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.

Oh, pumpkins were so disappointing.. I tended, I tickled with paintbrushes to pollinate , I marvelled as the foliage took over the veg bed, I thrilled as the little fruit started to swell... then I watched as they fell off and rotted .

My top tip for spring onions is to plant lots of staggered batches in those deep, plastic 'punnets' that plums etc come in at the supermarket.

We had masses of pumpkins, must be the advantage of living up north , we still go t some rain

Hi there , would like to do better this year -
last year had FAB cherry tomatoes
Nice lettuce
lots of redcurrants/gooseberries/apples BUT
my carrots were tiny
my spring onions were tiny
didnt know when to pick my mini corn - was waiting for it to turn yellow like corn on the cob - by which time it was too late
etc etc
would like to try potatoes this year -
i guess im just not very good at preparing the soil (very heavy clay)
Cant wait for the weather to be nice - havent been out in my garden for ages.
So tell me - what are you planting in the next month then?

Oh Betty, how disappointing I did pumpkins and butternut squash a couple of years ago and the squash did MUCH better. Try those - they still take over the whole bed though

Betty - mine rotted and fell off until I sought advice from MN about polinating them. I got two fair sized pumpkins after doing that which I carved for halloween!

I wont bother again this year though. They just took up far too much space and smothered alot of other veg I had.

So, I am MNing with my feet up, having double dug my veg plot today (and boy does my back know it), and pulled the last of my leeks, and the brussel sprout plant that really didnt sprout that much. All fresh and ready to go. I may sow something tomorrow - I think spring onions can be started, early salad and turnips too. I'm so excited!!!

VVV you are soooo good How exciting, I love this time of year, everything just getting ready to go

VVV- so was it you with the paintbrush tickling the flowers then?

my cress has worked

am feeling proud

its all relative

so what should we be doing roundabout now then?

Need to be getting ready to plant next month.Digging up allotments or if you are like me cleaning out pots from last year

Yes it was, lol!!!

You should be preparing the ground and digging in some organic matter. (Not manure at this point - its too late - it needs all winter to break down in the soil).

And cleaning any pots and tools that you havent done already

Some seeds can be started now, but, only really if you have a heated greenhouse. Unless you are prepared to give up your windowsills for the next 3 months.....

what?

digging?

outside?

its cooooooold....

oh i have allotments.

and this year will be the year i grow something

Tomatoes in pots are the easiest thing in the world. My favourite variety is 'Sungold' - small orange fruits - very reliable. You can either sow the seeds in March or buy the plants April/May but protect from late frosts.
Half fill a large pot with compost (John Innes No. 3 is better than the 'potting compost' usually sold in Homebase etc)and plant the little tomato plant in it.
When the plant is about a foot taller than the pot, fill the rest of the pot with compost. This encourages 'feeder' roots to grow out from the stem.
You will also need to shove in a bamboo cane and tie the stem to it.
If any little shoots appear at the leaf joints it's best to pinch them out or you won't get the best possible crop.
After that - never let them dry out.
Start feeding with liquid tomato feed when the 2nd 'truss' (ie little bunch of tomatoes) appears.
1st week of July break off the top of the plant so that no more tomatoes form - they won't ripen so you want the plant to put all its energy into the ones already growing.
They'll keep going till the first frosts.
YUM

Filly, its not cold once you start digging

Forty - good advice. I wont plant toms in grow bags anymore. Not stable enough and and the feeder roots dont get a chance to develop well.

hello, can I join too? I've been a bit sporadic on the fruit and veg front over the last few years, but have really enjoyed tomatoes and windowsill chillis and got good crops of beans and potatoes in previuos years. Also got pear and plum trees and a gooseberry bush.

I really want to get into this again but am 37wks pg right now so not sure how much I'll be doing at least in the early part of the year. I got the book about square foot gardening at Christmas so hope to try that this year. Need to buy some raised bed kits - has anyone tried the linkabord ones in the catalogues? BTW square ft gardening is broadly speaking the method they're doing at Harlow Carr in that grow yr own veg programme (which I agree has very little real content). Idea being that you shouldn't get lots of gluts or vast expanses of bare soil. We'll see...

VeniVidiVickiQV - thank you Grow bags must lead to a lot of disappointment. I got much better results when I switched to posts - and if you need to move them it's much easier than trying to lift a floppy heavy grow bag.

babydrivertoo - have used raised beds in the past but not the ones you mention - we just used old scaffold boards. But then we built an extension on top of the veg patch so it's in a different part of the garden, now.

hello fellow green-fingered friends,
I'd love to say I would be glued to this thread, but I shall be too busy down me alloty
Went on saturday for the first time in months and my shed had been blown over onto its side !
So, instead of having a nice potter round, planning roation for this year, I was comando crawling into my poor beached shed, removing all the tools/seeds/hose/crap/spiders which had been shaken and stirred inside, and weeping into my mobile to all the friendly strong folk I could think of to help me fix it and get it back up.

