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

louise_1981

hathor wrote: »

JTB2412- are your raspberries in the garden, or a container?
I'd love to get a raspberry bush or two for my balcony a-pot-ment, but I've been told raspberries are not suitable for containers.

Do you - or anyone else on here - know different?

I bought some yellow ones in the whoopsed bin at one of these generic garden parks two years ago, I potted them on in two of the larger pots you can get, one died, but I don't think that was anything to do with me!

I would recommend plastic rather than terracotta, which I have found to my peril this year, a few of the runners have died.

I think you just need to remember to feed and water

Last year I had about 5 or six yellow raspberries, this year there looks to be more than half a pound, with this years 10 runners, this can only increase.

You can only try!

~Chameleon~

rubiales - I've just spotted that your onions have bolted. You need to remove those flower stalks asap

rubiales

~Chameleon~ wrote: »

rubiales - I've just spotted that your onions have bolted. You need to remove those flower stalks asap

Another lesson learned! Never grown onions before so assumed was supposed to let them flower before harvesting! Will attend to it tout-de-suite!!;)

~Chameleon~

rubiales wrote: »

Another lesson learned! Never grown onions before so assumed was supposed to let them flower before harvesting! Will attend to it tout-de-suite!!;)

I only learned about it recently myself when a couple of mine did the same

I cut off the stalks and pulled them up to eat the same day as apparently they don't store well once they've bolted.

Primrose

Rubiales - my aubergines are now outside, right up against an east facing brick wall when they get sunshine for half the day. Once the patio goes into shade, the heat from the house bricks continues to reflect some heat. I mist the leaves in hot weather as they seem to like plenty of moisture and last year, despite the rather poor weather, I still got a very good crop. If a drastic drop in nightime temperature is forcast I cover them with a little fleece.

hathor

Hi Folks

(Sorry Mrs McAwber, this probably doesn't apply to you )

For anyone who's growing climb-y things like squash, courgette etc, and want an easy support for them, you might like to consider what I picked up yesterday from Argos (hope it's OK to name names here; otherwise, a well-known High Street catalogue store)

They are selling a sturdy rose arch, made from steel tubing - needs assembly, so it will fit in the car easily; you could even carry it on a bus! - measuring 230cm high, 110cm wide and 30cm deep for £7.49. Think of a pair of arches joined together at intervals, like a curved ladder. The overall height when secured in the ground is 210cm approx.

The best part is, they should normally be £14.99 but not only are they reduced to £7.49, but for that you get two, which makes them only £3.75 each! Offer ends 25th July.

The catalogue number is 721/8118 if anyone's interested. :beer:

WestonDave

Most efforts here put ours in the shade but in the spirit of sharing, this is our main veg area (sorry its not very close up)

http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm125/westondave/garden/Image044a.jpg

These are the first 3 raised beds we installed over the autumn. When we moved in this area was overgrown old shrubs (huge fuschia bushes etc) and loads of tubers/bulbs. Bearing in mind our second son has arrived on the scene since we moved in, and we've had the whole house rewired and new heating installed, I feel quite good about what we have managed so far.

The nearest bed is carrots, onions and some parsnips - the beetroot appears to have been eaten by something so may need another sowing if I get time and its not too late.

The next one is broad beans and peas on the left (all the tall stuff) and some relatively young dwarf beans and sweet corn on the right.

The last one has some sprouts (yes the kids (3 and 1) love them so we are growing them!) and some broccoli with purple sprouting coming from my dad later today.

Beyond that before it descends into jungle for another 8 feet are 3 potato bags. Beyond the jungle is rhubarb and compost bins. To the left of the beds against the fence are some raspberries which are just about fighting off the remains of the brambles which were in the bed before!

On the patio behind me when I took the photo are runner beans, tomatoes, strawberries and a blueberry bush all in pots. This http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm125/westondave/garden/Image039a.jpg sets it in a bit more context - the blueberry is in the middle round pot the others need clearing out for other things. The bed behind the pots will probably be cleared out over time and may become a herb garden - there is already a huge rosemary bush just out of shot on the right, and the rest of the plants in there are very tired.

Certainly looks like we will get something worth eating this year but I definitely need practice so maybe next year will be better still. Its always going to be a bit of a token effort as that area will never feed 4 of us - in my case its as much about teaching the boys where their food comes from and having something to share with them as saving money.

hathor

Well done, WestonDave.

I wouldn't be so sure about output: if you look at Carol Klein's book, the amount of produce people have got out of not-that-big raised beds is astonishing! I think it's largely due to closer spacing than regular gardening, less competition from weeds, catch cropping and successional cropping, so the raised bed is never idle.

You've certainly made a good start, and that's got to be the hardest bit. It's so easy to look at an overgrown neglected garden and lose heart straight away just from the enormity of the task in front of you.

And by using raised beds with "clean" paths between, it's easier to let the boys join in when they're a bit older, without trailing half the garden mud into the house. They could have their own a-pot-ments and stick to container gardening while they're small, perhaps. Certainly a "tomato race" is more productive than a "sunflower race", which seems to be popular with children, and ALL boys love watering...... (Less so their Mums, perhaps?)

shaz_mum_of__2

Haven't read all the posts so apologies if i am repeating myself

Do / can gherkin plants climb realised i have no room for them but got pots i could use instead ,was a but late planting them too so not to worried

Shaz

KAAT_LADY

good afternoon I havejust picked my first beans and potatoes here is a picture and guess what we are having for dinner:j :beer: :T


http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm128/KAAT_LADY/garden/garden2/Image047.jpg


http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm128/KAAT_LADY/garden/garden2/Image048.jpg