veg growing Newbies- Feb 2010! lets learn together!

soullessfire

jaxx46 wrote: »

Have started planning for next year and have just bought John Harrisons book Vegetable Growing month by month for 99p in The Works. Written in good plain English that even I can understand

Spotted this today and for 99p thought I'd buy it. Seems pretty decent. Does a rundown of equipment and a month by month guide to what you should normall expect to sow and harvest. Can't complain for 99p really.

izzwizz_2

Minnie26 wrote: »

My strawberry plant doesnt seem very happy at the moment, do they like a sunny spot or a part shady spot?

Thanks x

I don't really know. I have mine in the full Sun, but the Sun may not be as strong up here in Northern Ireland as it is with you.

frazzbo - fab aubergine!! :beer: My plants look really healthy & plenty of flowers but I just can't get any fruit to set. I'm beginning to think it's just not warm / bright enough here.

That's mildew on the courgettes - they nearly always seem to get it and you should still get courgettes. Spraying the leaves with milk can help, but they'll probably be OK even if you don't do anything (just remove any leaves that die). I have 4 plants in 2 square metres and they still look crowded.

garnetlady - love the pics!! Everything looks great & so healthy Our gardener's delight look much the same. I'd love to grow a beefsteak next year - can you tell me if they are any harder, and did you have to thin the toms on the trusses please? Also, any suggestions for which variety to grow?

The rain & wind stopped & the Sun came out this afternoon, so gave me a bried opportunity to get some planting done.

I pulled up the red onions & brought them undercover to dry off for storage, then finally planted out the leeks.

Earlier in the year I bought a small pot of lemon balm & one of chamomile, then when I got home split them. Got 3 lemon balm plants which I potted into containers for the patio, and 9 (!) chamomile plants which all took and I have put these in amongst the sweet marjoram in the herb bed. I'm hoping they might survive the Winter, as I guess the marjoram won't be hardy here.

Planted out the dill into the herb garden, and potted up some primulas that I had kept from the Spring, hoping for a display in the Autumn, but they should at least grow on & flower next Spring (if they survive the Winter).

Pulled up the rest of the calabrese (hens have been feasting on the leaves all afternoon and look very full!). Tomorrow I need to harvest the rest of the cauliflower since the curds are starting to "loosen" up, then there are lots of Winter brassica crops to go in the brassica bed when it's empty.

Oooh, meant to say some of the asparagus seed has germinated. They look like microscopic asparagus spears! Have potted them individually into 3" pots for now. I also have half a dozen baby globe artichoke plants from seed (just got their first toothed true leaves). I love growing things from seed - it's really exciting seeing what's coming up and how (or am I just weird? LOL!) :rotfl:

GarnetLady

lolly5648 wrote: »

Great pictures GarnetLady. Glad to see your tomatoes are as green as mine and the beefsteak look identical. Will they ever turn red?

Thanks. If you could turn them red just by looking, mine would be scarlet by now lol. I keep checking...

izzwizz wrote: »

garnetlady - love the pics!! Everything looks great & so healthy Our gardener's delight look much the same. I'd love to grow a beefsteak next year - can you tell me if they are any harder, and did you have to thin the toms on the trusses please? Also, any suggestions for which variety to grow?

I love growing things from seed - it's really exciting seeing what's coming up and how (or am I just weird? LOL!) :rotfl:

Thanks. Beefsteak so far have been no different to grow than the rest. The flowers are larger and more spaced out, so I haven't had to thin anything yet, but I'm keeping an eye out. I had one that rotted off, not sure why, but the base of these are slightly different to the rest. I'm trying 7 varieties, 1 of each and that's worked for me so far, all have started to fruit at slightly different times. The first to fruit was the ferline which supposedly has some blight resistance.

And no I don't think your weird, I'm the same! This whole growing lark is very exciting, if a little worrying at times.

katholicos

Wow GarnetLady, i am well impressed. My tomatoes are smaller than a malteser as yet LOL! My cukes are doing nowt and i am just totally in awe of you and all the others who are harvesting really healthy fruit and veg. Well done!

Principia_2

Been out in the garden over the last two days tidying up - somehow when my back was turned the tomato plants have gone mad - they're no longer the neat plants that they were, the main stems have split into two stems, they've thrown extra branches everywhere and altogether look too heavy for the support I've put in. I have added extra support and trimmed back three of my plants - some might say a bit heavily but I'll wait and see. The cherry tomatoes I've put in extra support but pretty much left them as is as they have far more support than the ordinary tomatoes. A few of the cherries are a very slight orange colour :j

Pollinated another pumpkin today Also listened to a bee buzzing in and out the garden repollinating it for me - is there anything more relaxing than listening to a big buzzy bee?

