Let's Grow!

[neversay]

Forget panic buying, I'm panic gardening so, if the worst happens, we will have 20 lettuce to eat in one week in August...

If the more experienced gardeners are here, it would be good to hear what you are doing/planning in the garden in the next few weeks.

[kiloran]

If the more experienced gardeners are here, it would be good to hear what you are doing/planning in the garden in the next few weeks.

Attacking weeds in the borders and moss in the lawns

--kiloran

[sg31]

This tread might produce some ideas.

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=22325

I grow a lot of soft fruit, Raspberries, strawberries. Balckcurrants were planted last year but aren't going to produce until next year. I have rhubarb in quantity.
Runner beans will go in at the end of May and mid July to extend cropping to late October. I will grow 28 tomato plants. I was going to grow less this year but I will distribute the excess around the village.

I've bought seeds for lettuce, land cress and radish. Swiss chard, perpetual spinach. Onion sets because onions are unavailable at present. Also sprouts, brocolli, cabbage and cauliflower for late autumn and winter. Hopefully they go in but aren't needed.

Rabbits and deer like to eat anything and everything in the garden but I have a compound that is fenced against both that I use for fruit. I will have to find space in there for as much as I can. It will take a bit of thinking about.

The Bramley Aple looks klike it might fruit this year after major surgery 3-4 years ago. Hope so, the apples will be appreciated.

[bungeejumper]

Sowing in rotation, of course.

Some veg can be sown early in a propagator and then moved to a greenhouse etc, if available. I'm experimenting with an early sowing of climbing french beans (Cobra), which they say will give me an early crop under glass. (The conventional crop begins in late June/July.)

Putting a few parsnip seeds into a long pot, in case the peskies demolish the ones I put in the ground. Popular wisdom says you can't plant out pot-started parsnips into the soil, but popular wisdom is wrong. It does take a bit of care, though.

A lot of people would be surprised at how good UK sweetcorn is these days. UK-friendly varieties like Conqueror will ripen nicely over here, and mine are usually 8 to 10 inches long. You can expect 25-30 cobs from a table tennis table-sized bit of ground, and they freeze very well.

Tomatoes, courgettes, chillis (for indoors). Very hard to get those wrong. As are onion sets, of course. All you have to remember with onions is that at the summer solstice they stop growing and start ripening. (Yes, they count the daylight hours.) Planting them late, then, is a wasted effort. But early is commensurately good idea, within reason.

I can't grow spuds because of blight in my soil, but if you can they're a no-brainer.

BJ

[UncleEbenezer]

I can't grow spuds because of blight in my soil, but if you can they're a no-brainer.

BJ

Why are they a no-brainer?

If I had garden space, I think the last thing I'd want to devote it to is something that's so widely available in the shops, usually at decent price and quality and without a harsh tradeoff. And on top of that, you have to dig them!

(and as for blight, aren't there varieties that'll help deal with it?)

[bungeejumper]

If I had garden space, I think the last thing I'd want to devote it to is something that's so widely available in the shops, usually at decent price and quality and without a harsh tradeoff. And on top of that, you have to dig them!

(and as for blight, aren't there varieties that'll help deal with it?)

Haha, there's blight resistant and then there's blight proof. I'd need the latter, unfortunately. Nothing can spoil your day quite like picking up a potato whose underside is a squishy, stinking lump of mush.

You are of course right, that spuds are cheap and plentiful (usually). But they're also heavy and awkward to home-deliver. Some people would want to put that into the equation.

Everybody who ever uses courgettes, including Simsqu, ought to be told that they're the ultimate fit and forget veg. Even if the slugs chomp them right off at the roots, they can still keep on producing just from the water that their leaves accumulate overnight. In fact the hardest part of the job is stopping them from growing into marrows while you're not paying attention.

BJ

[sg31]

I can't grow spuds because of blight in my soil, but if you can they're a no-brainer.

BJ

Why are they a no-brainer?

If I had garden space, I think the last thing I'd want to devote it to is something that's so widely available in the shops, usually at decent price and quality and without a harsh tradeoff. And on top of that, you have to dig them!

(and as for blight, aren't there varieties that'll help deal with it?)

Spuds are now £15 per sack locally.

[neversay]

Thanks for the replies/tips. I was doing some preparation at the weekend including weeding, digging, sorting platers etc. No planting yet as there was a frost this morning and I need to do some planning.

Could anyone offer advice on 'what goes where' for best results?

Locations:
- garden allotment plot in full sun, approx 3 table tennis areas in size (to use bungeejumper's standard units!)
- borders (north side full sun, east/west part sun, south mostly shade)
- 6 large grow sacks
- 3 tomato grow bags (2 fit in mini-greenhouses)
- 12 pots/planters of various sizes
- small amount of internal window space in house
- small internal window space in cold garage
- diy cold frame made of old wood

Seeds/plants
- potatoes, onions, leek, carrots (poor in the past), garlic, broccoli, ginger,
- kale, spinach, pak choi, cabbage,
- sweetcorn, courgette, tomatoes, pepper, peas (snap, mange tout), aubergine
- strawberries
- Already established: raspberry, blackcurrant, blueberries, rhubarb

Aside from the obvious choices (like tomatoes in mini-greenhouses) I need to figure out what's best to put in the grow sacks, planters, beds etc. to be most efficient given limited space. There are the usual challenges of every pest nature can muster, including kids trampling crops with the football...

