Today on Allotment Grow How I have a go at planting Butternut Squash and walk you around the plot giving you a general update.
“Porch Blues” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
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Nice tour. Those potatoes are really looking good.
You've brought that weedy patch of ground a long way. Congrats. Have a question for you. I'm in the States and not the UK. When you say "fleece". Exactly what are you talking about? Is there another name for the material? Thanks
Lovely update Adam sorry can not help you with your flower I am sure the bees and other insects will like them have a Blessed week
HA! Mortgage payment offer is probably the best offer on Youtube. I will expect to see a million new subscribers by tea time 🙂 I would take the advice you mentioned which is slug pellets and netting with possibly net curtains in case the butterflies have a go as well. I look at what you have done in such a short time and it makes me realise how pathetic my own efforts are. Oh well, time to tighten my belt and get stuck in. Yup typical of the rain to come done at exactly the time you finish watering. Thanks for the update and all the information. It really is inspiring to see what you have achieved. All the best
Hey Adam, That weed mate. It could be according to my Dr Hessayon book of weeds "Plantago Major (greater plantain) or Polygonum Persicaria (redshank). For both it say dig out isolated specimens but for larger patches spray with glyphosate.
All the best. Chris
it looks like comfrey ,make good feed take big hand full put in bucket of water for week ,smell bad but works well
Hi Adam,
Thanks for the lookaround your 'lotty. I'd go with one of the other posts- your mystery plant is a bistort cultivar. Edible rhizomes, herbal remedy, but probably invasive and greedy so dig it up. Reminds me of the time I planted goji berry because it was promoted as The Superfood- the birds certainly agreed and it was soon shooting up all over the allotment.
Have a great season,
Graham
Plot's looking really impressive.
With your spinach, I'd say your two big(gest) problems are likely to be slugs, and running to seed if they get full sun. Fleece with pellets underneath sounds like a good precaution for both. It would also protect them from pigeons – spinach isn't related to brassicas, so I don't think they would target them particularly, though you never can tell. I had to net my new comfrey plants last month because they were ripping them to shreds.
The area where you've planted your squash looks ideal. In fact it looks perfect for a 'three sisters' system I tried it a few years ago on a patch of ground about that size, with much less sun than it sounds like yours gets, and semi under a huge chestnut tree, and it produced masses of corn cobs, beans, butternut squash and courgettes. If you have any spare maize or squash plants left over, it would be worth bunging them in, and obviously, there is still plenty of time to sow more beans/ peas in with them.
Persicaria bistorta-This species is grown as an ornamental garden plant, especially the form 'Superba' which has larger, more showy flowers, and has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.[3] It is suitable for use as a marginal or in bog gardens.
Other uses[
In Northern England the plant was used to make a bitter pudding in Lent from a combination of the leaves, oatmeal, egg and other herbs. It is the principal ingredient of dock pudding or Easter-Ledge Pudding.[4] The root of Bistort can be used to produce an astringent that was used in medicine.
What's you solution for sqaush bugs?