The ups, the downs and the insides out of growing your own in 2024!

FreeBear

alicef said: @FreeBear I'm hoping my 'discovered' potatoes will be OK in the ground.

I know I missed quite a few when I dug up my crop. One of the problems of growing (almost) black skinned spuds in dark soil. Saving having to plant a load of tubers next year

alicef

@FreeBear here's a picture of the rogue Pink Fir that I unearthed whilst lifting the onions - a bit of GYO serendipity.

  

alicef

I haven’t done much GYO related stuff this week due to torrential rain.

Took fruit to the honesty box, (pears Concorde & Comice; apples Bramleys & Fiesta); helped out at the harvest festival apple pressing. Picked apples. We have visits to our orchard coming up, plus our apple pressing in October, so I’m trying to get organised for those. Cleared where garlic will be planted; put slates under the squashes. Started to pick green tomatoes as well as ripened ones, (have put the former on windowsills). Picked the last of the sweet peas, added these to a few roses (Lady of Shalott).

The sweetcorn crop is quite pitiful.

droopsnoot

I got a decent afternoon of tidying up done yesterday, cleared a path that has been quite overgrown with what look like wild strawberry plants (they never produce any fruit, but other similar plants elsewhere do produce tiny strawberries) and cut some other stuff back. Binned a few more non-performing tomato and pepper plants.

I'm thinking of buying an apple tree to plant in the vegetable patch, just need to make sure I get one that produces eating ones, not cooking ones*. There's very little that grows in there - my onions did nothing, whether from sets or from seed, all that seems to grow is potatoes that I don't do much with, and weeds, and the cats use it as a toilet so something off ground would probably be better.

( * if there's any difference in the tree, and not down to something like harvest time or the like. I need to research it before buying one.)

Farway

droopsnoot said:

I got a decent afternoon of tidying up done yesterday, cleared a path that has been quite overgrown with what look like wild strawberry plants (they never produce any fruit, but other similar plants elsewhere do produce tiny strawberries) and cut some other stuff back. Binned a few more non-performing tomato and pepper plants.

I'm thinking of buying an apple tree to plant in the vegetable patch, just need to make sure I get one that produces eating ones, not cooking ones*. There's very little that grows in there - my onions did nothing, whether from sets or from seed, all that seems to grow is potatoes that I don't do much with, and weeds, and the cats use it as a toilet so something off ground would probably be better.

( * if there's any difference in the tree, and not down to something like harvest time or the like. I need to research it before buying one.)

It's all down to the apple variety you choose. 

At this time of year, there are Apple days around where you can sample different varieties, maybe one local to you?

There are so many varieties, different cropping times, storage times, etc, 

It will take some research, and while it may be tempting & apparently MSE to get one for a tenner from a supermarket, I would say get one from a reputable & grower after deciding what one you want.

Also, some varieties are better suited to different parts of the country, warmer, cooler or wetter for instance, don't fall for buying a Cox because they taste nice, they are hard to grow well

Do watch out for pollination partners, some apples must have another one nearby.

FreeBear

After waiting months and months, my tomato plants have finally decided to flower. At this rate, I might get some fruits in time for Christmas.

alicef

Excellent info from @Farway @droopsnoot.  I enjoy looking through the information on the Orange Pippin site https://www.orangepippintrees.co.uk/ .  Also if there are orchards you can visit, then it is worth tasting a range of apples to find out what you like. 

@FreeBear - let us know if you get Christmas tomatoes!  I'm starting to remove all my tomato plants now as there are signs of powdery mildew on the leaves.

droopsnoot

^ Thanks for the apple advice both of you, I'll look into it a bit more. 

Silvertabby

FreeBear said:

After waiting months and months, my tomato plants have finally decided to flower. At this rate, I might get some fruits in time for Christmas.

You'll be lucky!  My tomato plants are now in the great greenhouse in the sky, having given me a reasonable crop despite our awful summer.  Will give the chilli plants another week, before picking the biggest ones for the freezer (green 'Ring of Fire' are almost as hot as the fully ripened red, of which I had far fewer than normal).  

Sweetbriarrose

Morning, it definitely feels like the sun has gone away and autumn is here.
I don’t always have time to write but I do keep up with everybody garden antics and successes.
gardeners are patience and optimistic, we take sticks and tiny seeds and wait for them to blossom.
I was not at all organised this year so only a few  veg grown, I definitely want to do better next year.
I had 2 cucumber plant's, both were looking good and growing well, one was growing quicker than the other, getting a fruit every 5 days from each, overnight the bigger wilted, the other was fine for a week then did the same.
At the time the weather was 4 seasons  in one day.
One of my tomatoes has just started to ripen, I have 6 plants stopped at two trusses high as I was late in planting, I am pleased with the fruits that have grown,  and Now I think it’s time to bring them in to ripen 
I gathered all the apples from a small tree in my garden and made 6 jars apple and blackcurrant compote, using blackcurrants I collected last year from my freezer to use in crumbles etc and to top my porridge.
despite the daily rainfall my Dahlias are shining,  flowering there socks off, I keep my tubers from year to year so I planted late as I didn’t want to lose the tubers to snails or slugs. I hope the tubers will be fat enough to carry them through this winter.
have a good day.