July Update: What are your growing in 2006? (Tips on fruit/flowers/veggies)

annie-c · 3 July 2006 at 3:11PM

Sorry for the delay - here is the July thread where Oldstylers can post questions and answers and share news/photos of how their gardens/allotments are growing in 2006.

wigginsmum · 3 July 2006 at 3:29PM

The garden's looking good - we're harvesting strawberries, raspberries, redcurrants and whitecurrants now in small quantities. No beans have formed yet - my runners are just starting to flower, and the dwarf French seem to have stopped growing. The salad bowl has bolted so I'll throw it out and resow. Basil and coriander coming along nicely from seeds I sowed a few weeks ago. Tomatoes are forming very nicely - should get a good crop there, both big and small. Don't think the apples will do much - we had a bad case of June drop. The autumn raspberries seem to be a washout - only one of the six canes has put out any leaves so far. Have a small patch of Swiss chard which I shall harvest before it gets too big and bitter. Carrots doing nicely in a trough (I'm leaving them strictly alone so the carrot fly don't realise they're there), scorzonera leafing up nicely. That's about it, I think. Oh one of my hollyhocks is starting to flower so I must stake them. Come autumn I'm going to move a lot of the flowers out of one of the beds and reserve that for veg next year, plus remove the autumn raspberries from the third bed if they don't do anything - I don't have space to rotate 3 beds so will do 2 beds on a cycle and supplement by growing things in pots. Definitely going to do potatoes next year - I want my Jersey royals.

kjl26 · 3 July 2006 at 3:38PM

I haven't posted for a while but thought I would write an update. I'm really pleased because my tumbler tomatoes have all now got little green tomatoes: on and off I have been worried that they are dying/fading/don't have enough sun so it's brilliant to see some results. Now I just hope they turn red. I have another variety of tomatoes (santa cherry ones) just flowering, all in pots, and have half inside (my utility room is pretty much greenhouse conditions!) and half out as an experiment.

I have four big courgette plants in pots, and two of them have courgettes about 6 inches long on them. The others have smaller ones.

Beans (broad) are all flowering and I saw the first signs of fruit yesterday. Our peas are also in flower and there are a few pods. I picked one yesterday to taste the peas

.

We've been eating salad leaves from the garden for about three weeks now, and it's coming up again quite well, especially the rocket. Chilli plants all have little buds so I'm hoping to see something from them soon. Onion and garlic tops are still long and green and growing so assume they are okay. Also have some aubergine plants in pots, which are just starting to get big. Sweet peppers are the same, seem to be taking a while to get going. Coriander and tarragon both doing well and have been using the former for a few weeks now.

The only mysterious thing really is my sweet peas, which have yet to flower. I planted the seeds and grew them inside (in the trusty loo rolls) in March, and they have been outside for over a month, getting bigger and bushier but no signs of flowers. I thought they were supposed to come out quite early or am I wrong?

We acquired some pineapple mint at a sell-off of plants at a show recently - it's quite attractive and prolific, but not quite as strong as standard mint. Has anyone used this in cooking before? So far I've used it in drinks (cocktails

) and a bit in cooking but not really that sure what to do with it.

All my plants are in raised beds on stilts (concrete garden) or in pots so haven't had any problems with slugs (touch wood) so far, but lots of caterpillars seem to find their way into my peas grr. Picking them off every so often seems to do the trick at the moment though.

Hope everyone else's gardens are flourishing!

wigginsmum · 3 July 2006 at 3:41PM

Re sweet peas - in my experience, the ones grown inside have been much less prolific than the ones where I simply popped the seeds in a tub outside in May. I won't grow sweet peas inside again - it seems to make them straggly and pathetic.

Horasio · 3 July 2006 at 3:41PM

Harvesting courgettes and strawberries just now

Flowers on beans and the garden and greenhouse have really bushed up in the last 2 weeks

kjl26 · 3 July 2006 at 3:47PM

wigginsmum wrote:

Re sweet peas - in my experience, the ones grown inside have been much less prolific than the ones where I simply popped the seeds in a tub outside in May. I won't grow sweet peas inside again - it seems to make them straggly and pathetic.

