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.

lol, you daft bint

Well, I'm at work, so clearly not paying attention to either task fully

Raspberries
strawberries
blueberries
loganberries
figs
apples

lettuce
tomatoes
cucumber
leeks
butternut squash
carrots

loads of herbs
chillis

mrsvern- Iwould have gone for the plant and then bought cake

I have been sorting my seeds , I have about 10 different types of tomatos already

No greenhouse things in WIlkos yet but there is a space so will prob be in this week

We will be growing

raspberries
gooseberries
strawberries

pink fir apple potatoes
red and brown onions
shallots
garlic
carrots (but NOT the ridiculous stumpy things we grew this year)
beetroot
parsnips
radishes
swedes (ugh)
leeks
cobnut squash
courgettes (long and globe, may try some yellow ones this year)
french beans
runner beans
peas
sugar snap peas
sweetcorn
purple sprouting broccoli
calabrese
pumpkins
cabbages (white and red)

Tomatoes
salad leaves
bell peppers
chilli peppers
annual herbs like basil and coriander
aubergines

And anything else that catches DH's fancy int he catalogue. He tried mooli last year. Not a success.

Blimey. Looks a lot now I've listed it all...

What do you all do about slugs ? I didn't do anything last year and a lot got munched before they got started really. I don't really want to put down pellets, has anyone else got any other things that have worked well ? I have tried beer in tubs before to keep them off the flowers which sort of worked but things still got eaten.

Didn't get slugs but got over run with caterpillars who ate everyhting except the tomato plants and the physillis plants

Didn't help I had to sneak away so dd1 didn't see me getting rid of the caterpillars as she cried each time [rolls eyes]

please may i join? SLug ideas, beer traps (lots of them). Egg shells crumbled around vulnerable young seedlings ( i also added cat litter - unused this year cos we couldn't eat enough eggs fast enough! The slugs don't like the texture apparently and it seemed to work quite well.
Last year I grew:
chard
spinach
carrots (poor and still in the ground)
butternut squash (Loads of them - didn't ripen but perhaps i planted late)
parsley
basil
leeks
tomatoes
french marigolds to protect the tomatoes
rocket
red brussels
purple sprouting broccoli
courgettes
runner beans
mange tout
peas
french beans
didn't realise there was so much... I plan to do most of this again but not sure what to do when since we only moved here in MAy and i just lobbed the lot into the ground before we'd even unpacked the boxes!

nikkie
it's all about brainwashing! My dd's know that caterpillars are evil and will peel them off and crush them underfoot without batting an eyelid!

not slugs here but snails I have a problem with and they seem to eat everything faster than a slug.
I have DS trained now to yell snail everytime he sees one and we pick it up and lob it over the back fence for the birds!

Tried to brain wash ,dd2 was convinced (and helped!) but dd1 has read about reincarnation she is very easily influenced by books/tv(dinosaurs are real and live in America)/teachers but not me!

thankfully DS is only 2 so is more interested in the slimy yukky things being lobbed over fence

I can highly recommend growing beetroot and courgette for beginner veg growers btw. Courgette continue to produce and produce if you keep harvesting. I had one plant and it must have produced about 20 or so courgettes over the season. That's pretty good going.

Becky - I grew pink fir apple potatoes last year and wasnt particularly impressed. They didnt produce much, and their nobbly texture made them absolutely AWFUL to prepare.

I am going for

Celery
Beetroot
Carrot
Parsnip
Turnip
Leeks
Spring Onions
Courgette
Bell Peppers & Banana Peppers
Jalapeno Peppers
Tomatoes - cherry and plum
Sweetcorn
French Beans
Peas
Broad Beans
Rocket
Spinach
Mixed Salad Leaves
Various Herbs - parsley, basil, thyme, coriander, oregano

I already have strawberries, blueberries, rhubarb, raspberries, blackberries, blackcurrants, redcurrants, plums and hopefully - some figs!

Grr Califrau

I have north Yorkshire rain, and clay you could make pots out of.

(and an optimistic olive tree in the conservatory )

Oh, hi Nikkie - it's all the old tomato gang from last summer < - Anchovy's tomato persona>

I've got garlic growing nicely at the moment. Trying also some spinach and cavolo nero now, which apparently should grow at this time of year.

Me - carrots, tomatoes, rocket and potatoes this year. My plot is about the size of a single duvet (have reasonable-sized garden with water feature and acres of modern shale - bloody property developers!)

I need to motivate myself to tidy my backyard and finish cleaningout the pots/trays but it keeps raining , need to power hose the yard too, and re paint the wendy house and the walls and attatch the trellis properly instead of with hair bobble and canes like last year

OK, so what do you reccommend for relative novice (although not clueless ) in pots then, oh green-fingered ones. Other than bloomin' tomatoes.

VVVQV - agree about the courgettes, they'e great and really prolific. I grew beetroot last year for the first time and had no success at all. The seedlings came up fine, but the first lot I transplanted did nothing and the second lot got zapped by slugs . I'm sure it wasn't operator error because my other transplants were all fine. Any suggestions?

BEetroots dont like transplanting - i found out myself last year. They all died. The ones I left in the trough where i started were fine. The ones I sowed late june - also fine. We only harvested them early december.

Pots give loads of scope.

You can grow lettuces, peas, beans, Peppers especially are GREAT in pots.

also chillies, spring onions, and herbs - including rocket.

can't transplant carrots very well either

Strawberries are good in pots

Ah - that'd be it then. The packet said you can sow several into a module and then transplant the modules. I knew about carrots - beetroots are so similar I don't know why I didn't think of that!

Can I join too? Have high hopes of growing some leeks, onions, tomatoes and parsnips this year. I'm also hoping my redcurrant bush will do something this year, and my apple tree!! However, I'm pg and due in April so what I actually achieve is a different matter!!
Does anyone have any ideas for fruit/veg that can tolerate shade? Not much sun in my garden, the house blocks it all out!!