard work.
The neighbours say the apple crop is poor so the cider and calvados production will be down.

Disappointing year on allotment. It's so wet the slugs have had a field day and are eating everything in sight. We're not allowed to use pellets and I wouldn't anyway in case we poison birds, hedgehogs, etc. what the snails left the pigeons have eaten.

Oddly enough carrots are the best crop ever.

Whew - wipes sweat from forehead - you make me feel tired Mamie!

We used to have an allotment in England, but here in France we have 26 raised beds. So far I have planted (DH is busy creating a greenhouse from an old stone building), beans for eating and drying, toms, cucumber, beetroot, leeks, sprouts, courettes, aubergines, peppers, spinach, salad leaves, onions, garlic, shallots. Strawberries will be ready soon, lots of raspberries and red currents, no blackcurrents or rhubarb this year (don't know why), apples, pears and plums look good. Just cut the grass in 30 degrees heat - this does not mean angry!

lujaha As a quick fix you could cover the area you have sprayed with black terram (landscape fabric) which you can order from Amazon or e-bay. then plant courgette and butternut squash plants through slots cut in the fabric. They will spread as they grow and cover the fabric which will also act as a moisture retaining membrane. Leave the terram in place (after harvesting) until next spring and you should have a weed free area ready to plant up and that will keep the 'weed police' happy.
I would chat nicely to somebody with a petrol driven strimmer to deal with the weeds on your paths and then you could make walkways with cardboard, bits of carpet, newspaper etc. It won't look pretty to begin with but you're going to be walking on the paths so hopefully the weeds will give up and then you can smarten up the paths.

Try this website for landscape fabric www.lbsbuyersguide.co.uk.

Good luck!

In 1975 my then husband and I were lucky to get an a one and a half allotment space in North London. The land had just been donated by the council and there was no waiting list, a friend told us about it and we jumped at the chance. My ex wasn't interested in growing flowers but really had green fingers as far as veg was concerned. We had a typical N.London garden - long - we also had two apple trees [cookers],pear trees [again cookers] and a large very sweet plum tree. So we grew our salad stuff toms,lettuce and so on at the end of the garden and all the rest at the allotment. One of the allotment neighbours was Jamaican and the other Cypriot Greek, with much swopping of interesting veg. Until we moved to the US in 1978 we were self sufficient in fruit and veg - in fact our neighbours offered to buy our surplus veg - undercutting the green grocer of course. The 'Good Life' came out at that time and we were teased as being the local Tom and Barbara. In my area there is no allotment space which is such a pity as I'd love to grow all my veg again.

I have an allotment which is now half allotment and half weeds. I tried spraying with a well known weed killer which promised dead weeds in 7-10 days. Needless to say they are still there although slightly browner in colour three weeks later. The paths are also covered in a mat of spreading weed which I cannot identify. The local allotment "police" are threatening me with expulsion if my plot does not improve and I will be turfed off (!) I am 20 miles from the nearest reasonably priced garden centre. Any ideas please ?

I have a small veggie plot, I used to have an allotment when the children were small and would love an allotment now but am still working full-time so it's just not possible. Yesterday I picked some rhubarb and am going to make muffins or a crumble with this tomorrow. I will be planting runner beans and courgettes, the problem I have is monkjack deer which get into the garden and eat the crops so I have to net everything which is a real pain. I went to the garden centre yesterday and bought some manure and more top soil which I shall apply very soon. You can never be bored if you have a garden.

Upturned flower pot? another senior moment
Should be the right way up of course

This is the first time I have been on the net this week.I probably grow most vegetables on my allotment ,it is about 30 mts X 30 mts my only real failure last year was celeriac.
You are quite right ,the most important thing is to get the plants off to a good start and get the roots going down to search for their own water.When established most plants can get through without much water but they still need keeping an eye on in drought conditions
Tomatoes,cucumbers,corgettes ,pumpkins,cauliflowers and mellons etc do need more water,an upturned flower pot sunk in next to the stem will ensure water gets to the roots
During the winter months I do ensure that all estblished plants get any excess water rhubarb,apples,goosgogs,raspberriesplums etc.After today's rain they are all full .I do have 23 barrels on my allotment all linked together collecting water from my 2 small greenhouses and 3 sheds and storage bays
I don't have a heated greenhouse so I put plants out in the greenhouse during the day bringing them in overnight.This morning when taking 2 trays of Peppers out I stumbled and dropped trays on my lawn.I managed to rescue most but unfortunately they were a mixture of outdoor and greenhouse varieties no way to tell the difference .I'll have to wait until much later in the season

Bang on whatsup - but I haven't got waitrose around the corner - if only!
Still love gardening though.

I can remember picking brussel sprouts in snowy weather, and the pain of the cold in my fingers!

And the clouds of whitefly when I washed the curly kale.

I gave up growing veg when I realised Waitrose did it better.

Now I stick to flowers.

Another keen veg grower here! I don't have an allotment, but 3 reasonable sized raised beds where I grow veg. Greens sown last Autumn and cloched over winter have been spaced out and are growing well. Same with the garlic. Shallots have rooted & are showing first green shoots. Salad crops in between the rows of greens are just germinating under cloches and carrots are coming through well. Peas sown under cloches just peeping through. In the conservatory, tomato, mini sweetcorn, romaine & cos lettuce & pointed cabbage are all waiting a few weeks to go out. Runners, courgette, French beans & sugar snap peas, still to be sown.

I have high hopes for this year's crops as I have treated the garden with Nemaslug and I'm sure that it's working already. When I first set out the over-wintered greens plants, slug holes started apearing straight away in the young leaves. After Nemaslugging, I removed the original holey leaves and monitored. For 7/10 days the slug damage continued but gradually decreased and has now stopped. Phew!

I like your rhubarb sleeves idea ga, will definitely try that.

Early this year we placed compost bags (sleevelike) around our rhubarb and packed them with straw - and it's growing amazingly well, we've already picked some.

I LOVE growing veg. The rhubarb is up, we've lost our strawberries in the cold so may plant some more. Baby leeks are in but am somewhat behind generally.
Looking forward to those that always do well - tomatoes, courgettes, aubergines, butternut squashes. I try to grow something different every year, but not sure what yet.
shysal - I am a great believer in letting the plants do all the work with their roots. I give them a good start and then leave them to it - apart from the tomatoes!

Good luck all your veg. gardeners out there!

I have a small veg plot in my garden. I have decided to be responsible this year and not grow anything that needs a lot of watering, like things in containers. I am a great believer in letting roots find their own moisture where possible. I have planted onion sets and shallots and sown short rows of carrots and salad crops. I have permanent plants of strawberries, raspberries, rhubarb and herbs. Soon runner beans and courgettes will go in, neither of which I water once established.
I find growing food so rewarding, you see results so quickly!

Wish I a) had and b) could manage an allotment! Hope it goes well.
I have a crabapple tree planted that I grew from a seed - it's leafing.