[Kate_S]

Hello,
well 2 weeks in of obtaining our plot, we have been digging over the beds and clearing weeds. We have a shed but no green house. I have sowed the above seeds , onions in a tray and cabbage in pots, and put plastic bags over them. Not being a green house, I am worried they are not getting enough light ( there are windows in the shed). Do I leave the plastic bags over them? How damp should the soil be? I don't have space at home regarding window sills to be able to start them off at home. It's all a bit of an experiment. If they don't germinate ,  I will buy some plants already started off. Is it worth geytting one of those small plastic type greenhouses?

We also have a load of courgette plants that have got big and bitter .  Shall we dig them up yet?
One more question - have a raspberry bush. I was cutting back dead bits yesterday. I am not sure what else to do yet with the rest of it.

Thanks for any suggestions!

[Nobbie]

I'd take the plastic bags off as they will just encourage damping off. Once germinated put them outside as they'll get drawn and weak otherwise. I think it's a bit late for sowing stuff now, but we may have a mild October/November. Still time to plant onion sets directly on the plot or into modules if it not cleared yet. A lot easier than seed. I wouldn't bother getting a mini greenhouse now as it will just get blown around in the autumn gales and you don't really need it for onions and cabbage.

Dig up the courgettes, they're done now the weather's turned.

If the raspberries fruited earlier in the year (summer fruiting), then remove the canes that fruited down to ground level and tie the new canes to supports to stop them being damaged in the wind (they will fruit next summer). If they are still fruiting (Autumn Fruiting) then leave the canes until early spring and then remove all the old canes to ground level. New canes should grow in spring and then fruit in autumn.

[DD.]

It's really too late to be sowing spring cabbage seed. The latest sowing date is reckoned to be July.

There is a good guide for sowing and harvesting here:

http://www.allotment-garden.org/garden-month-help/sowing-harvest-vegetable-chart.php

As Nobbie says, given your current set up you'd be better off planting some winter onion sets (and garlic). Don't grow too many over winter onions, though, as they re not great for storing, they're something to keep you going until the spring planted ones are ready later in the year.

[beesrus]

Senshyu onion seeds should really be sown in August so they can grow a bit and then over-winter. It's the right time for sets though, and they really are a valuable crop to have at your disposal come May.

Cheap plastic greenhouses ? I wouldn't use them as a gift and certainly not on an exposed allotment site... rarely do I see any of those lasting for more than a season. They have little useable space and probably something far more practical, resilient and suitable can be cobbled together on site for the same money or less. It's the right idea though, as if you don't have suitable light at home, sowing crops in the Spring is that much more difficult to get them off to a good start at the right time.