The ups, the downs and the insides out of growing your own in 2025!

Kantankrus_Mare

Tabby_cat said:

@Kantankrus_Mare.
If you cut the asparagus as it's ready, you can store them on your kitchen counter, for a good week or so, in a jam jar with a couple of inches of water in the bottom. Change the water every other day to keep them fresh. That way you'll be able to eventually get enough to make it worthwhile cooking them.... and they carry on growing in the jar so win-win.

Good tip!!  Thanks for that, will definitely do next year. 

carinjo

@Tabby_cat that is a great tip! Saw on the news today the low rainfall. Can definately see it on the plot. A bit of tidying up and prepping this week, the seedlings being hardened off ready to go in as soon as.
My first batch of beetroot not making any roots, i read that it could be too warm in the greenhouse and outside! Not a nutrient issue since i didn't add any plantfood to the soil, just soil and compost mix in the beds.
Watering at 5am in the morning has some perks, like a gorgeous start to the day

greenbee

Well done on watering at 5am @carinjo! I let the dog out then but usually go back inside. Clearly I should be doing my watering... 

I've got asparagus in, but it's the first year (of new crowns and a couple of transplants) so I'm leaving it all and hoping they're getting on with growing roots. Broad beans seem to be getting going, and courgettes are in. Peas and spinach that went in ages ago are slow, and radishes and carrots have also been slow to germinate - no sign of lettuce or rocket.

French beans and mangetout are starting to germinate in the greenhouse, and it looks like the broad beans are too.

Cosmos are (as ever) taking off happily in the greenhouse, and where they self-seeded in the beds, so those can go out as soon as I remove enough weeds to make space for them. Nicotiana, snapdragons, and ragged robin have all germinated and need pricking out. Sweet peas need transplanting to their homes this weekend, and I have some scabious and chocolate cosmos to find homes for too. The bare root dahlias I ended up planting randomly are up - not sure about the peonies, I think the cats may have had dust-baths on those. And everything else is just about hanging in there - hopefully my clematis will get moving along the wire I've set up for them soon (buying 6" high plants probably wasn't my best move!). 

I'm trying not to buy too many plants as I'm still working on the structure of the garden, but I do need to fill the spaces too!

In the veg plot I need to sow beetroot of various kinds, set up the bean and pea supports, and get the raspberry frames up (I think I've been saying that for well over a year now!), as well as think about what needs netting. 

I also need to write to one supplier to tell them a tree they provided appears to be dead, with no growth at all since delivery, and another one to say that it's not what it says on the label... 

FreeBear

greenbee said: I also need to write to one supplier to tell them a tree they provided appears to be dead, with no growth at all since delivery, and another one to say that it's not what it says on the label... 

Had that issue with a couple of bare rooted two/three years ago. A grape vine that looked suspiciously dead when it arrived. Was assured that it would perk up in the spring. It never did, but they refunded the money in the end.

The plumcot, once a single fruit set and ripened turned out to be an apricot. Emailed a photo across and then set to on the phone. A replacement tree got sent out free of charge, and was planted out last year. No flowers yet, so I don't know if they got it right this time. May be next year....

Both the apricot and a plum tree (cheap one from Lidl many years ago) had abundant flowers back in March. A few even set nascent fruitlets. Checking the trees earlier today, and it looks like every single one has dropped off.

greenbee

Thanks Freebear. The dead tree has a 5-year guarantee, although I haven't heard back yet. The mislabelled crab apple has been dealt with immediately - they've asked me for more photos when the fruit develops so that they can identify it for me, and put an order into their system for a replacement as soon as bare root season starts up again (probably November). If I know what it is, I can work out where to put it (although logically, it'll move up to the orchard to be 'fruit' rather than ornamental.

Cooler today, and work is busy. If I can summon up the energy it would be nice to sow something in the veg plot.

I've got some compost and mulch on order, but no information yet on when it'll be delivered which is disappointing. Likewise the gravel. If they all arrive at once it'll be chaos as pallet deliveries block the drive until I can move them. 

carinjo

I heard the most fantastic thing from a new allotment neighbour yesterday. He said that he is going to put beer traps on the corners of his plot, not next to his produce. When i asked him why, he said otherwise it like the slugs having a take away on their way to the pub! 

carinjo

The pear rust particularly bad this spring, which is most likely due to not looking after the tree much last year and sweeping up the dead leaves only a few weeks ago.
The blackberry got cut down completely end of last season, so now got loads of shoots, i need read up on how to keep it in check now. I have 2 rows of wires in place, so can train it along.
Some of first batch of the radishes almost ready, pulled, dusted off some soil and munched one right there and then! Quality control 😂

KajiKita

carinjo said:

I heard the most fantastic thing from a new allotment neighbour yesterday. He said that he is going to put beer traps on the corners of his plot, not next to his produce. When i asked him why, he said otherwise it like the slugs having a take away on their way to the pub! 

That made me smile and those radishes look fabulous 😊❤️

KK

Suffolk_lass

KajiKita said:

carinjo said:

I heard the most fantastic thing from a new allotment neighbour yesterday. He said that he is going to put beer traps on the corners of his plot, not next to his produce. When i asked him why, he said otherwise it like the slugs having a take away on their way to the pub! 

That made me smile and those radishes look fabulous 😊❤️

KK

That is excellent, I completely agree. Re the pear rust, I do a bit of judicious snipping out to leave the one or two unaffected fruits in the hopes of a small crop. The snippings go in the incineration waste to stop recurrence. It seems to work.
My blackcurrants are particularly affected at the moment by curled up leaves (ants normally, farming the aphids)

ladybird1106

My plot neighbour has loads of ladybird 🐞 larvae/ pupae/ ladybirds on her fence. We were watching some of the ladybirds emerging from their pupae. She was really glad to hear what they eat. Pity they won’t attack the asparagus beetle I’m battling at the moment.

Love 🐞