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Raised beds are nice but seem far from essential to me. I do half my growing in them and half at ground level.
Dig in loads and loads of manure/compost and you'll still be able to grow plenty in normal beds. Had my best results of all in normal beds actually.
When do you think you'll be ready to start sowing mrsflash? You can get stuff for this year in as late as July. And pretty soon after that you'll be sowing stuff for overwintering anyway.
Strawberries and Raspberries Today
ICe cream later...
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After seeing the picture above I went and looked at the rogue raspberry growing by itself in the flower bed.
I have just eaten the entire (2 raspberries) crop
cha****ng, probably mid august I would have thought. still giddy.
Not a lot I'm aware of that can go in that late; rocket, maybe spinach, other salads probably (but I'm not much of a leaf-muncher).
Still, you'll have plenty of time to get loads of stuff in for overwintering!
It's really addictive.
spinach and rocket will do, I love them both. I am prepared for addiciton 🙂
Hi all
Pics from a few weeks ago from the little plot I've got in the back garden
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The Potatoes, Broccoli and Toms have since become Tryfids!
First year we've had a go at all this and think I tried to cram a bit too much in to small an area
The Potatoes and Broccoli are crowding my onions carrots and lettuce's
Q?
Can you just keep trimming Rocket and it come back ok?
Q?
Can you just keep trimming Rocket and it come back ok?
Not sure, was so prolific that I couldn't eat enough to make a dent.
Ended up making rocket pesto, which was something of an acquired taste!
29erKeith - looking good. Nice garden too !!
I've been removing leaves from my rocket all spring/early summer. Aslong as you don't rmove the growing point in the centre the plant should keep producing leaves. I've had most of my salad leave bolt though.... I think I may have put the plants out too early, and they've had a bit of frost or something....
Does anyone have any other ideas ?
I'm new to this thread but have been growing beans, potatoes and garlic in pots. The potatoes have just gone nuts - foliage is getting on for 3ft tall. Is this normal? Should it be cut back to encourage spud growth?
Ta
I'm no expert, mine are growing really high too. Just leave them, the flowers will start showing in a few weeks.
Looks like an alien's head on a stick in 29ers garden
For best yield you need to 'earth up' your spuds. Every week or so you need to bury the haulm (posh word for the stem). Ye olde way of growing spuds was to put them in rows a couple of feet apart so you could then just use a hoe to drag the soil from the gap over the plants - new fangled ideas include using things like growing them in compost bags or dustbins where you plant the seed spud a foot or so off the bottom then just top up the bag/bin as it grows.
I've been piling topsoil on top of my potatoes as soon as I get a few inches growth out of them. How long should I keep this up? I'm going to run out of soil soon!
cheers martyntr, its small but we like it
Jimmy i think that'll be the watering can on a cane 😆
Potatoes have been flowering for a few weeks now still a few more unopened buds but once there all done thats time to dug 'em up isn't it???
Surfr - if you're doing it in a bag/bin then you can just keep going until it's full (as long as the plant keeps growing of course...) - if you're growing in rows then you reach a point where the sides of the mounds are getting too steep (usually when there's a foot to 18 inches of soil mounded up) and so it's not practical to keep going after that.
Can you just keep trimming Rocket and it come back ok?
The seeds I bought say you can get at least 4 crops from a plant.
Rocket certainly seems to be the easiest thing to grow of the things I've tried.
Can you just keep trimming Rocket and it come back ok?
The seeds I bought say you can get at least 4 crops from a plant.
Rocket certainly seems to be the easiest thing to grow of the things I've tried.
The general rule of thumb on potatoes is [b]100 days from planting till harvest.[/b] This can however vary depending on Variety. 😉
martyntr - nice tip
redthunder - that's a amazing crop, nice one 😉
Bit late now, but seed wise, where do people go/recommend?
An observation. Everyone's gardens on here look fantastic. Can I just be a spoil sport and remind people that the way our vegetables and plants grow is down to the birds and bees, so a little wild area is a good idea if you can spare it. It just gives insects, mammals and other creatures a place to live, which in turn helps the garden grow. I found a bees nest in our little wild corner the other day. 🙂
Bunnyhop - I have one behind the Compost bin by the blackcurrent bushes. In the spring I saw a Hedgehog over there.... great for eating the slugs 🙂
I've had intruders!
Cabbages and Cauliflower decimated by cabbage white caterpillars.
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But in the deep bed things are looking up. Courgettes from martyntr coming along nicely and will soon be ready for harvest.
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And the potatoes have just started to flower so They'll be cut down above ground and harvested soon. (very excited about this one)
Well not posted for a while, so, will jut update you with my nightmare allotment!
