The all new good, bad and ugly of growing your own in 2020

carinjo

Suffolk_lass i've send that photo of the frames to my dad, he would love doing something like that! I am now of course reading all i can find on asparagus    
The (not) new donated shed got put up today. Bless, the weather turned halfway and the poor lad and his brother got blown all over the place, but they managed. And as a plus, one of the old shed's pannel's going to replace part of our garden fence. Technically the neighbour's, but they have never even seen it, since it behind their shed, so happy for me to go ahead.
On allotment i tidied up the blackberry and what i now believe is also black raspberry. Made a fan shape of the branches and running it along garden wire. Hoping it will eventually create a proper natural fence. 
Covered up the two rows of potatoes since the temperature going to drop tonight. Glad i made the effort to dig on either side of rows when i started, as one is supposed to, made things a lot easier today. 
In the 2 small raised beds most of the beetroot, leaf spinach and turnips have now germinated. Something munching the turnip leaves, look like the same as what is munching the radishes in next raised bed. 
Tomorrow have to go and tidy up the empty plot behind mine since all my bits of shed and poles and pallets all over the place now. Wind just got too bad this afternoon. I do not like wind. As in, at all. 
At home seedlings are coming along nicely, will start hardening off end of this coming week, fingers crossed. 

Suffolk_lass

That is lovely carinjo - it is so nice to share ideas - we borrowed that one from the Helmingham Hall vegetable garden (about 2-4 acres of walled garden) with a thirty foot tunnel of arches over the path with small squashes trained over them. Theirs was a wooden pergola - we had to downscale it and I am fed up with rotting wood (that includes the very expensive new oak sleepers we bought about 10-12 years ago) and for some reason we had lots of copper pipe. We did paint it with that red undercoat as I don't want any copper to leach into the ground.

I have lots of seedlings well and truly ready to go but the additional pigeon/rabbit netting is delayed in transit - and I wanted to see how bad the weather is this week. We have also delayed turning off our electric range cooker for the summer. It was very warm indoors yesterday - I didn't mind but DH got a bit hot and bothered as he finished off the meal last night (he cooked the veg to go with the casserole I put in at lunch time, while I listened to Boris). Hopefully verything will get away well when it goes out this weekend.

I have had real issues with beans this year - runners and dwarf have been so slow to germinate I have planted three lots in the greenhouse and now more in the ground in an effort to get enough for a decent crop (something is munching the ones I planted out, while the ones in the greenhouse seem to be rotting in the pots.

silverwhistle

The asparagus crowns I planted in April are now all showing, some fronds around waist height. I'm near the coast in Hampshire which will make a difference compared with some here, and the nursery is around 15 miles north.

My sweetcorn is ready to be planted out so later this week, and I notice that one plot on the allotment already has theirs in. Runners and french beans 'Matilde' are already planted out but I haven't been out to check if my frames have suffered in this wind. Winter squash, climbing squash (Trombetta d'Albenga) and Rond de Nice courgettes all planted out. This is my first year with the allotment - next year I might get some nematode treatment for the slugs...

crv1963

Amazing how different it is everywhere! We have it snowing here this morning as I type in North Durham, high up in the hills. Going to the greenhouse to sow my Sweetcorn, my Runner Beans just starting to show through in the greenhouse- sown 26/4.

silverwhistle

Yes! That's why I mentioned it. Perhaps I should put my location in my sig. as it's quite important for gardening comparisons.:-)

Ganga

I planted two cherry trees two years ago and last year had lots of cherries growing on them but as we had a lot of foreign holidays as we have just retired ( well 4 years ago ) the birds ate all of them! well this year no holidays so we have more garden time and again had a good show of cherry blossom which SHOULD have turned into a good fruit harvest however looked out the window yesterday and there was 3 wood pigeons sitting on one of the trees happily munching away on the growing fruit !! 
Whilst I enjoy seeing wildlife how can I protect the trees next year ( have given up this year ) ? was thinking about nets but not sure how this would work ,any help will be appreciated.

GunShotResidue

I'm in the South West of England, it's very windy here but not cold. I've watered everything this afternoon as the sun is very hot, it doesn't feel it because of the wind but the beds were very dry. I've had to tighten the rope holding my tiny greenhouse to the wall but everything else is doing fine. The peas growing up my tee-pee are only a few foot so there's plenty of room for the wind to get through. My beans are growing a lot more slowly than the peas, but a few more have germinated now. I need some more bamboo poles, I think next week after my essential shop at the local farmshop I will pop into the garden centre next door and get some, and possibly some buckets so I can attempt to make a bokashi bucket. 

My tomato plants are far too bushy, I have no idea how to prune them, any tips would be appreciated! 

-taff

Are they supposed to be bushy? If not, you need to take the side shoots out and grow them as cordons.

This is what you should be pinching out. They snap off quite easily if you bend sharply one towards the ground

Charly27

Hi all including those newer to the forum if not to gardening. What a contrast in the weekend weather in E. Anglia. Sweating my bits off on Saturday and freezing on Sunday- a full 11 degrees colder. Nice bit of rain though. My dahlias went in at the allotment at the weekend. I planted out a few hardy pinks, couple in the ground at one end of the new strawberry bed and a couple in a plastic tub. I also planted out a hardy geranium with the ones in the ground. I’m trying to add flowers everywhere I can for the pollinators. 
Neighbour gave me a whole tray of lettuce, a dozen planted in a raised bed and rest waiting to be pricked out. Sowed salad onions, chives and Tagetes down edge of onion bed and earthed up my dozen new potatoes. Unfortunately I didn’t follow advice and dig either side Carinjo should know better! 
Ganga like you I just want a bag of fresh cherries from my own tree, although if I don’t figure out how to outsmart the pigeons I’ll be happy with a handful. 

-taff

Ganga, you have to net the entire tree top, or if it's not too big, you could build a fruit cage around it or more if you have them