Awful weather - typical Brits talk

Farway

'morning folks

Before I forget, 2P, the golden rowan from seeds?

On Beechgrove this very week, [BBC2 iplayer] there's a chap doing just that. That's the good news, the bad news is it takes years, and even then it's only about two feet high. Having watched him I can see why £70 is the asking price, a lot of just waiting around time involved, and time is commercial money

Could be a long term project, but I think I'd be inclined to look around, smaller *& younger tree maybe, and think of alternatives, golden crab for instance?

YBE, espalier along, I use bamboo canes and plastic cable ties, but I'm a cheapskate. My thinking is the tree wood will harden into position and the canes will then no longer be required

It's a start and best to get them tied in while still "bendy", tidying / prettying up can be attended to later once fundamentals are covered

I have a zillion gooseberry seedlings springing up near a bush, from the fruit that dropped off last year. Very tempted to pot some up, even though I have enough gooseberry bushes. The parent was a bird sown one, but is very sweet once fully ripe

And now the fig cutting update, I've updated the original posting as well BTW for anyone wanting to see the whole saga

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6274664/figs-from-cuttings/p1

Top is my "standard", you can see the embryo fruits, bottom is close up of the same fruit

I wish I could add some magic words as to how and the amazing skills required to achieve this, but it just happened with minimal effort or intervention by me

YoungBlueEyes

Thanks Farway, we'll nip out and get bamboo canes then and get cracked on  

Just to at least try and stay on topic - it's same weather as yesterday so far, light cloud that the sun's managing to squeeze through. Almost warm!

twopenny

Thank Farway, yes, I don't resent the cost. I just don't have it. Still need a bathroom and car and heating fixed. I'll watch Beechgrove. I've been saving them for later as the digi recorder broke too!
Loving the standard fig. Do they take 2 yrs to ripen?

Blue if you can, pop into a garden centre or nursery and photo how they're done. The shape is easy but how you sstart, put it together is another matter. There must be an order. Google/YouTube is your friend 

RAS

YoungBlueEyes said:

Just read that thread 2p, some really good info on there. Makes me want to get mine sorted but I'm wary of doing anything too soon. I need to get something for it to espalier along....

Just canes will do.

Ideally, you plant a maiden whip, cut it back to 50-60 cms, let the top three buds grow out, attaching the lower two to canes "planted" at 45 degrees and slowly lower those branches to horizontal. Then next winter cut the centre stem at 30-40 cms, rinse and repeat.

If you are coming at it later, try and select some roughly correctly spaced side branches and tie them to canes for three years. Remove branches in the wrong place at about 2/3 buds from the centre trunk and later summer prune back to three buds to form spurs. That'll keep them under control in future. Do not leave this until the winter as winter pruning encourages growth.

Important thing. If you want the side branches to grow longer, leave the last 15-20 cms to grow upwards until they reach the length you want, tying down at least once a year. You can extend one side even if the other has reached the target length.

goldfinches

Sidling in apologetically after a long absence, since 11th March this thread says, due to horrible weather making my arthritis unbearably ghastly. I hope I haven't missed any important announcements from the posters on here and am very sorry that I haven't had the energy to keep up-to-date with everyone.

I'm going to try getting out and about for a short walk to see all the changes tomorrow and am hoping there might be some baby birds to be spotted too. Meanwhile I was sent a link to this fascinating video on the life cycle of onions and thought everyone else would be interested. 

YoungBlueEyes

That's a brilliantly simple and detailed reply, I appreciate that @RAS   I wish I'd seen it before I sent himself out to buy canes, because he came back with not canes. He bought a couple of balls of plastic coated steel wire and strung it across the whole back of the fence. I'd take yous a pic but it's green and so's the fence ha haa! :rolleyes: The apple tree has plenty of skinny wee branches coming out at the right angles to train I think, the other one has fewer but it'll still work :fingerscrossed: 

Nice to see you back @goldfinches, did you get out for a walk? Seems like you're back just in time for all the gardening happenings to happen  

Sunny ish here, bit of warmth to it, humid though cos it's rained all night.

Farway

twopenny said:

Thank Farway, yes, I don't resent the cost. I just don't have it. Still need a bathroom and car and heating fixed. I'll watch Beechgrove. I've been saving them for later as the digi recorder broke too!
Loving the standard fig. Do they take 2 yrs to ripen?

Hope not , so far my figs have ripened the same year, same as apples, pears etc. I think in warmer climates you can get more or less continuous crops, but that is just a dream here, even in Hampshire

Welcome back G finches, I can sort of feel it, I suffer from gout and know just how hard mobility can be, let alone gardening

YBE, expecting espalier updates now, told you RAS would know all about it , and in the future you can remember it was Coronation Year you started training the tree as you sit admiring it dripping with fruit, naturally in keeping with this forum the apples will be a mystery variety

No gardening today, off to granddaughter's 13th birthday party, and my gouty right wrist has put the kibosh on anything requiring a working hand, like pruning, weeding, or planting. I expect I'll manage to lift some cake into my cake hole though

Dustyevsky

After seeing Farway's fig, I decided to check mine out and found they were both alive, which is a good start. My potted corokias, two acacias and the sophora in the herb garden are all dead, though.   An olive is also on life support, but I reckon it will make it. A small chunk of winter wasn't kind here.

Realising nasty neighbour at the other end of the field was on holiday, I spent the (sunny) afternoon yesterday tidying-up at his end and cutting down a eucalyptus there. It was threatening to get away from me and thus cause major issues if and when I might cut it down in future. At about 30' I had room to lop off the top 25', leaving a tall stump to re-grow vigorously  and block neighbour's view of the lower field. That was the theory, anyway. I wish I'd taken a few pictures, though I expect it would have looked quite thin and unimpressive.

Lacking a suitable wife/friend/sheep (delete as appropriate) to secure the pulling rope, I tied it to the ride-on driven to a carefully calculated spot where I thought the angle would set the tree gently toppling into the hedge, not onto neighbour's phone line or the evergreen oak I planted last year. Then, a quick bird-mouth cut and a swift retreat, as the wind did the rest. The tree gave a sharp "Crack!” and fell.........exactly where I wanted it, causing no damage. Well, that's never happened before! .

Down in the workshop, DD2 and SiL were working on the crown they're making for the village celebrations next weekend. Apparently, it's going to sit on the font and form part of a display, but not being in the WEF, or even the WI, I'm a bit vague about the exact details.

pink_poppy

Nothing happening in the yogurt pots here - quelle surprise. Tom continues to do well though 🍅

I bought some chipped bark from Lidl to use as mulch for my transplanted rhubarb after I saw on the bag it could be used for mulching. I haven’t done it yet as I’ve been busy with other stuff.

My DD bought me a Calamondin Orange plant for Mother’s Day and I’m pleased that’s still alive and has some new growth. It’s only been outside a couple of times though, when it’s been warm enough. Hopefully, now it’s May... 🤞

Talking of the weather - it’s sunnyish today 😎

RAS

PP

I think I've killed my calamondin. Not so much the cold; a friend's spent the winter in a polytunnel with a damaged roof, but last year's heat. It was still indoors in a south facing window, l pulled the blackout curtains across on a 37 degree day and came back two days later to leaves looking very poorly. It revived a bit in the autumn but.....