Being my first year and knowing absolutely nothing about growing plants, so far I have had blight on my potatoes, pea fly in my peas and just found what is apparently white rot on my onions!
The strawberries got taken over with couch grass, but at least my little one managed to crop a few.
So over the last year, someone broke into my shed and stole my tools, caught a family from hell helping themselves to a bucket full of my crop, while there kids played in my poly tunnel, putting a nice gash into the plastic, thanks for that!
The only thing so far is doing well are my Tomatoes , sweetcorn, red onions and Beetroot's, even one of my apple trees has decided to give it a rest this year with no apples!
Anyway at least I have had enough to crop to feed my family so far and neighbours, friends and relatives for the last month or so.
Learnt so much though this year and will do things differently next year, they say you lean by your mistakes 😉
I am not giving up! my wife loves the spot we have now, even though she was not keen at first, the neighbouring allotment folk have become good friends and my kids have had a great time there too.
might take some pics to post up latter 😉
Ski - apple trees need quite heavy pruning to ensure year on year crops. Did you have a bumper year last time, and has it got overgrown?
I've had a few bits nicked too, and now stuff's getting close to ready for harvesting I'm paranoid more things are going to be pilfered. I'd have no problem sharing if they're prepared to come and help out! Might have a night time stakeout in the shed! 🙂
We've had a massive crop of lettuce we trim leaves off every night of a couple of plants and just about enough to do the same plants again the next night, some of them haven't even been touched. The other lettuce is ready too and took one out last night was rather nice, sweetcorn is growing at hell of a rate too and hope to see it grow cobs soon. Strawbs are in their first year so have been very poor and the spring onions failed. Still waiting for the chillies and toms to provide fruit hope I didn't wait too long for some stuff.
Ski - apple trees need quite heavy pruning to ensure year on year crops. Did you have a bumper year last time, and has it got overgrown?
Yes, I took on the plot late Sept. and there was a good crop, did not prune afterwards, what time of year do I need to hack it back 😉
woody, yes it had a great crop last year, did not prune it back afterwards? The other 4 trees were the same bet were fine?
When is the best time to get at them and hack them back a bit?
Winter time, once they're dormant.
See here - http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profiles1205/applepruning.asp
Ski, don't be downhearted.
As Woody2000 says your apple is probably biennial bearing, some varieties like Laxton's Superb are quite prone to this and can even fruit themselves to death if left unchecked. You can get round it by pruning, feeding it with liquid fertiliser and thinning the new fruits quite ruthlessly once they appear.
Tell your site rep about the problems with security and chavs nicking your veg. Most plots are kept fenced off and locked these days for exactly that reason. If chav family have their own plot then chances are it will be a rubbish tip interspersed with the odd vegetable, and this may be the excuse they need to kick them off.
Couch grass is a bugger to get rid of once it starts spreading. Try edging your beds with scrap wood, or trim the edges regularly. If you've got grass in your beds I would dig them over and start again, or you could try spraying very selectively with glyphosphate in autumn.
I have the opposite problem with my apple tree - it didn't drop excess fruits in June (as they would normally do) and so I've had to remove a load, as the branches were hanging over at crazy angles. One strong gust of wind would be all it would take to snap them. The other problem with lots of fruits all touching each other is that diseases spread easily - some of them had scab, hopefully I've caught it early enough to stop it spreading. I lost the entire ccrop last year - first scab and then brown rot due to the wet summer. Still, my hens seemed to enjoy them.
Jumped straight in at page 5 here sorry.
I'm looking for a perfumed plant for a shaded, sloping well draining garden.
We back onto wooded land and all the gardens have Buckthorn hedges.
Everything grows well but slowly.
Most plants I look at in centres that have a perfume require good sun.
This actually wanted as both our neighbors smoke and stink the garden out
Ski - that's outrageous allotment behaviour, stealing your crops. Can't you get all the old boys together for a lynching?
You've already got the pitchforks!
Could do chakaping, but I am not big into violence, not built for dishing it out tbh 😉
But after I explained to Dad how much a new sheet would cost him to the poly and that if he had asked for some veg, I would have giving him some for nowt, he soon shot off in his untaxed van with his feral kids!
MA - the site rep is great and all the incidents have been reported, within a week, most of my basic tools were replaced by other allotment holders, with offers of free use of motorised tools if I need it.
