Plants

Sporky

VimFuego said:

I made sure they knew it was me who told the press.

Excellent work.

I'm also picturing you standing with your scythe, staring at them every time they come near.

VimFuego

Sporky said:

VimFuego said:

I made sure they knew it was me who told the press.

Excellent work.

I'm also picturing you standing with your scythe, staring at them every time they come near.

sadly I didn't own the scythe at the time.

Ravenous

VimFuego said:

The chair of the committee was so happy when she saw we were moving away, almost carried my stuff away from the plot when I gave it up. Fecking bullies.

You should have snuck back that night with a sack load of really nasty seeds - Japanese Knotweed or something.  (Still, no pleasure if it wipes out the good people too.)

VimFuego

Ravenous said:

VimFuego said:

The chair of the committee was so happy when she saw we were moving away, almost carried my stuff away from the plot when I gave it up. Fecking bullies.

You should have snuck back that night with a sack load of really nasty seeds - Japanese Knotweed or something.  (Still, no pleasure if it wipes out the good people too.)

clearly I have no idea who did this, but apparently some unscrupulous person went to her plot on night and wrote rude words in weedkiiler on her plot...

ESBlonde

Allotment, small back garden x2 with a small greenhouse too.
allotment has strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries and blackcurrents. Rhubarb and some espalier fruit trees (apricot, peach, cherry, 2x apple, cooking apple, pear, plumb).
We grow a selection of veggies like carrots, beetroot, sweed, potato, broad/french/runner beans, peas, onions, shallotts, garlic, sweetcorn, cauliflower, kale, cabbage, weeds, brussels, broccoli, chard, spinnach and lettuce to name most of them. Plus and herbs we don't kill.

Blessed to enjoy the experience without being fully reliant on the produce. that said we can eat something home grown every week of the year and for the summer just about everything for a few weeks.

I've got half the plot down to no dig/mulched this year as an experiment, it's not easier because you need to shovel lots and lots of material onto the site.
Look after the soil and feed it, after that everything is easy.

merlin

Garden at the back has a lovely apple tree, 2stone of apples last year. We grow spring onions, garlic, carrots, dill, rosemary, basil, mint, bay, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, gooseberries, plums, blackcurrants, redcurrants. And the neighbours apple tree (different to ours) provides us with fruit too. 

robgilmo

Guys, I have a raised bed, around 4 meters x 3 meters, about 18 inches deep (but could be deeper), I want to grow toms and cucumbers , Ive got a few strawberrys in there already, any other suggestions of things to grow? Plot is in shade until around 10am. What can I put in there that it isn't already too late to grow? Whats the story on blueberry's?

Jeremiah

There's a cherry tree in my back garden, but all the cherries are too high to reach and the birds eat them as soon as they are even close to being ripe.

VimFuego

blueberry's are an acid loving plant, and you will sruggle to grow them in regular soil (and not advisable to try to acidify normal soil to that level as not much else will do well there). They are best grown in a large pot or container in ericaceous compost. Not grown em myself, but see no reason why they won't do well here.

As for what else can be grown, it's still early in the season, so pretty much everything. Lettuce is always a good 'un, kale if you are keen on it. The list of stuff is huge, be easier to say what it's too late for.

ronnyb

Don't know much about it myself but the tenant in a house I rent out is very keen, he's even got stuff growing up in the loft. 

SteveRobinson

Nikko said:

kaypeejay said:

Nikko said:

We grow strawberries, and have a really unruly Rhubarb patch in our garden

Our Rhubarb plant is flowering this year and I've never seen it do that before. It's like a bloody big penis sticking straight out of the middle of it!

Isnt that called a 'Crown'? Give it to someone else who might want to grow rhubarb

No the crown is the centre of the plant where all the leaves come out of. 

Flanging_Fred

Mrs Fred is trying to turn the kids old sandpit into a mushroom farm. It'll be very interesting to see if it works, I love mushrooms!

SteveRobinson

EricTheWeary said:

We used to have an allotment. Surprising success with sweet corn which is fantastic really fresh. Rule was don't bother with anything you can buy really cheap ( onions, potatoes) so tended to do fruit, artichokes, courgettes. Started doing a Three Sisters with the sweet corn ( using the plant as a frame for growing other stuff up it) but didn't really get a result out of that. The allotment was a bit too time consuming and a lot of cliquey, unhelpful people there who were hard to avoid.

