The Vegetable Patch

[MereDintofPandiculation]

Now bookbook has sadly left us, and stirred into action by @DobbleDobble, I think it’s time to start a general thread for those of us who try to grow edible produce, fruit, veg, herbs, to share successes, failures, questions and answers

Can't hurt to double up. Plus I eat blueberries every day so it's all good.

I'm planning to grow some blue berries in pots. Any suggestions on variety? I'm keen for maximum flavour over size.

I'm also planning to trial growing bilberries along a path.

Hi all

I hope you don't mind me jumping on the thread. Looking to have a small veg patch in the garden. Due to lack of space I'm thinking of a raised bed and then some potatoe bags / hanging baskets etc as don't have a lot of room.

Does anyone here just have one raised bed and if so what do you prioritise / is good to grow in it? I have a separate herb garden in pots so this is more fruit and veg. Also I'm a bit of a novice but have bought a book to help me but looking for tips from more experienced growers.

Thanks

@MerlinsButler - how big is your raised bed?

In terms of what to grow, I always consider what we like to eat and what gives the best return. So for me, if I only had a small space I'd probably do courgette (1 plant) and mange tout/sugar snap peas and French beans (dwarf or climbing). Maybe some new potatoes depending on space. Courgettes because they're fairly productive, mange tout and French beans as they're fairly expensive to buy fresh but freeze well if you have a glut, new potatoes because fresh new potatoes are great.

I've given up on carrots, peas and main crop potatoes as the return on investment/space just not worthwhile (I have several raised beds in the garden not an allotment so not huge amounts of space)

@MerlinsButler some people tend to avoid anything they could otherwise buy cheap and go for a fancy variety that isn't available in supermarkets. They might be low on stock this time of year but have a look at real seeds dot co dot uk for ideas of different veg available. For the first year I would second easy things like courgette to gain your confidence and experience

Hello all, newbie joining with 3 raised beds and some sunny border areas to fill. Love this thread, its' been so helpful for a nervous gardener like me!

I have two questions I hope someone with experience can help me with:

1. One of my beds is mostly shady, what veg will be ok in this?

1. The summer rasperries I planted 3 years ago grow in abundance but taste of nothing - any recommendations for a tasty alternative?

Thank you!

I'm also planning to trial growing bilberries along a path. Presumably you have acid soil?

@Switz For a shady bed, go for things where you’re not relying on flowers. So not beans or peas. Try for example Swiss chard, poss kale.

I assume you must have a poor variety of raspberry, you could try again with another variety.Alternatively consider loganberry, tayberry etc - these are hybrids between raspberries and blackberries, are more vigorous (you’ll only need a single plant) and seem to be reliably flavoursome.

@Switz - I have a really shady veg bed and I found the following worked well:

• Perpetual kale - gets to about 4ft, you can get gorgeous purple or blue-ish varieties and it can last all season as you only have to pick however many leaves you need at a time.

• Pak Choi - I feel it's quite expensive in shops compared to a lot of veg and I go through a lot!

• Mustard greens / Rocket / Salad leaves - mustard greens in particular are a hit with me because the slugs don't seem to want them (unlike my other greens...)

• Rhubarb - my plot is shaded more during summer as it is under a big tree. So crops like early rhubarb work well as they get the light early in the year to sweeten up.

• Courgettes (surprisingly) - not as productive as plants in sunnier positions, but it gave me a steadier supply (that I could actually keep up with).

• Raddish - because they grow anywhere !

Thank you both so much, that's very helpful and will give me plenty to be going on with!

@StyleDesperation

I'm planning to grow some blue berries in pots. Any suggestions on variety? I'm keen for maximum flavour over size.

I'm also planning to trial growing bilberries along a path.

I grow blueberries and bilberries, the bilberries were bought as blueberry (Lidl) 🤣. You ideally need more than one blueberry plant, I’m not sure what variety mine is but it’s already blooming this year. They do need acidic soil/compost, last year I used this to feed my blueberry bush.

I currently stink like a bonfire after me and my DP have spent the afternoon setting fire to the now not so overgrown allotment

[quote tizwozliz]@MerlinsButler - how big is your raised bed?

In terms of what to grow, I always consider what we like to eat and what gives the best return. So for me, if I only had a small space I'd probably do courgette (1 plant) and mange tout/sugar snap peas and French beans (dwarf or climbing). Maybe some new potatoes depending on space. Courgettes because they're fairly productive, mange tout and French beans as they're fairly expensive to buy fresh but freeze well if you have a glut, new potatoes because fresh new potatoes are great.

I've given up on carrots, peas and main crop potatoes as the return on investment/space just not worthwhile (I have several raised beds in the garden not an allotment so not huge amounts of space)[/quote]
I have a raised bed which is 6ft by 4ft. Then space for pots / potato sacks etc. I am thinking of putting another smaller raised bed next to it next year when I've got a bit more confidence.

I have some mange tout flowering! Not intentional, these are in a planter up against the house that hasn't been touched since last year.