Thats the first thing that struck me when I started, is the amount of help and support and openness I have had from other allotment users. A week does not seem to pass without being offered free plant to use or produce, share and share a like 😉
how we getting on then folks?
all looking very good here. Most stuff has recovered form a massive aphid onslaught. sweat peas aren't cropping very well but everything else is looking good, sweetcorn plants are HUGE!
getting a few good courgettes but to be honest most of our crops will be later, everything just looks so GREEN though, it's really a great thing to see as you walk up to the house:
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spent a happy hour squashing cabbage white eggs on the broccoli the other day but looks like a second visit is going to be needed. I've never seen so many butterflies in our garden as i have this year and i felt terrible as i sat there my hands covered in bright yellow yolk with them fluttering around my head 😥
Please don't kill my babies:
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All gone a bit quiet here, so I've taken a few pix of my garden this week.
I have let things go a little, but still been getting a fair bit to eat.
Corgettes taking over the greenhouse...
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Italian pink beetroot and carrots doing well, as are the weeds...
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More bay leaves and sage than I could eat in a lifetime...
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Pumpkins coming on nicely...
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Sunflowers and spinach living happily together, wonder if my sunflowers will flower though...
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Most of my (many) basil pots have gone yellow and bitter, which makes me sad...
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Got my eye on this fennel for dinner tomorrow night, with courgettes and a bit of creme fraiche, yum...
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Best year for cues yet, found three hiding among the undergrowth this last week...
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Second crop of peas failed utterly, most of my onions rotted - and I can't seem to catch the courgettes in time to stop them becoming marrows. Even my mum's sick of eating marrow now and she loves them.
looks great
got a few more pics to put up when the camera has charged. butternut squash has gone a bit 'day of the triffids'
tomatoes mostly rotted on the plant, seems to be the story with all our neighbours/friends toms too. Saved a few for green tomato chutney though.
carrots and parsnips are fantastic, so very tasty. Onions have done well and will lift them soon. Peas died after a fairly small crop.
everything else is doing very well but the cabbage whites have been rather busy with the calibrese and kale
Most of our toms have rotted on the vine too! Courgettes have done well, as have the spuds. Slugs are huge, mostly from my pointed cabbage 😯
😀 tomatoes, spring onions, spuds, lettuce & carrotts
😥 beetroot
Courgettes are trying to come back after that soggy spell of weather. Tomatoes are going red now - we get some for lunch most days now. I have two prized butternut squashes, one of which is getting quite fat 😀 1st early spuds were lovely, going to lift the main crop this week. Winter spuds are in and growing like the clappers.
What do people do for feeding crops when it's been raining lots? All my stuff is in tubs or grow-bags and I worry about water logging them if it's rained, but then they probably don't get enough food.
Can't decide if I should pull the spring onions out now or leave a bit longer...
MrMW: Were your onions overwintered or spring-planted?
cxi: I don't really use feed apart from the odd sprinkling of growmore when things are young and then maybe a watering can with diluted worm juice a couple of times a season. Possibly why my results are a bit hit-and-miss.
If we can resolve the possible part-unsupported chimney stack, the rewiring, the lead water pipe, the Japanese knotsweed, the rising damp, the shonky roof tiles and the need for a chemical damp proof course, I'll hopefully be able to join in this thread with my new garden soon:
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Mike that garden looks amazing, hope the deal goes through for you.
My allotment is looking a bit neglected, due to having two weeks away, weeds are taking over big time.
Its amazing how things have come on though.
Runner beans, are in full swing, freezer is now full of them!
My Courgettes are coming to an end, leaves are going mouldy, but had an amazing crop this year.
Made 30-50 jars of jam from the plum trees on site, now trading like mad for other produce.
Had another theft, someone overnight cleared one of my apple trees, must have been organized with ladders as there is not a single apple left!
Will take some pics and post.
Bonus - guy next to me says I can have all the grapes off his vine this year, so, ski will not only be making Cider/Perry but Wine this year!
Happy days.....
Quick question - bindweed, any decent organic/environmentally friendly ways to get rid of this stuff?
got those pics up now:
[b]The Garden had been busy over our holiday[/b]
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[b]PINK![/b]
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Well another great year.
Carrots are still on the go from pots.... much more successful than planted in the ground, so I'll be doing the same next year 🙂
Potatoes, we adequate. I got alot of wireworm damage, but it's the first year I've grow them, so should be better next year.
Runnerbeans have been great and along with everyone else the freezer has it's fair share now.
Onions are plated and hanging up in the shed. Enough for winter I hope 😉
Leeks are coming along nicely. Bloody slow to grow, so I'll be patient again next year.
Cabbage has been ok. slugs and butterflies have been a constant pest so netting next year I think, as the bloody caterpillars have got right on my nerves.
In general, it's been another great growing year. Next year I think more chickens and a bigger chicken run maybe the route to more self sufficience 😉