We tried sweet corn but failed to harvest it in that short window between it ripening and the squirrels eating it.

The people at our site are very friendly I'm pleased to say.

boogieman

robgilmo said:

Guys, I have a raised bed, around 4 meters x 3 meters, about 18 inches deep (but could be deeper), I want to grow toms and cucumbers , Ive got a few strawberrys in there already, any other suggestions of things to grow? Plot is in shade until around 10am. What can I put in there that it isn't already too late to grow? Whats the story on blueberry's?

Carrots, parsnips, peas, beans, in fact most veg can still go in now, especially as it's got colder lately. I'd buy plants though rather than using seed, especially if you've not done it before. Garlic and onions are really, really simple to grow and virtually guaranteed to give you a decent crop.  

Don't know anything about soft fruit though, sorry. 

WezV

I have strawberries, gooseberries and raspberries as a permanent fixture.

salad leaves, lambs lettuce, tomatoes and chillis in pots.

2 trees as well, apple and pear.  They are both a bit neglected and I got nothing usable off them last year.  I brutally pruned the apple 2 months ago so am hoping with another year or two of regular trimming it will be back to a productive state.


my 5 year old daughter loves the herbs.  We have rosemary, thyme, lemon thyme, chives, sage, a couple of mints etc....   she is always picking off the leaves to rub in her palms and smell.  Gets really excited when we cook with them.

i don't have masses of productive garden due to drive, garage, patios and the large fruit trees.  It means I am mostly limited to pots and small borders.  fruit bushes, herbs and salad leaves work well in limited space and give the greatest reward for kids 

57Deluxe

I have some Bamboo seeds from AliExpress (62p per 100 delivered!) (wanted for a F-off hedge/boundary/neighbour issue) and got them in seed trays. Thing is since 3 weeks back the ambient air temp/overnight temps have bombed and so will probbo have to start again  but at risk of the seedlings not being advanced/strong enough to last a bad winter...

Without a greenhouse or cold frames, this is the perennial issue with striking from seeds in UK

Other seeds struck at same time were Japanese Anemone and seeds from last year's Michaelmas Daisy. 3 or each showing so far.

boogieman

57Deluxe said:

I have some Bamboo seeds from AliExpress (62p per 100 delivered!) (wanted for a F-off hedge/boundary/neighbour issue) and got them in seed trays. Thing is since 3 weeks back the ambient air temp/overnight temps have bombed and so will probbo have to start again  but at risk of the seedlings not being advanced/strong enough to last a bad winter...

Without a greenhouse or cold frames, this is the perennial issue with striking from seeds in UK

Other seeds struck at same time were Japanese Anemone and seeds from last year's Michaelmas Daisy. 3 or each showing so far.

Worth getting a heated propagator. We bought a cheap one last year, think it was about £30, and it's been brilliant for getting stuff going, especially this year with the temps being all over the place. Damn sight cheaper than heating the geeenhouse too. 

EricTheWeary

WezV said:

I have strawberries, gooseberries and raspberries as a permanent fixture.

salad leaves, lambs lettuce, tomatoes and chillis in pots.

2 trees as well, apple and pear.  They are both a bit neglected and I got nothing usable off them last year.  I brutally pruned the apple 2 months ago so am hoping with another year or two of regular trimming it will be back to a productive state.


my 5 year old daughter loves the herbs.  We have rosemary, thyme, lemon thyme, chives, sage, a couple of mints etc....   she is always picking off the leaves to rub in her palms and smell.  Gets really excited when we cook with them.

i don't have masses of productive garden due to drive, garage, patios and the large fruit trees.  It means I am mostly limited to pots and small borders.  fruit bushes, herbs and salad leaves work well in limited space and give the greatest reward for kids 

Raspberries are very hardy and will self set. They would grow like weeds on the untended plot behind our allotment but even those would produce some fruit. The hardest bit with fruit bushes is getting to the fruit before the birds do so some kind of fruit cage ( bamboo sticks and netting or posher) is required. 

Sambostar