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

Primrose

Love looking at other peoples pictures but I'm obviously doing something wrong. Every time I close one picture and go to a link for the next one I get kicked out of the whole thread and back to the e-mail notification saying somebody has responded. Can somebody please end my frustration and tell me how I can move straight from one photo link to the next. (Not a high techie person here I'm afraid).

SEE

MRSMCAWBER wrote: »

Primrose -
I grow all my tomatoes out doors and have never had much of a problem, but I do remove any excess foliage once they are starting to fruit so that more air can circulate
Im trying quite a few new ones this year... last year the yellow pear did really well -loads and loads of lovely sweet tomatoes.. the purple cherokee didn't give me as many toms as I would have liked -ut they were gorgeous -a bit smokey
I have copied this list over from my blog -all the red ones are new -including 1 that you can pull up the whole plant and hang in the warmth to semi -dry and 1 that grows like a pointy pepper
I have quite a few "baby" deteminate (bush) toms this year too ...

1. Principe Borghese (D)
2. Maskotka (D)
3. Minibel (D)
4. Nichos (D)
5. tomatoBerry (D)
6. Red alert
7. yellow pear (I)
8. villma (D)
9. Harbinger
10. Andine cornue
11. Zuckertraube
12. Buissonante
13. Diplom F1
14. Pink Brandywine (I)
15. Yellow Brandywine (I)
16. Purple cherokee (I)
17. Sub Arctic
18. Tigerella (I)
19. Cream sausage
20. San Marzano

I don't know if you know this -but when you plant your tomatoes out -if you dig a hole and drop the plant in -so that the first "true leaves" are just above the compost and fill in then you wil get stronger plants -the stem bit that is under ground will get nodules that then grow and turn into feeding roots and make healthier plants :j -I hope that makes sense :rotfl:

I've sown yellow pear this year, and also currant tomatoes.

SEE

Steel wrote: »

I decided to take a photo of my veg plot in the back garden and I have to say, it looks worse than I thought it did. Terrible mess. But it's my aim to get it looking good this year.

http://i594.photobucket.com/albums/tt26/Steelkitten15/wholegarden.jpg

The far tree is a greengage, there's a plum to the bottom left and all the vegetation in the hedgerows are blackberries and rowan. I have three main beds which I'm still in the process of edging.

http://i594.photobucket.com/albums/tt26/Steelkitten15/carrotsandbeetroot.jpg

I have moved all the leftover bits of paving from near the house to in front of the greengage treee and built some mini raised beds. The one in the middle is for strawberries, while the two on either side are for carrots and beetroot. I have a double greenhouse for tomatoes and peppers etc and a small patch of decent soil just outside it to grow salad stuff in.

http://i594.photobucket.com/albums/tt26/Steelkitten15/hugerhubarb.jpg

I also have two humungous rhubarb plants at the end of the greenhouse, a pear tree nearby and two juvenile apple trees. There's also currants, raspberries and blueberries (although I trimmed the latter a bit too much the last time I pruned and it's been sulking ever since)

It's my aim this year to grow at least 50% of the fruit and veggies we eat and all of the veggies the chickens eat plus make all of the jams and chutney's we use throughout the year.

A lovely open veggie plot you have there, and your rhubarb looks handsome:D

MRSMCAWBER

Afternoon everyone
There isn't much to see by the way of greenery in my "potio appotment" yet -but here are a few picks of what it looks like bare :eek:


My home made brassica tent that has 7 crates, 5 tubs and 5 troughs in now-with room for a bit more if need be

To utilise the arches outside Im going to be growing cucumbers in each bucket -climbing up strings over the arch-so I have 3 buckets at each side

inside my brassica tent -where I have just set brussels -into the bottles so they have firm roots but I can still grow leafy greens around them, making the most of my space

This arch hubby extended using some spares from the other arches so I can make the most of the space either side and over the doors
I need to sink pots into the back troughs along the fence for the indeterminate tomatoes -and will grow bush ones in the front

just built yesterday -my coldframe which is quite a bit bigger than I expected :j

and this arch is using the space around the tap as I need to keep it clear -just need to move 1 dustbin -that Im going to try scorsenza in -the one that is staying there will have the sweet potatoes in as thats a hot spot and they need as much warmth as possible:D
well thats enough to bore you with for now-will get shots of the bit at the other end of the garden where all my arches are for beans n peas -later in the week
Can't wait to see the shots of everyones garden once things start to take hold :T

Forgot a quick pic of my guilty secret ...my "spare bedroom" -which is now a potting shed :rotfl: well It get so much sunshine it would be a shame to waste it

hex2

Mrs M I very much like your style!

MRSMCAWBER

hex2 wrote: »

Mrs M I very much like your style!

thankyou

Im affraid if there is a gap I fill it, anything that might hold compost -its mine and if it stands still for long enough I climb things up it
This year I have refuse to buy jifi pots, peat pots and the like -Im recycling like a demon
My brassica tent is 3 arches @ €2 each -6 crates and some mosquito curtains from a broken gazebo (knew they would come in for something :rotfl: ) even if the netting only lasts the year it will have earnt its keep -and I will darn it to within an inch of its life if need be :rotfl:

Primrose

Mrs M - congratulations on squeezing a quart into a pint pot. You have a really productive area. Like you I can't bear to see a bare patch of earth anywhere. If one appears, some beetroot, perpetual spinach or something edible is planted. When I wander around our garden around end-June/early July when everything is growing lustily I sometimes surprise myself at just how much is crammed in. But I did feel a little peeved when a friend visited on one occasion who has a garden twice the size of ours started hinting she would like some of our produce to take home (it wasn't ready for picking). When I responded on the lines of " You've got a huge garden - why don't you grow your own?. Her reply: "Oh I couldn't be bothered and I don't really want to spoil the look of the garden and make it look like an allotment". I guess we all make choices about what we do with our little plots but when you put in a huge amount of effort to grow it, I think you want the pleasure of eating it yourself rather than giving most of it away? What do others think?

Lotus-eater

Primrose wrote: »

What do others think?

Agreed, I do like giving away stuff to certain people, our neighbours are all good folk and really appreciate anything I give them, but even then I would almost never give something away unless we have a glut of it.
Stuff like the processed food, jams etc, are given as presents.

I also like giving the odd thing to friends when I think it may get them interested in growing their own. I have had certain success in this
Although some of them give up pretty quickly when they find out how much work it is to learn how to get good crops. ie the first year goes a bit wrong and suddenly digging suddenly seems less important this year. :rotfl:

Doom_and_Gloom

Primrose I’d be rather peeved as well I have to say. To respond the way they did and expect you to give them something you actually took the time to grow is shocking. Makes you realise just how much society has gotten used to food being readily available! I don’t mind sharing my produce with people especially when I have spare or they obviously love what you are doing and think about doing it themselves. However when they are so blind to the fact that food takes time to produce as well as choosing to not do it for aesthetics on top of that I have little sympathy for them and they would not be welcome to my produce.

nicbates

hello,

does anyone know if I can grow melons without a greenhouse?

advice is much appreciated
thanks