Allotments 4 All

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I may have mentioned this before, but at my place tzatziki on battered fritters of baby squash or baby pumpkins are (massively) preferred to the relatively tasteless courgette version - no matter how fresh, no matter what landrace/variety. In fact courgettes are worse for any and every purpose (except possibly disappearing into the background of a dish quickly). I do the same with aubergines, and they are always good - but only baby squash/pumpkins come close to that intensity of flavour.

I'd already decided to grow only one or two courgette plants this year - ideally I'd grow less - but the young ones are slightly nutty they are 2 or 3 weeks earlier.

They are even earlier in a polytunnel, but sadly, genuine self-fertile varieties are getting so hard to find that I seldom bother these days (and when I do I bury them in 10L pots so I can move them outside ASAP for a better crop (ie. re-bury or transplant).

However, this year I used my own saved seeds - and you've guessed it - they all came up as squash crosses...

So - OK - I get more babies and better tasting fritters.

But there's an extra angle now - I came back from holiday 3 or 4 weeks ago, (I've been too busy to post until now) and I was delighted to see that (for once) I didn't  have any huge, seedy, horribly tasteless, armour-plated marrows to blunt my axe on their way to the compost bin.

It's obvious now (I can be slow on the uptake).

While you're away the baby squash turn into delicious adolescent squash  - absolutely no waste at all this year. The longer you're away the bigger the squash & pumpkins get - they just get on with it - it's all good.

I'd recommend sowing some squash late, so they're making babies during your summer holiday - but I haven't tested it yet - and no Indian summer might mean no babies anyway.

The moral of this story is that 2 courgette plants and 6-10 squash (depending on their final size) is a win-win, and 10 squash and no courgettes is almost as good!

Cheers.

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I have decided to plant raspberries in one of my raised beds this coming year. I've planted them before in an area at the back of the allotment that I now realise was too shaded and very poorly drained (we have clay soil) and needless to say they did badly.
I'm going to get some raspberry canes from a local garden centre, start them off in pots this year then plant them out next year in one of my 8ft by 4ft raised beds.
Any ideas about planting distances specifically for raised beds and what trellis support I would need?

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Who makes it and how do you make it, Millions of chancers giving advice on the web, but most must be taken with a pinch of salt.  Our first effort needed a hacksaw to slice it and I expect it is negative calories judging on the effort needed to chew it

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Please accept my apologies for multiple posts. Mods can you please delete excess. Thanks. May