Will be growing earlies and maincrop spuds,
loads of carrots,
broclii,
red and white ionions,
runners, broad and drawrf french beans, lettuce, leaves, spinach,
outdoor tomatoes,
courtgettes,
parsnips,
kohl rabi,
romanescue thingy (fractal brocolli!!),
mini pumpkins and butternut squash

In addition to my thriving herb patch, raspberries, blueberries, gooseberries, strawberries and blackberries.

My peas were pants this year, won't bother.

Really excited now, though stll lots of digging to be done

Betty, my mini pumpkins were a triumph last year, with none of that filthy tickling palavar! If they grow well again this year, you are welcome to have some (oh, tis FMF btw)

ok have done some digging today

it was cold

what do y'all do about the dc while gardening?

when mine was baby, used to feed him on site, then he would sleepo for at least and hour. There is an awful age when they are mobile but totally senseless where it is not possible to achieve anything, then when they are 2+ it gets easier, thoug I used to have to be very organised - huge amounts of snacks, drinks, diggers, child's spade, bubble mix, and a sandpit filled with clean compost have done the trick admirably for the past 6 years. Now they sit in shed with gameboys and sulk, while eating as many strawberries, blackberries etc as they can find.

FMF - i dug out my seeds night before last. I have quite a few..... I didnt realise.

I do have a load that are past their "use by" date, but I'm guessing this will not be so much of a problem, except for germination rates will be reduced??

So, I will do a list...off the top of my head because I am at work...

HERBS

Parsley
Coriander
Chives
Thyme (Old English)
Oregano
Sweet Marjoram
Summer Savoury
Sweet Basil
Fennel (bulb) (Victoria)
Wild Rocket

Root Veg

Carrots (Nantes, and one other type)
Parnsip (Avon Resister, Javelin)
Turnip (white small)
Beetroot (Wodan)
Swede

Other Veg

Cabbage (Primo white)
Cabbage (Savoy)
Cabbage (Spring)
Cabbage (roundhead)
Broccoli (2 varieties)
Brussel Sprouts
Sweetcorn
Butternut Squash
Red Onion (red baron)
Onion (Gloucestershire something)
Spring Onion (White Lisbon)
Leeks (2 varieties)
Lettuce (arctic king winter)
Lettuce (little gem)
Lettuce (Iceberg)
Lettuce (Cut and come again)
Lettuce (niche mixed leaves)
Lettuce (Lollo Rosso)
Radicchio
Pea (early onward)
Pea (petit pois)
Broad Beans
Runner Beans (Painted Lady)
Dwarf Green Beans
Butterbeans (DP has kindly ordered these despite not being able to afford to )
Tomato (Ildi - yellow cherry)
Tomato (Moneymaker)
Tomato (Alicante)
Tomato (Lemon Tree - yellow)
Tomato (Bananas and cream - yellow)
Tomato (sakura)
Tomato (plum/roman...something)
Tomato (cherry variety)
Sweet Pepper (festival mixed)
Sweet Pepper (Banana long)
Sweet Pepper (mixed)
Jalapeno Pepper
Chilli (fire...something)
Aubergine
Spinach (America)
Spinach (perpetual)
Cress and mustard!!!

Phew...! I will check later and add any I have missed, but, I really dont think I have.....

Filly - its much much colder today than it was at the weekend.

I struggled last year with my two causing havoc and DS emptying newly filled pots of compost along with seeds/plants.

DD is fine - she likes to help or goes off adn does her own thing. She is 3.9 yrs.

DS - 20 mths - goes down for a nap from about 12pm to 1.30-2pm ish so it gives me a good window of time to get things done.

However, I often wait until DP is there so that we can 'swap'. One goes in and looks after whilst one does something in the garden, and vice versa.

Have to say, now and again, as long as they have wellies and 'old' clothes on, I dont mind them having a roll around in the mud and 'gardening' too. Tires them out too .

haven't had a chance to read this whole thread but just wanted to say THANKS for getting me re-inspired about growing my own veg etc this year - this will be my first year (and my first year with a baby!) so will watch this and future threads with interest.. thanks for the advice so far!

Welcome Babydriver and Cheriton. How old are your dc? Mine was born last spring and I did nothing last year - except fruit obviously which sort of does itself

Sounds like ds will be at the 'mobile but senseless' stage this year, and dh very uninterested (in either the garden or the veg!) so I'm going to have very limited ambitions

I was also thinking of the linkaboards to make raised beds, and they do a composter kit as well. It looks v expensive, but it's pretty big and has somewhere to grow stuff at the top (using the heat from the heap). I'd also be interested if anyone has used them?

Just had a thought (panic!) about Tomatos, we are going away 1/2 term week in May/June with my parents, I'll have to get a neighbour to water all my plants!