Earthed up my potatoes (again). I was wondering if I could use the potato soil to grow the bean in next year and the bean soil to grow the potatoes in? I am going to use the spare compost as soil improver as I intend to put in a raised bed as a herb garden but we have heavy clay soil here - but if I can get another year of growing out the compost that would be great.

Picked, chopped and froze another handful of french beans. I have two large pots - one with 6 plants in and one with 3, next year I'd grow 6 in both. I also put a horizontal cane across the top of both so should get some extra beans that way.

Replanted my bargain chives from B&Q at 10p a pot - so bought 3. They did look sorry for themselves at the shop and I was subjected to a certain amount of scorn for buying them However, once weeded, the dead stuff removed and repotted, they don't look half bad

Some of my newly sown alpines are actually fruiting - I think I'm supposed to pick off the flowers in the first year but I haven't bothered. My plan is that these strawberries will be frozen and used in icecreams/jams/sauces while we use the ordinary strawberries for eating plain - once we fight the slugs for them, at the moment it's the slugs who are winning.

Big problem with my oregano though - I've been checking all the outside veggies for nasties and squishing them but assumed that as the oregano was indoors that it would be ok......was intending to repot today and noticed that some rotten leafminer has laid eggs and loads of the leaves are totally mauled :mad: I have shaken the plant and 12 little caterpillars fell off. I've reshaken it twice and visually inspected it and nothing else is falling off. I've left it outside today and I'm going to reshake tomorrow, take off the most damaged leaves and then repot.

Blueberries looking good - I think I will be able to pick another quarter crop next weekend with the last quarter at some point in the near future. I have to prune and repot when they are dormant this winter. Note to self - must buy more ericacious soil.

Nothing much happening with the chillies, one blew off in the winds we've been having recently but OH says it still tastes more green flavour with no hint of heat yet. He's a bit worried they may not be as hot as promised on the packet as they are massive but showing no signs of turning red.

freakyogre

I haven't posted on here for ages, but thought i'd post a picture of my courgettes i've picked today. I'm not sure what size they're meant to get to, but they don't seem to have changed in the last week or so, so I thought i'd pick them (as have no idea if they'll die if just left!) Is this about as big as they'll get or have I chopped them off a bit early?!



I was using my thumb as a size guide, but it looks like i'm giving them the thumbs up. Go courgettes!
I'm amazed they've grown at all to be honest as I haven't been doing a lot to them!

I've checked my cucumbers too which weren't doing a lot and I think there's tiny ones coming through

shandypants5

freakyogre wrote: »

I haven't posted on here for ages, but thought i'd post a picture of my courgettes i've picked today. I'm not sure what size they're meant to get to, but they don't seem to have changed in the last week or so, so I thought i'd pick them (as have no idea if they'll die if just left!) Is this about as big as they'll get or have I chopped them off a bit early?!

I usually let mine get about twice that size, so I think you have picked a bit early really.

But apparently the more you pick them the more they grow new ones
And some people say smaller ones are better and some people say they need to be bigger to get a bit more flavour, so ..
who knows?

How are you going to eat them? I like mine fried with chopped tomatoes and onion and sprinkled with a little garlic.. yum.

MisterNick

Hi,

I have started growing a few vegetables over the past month or so, and most seem to be doing OK.
Beetroot, tomatoes, Runner and broad beans, cauliflower, aubergine, sweetcorn, brocolli and cucmber.

A couple of quick questions, and this will demonstrate the extent of my reading and knowledge.

1. Should the cucmber be staked to grow upwards, or is it best left trainling along the ground?
2.My sweet corn have blown over in the wind (45 degrees). Should I build up the soil around them, they are in sacks, or should I stake them?

Great thread, but I am not sure I can be providing helpful advise just yet.

freakyogre

shandypants5 wrote: »

I usually let mine get about twice that size, so I think you have picked a bit early really.

But apparently the more you pick them the more they grow new ones
And some people say smaller ones are better and some people say they need to be bigger to get a bit more flavour, so ..
who knows?

How are you going to eat them? I like mine fried with chopped tomatoes and onion and sprinkled with a little garlic.. yum.

I did leave them for a bit, but they didn't seem to get any bigger. I'll be more patient with the next ones (hopefully there will be more!)

I haven't decided yet. I'm planning a roast in a bit, so might just steam them or maybe fry them with a bit of garlic. I want to see what they taste like compared to shop bought ones

wayne1983

Talking of tomatoes, mine are coming on well, although i never did anything with them except water and feed them. And now the ones on the floor are just a big bush full of flowers:o:rotfl: