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

greenbee

Tomatoes this year have been odd - no flowers until fairly tall, and then a lot of flowers withering rather than setting fruit. I blame the heat. I should have put some outside, but decided 10 plants was enough... won't make that mistake again!

droopsnoot

I dug some more potatoes up the other week, and this time didn't leave them to go green, cut them into small pieces and microwaved them and they came out quite nicely. Loads more to dig up - well, loads more plants anyway, I'm not sure if there are any actual potatoes. My lettuce are doing quite well, haven't had to buy any salad-leaf stuff for two or three weeks as I can just cut a few leaves off every two or three days. I have one reasonably-sized tomato on a plant and two tiny ones, and lots more with flowers on. Chilli plants continue to grow bigger but not much else.

Naturelover22

Hello all, very much of a lurker on the gardening threads, getting back into it after a few years of neglecting the poor garden.
The threads are very insipring and giving me ideas of what to do in my garden bit by bit.
I have large victoria plum tree which is dripping with plums and some are ripening already, about a month earlier than usual.
In the past I have thinned them out at some point in the summer. Is it too late to do this now or would they still benefit from it a bit?

-taff

I wouldn't bother now unless a branch is in danger of snapping

Suffolk_lass

I would look for any signs of rot in them and remove any with blemishes as they could be codling moth larvae (little cream maggoty grubs inside when you cut them, with a trail of black seed-like faeces

Kantankrus_Mare

My autumn raspberries are giving me a handful of berries each day with the promise of much more to come. I freeze any excess berries to use throughout the year in my breakfast greek yogurt, berry and granola mixture.

Got me thinking.......I should really grow summer berries as well to extend the season and obviously more berries!

Ive never grown them previously as thought it is more complicated than autumn raspberries. They need support and cutting back is done on this years growth. 

Can anyone give advise and not sure where to buy from. Looked in B&Q yesterday and the couple of plants they had were very sad looking so  didnt bother.

rtandon27

@Kantankrus_Mare - our summer fruiting berries came up from under the fence when our neighbours raised their garden to the ground and installed plastic grass!  They are prolific and come back despite the fact that I cut them down every year.  I'd personally pop over to your local allotment and ask for a few canes from a knowledgeable gardener as they are sure to be stronger than anything bought in.

alicef

@Kantankrus_Mare I've always sourced my raspberry canes from a local plant nursery that has bare root bundles; I find buying them this way is good value & often the variety range is excellent.  Check whether you have a plant nursery near you.  I have ordered, via post, bare root from RW Walpole (blackberry not raspberry, though they do raspberry bare root) and found their stock to be reliable.

Silvertabby

greenbee said:

Tomatoes this year have been odd - no flowers until fairly tall, and then a lot of flowers withering rather than setting fruit. I blame the heat. I should have put some outside, but decided 10 plants was enough... won't make that mistake again!

Lush leaves, healthy flowers, and an abundance of still green tomatoes here (greenhouse).  I know we are well north of Watford Gap, but we are normally picking toms by now.

Very strange.

Suffolk_lass

Silvertabby said:

greenbee said:

Tomatoes this year have been odd - no flowers until fairly tall, and then a lot of flowers withering rather than setting fruit. I blame the heat. I should have put some outside, but decided 10 plants was enough... won't make that mistake again!

Lush leaves, healthy flowers, and an abundance of still green tomatoes here (greenhouse).  I know we are well north of Watford Gap, but we are normally picking toms by now.

Very strange.

Same here. Very low cropping so far and one variety instead of being large field grown, are looking more like large cherries