Placemarking. We’ve just bought a house with a large garden and greenhouse plus we want to put a poly tunnel up in addition. I’m new to all of this but my husband has been growing for almost 5 years now.

On here as he will get annoyed if I can show a bit of knowledge and he can’t tell me what to do - ha ha.

Established strawberry plants we brought from our old house went in raised beds yesterday and asparagus though it was potted last year, now in raised bed and apparently we can’t harvest it until next year as it needs 2 years

Lemon and lime trees in the conservatory - south facing so worried it might be a little hot

@tizwozliz I panicked then as I haven't sown mine yet! I love it when things unexpectedly just do there own thing. Feels like a gentle reminder that we can only control so much about how our gardens grow.

@gracedentssketty welcome! What are you hoping to grow in your new garden? Got any particular favourites that you can take over from your husband?

@gracedentsketty I'm majorly jealous of your asparagus. I've always dreamt of having my own asparagus bed, but have never had enough room.

@Lovemusic33 I have three blueberry plants but that's no help as I've only had them a year and the tiny crop I got off them was snaffled by the birds. They came as a bundle from.thompson and Morgan - Elliott, Duke and Bluecrop. I've got flowers in bud this yes and I'm very excited but not sure I did the pruning right.

Today I planted out some of the 24 lettuce I had in modules. For the first time in my life I had a whole tray of perfect, identical little "mint crisp" lettuces but there was a slug trail in the greenhouse this morning, so decided to split them up and let them take their chances. I am very drastically running out of space already.

Sweet peas also went out today, which required digging up a corner of lawn (wotta shame)

Does anyone grow squash or pumpkin as a climber? Thinking of trying it as I bought tromboncino squash, which I think is supposed to be a good climber?

I have given up on asparagus 🤨. Had quite a large patch but never got enough for all 4 of us at once to have even as a side, never mind proper gargantuan portion as new asparagus is meant to be eaten. 😠

@valerianaofficiana it’s interesting you wrote that as I’ve got asparagus seeds starting and 3 crowns, was going to devote a bed to them but it will take 2-3 years of looking after them before I see return and I could use that bed elsewhere

@Switz possibly a silly question, but have you been cutting down the canes once they have fruited? Summer fruiting raspberries fruit best on last year's canes. If you leave the old canes they will fruit again but the raspberries are smaller and don't taste as good.

I'd recommend autumn fruiting raspberries otherwise. They fruit on this year's growth so are much easier with pruning - you cut them all back in about January. They fruit slowly over a very long period (July-November for ours) so it's a lot less likely you end up with a glut to deal with.

I also have blackberries, loganberries and a tayberry. Of those 3 I'd recommend the tayberry as being the best balance between fruit quantity/ uncooked taste but I find them all more effort than the raspberries as they all fruit best on last year's growth so the end of year tidy up is more complicated and they all have very long sprawling canes that need proper support and tying in.

If you like gooseberries, they are very low maintenance and you can get sweet varieties you can eat straight off the bush - Hinnomaki red for example.

I hadn't considered growing Pak choi, how easy is it, do the slugs for it?

@deplorabelle I'm attempting pumpkins and squash as climbers this year against a fence. Our garden is small so the pain of accidentally stepping on baby pumpkins last year got too much. I saw a great video on YouTube so will be following that.

I also have blackberries, loganberries and a tayberry. Of those 3 I'd recommend the tayberry as being the best balance between fruit quantity/ uncooked taste but I find them all more effort than the raspberries as they all fruit best on last year's growth so the end of year tidy up is more complicated and they all have very long sprawling canes that need proper support and tying in. I find-it the other way round. Raspberries send out runners in all directions, the blackberries and hybrids stay put.

The annual tidy isn’t a problem. During the year I tie any new shoots in a vertical bundle. In autumn I cut out all the fanned-out fruited branches, then release the ties on the bundle and spread out and tie in the most vigorous of the new shoots.

Thanks @notsogreenthumb. I bought myself a cheapo garden arch in the wee small hours of mothering Sunday so I will give it a go.

@MereDintofPandiculation fair point about the raspberries escaping. We have a cage with paving slabs between rows and path / paving slab down 3 of the external sides so my raspberries have limited options for escape. I usually have 5-6 break aways into the raised strawberry bed next time but I don't mind those as I pot them up and have always been able to find takers grateful for some free raspberries!

I start my blackberries and hybrids off vertical but the canes get so so long they rapidly go sideways instead. Both the loganberry and blackberry canes go quite woody so trying to coax them into a new position without breaking them after pruning out the old canes is a pain.

Both the loganberry and blackberry canes go quite woody so trying to coax them into a new position without breaking them after pruning out the old canes is a pain. That’s interesting. I don’t have that problem at all. No coaxing involved at all! My canes end up about 3-4m. I train them vertically about 2m then let them arch - it gets a bit messy towards the end of summer. When it comes to training sideways I do them in big loops.