The all new 2019 growing your own thread!

Dizzy_Ditzy

Hi everyone :hello:

Apologies for my absence. Two months ago my little (well, 34!) brother was diagnosed with terminal oesophageal cancer to say that it's thrown our worlds upside down, inside out and back to front would be a gross understatement

Allotments are still going strong. I planted potatoes in the biggest part of my new one and they're all doing nicely. Onions taste great, garlic did really well. Beetroot keeping us busy with pickling, we are averaging between 8-12 jars A WEEK :rotfl: that'll keep us going for a while :rotfl:

Courgettes. I came home with 9 from 7 plants yesterday. Four plants are in the ground and the rest are sunk into big pots, inside the top part of a morrisons flower bucket. You can buy them in packs for 99p.

Blueberries in the garden have done amazingly well this year.

My raspberries have been very disappointing. I planted 12 canes and only 3 or 4 came to anything. What I've had off them so far has been lovely but not enough!

We've had real trouble with strawberries this year too. A few plants just died off for no apparent reason that we can find. I did pot up 18 runners yesterday though

Chickens mostly all doing really well. All are laying so they can't be that bad :rotfl: one has an impacted crop though and our efforts to clear it ourselves have failed so she'll have to go to the vet soon

I will do my best to pop on here more frequently in future! Brother isn't really "sick" at the mo so he isn't needing as much of our time as when first diagnosed if that makes sense? We are concentrating our efforts at the moment in spending more time together and generally having fun, as well as creating some lovely memories for his 3 year old

unrecordings

Give your brother an 'eyup' from me - I was given six months to live over three years ago - I'm still here... ...feel free to PM

MysteryMe

Sorry to hear about your brother Dizzy Ditzy.


Four ripe cherry toms picked. Another six or so will be ripe in a day or two plus loads still green. Third courgette picked with another couple forming.

Nothing further from the raspberries, they are summer fruiting so I guess that is it. About four more strawberries still to ripen. First year of planting for both.

Mnd

Sorry to hear your news, wishing you and you brother all the best. It puts problems with plants into perspective doesn't it, but you still seem to to pressing on.

Primrose

Dizzy that is distressing news for everybody. All you can do is help him and his Immediate family develop a philosophy of.finding joy in whatever time they have left and as much as possible organising his affairs so that when he has to leave, he can go with the assurance that the sad business of carrying on without him will be made as easy as is possible in the circumstances.

None of us can avoid the inevitable but having time to prepare may be a small comfort at a difficult time.

euronorris

Oh Dizzy, I am so very sorry for your news. What an awful shock for you all. I hope you are holding up OK as well, and have some support close to you.


Spent a good few hours in the garden yesterday with daughter. Bar the time I spent mowing the lawn. DH was laid up with a tummy bug yesterday, but I made him keep an eye on her whilst I was cutting the grass.


After that I spent a while cutting back neighbours absolutely prolific, and very pretty, plant as it was growing over the fence and creating shade on my beans and peas. They already have a fair amount of shade during the day, they don't need any extra lol. Cleaned out DDs water table and replenished with clean water and sand (had all gone a bit green), so she was having a whale of a time.


Then we potted up a couple of my tomato transplants into bigger pots. When I pruned the tomatoes weeks ago, we planted up some of the suckers in the hope that they would sprout roots and continue growing. Despite looking very droopy and half dead at times, they are ALL now big, strong and flowering/fruiting. So, we gave one normal tomato plant and black tomato plant to my MIL on Saturday (and helped her pot them up into bigger pots). Chose the two strongest to keep and potted up ourselves (LOADS of roots, looked great), and DD loved it. Told me she was having so much fun! The proceeded to wash her hands off in the water table, come back for more soil, then to the water and so on and so on. Until she had a 'mud pie' that she was stirring with a stick and got covered in dirt and water lol. And have given away a black tomato plant to one of the neighbours today. Have a couple 'extras' left. I'll just keep them if no one wants them.


Courgettes still hanging on in there. Keeping my fingers crossed!

euronorris

My brussel sprout plant is under attack from caterpillars! Evicted 6 yesterday morning, along with eggs, another 6 last night, and 8 this morning. Though the ones this morning are much smaller, so think I'm getting to the end of them (I hope). One was tiny, I almost missed it. They have all been rehomed into the green bin lol

carinjo

spend some time at allotment last week. only been once (to clear some grass with trimmer) after my bad back in may. was going to pull some weeds, ended up harvesting almost 2kg of beetroot (after trimming leaves), about 30 shallots and a bag of dwarf broadbeans. shallots are drying on an oven shelf in front room. the broadbeans 1/3 podded and in tummy and 2/3 podded, blanched and frozen. the beetroot used 2 different recipes and tried pickling for first time in my life. was so amazed at what nature could do considering i didn't do anything! planning for next year has started already.
if anyone could recommend a proper high frame or diy plan for runner beans, please let me know.

some advice on fig tree needed too. i've read the RHS guides on fig trees, but the one on our plot looks like a bush about 1.2m high, only 1 fruit so far. think i might have to dig the whole thing out and do box for roots. worried about: A) damaging the roots, when is the best time to dig it out, C) can i trim the base branches so it looks more like a tree? some of those base branches almost 5cm in diameter.

ancientmum

some advice on fig tree needed too. i've read the RHS guides on fig trees, but the one on our plot looks like a bush about 1.2m high, only 1 fruit so far. think i might have to dig the whole thing out and do box for roots. worried about: A) damaging the roots, when is the best time to dig it out, C) can i trim the base branches so it looks more like a tree? some of those base branches almost 5cm in diameter.[/QUOTE]

Hi carinjo
I inherited a fig tree on my plot so would also be interested in some advice. Especially about when and how to prune it. There were some small figlets (?) on the end of high branches before the leaves came out but they now all seem to have disappeared.

Suffolk_lass

carinjo, I can't help with fig advice but our current approach to runner beans is a couple or rose arches with canes tied in between vertically and horizontally to add more climbing room. We have the feet in two different beds so that the path is underneath (easy for picking) and have planted only on one side (for crop rotation) - this is their fourth year and I can recommend. We actually have this in two places so the four crop rotation is achieved. If you don't do the multi-bed thing you have to move them around which is a faff and progressively weakens them.

It isn't original - we saw the system at Helmingham Hall where they also grow small squashes and cucumbers on them for vertical management and ease of picking. It works for things like blackberry cultivars and loganberries too.

DH made ours from copper plumbing pipe, painted to stop any metal leaching into the ground