[Nimrod103]

I have a large fruit cage with raspberries, blueberries, black, red and white currants, and gooseberries. I still have a lot frozen in a small chest freezer. So I won't run short of vitamin C over the next few weeks/months.

I have grown strawberries for a couple of years, but they really are not worth it in my garden. They need plenty of sun, and not constant attacks from slugs, birds, rats, squirrels, badgers and grey mould. I'm replacing them this year with tomatoes, in two big patio planters, and also in the veg patch. AIUI blight has been a big tomato problem in recent years, so I pushed the boat out and bought expensive F1 seeds Ferline and Summerlast, which are supposed to be blight resistant. No idea what they taste like.

I have planted two patio potato planters this year, another first for me. I am putting in a couple of rows of radishes for a quick crop (also because I was given the seed). I will be planting leeks, mange tout, French and runner beans, because these are the vegetables I find most useful in my kitchen.

[bungeejumper]

AIUI blight has been a big tomato problem in recent years, so I pushed the boat out and bought expensive F1 seeds Ferline and Summerlast, which are supposed to be blight resistant. No idea what they taste like.

I've been growing Ferlines for five or six years now - they taste pretty good (not exceptional), they crop reliably, and they really are pretty blight-proof - the last couple of years have seen no blight at all (but a bit of blossom end rot), and in previous years the blight was only in late September when they were getting toward their dig-by dates anyway.

Part of the reason for the blight resistance is that their skins are slightly thicker than some others. Not excessively so, but they do have a bit more "bite" to them. I also grow trailing pot varieties like Red Alert or Sweet Baby, which can start fruiting in late June - another way of getting past the blight problem! Beef tomatoes never seem to do very well for me - although our garden is sheltered by an eight foot wall, it never seems to be Mediterranean enough for them. I'm having another go at Costoluto Fiorentino this year (as seen on Gardeners World last weekend). Might have to go large on the seaweed extract to get the best from them.

I am a keen but lazy gardener where tomatoes are concerned.I'd rather plant twelve plants in the open and not fuss about them, than have four plants and spend all my time trying to maximise the crop. But then, I do have a lot of space in my veg patch. That wouldn't work for everybody.

I will be planting leeks, mange tout, French and runner beans, because these are the vegetables I find most useful in my kitchen.

Do have a think about climbing french beans - they are very abundant, they freeze well, and they seem to do best in those years when runners aren't so good. Which is a very attractive characteristic to have.

BJ

[Nimrod103]

AIUI blight has been a big tomato problem in recent years, so I pushed the boat out and bought expensive F1 seeds Ferline and Summerlast, which are supposed to be blight resistant. No idea what they taste like.

I've been growing Ferlines for five or six years now - they taste pretty good (not exceptional), they crop reliably, and they really are pretty blight-proof - the last couple of years have seen no blight at all (but a bit of blossom end rot), and in previous years the blight was only in late September when they were getting toward their dig-by dates anyway.

Part of the reason for the blight resistance is that their skins are slightly thicker than some others. Not excessively so, but they do have a bit more "bite" to them. I also grow trailing pot varieties like Red Alert or Sweet Baby, which can start fruiting in late June - another way of getting past the blight problem! Beef tomatoes never seem to do very well for me - although our garden is sheltered by an eight foot wall, it never seems to be Mediterranean enough for them. I'm having another go at Costoluto Fiorentino this year (as seen on Gardeners World last weekend). Might have to go large on the seaweed extract to get the best from them.

I am a keen but lazy gardener where tomatoes are concerned.I'd rather plant twelve plants in the open and not fuss about them, than have four plants and spend all my time trying to maximise the crop. But then, I do have a lot of space in my veg patch. That wouldn't work for everybody.

I will be planting leeks, mange tout, French and runner beans, because these are the vegetables I find most useful in my kitchen.

Do have a think about climbing french beans - they are very abundant, they freeze well, and they seem to do best in those years when runners aren't so good. Which is a very attractive characteristic to have.

BJ

I haven't grown tomatoes for a long time, and I have no greenhouse, but I do have a large sunny sheltered patio. Last year I grew strawberries in some large planters, but it was a fight against the birds and badgers, and didn't get much of a crop. Since I will be growing tomatoes outdoors. I am particularly concerned about the blight problem.

I have grown climbing French beans for a couple of years, as an add on to end of the runner bean rows. I have had generally patchy results and I don't quite know why, when runner beans are pretty reliable. I suspect it is because my veg plot is a bit overshadowed by big trees next door, and only gets full sun for a few hours. Runner beans make a lot of leaf and can cope with this, but maybe not French beans.

[sg31]

My biggest problem with strawberries is blackbirds. They pull the berries off before they are ripe and swallow then whole. I've seen one bird eat 6 or 7 at one visit. Mice can be a bit of a problem they scrape a semi ripe berry with their teeth and then move on to another. I wouldn't mind so much if they ate one berry completely and left the rest alone.

In the end I built a wooden cage and covered it with 6mm square wire mesh. It reduces the light somewhat but the strawberries crop very well.

Now the remaining problem is slugs but that is largely in check now I use those impregnated circles of black material instead of straw.