Help MBE grow his dinner 2011

MKS

lemonjelly wrote: »

Don't say that!

We've had one small crop of beans - they were very nice! Will be picking another batch this weekend. We have some longer than previous years - indeed, when I saw one, it was so long I almost got a neighbour with a camera to post it up here to join in yours/johns [STRIKE]fight[/STRIKE] competition. I'm hoping that my bean plant rescues the garden.

Onions don't appear to be getting much bigger (but are tasty!)

Tomato plants, well I am just grateful they are still alive, & hope for a little sun as they need to redden. Pepper plant - one has only just flowered! Only got enough beetroot to fill half a jar! Praying that the 2nd lo of carrots I planted in a tub are miracle growers too! Peas went by the by.

Feel envious of yourhalf a jar! Our beetroot, numerous sowings, have done alsolutely zilch.

lizzyb1812

Miro - I'll be harvesting mine in October probably. They may or may not grow much bigger but they will darken a bit and will develop more flavour over the next few weeks. If you can, put a tile or board under each one to stop it rotting on wet ground. You can eat immature squash but they do not have much flavour - you're best off leaving them for a few weeks longer. Do harvest if there is a frost forecast.

djohn2002uk

I believe it was in this thread a few weeks ago where people were discussing how many leaves to cut off your tomato plants, varying from enough to let the sun get to the fruit to virtually stripping the plants. Well, here's a clip from a gardening mag this week.
"Tomatoes need encouraging to ripen so all growing points should be removed now if you haven't already. This focuses the plants energy on maturing existing fruit. You can also snap or cut off the bottom leaves, but leave all the leaves above the bottom fruiting truss. The plant needs them to photosynthesise and send sugars to fruit If you remove all the leaves the fruit will lack flavour and sweetness."

lemonjelly

djohn2002uk wrote: »

I believe it was in this thread a few weeks ago where people were discussing how many leaves to cut off your tomato plants, varying from enough to let the sun get to the fruit to virtually stripping the plants. Well, here's a clip from a gardening mag this week.
"Tomatoes need encouraging to ripen so all growing points should be removed now if you haven't already. This focuses the plants energy on maturing existing fruit. You can also snap or cut off the bottom leaves, but leave all the leaves above the bottom fruiting truss. The plant needs them to photosynthesise and send sugars to fruit If you remove all the leaves the fruit will lack flavour and sweetness."

Been trying to do mine gradually. Pruned a little each day to try to avoid shocking the plants.

As a slight aside, how is your bowling green coping John? Ours is simply desperate for the rain forecast for tomorrow. We've been on our green for 4-5 years now (we've been moved around unfortunately) & our current green has been grass al over every year. Right now, there is a serious risk to it. Lots of bare patches are appearing, & if we don't get some good rainfall in the next week we could be in trouble with it.

Have noticed that some local golf courses are also very dry!

djohn2002uk

Our green is fine. It was starting to go a bit brown but then we had a fair amount of rain recently which has greened it up a lot. Plus we have a good watering system which puts 400 gallons on in 20 mins (5 mins from each side, but we've only needed to use it twice. It did bowl well while it was brownish though.

adelight

My bigger squash plant has had a few male flowers and can seeloads of tiny buds growing. Other squash plant has nothing, think I really killed it with the blood & bone incident
My pumpkin has grown like crazy in the last week, it now has 9 corner bits where flowers are growing and I can see two little female flowers so far :j

My spaghetti squash all died in the blood & bone massacre, so I planted another and it's growing well so far. As are the cucumbers(don't know why I'm doing this? will they grow indoors in autumn? next to patio doors and a radiator) all my salad leaves and parisienne carrots, well, they're just tiny green shoots right now :rotfl:


My new garden is multiple levels of patio with a built up border of bushes. I reeeeeallllyyyy want to build a raised bed type thing for garlic and winter veg but stuck on how to do it cheaply, like £5 max on the container, so far i've considered using big green plastic storage boxes/buckets but they're quite ugly!!

bensonsmum

My new garden is multiple levels of patio with a built up border of bushes. I reeeeeallllyyyy want to build a raised bed type thing for garlic and winter veg but stuck on how to do it cheaply, like £5 max on the container, so far i've considered using big green plastic storage boxes/buckets but they're quite ugly!!

Im just starting out with my first "own" garden in ten years and would also love some ideas for containers/boxes etc please? The garden of my new house is always full of cats and i have a little dog who i thought might keep them away but he justs sits and wags his tail at them when they come in to do their business, on average im picking up 8 kitty poos a day so any suggestions to stop them would be great. Also i would love to grow some potatoes, onions and garlic to start with as these are the things we eat the most of; but haven't got a clue where to start, the last time i grew anything was over forty years ago with the help of my "Nan & Grandad" which brings back such fond memories which is why i would like to have a go now myself as i can still remember the thrill i had when i dug up my first potatoes!!
So any suggestions for varietys of the above which i could plant now would be great and tips for how deep to plant, where etc would really help.
TIA xxx

lolly5648

bensonsmum wrote: »

My new garden is multiple levels of patio with a built up border of bushes. I reeeeeallllyyyy want to build a raised bed type thing for garlic and winter veg but stuck on how to do it cheaply, like £5 max on the container, so far i've considered using big green plastic storage boxes/buckets but they're quite ugly!!

Im just starting out with my first "own" garden in ten years and would also love some ideas for containers/boxes etc please? The garden of my new house is always full of cats and i have a little dog who i thought might keep them away but he justs sits and wags his tail at them when they come in to do their business, on average im picking up 8 kitty poos a day so any suggestions to stop them would be great. Also i would love to grow some potatoes, onions and garlic to start with as these are the things we eat the most of; but haven't got a clue where to start, the last time i grew anything was over forty years ago with the help of my "Nan & Grandad" which brings back such fond memories which is why i would like to have a go now myself as i can still remember the thrill i had when i dug up my first potatoes!!
So any suggestions for varietys of the above which i could plant now would be great and tips for how deep to plant, where etc would really help.
TIA xxx

You might get more help if you start a new thread - this one is supposed to be for helping MBE grow his dinner (although we all cheat a bit and ask his advice!)

mrbadexample

I've had to pick my longest bean because something's nibbled it. At 509mm, I think it's just a fraction longer than my nearest rival.

jollyanna

Nice one MBE. Congratulations.