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Gardening

Find tips and tricks to make your garden or allotment flourish on our Gardening forum.

Original poster

Fruit & Veg growers Club 2007

517 replies

nikkie · 06/01/2007 16:31

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.

OP posts:
itoa · 15/01/2007 19:56

mmmm will deffo be growing tomatoes again this year

itoa · 15/01/2007 19:57

nikkie - we use a self-watering system for our tomatoes last yr

itoa · 15/01/2007 20:04

soaker hose connected to a water butt

VeniVidiVickiQV · 15/01/2007 20:05

Ah, also....

tomato (Harlequin - plum)

Niki - i got some (about 20 something!) water spikes from bettaware last year. They were a godsend in the hot weather. I dont know how long you are going away for, but, in average british weather they can last for a good few days. So maybe someone only need fill the bottles up every few days?

VeniVidiVickiQV · 15/01/2007 20:06

Ah, itoa, we had, well, still have, a hosepipe ban in our area.

Original poster
nikkie · 15/01/2007 20:07

Think it would work in pots/growbags?

OP posts:
VeniVidiVickiQV · 15/01/2007 20:09

ah, no water butt either

You asking me or itoa?

Original poster
nikkie · 15/01/2007 20:09

Thats a good idea too VVV,we will be away a week and at least its not in the hottest weather when I was watering twice a day.

OP posts:
itoa · 15/01/2007 20:11

I never thought about teh soaker hose being a hosepipe

we threaded the pipe through 4 growbags and connected it to the water butt.

Had to fill teh water butt up every so often, but not as bad as daily watering of the toms

VeniVidiVickiQV · 15/01/2007 20:25

Oh itoa - it doesnt matter if its attached to a water butt though

I missed that bit

caterpiller · 15/01/2007 20:35

I'd never thought of browing blueberries. Ds loves them. Are they hard to grow? Do they like sun/shade etc?

I'm a complete novice.

Mirage · 15/01/2007 20:48

Haven't read the whole thread yet,but be warned,if you grow Jerusalem Artichokes,you will never get rid of them.It is impossible to dig up all the tubers & they spread like nobody's business.

I have promised myself that I will get my polytunnel up & running this year.It is 20 x 50ft so it will keep me busy.

Will check back later to read what you are all planning.

Original poster
nikkie · 15/01/2007 20:50

Quite fancy a water butt, wonder where i could put it

Blueberries-we started them last year,didn't get any at home, and the birds got them at the allotment(only a few though) was hoping that they are one of those plants that don't do in their 1st year rather than that I wasn't donig well with them !

OP posts:
VeniVidiVickiQV · 15/01/2007 20:56

blueberries not hard to grow but DO need acid soil. If your soil isnt acidic, then you need to plant them in pots with ericaceous compost. Stick in a sunny, sheltered position. You may need at least two plants though, because they arent self pollinating.

Original poster
nikkie · 15/01/2007 21:14

We have 4 at home and 2 in alootment (they were labelled m/f too!)

OP posts:
skibump · 15/01/2007 21:22

m/f? I got 4 (can't remember what they were at the moment, but didn't see any mention of m/f. Any idea how I would be able to tell?

Mirage, tell more about jerusalem artichokes, I love them so the 'perpetual' nature is appealing. Do they need to be held prisoner in their own bed?

VeniVidiVickiQV · 15/01/2007 21:27

I have 3

All at home (had to give up allotment last year as had gone to rack and ruin due to illness).

2 gave a fair amount of fruit in their first summer - i only bought them last spring, enough to mix in with other summer fruit. Im hoping this year to get enough for a blueberry pie, or maybe even blueberry jam.....

I have other fruit in my garden too. I have 2 small figs in pots, a blackcurrant and a redcurrant bush (I think the red has died though over winter).

I have 3 Rhubarb plants that I grew from seed - very easy to grow from seed - highly recommend it. The leaves are supposed to be good at deterring blackfly off of broad beans etc if you boil them in water and pour the cooled water over the beans.

I have a thornless blackberry Loch Ness I think - highly recommend that variety too - huge, sweet, juicy fruits in abundance.

Also Strawberries in pots - two varieties - one i grew from seed - very easy if slow in germinating. I have raspberries growing in the front garden - they didnt do much last year - I'm hoping they'll pick up this year.

I also have a young Victoria plum tree in the front garden that gave me 3 plums last year - im hoping for a few more than that this year.

If you actually saw the size of my garden you'd laugh because it really isnt that big.........Everything is truly crammed in

bettythebuilder · 15/01/2007 21:41

Thanks for the pumpkin offer, fmf

I asked for a water butt for my birthday last february,(I know,I know "diamond earrings, darling? Oh no, I'd like a big butt please" ) but haven't got one yet. Has anyone seen any bargain butts around?

VeniVidiVickiQV · 15/01/2007 21:44

Some local councils sell them cheaply.

It depends on how environmentally friendly yours is.

Ours are well into recycling etc and give away free compost bins and cheap water butts.

itoa · 15/01/2007 21:47

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

skibump · 15/01/2007 21:48

VVV, do you know anything about blueberries being m/f?

Original poster
nikkie · 15/01/2007 21:49

Most rasps didn't do well last year VVV

OP posts:
VeniVidiVickiQV · 15/01/2007 21:52

Ah, i thought it may have just been because they were put in in late spring. I got a few fruits off them, but nothing to do anything with. Just picked and ate them straight off the plant.

Ski - I dont know about male/female differences - as far as I was aware, as long as you have two or more plants, then you should get some cross pollination going on from the insects.

or maybe with a little paintbrush....

skibump · 15/01/2007 21:55

If they were put in in spring you did well to get anything off them at all, they'll probably do really well this year - but in my experience still not many actually make it to the kitchen

exbury · 15/01/2007 21:55

Whoever mentioned Jerusalem artichokes somewhere at the bottom of this huge thread - be careful. Make sure you really like them before you plant them as you will never get rid of them. We had them in our garden when I was little, and we were broke so we had to eat them - as a result I now hate the things!

That said, they grow 6-7 feet high and once the stalks dry and get cut down they make really cool "lances" for DC to joust with - my brother and I had hours of fun (don't panic - the stalks are like cow parsley and break really easily, so no damage can be inflicted on siblings, no matter how hard they try!)