Show Us Your Veg Patch - You Know You Want To!! (Merged Thread)

Primrose

positivelymummy - guess you now have to find 32 friends to whom you can give a freebie. Should make you very popular !

hathor

Helen Yorkshire, you've reminded me of another question I was going to post on here. (There've been so many lately!)

I see you have tomatoes growing on your window ledge plot, and I was just reading a book the other day which suggested for people with no outside space at all that tomatoes are one of the crops that can be grown on a sunny window ledge.

The bit I'm not clear on is, how will they set fruit after flowering if they don't encounter any bees by living their whole life indoors? It seems too much of a long shot that the gardenless grower will keep the windows open as much as poss on the off chance that a bee wanders in!

So fruit or no fruit?

SEE

hathor wrote: »

Helen Yorkshire, you've reminded me of another question I was going to post on here. (There've been so many lately!)

I see you have tomatoes growing on your window ledge plot, and I was just reading a book the other day which suggested for people with no outside space at all that tomatoes are one of the crops that can be grown on a sunny window ledge.

The bit I'm not clear on is, how will they set fruit after flowering if they don't encounter any bees by living their whole life indoors? It seems too much of a long shot that the gardenless grower will keep the windows open as much as poss on the off chance that a bee wanders in!

So fruit or no fruit?

You don't need bees to pollinate toms. Just gently tap the canes to make them vibrate, and it forces the flowers to make tom-babies:p

jtb2412

Does anyone want to come and do my weeding for me? lol

Hope you're all having a great day - weather is really good here so i'm out in the greenhouse putting my melons into growbags. Also going to sow some cabbage, spring onions and spinach. Just got to find the space to put it now ! :think:

paintpot

Hi

I watch this post avidly to pick up tips and admire everyone's veggie patches so if anyone can help I'd appreciate it as it's my first attempt.

I am delighted that I have courgettes growing however they are all round, about the size of a normal tomato at the moment - never seen round courgettes before, will they become long

All my other veggies are growing, I have carrots, raddish, brocolli, spinach, rocket, beetroot, baby sweetcorn and various lettuces (I went a bit mad :rotfl: ) however I am bit worried about the spacing. If I don't thin them out enough I am worried that they will stop growing but I don't want to reduce my potential crop too much. Any advice on how to thin and how much to thin?

thanks and happy growing everyone, keep up the good work. I can't stop looking at mine as every day I see changes :j

jtb2412

Can only offer a bit of advice (beginners here ourselves!) but the courgettes are probably a different variety. You can get round ones (MIL had some last year - I think she used them for chutney).

Not sure about the thinning out but i've just thinned out a little bit at first and then have gone on to thin out some more as they grow. Lettuces were a classic example. I had about 50 seedlings, thinned them to about a third and have eventually left up with about 8.

It's all very much a learning process when you start and a bit of learn as you go along I think. Lots of advice on here though and I've had loads of help from the lovely guys n gals on here. :beer:

Must commend everyone on here too, such a friendly thread ! :T

paintpot

Thanks jtb :beer:

I don't want to be a pain so try and research and not ask too many questions

I am trying to just go with the flow and see what happens but I am so excited (sad I know) about my first attempt I just can't help myself wanting to protect my precious veggies! My first attempt at onions has failed but hey ho, I will use that space for some succession growing as I have kind of run out of pots and space at the mo :rotfl: I've got the inspiation from here to try potatoes so I am going to bung one in tomorrow that is sprouting in my cupboard to see what happens - trial and error and all that!

jtb2412 wrote: »

Can only offer a bit of advice (beginners here ourselves!) but the courgettes are probably a different variety. You can get round ones (MIL had some last year - I think she used them for chutney).

Not sure about the thinning out but i've just thinned out a little bit at first and then have gone on to thin out some more as they grow. Lettuces were a classic example. I had about 50 seedlings, thinned them to about a third and have eventually left up with about 8.

It's all very much a learning process when you start and a bit of learn as you go along I think. Lots of advice on here though and I've had loads of help from the lovely guys n gals on here. :beer:

Must commend everyone on here too, such a friendly thread ! :T

HelenYorkshire

SEE wrote: »

You don't need bees to pollinate toms. Just gently tap the canes to make them vibrate, and it forces the flowers to make tom-babies:p

...canes?
The flat downstairs has a bay window and I don't, so when it's sunny I dangle out of the window and put my toms outside on the little roof. It's south-east facing and the brick wall holds a fair amount of heat. I've also stashed a blueberry plant (tree??) there...

Am very jealous of all these real gardens! Though at least not many snails bother making the climb to my crops :T

SEE

HelenYorkshire wrote: »

...canes?
The flat downstairs has a bay window and I don't, so when it's sunny I dangle out of the window and put my toms outside on the little roof. It's south-east facing and the brick wall holds a fair amount of heat. I've also stashed a blueberry plant (tree??) there...

Am very jealous of all these real gardens! Though at least not many snails bother making the climb to my crops :T

If you have tomatoes in pots they should be supported by canes unless short bush or tumbling varieties? If you gently flick the top of the cane to vibrate it, it will release its pollen. When bees collect pollen it's the vibration of their wings that forces the plant to give its pollen up.

paintpot

I asked on a thread a while ago as I had heard about flicking canes as never understood what that was all about and didn't get an answer so thanks for that :T

I'm off too flick my canes tomorrow :rotfl:

SEE wrote: »

If you have tomatoes in pots they should be supported by canes unless short bush or tumbling varieties? If you gently flick the top of the cane to vibrate it, it will release its pollen. When bees collect pollen it's the vibration of their wings that forces the plant to give its pollen up.