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[Mbrown001]

It's not quite an allotment as everything is grown in raised beds. The area was an old boat yard so there was a level of ground contamination.
For the princely sum of £25 a year we get an outside raised bed and a raised poly tunnel bed.
There are about 80 inside and 130 outside. It's a big area.
We are an organic gardening group although slug pellets do get smuggled in on occasions  . We get a lot of grants from various sources and we also do a lot of fundraising as a group. There is a huge barn for events and meetings. We also have a vast range of tools to share.
It's such a social thing. Always someone around to chat and have a cuppa with.....we all have the use of a kitchen too. We all share seeds to seedlings and  cuttings.  I've learned such a lot. The gardeners also make compost and grow comfrey for fertiliser.
I am just going to have tomatoes inside this year. I did melons last year.
Outside is for my fruit bushes and also a crop of peas and beetroot.
The beds are not that big which makes it a pleasure rather than really hard work.
It's right on the beach so it's very pretty. We have ponds and a wildlife area too.
As you can probably tell I love it 
I always feel relaxed there. It's such a peaceful place to go and forget your troubles.

Mrs Brown

[CLKD]

Hurdity - sounds like a usual day in the garden from where I'm sitting ....... a sense of achievement?  Lupins get eaten if I don't grow them in pots, also green/black fly love 'em  .  Never enough ladybirds to cope so I've never been organic ..........

I have emptied 3 out of the 5 saved rain-water barrels in the last couple of weeks  .  I tend to carry cans round for the plants in pots as it's part of my exercise regime (cheaper than the gym attitude) but when tired I use the hose particularly when the ponds need topping up.  Certain plants have to be watered from the barrels ........

Mildew is due to a lack of water at the roots. Or because plants are too close so that air doesn't circulate.  Clematis and roses are particularly thirsty so regular soaking at the roots as well as feeding can ease symptoms.  I drag out the forget-me-nots once mildew takes over, I noticed a patch of plants in the front this evening and have no idea what I've sprinked there  .  Odd oil-seed rape plant too from the bird seed. 

Peach leaf curl affects pears too ;-).  It's a grub which curls the leave around itself for protection from the birds.

Deadheading viburnums - is that from last year, it's surely too early to have had flowers on?

[Elizabethrose]

No this year CLKD, my viburnams judii and carlesii have always flowered and turned by this stage. Both have wonderfully fragrant pompom heads but April's their flowering month here. Carlesii is prone to black fly but if they appear here it's usually later, mine was smothered yesterday.

The clematis has been root watered regularly by hand but it really has been dry here so maybe not enough. The rose was planted next to a large wisteria and I think that sucks up any moisture in the soil thus the rose was parched.

Mrs B that sounds wonderful, gardening therapy by the sea - I could live with that!

[CLKD]

Out with the buckets again then Elizabethrose?  (cheaper than the gym ;-) ) ....... my wisteria failed to flower *again*, plenty of fresh leaves and it's growing away nicely.  Camellia has had a gallon bucket of rain water with 'feed' this morning.  Took cuttings of a very ****ly rose and have given them a good watering, they have 2 chances!! 

Dull.  Not as cold.  Plenty to do, so little time 

[Smalltownok]

Our garden is completely planted - and now is the hard part, waiting for everything to grow and produce!  We've planted tomatoes (about 30), okra, banana peppers, bell peppers, jalapenos, yellow squash, cucumbers (pickling and regular), onions, garlic, black-yed peas and both bush and pole green beans.  I love to can, so I am really excited!  I also love flowers - this year I am going to plant a lot less though.  Last year it was a lot to maintain.  I love potato vines.  The azaleas are finished blooming at least until later summer/fall and the hydrangeas are just now getting started!  I have enjoyed everyone's posts about their garden and flowers!

[Mbrown001]

Whereabouts in the world are you Smalltownok.
Your veggies sound really interesting.


Mrs Brown.

[CLKD]

 . Now I have an ear worm  ....... 'wind comes rushing down the plain' ........

Great to hear about your gardening Smalltown - when you said about black-eyes peas, sort of gave it away.  What type of soil do you have, is your plot sheltered by walls, hedges, fences ......... do you share produce with neighbours, do you bottle/can lots for Autumn?

[Mbrown001]

Just looked....I'm nosy lol.

Oklahoma......gosh bet it gets warm there.

Is canning....the same as bottling.


Oh and 


Mrs Brown

[CLKD]

Nope.  It's in the name  .......... same principals, different type of preserving ........ my family have bottled for years i.e. pickles, jams, but I don't remember anyone canning ......... I remember Kilner jars in the oven being sterilised 

[bramble]

Certainly in the Waltons, that font of all things American, when they said canning, they were using Kilner jars. Don't suppose many folks apart from the die-hard survivalists would have canning machines at home.

Bramble

[Mbrown001]

I have a few kilner jars. They make lovely ornaments. 

When I make jam or chutney I use old jam jars that have been sterilised.


Mrs Brown

[dulciana]

It's good to read all about everyone's gardens, on here.  We haven't had a garden since we moved back up north 17 years ago.  We're in a nice double flat, a couple of floors up and we share a communal garden, but we can't just pop outside and I miss that.   Not that I'm green-fingered or ever really did any gardening when we did have a garden...................! 

[CLKD]

Apparently it's been the driest March on record - won't be long B4 there's threats of a hosepipe ban  .  We save as much water in barrels as possible, 6 all told and a deep tank ........ but they don't last once I begin watering the heathers, camellia and bilberry plants.  Our camellia looks decidedly sick, yellowing leaves although the flowers are OK.  I gave it a gallon of rain water yesterday with lots of feed ....... and topped up the ericaceous compost under neath.

We use both jam jars and Kilner or Kiler-type jars, seals can be purchased from Lakeland.  I have got and given away jam jars via 'freecycle' ........

[Elizabethrose]

I've just ripped out three ailing lavender (in a position that is simply too wet) and replaced them with Perovskia atriplicifolia. I love them but have never had them before. They are next-door to a patch of Alchemilla mollis, an acid coloured hypericum, red and green sage and a Hydrangea paniculata 'Phantom. Love blue flowers!

[Elizabethrose]

Does anyone know how I insert an image?