Fruit & Veg growers Club 2007

[nikkie]

What is everyone planning to grow this year?
I have the bluberry bushes, strawberries,apple and pear from last year and hopefully i will get some proper fruit this year.Will be growing peas/tomatos/lettuce for definate as they all did really well. Cape gooseberry plants did well but fruit needed a couple more weeks of sun and never quite made it ,possibly start earlier this time.

Al my strawberries got white fly last year after the fruit though)so started from scratch with them this year.

So far have sneaked 2 redcurrant and 1 goosberry into the allotment , How manydo you think I can do before my Dad notices?

at Josie!

boysontoast- No idea about fruit cages, we net our berries but always a OMG panic job

Burek - just read your message and that is exactly what we did last year and I fully expected to have loads of failures but most things grew, some fantastically but others only a little bit. You really do learn by experience so go for it - just watch out for those pesky caterpillars and slugs eating your produce.

yes i have no bananas-
but i do have:
early potatoes
peas
dwarf beans
strawberries
maincrop pots( yet to be planted)
rhubarb
plum tomatoes(also not planted in- byt have seedlings coming along)

question_ what can inplant in July once the new spuds have been lifted?( any ideas would be great)
also have a shady corner about a metre square- what would do well there?
TIA

hi,
virgin vegi grower here. LOs keen, but want easy grow and good results to keep them interested. Not much time for garden and veg patch will be v small.
Max sun or bit of shade best? No greenhouse, but would like some tomatoes, any tips?

I'm being non-ambitious & thinking of trying - potatoes, beans & peas, onions?, carrots (prone to flies?) stawbs, tomatoes.

Is it too late now??

Hello Joanie,

You can grow outdoor varieties of toms, we had great success with Marmande toms last year. Also tumbler varieties in hanging baskets.

Pots need alot of space but you can get a good crop by growing them in an old dustbin.

Runner beans and climbing french beans are pretty straight (sow in pots in April) forward and you can grow them up wigwams which looks really pretty and don't need to much space. I grow mine in pots and then plant them out. They need lots of water so when you dig a hole to plant them in add lots of moisture retaining mulch or even torn up soggy newspaper into the hole you plant them in.

Peas need to be netted to stop the pigeons eating the young palnts - I have never had a successful pea crop. Strawbs too need protection from birds.

Carrots need a fine, stone free soil without manure or they fork and are tricky to clean when you want to eat them.

Onions good and easy - but plant sets now as too late to plant seed.

Salad crops are good to grow and again you can do them in pots.

Have fun.

is it possible to grow strawberries indoors in a pot - we have a very sunny window sill, just wondering if it's worth it, do you get a lot of fruit?

hi, I'd like to join the club too. we are COMPLETE gardening novices, but I have, since autumn become very excited about growing our own fruit - and hopefully saving a fortune. admit am prob being far too optimistic, but have anyway planted in pots:
2 blueberry bushes,
2 redcurrant bushes (1 still needing potting),
1 whitecurrant bush,
2 loganberry plants,
4 varieties of strawberry,
1 cranberry bush.
I also have some pepper seeds and some chilli seeds to plant.
no idea what will fruit, but fingers crossed!
any advice much appreciated!

strawberries indoors will grow but you need something to pollinate the flowers or you won't get strawberries - you can do it yourself with a little paintbrush or you can let in some bees. You also need quite a few plants to get anything worth eating. but at least you will keep the slugs off them

Pests! a mouse (or something) has eaten the courgette and bean seeds I put in the greenhouse to germinate. Grr! War is declared!

cremeggafoam -If you had a couple of courgette plants in pots growing they could be transplanted into the garden in July, I did that lastyear.

Strawberries in pots- I had about 10 plants last year and got loads of fruit (well would have if dd2 didn't keep beatng me to them!)

Mummybex- be aware that some fruit bushes may not fruit much the first year

Califrau - at the orange trees!

Hi, can I join the fruit & veg growers?

This will be my/our 3rd year of growing produce. This year we are doing

potatos (in tubs)
bluberries (bush in a pot, small crop last year, hope for more this time)
loganberries (against fence, hoping for first crop thsi year)
strawberries (not much fruit last year but lots of "babies" grown on from runners, so hopeful for more this year)
tomatos (have 4 types grown from seed now at seedling stage)
courgettes (also from seed now at seedling stage)
cucumber (also from seed now at seedling stage)
sweetcorn (also from seed now at seedling stage, first attempt so fingers crossed)
also got seeds to sow our direct when ready: lettuce, beetroot, spinach, carrots, spring onions, peas and some peppers and squash to get going once windowsill has cleared a bit

Phew! Oh and DH is growing 10 types of chilli!

Oh and some parsnips too

nowornever- at a pesky mouse in your greenhouse.How very dare he. Must go and mouse-proof my greenhouse tomorrow.

Jamantha, 10 types of chilli?? does your dh work for a seed trial company?

BtB - no, but he found an online specialist and got a bit overexcited

ahh- I think 90% of people on this thread will be guilty of that

mrs who thanks for the courgette tip.that sound like a good idea although i am so anxious about the slug population. we did courgettes in the green house 2 years ago and the slugs had a 'courgette eating festival'
mind you i am much more determined this year about the veg. also we have no holiday booked so will be here all summer to tend and nurture!lol
still wondering about my shady corner.dh has put his rhubarb there for starters.i was wondering about having a soft fruit corner- perhaps get some rasps growing up in the hedge(rasp growers- will they need lots of sun?)
keep reading the catlogues and looking in shops but have not found a good solution yet.

thanks for that, will give it a go. am already growing peppers and courgettes from seed, seedlings are about 6-8 inches tall atm, when is it best to transfer them to pots outside? they are currently on the kitchen windowsill.
tia xx

Start by putting them outside when it is warm during the day and bringing in at night, then as it gets warmer (or they take over the kitchen!) stick 'em outside .
I am not at all scientific about these things

Went to the allotment today and spentabout 4 hours there!WIth kids !! They usually wantt to go after an hour !

Planted potatos and some onions.Tidied out the shed (why do all sheds have loads of short pieces of 2X4?) Found some potatos my Dad had 'stored' last year and are now ready to plant and because he had forgotten them we have now run out of room.I have been collected all the big pots/bins I could find to plant some in.
How many to an old bin?

just cut my first asparagus! JUST for me, no sharing, only 5 spears but fat and juicy. yum yum. summer is on its way girls

Cremegg, raspberries don't need lots of sun so they could be a good choice. Personally I prefer autumn fruiting ones and Bob Flowerdew gets two crops off his. You are supposed to cut them down tot he ground in February, but he just cuts back to knee hight so they fruit earlier around june, then he razes them to teh ground and they have another go. Never tried it myself

Lettuce are pretty shade tolerant too, but you need to watch out for slugs and snails living in the hedge.

So excited. I've finally started planting. Today I planted:
11 raspberry bushes
2 blackcurrant bushes
1 redcurrant bush
3 goosberry bushes
15 strawberry plants
1 blackberry bush
2 cherry trees
coriander
parsley

Tomorrrow i'm planting tomatoes and am going to buy more fruit bushes.

I just want to give up work now and become a farmer [dream dream dream]

baragins at lidl next week

Wow what a lot of fruit Burek!

Set up a new raised bed today, and planted out 15 sweetcorn seedlings into it, with some peas sown in between rows. Also put up a mini poly-tunnel so that my toms and courgettes can go outside and get aclimatising (sp?) and give me more room on the windowsill inside. It we get a cold spell may have to bring them in again, especially at night, but thought I'd be optimistic and try to get things going nice and early this year.