Thanks for the advice wigginsmum. Mine did get very leggy while they were inside - they're massive now and climbing around the canes, but just don't seem to want to flower. Next year I'll try sowing them later, directly outside.

GardenMillie · 3 July 2006 at 3:56PM

Last year was my first attempt at growing anything and I had a major success with my courgettes (seeds from Lidl). This year planted the courgettes and they all grew - hooray, so gave away quite a few to friends. Also growing spinach, have already munched the first crop and am growing tumbling cherry tomatoes in a hanging basket.

Did have an ongoing battle with slugs last year:eek: but think I won in the end.

Happy gardening.

Joscar · 3 July 2006 at 7:49PM

ellas9602 wrote:

.... I have worked onions and potatoes into my plan, do you think maybe I shouldn't bother wth these? carrots too I suppose are really very cheap...mmmmm decisions decisions. I'm a complete novice plus I work full time and have 2 children so i suupose I'm being a little eager. This is because my container veg is going so well but I guess I have yet to learn about weeding and slugs!:rotfl:

If you have the space and the time then you should still do the potatoes and onions as everything tastes better fresh from the garden. I chose not to due to limited space, but I have got some 'new' spuds growing in containers (at least I hope they are new - forgot to ask when I swapped them for some spare tomato plants) I think new spuds fresh from the garden have a great taste. I am growing spring onions and red onions for salads as I like the flavour and they cost more than standard cooking onions. As for carrots, IMO supermarket carrots have no taste at all. Organic shop bought carrots are an improvement in flavour, but home grown picked and eaten the same day are significantly superior so I would definitely do those.

Yesterday we ate out first carrots for dinner (short variety grown early in the greenhouse) - they were wonderful. :j

This is my first year with a veg patch, I have only grown outside in containers before. It is my second season with a greenhouse but last year was only salad so I am looking forward to having a wider selction this year.

Have you seen the growing veg in containers thread on this site? Lots of tips on there.

tootles_2 · 3 July 2006 at 8:42PM

If you are going to grow carrots you should sow them in a drill with sand in the bottom and do not put manure on the ground, carrots like a free draining soil and manure will make them fork.........carrot fly can be a problem you can grow tagates in between the rows, it will keep the flies away, otherwise you will have to keep them covered so the flies do not get onto them.

We have just dug our first shaw of potato's. they are lovely...straws, rasps, tayberries,rhubarb and lettuce are also being harvested, the toms have some small fruit on and the beans are flowering, sweet peas will get leggy if grown inside, but they will recover and flower, make sure you take off the flowers or they will stop flowering, ours have been going for about 10 days now.....I pick them every day and put them in a vase on the kitchen table.

We have lettuce and beetroot in grow bags as well as the toms, and we have just planted another two rows, we grow little gem and a mixed cut and come again. Land cress is very good in salad and we also grow rocket and basil. Thyme, sage, rosemary and savory are grown in pots. In our old house we had a lavender hedge so I had lavender to dry to make into bags for the linen cupboard.

Mints can be mixed together and made into mint sauce, some are stronger than others, I like apple mint sauce with lamb and it keeps in the fridge for up to 12 months, we had mint sauce all through the winter from the garden.

At the allotment we have second early and salad spuds, cabbage, french beans, runner beans, gooseberries, blackcurrants, leeks and sweetcorn and some Italian tomato's. The fruit trees we moved last year did flower but although we have tried to keep them watered I do not think they will fruit very well this year, the really need a year to settle in, so we hope for a better harvest next year.

Nikki · 3 July 2006 at 9:07PM

Our first attempt at growing fruit and veg seems to be going well. We've been harvesting chillies,peppers, courgettes,broad beans,french beans and blackcurrrants. Everything else appears to be growing well. We have also planted raspberry canes(have grown really quickly)blueberries,tayberries, strawberries(more) and gooseberries,our fruit trees are to young to produce apples and pears. The kids have been given a small plot to grow their own bits. In the meantime we have been taking the kids to the local PYO to pick strawberries, raspberries and anything else they've got that we haven't for harvesting.

Lychee · 3 July 2006 at 9:08PM

Do plant food (wondergro thingies) have expiry dates? I bought a box from Wilko and I can't see a best before date

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July Update: What are your growing in 2006? (Tips on fruit/flowers/veggies)

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