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

Potatoes, recurrants and gooseberries harvested today.

It's very windy here, have had to do some emergency tying up of tomatoes and cucumber but they're suffering a bit as the wind is so drying too.

Thanks, that’s interesting.

The tayberry shares another feature with the blackberry - it produces roots at the tips of any branches which are touching the ground

Saw this and thought of those of you with a beet glut. Nothing of the sort here in Scotland, we’ve barely had a bit of sun it’s been the worst spring/ summer I can remember! Have just had a couple of strawberries that the squirrels didn’t manage to nibble through the netting to get to. Blackcurrants starting to ripen and my possible cherry tree something is happening!

www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetable-recipes/pumpkin-chickpea-coconut-curry/

Whoops!! That’s my plan for tomorrow dinner 😆

www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetables-recipes/beetroot-crisps-with-coriander-houmous/

@MereDintofPandiculation our loganberry does that too... unless actually a tayberry? No idea! I know we bought both years ago, & one does amazing, & is more like a blackberry in look (vicious thorns!) & they way it grows, & the other looks more like a raspberry & is thornless & the berries aren't as nice - we leave those for the birds.

Harvested all our gooseberries today as I found all the bushes are being attacked simultaneously by sawfly larvae & gooseberry beetle! Going to have to treat with Resolve & hard pruning.

@Barrawarra I make a similar chickpea curry to that recipe but with added ground almonds. Usually make a big batch for the freezer, yum.

@APurpleSquirrel from Google loganberries grow from tips too. For my varieties, the loganberry has thicker canes which get a lot longer than the tayberry ones do. I can't find anything on Google about the thickness, but from the lengths of canes information loganberries definitely do have longer canes (people talk about 20 ft, versus 6 or 7 feet for tayberries, although mine are a little longer than that). I don't know if that helps ID which is which?

Morning all. Just wondering if anyone has any blackcurrant recommendations? Ideally I'd like one where the berries ripen in strings, the one I have now has very short strings that all ripen a bit at a time which makes harvesting pretty laborious!

I've got such a busy day ahead. So much to pot on and plant out but haven't been able to dig the new beds so I'm going to be bunging veg in all over the garden in the flower beds etc. And greenhouse delivery delayed again! So my porch is still full of peppers, aubergines, chillis etc!

@APurpleSquirrel Our loganberry isn’t as vigorous as our tayberry, stema only about 8ft long, not huge things that flop from where I’ve tied them in a neat bundle to root wherever they land, paths, beds, hedge … so I’ve not noticed whether the loganberry roots at the tip. I’d expect it to, but have no proof.

I’m moving to thornless because I’ve developed an allergy and can’t prune the ones with thorns. It’s taken two goes to find a blackberry that functions ok, but the thornless loganberry is fine.

@CrabbyCat My berries aren’t reading the same info as yours!

Loganberries have a soft downy appearance like raspberries, but are darker red when ripe. My other berry, which I’m pretty sure is a tayberry not a boysenberry (but it was 1991 when I planted it) has shiny berries, perfect when they’re very dark red, but mushy if you let them go all the way to black.

Hi everyone! I've just had raised beds put in and my new strawberry plants didn't even last a night before the first fruits were eaten by rats/mice!
Is there anything I can do to deter them short of caging the whole bed off?

@StormTreader - blackbirds may well be the culprits. Have you got any hanging about? We netted our strawberries this year - using canes to keep the net lifted a bit above the fruit and have had minimal loss so far and a healthy crop. We're rural so have lots of small furry things around. They could easily get under the net as our strawberries are in large pots on uneven ground. But - touch wood - they're leaving them alone so far.

We did try a fruit cage eventually last year and several times saw a blackbird sitting on it pecking at fruit that was near the metal.

You know The Stawberry Thief? William Morris designed that after watching blackbirds taking strawberries from his garden!

I use a layer of micromesh fabric pegged down with metal staples, it's very easy to unpeg 3 out of 4 sides and lift it back like turning a duvet back on a bed for picking. I prefer it to the normal pea type netting as I have seen blackbirds trapped in that at our site.

I weigh the net down with stones all the way round so no chance for a bird to get under. Mice seem to be able to find their way into anything though.

Some people don't I guess, I have rescued blackbirds more than once. They can get under the micromesh too if you don't secure it properly but it's easier for them to get out as it's more rigid and doesn't flop. also more opaque so they can see the gap.

We are planning some building work so I've not done as much as I would like in the garden this year.my raspberries are doing well and so are the blueberries but all my strawberry plants have died

I wasn't sure what you meant by micro mesh Extremely, but yes, that's what I use.

I also put some over the front of a large blackcurrant bush in a hedge as we lost a lot a couple of years ago but I do worry about birds getting caught in it even though there are large gaps down each side.

@StrawberryPot I'd love it to be birds as I'd have a chance against those! They did look like they'd been chewed down to the stem nub though and as my garden is right next to allotments sadly rodents are ever-present.
I may try some netting though just to see.

We had a sparrow trapped in our fruit netting, pup alerted me to it and we managed to cut it out and it flew off so fingers crossed. Netting is off now we've harvested the redcurrants, they are the only berries the birds seem to go for. My strawberries seem to get left alone.

All my spinach has gone to seed so probably going to pull that up this week. Always seem to struggle with any leafy crops going to seed quite quickly. I don't mind when we've had scorching summers but we only had a couple of hot days.

So on the left is one of our loganberries (very shiny but can get a lot bigger & darker to black) & on the right is a tayberry (matt & furry like a raspberry, but don't taste as nice so leave them for the birds!).

Always seem to struggle with any leafy crops going to seed quite quickly.

Same here! I sowed a raised planter twice this year with salad leaves and each time they bolted before I'd made any inroads. Same thing with coriander - just as I'm admiring my healthy crop it bolts. Though I'm now keeping the coriander plants that have bolted so I can harvest the seeds.

Have got a smaller planter with rocket which is doing nicely, and a bowl of watercress which is fabulous. I've got masses of basil because I can't bear to thin seedlings 🙄.

For the same reason I've got loads of pepper plants ...

Have had lots of success with cucumber - they taste delicious! As usual I've overdone the courgette plants and can't keep up with their produce.

Tried beetroot 2 years running with no success. My dad used to grow it and cook it fresh from the garden and give it to me with a little butter - so delicious. Very envious of those who've had a healthy crop.

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B073Z7PQCX?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

i have put this on my strawbs, squirrels our main thieves, and I’m pleased to say it has meant we got a few. They did chew a hole in one side to get the first ripe one but it was pressing against the mesh, others near the middle have been safe.

Posey, curry now being made tomorrow so I will add some ground almonds, thanks!

I've got a large area on my new allotment I would like to grow fruit bushes and dwarf fruit trees on. Planning for next year.

I like the idea of a large fruit cage - does anyone have any diy recommendations?

Can a fruit cage be used for dwarf fruit trees? And what time of year is best for planting? Also if you could start again with your bushes and trees what would you do differently?

I'm also thinking of a three year strawberry bed and like the idea of growing them from seed if anyone can recommend a sweet variety and the best time of year to sow, thanks!

@Barrawarra let me know how you get on with the ground almond

Now that’s really weird, I would have put them the other way around.

I am sure of the identity of my loganberry, (it was a more recent acquisition, from a reputable fruit nursery) and it is furry like a raspberry and ripens to red not black. Google agrees with me on this. Also, I was brought up in the 50s when everyone ate tinned fruit (no-one had freezers, some didn’t have fridges), and tinned loganberries were definitely red not black.

I wont argue about the tayberry as there is room for doubt as to the identity of mine. But this picture shows tayberry as darker and shinier.