I am not much of a gardener am trying to become on. Starting slowly I have some tomatoes, chillies and peppers. Some are in pots and some now in the garde, the ones in pots are doing the best. I also have a veey enthusiastic 3 year old granddaughter who is trying her hardest to drown them.
The runner beans are up at last 
The grafted tomato plant arrived while I was away and a kind neighbour cared for it until my return. She said the box was half open and some bits of plant had fallen off but it looks ok. It contains one truss of flowers.
The replacement raspberry plants have taken and are doing fine as are the strawberry plants in their tubs and I will have a boiling of gooseberries and blackcurrants.
All in all not to bad considering the late start to the year :-).
My runner beans which I started in the greenhouse, are still the same height as when I took them out to harden off :shock: I got the bed ready yesterday but didn’t have the energy to plant them. It’s too wet today :roll:
My daughter and two grandchildren came today with a gift for us 
I’d got some plants for her, a pale lilac that I’d grown from a cutting, a dozen tomato plants, a squash, an almost black aquilegia, (which she loved) a tray of red gazania and lots of other bits and pieces that took her fancy. A sage cutting and some peach double poppies too.
I’ve now got room for more cuttings … she wants some of my unusual coloured heucheras (esp. a lime one and a raspberry one :-))
Sounds like everything is coming along nicely Meg
Do let us know how the grafted tomato gets on - supposed to get a high yield from them!
You are going to be busy planting Janela 
This rain is doing my runner beans a lot of good. They have shot up to the top of their plastic slug protectors today.
Both my runner beans and french beans are looking good but pretty much the same as with yours Jan, they haven’t increased in size since I put them outside two wees ago! I just hope they’ve been putting their energy into making strong roots…
Mick, at the working mens club I frequented until it closed, asked me for some advice for his first atttempt at growing tomatoes. Ages later I’d almost forgottten the advice I’d given him when he approached me in bad humour.
" So much for your advice, the tomatoes are a mass of leaves & no tomatoes.
I followed your advice to the letter & left the sideshoots and removed all the flowers"
“Call yourself a gardener” he went on.
You can’t help some people.
Poor man and poor you too :roll:
I’m going out to plant my 2 squash plants and start tying up the cucumber in the greenhouse this afternoon.
(I’m getting the benches cleared of cuttings, slowly - packed a 12" blue pot with fuchsias this morning - all cuttings, all flowering.)
Still have about 30 trailing geranium cuttings for the baskets on the pergola but I will get some different basket liner first. Wasn’t happy with the stuff you cut yourself.
I have about twelve two year-old strawberries in flower at the moment which augurs well! Last year, we had about six fruits in total, with which grand-daughters were totally underwhelmed!!
I also have a raspberry cane (is that the right term?) - never had one before and it’s looking healthy too, so here goes…
Gwyn
How exciting Gwyn, a new fruit :-). I’ve never grown raspberries.
All my small amount of veggies are in but are still small, even with this warm spell we’ve had.
We made a fruit cage today, that covers our gooseberries, blackcurrant and strawberries. The birds and squirells are NOT going to get them!:twisted:
I filled pots with geraniums and made up another four hanging baskets today.
So another pleasant day passed.
Hi Gwyn I think we all had that problem with strawberries last year . I have just planted 5 raspberry canes. Have you planted yours in a tub?
Help! me rhododenron’s gone all limp and dropping leaves, flowered beautifully for weeks now it’s come over all droopy, kept it watered is it the heat or is there a droop like clematis get?
Hi Twizard - for what it’s worth :- is it planted in ericaceous compost ? are you overwatering it ? These are my best suggestions.
Yes and no…Will have to try the gardening websites!
They were going to be my suggestions too … overwatering is as bad as underwatering. If it’s grafted rootstock though, it should cope without ericaceous soil. Hope you find a solution.
I’m off to the garden centre today - I’ve promised myself to be blinkered 
- only buy what I need!
What’s the betting I buy more plants :roll:
I blame Gwyn and Meg for this, today I bought a (just one ;-)) raspberry cane. I think it is called Fallgold, it is a yellow one. Supposed to be sweet - looking forward to seeing the fruit
Need to do a bit of jiggling around in the fruit/veg border but it will all have to wait 'til next year now :roll:
(dare I say this, we need some rain - my three water butts are almost empty:shock:)
I bet you can hardly move in your garden Janela with all the stuff you have planted recently…
My raspberries are doing very well now though of course I am not expecting a crop until year 2 though there are a few fruit buds on there already.
I text’d my daughter, “Me pumpkins are up!”
She replied, “Pervert!”
She’s jealous 'cos she’s only got cucumbers.
Cut back that rhodie, see what happens.
I’m a novice with raspberries Meg, this is my first one.
I’ll follow your lead as and when you post about it. (Or I’ll shout for help!)
Instead of jiggling, hubby is extending the border further along and taking out a couple of old shrubs (if he can :roll: )
The border is about 40 feet long but the end is a bit shaded.
Good luck with the rhododendron and pumpkins Twizard.
My raspberries are looking good this year with the fruit setting easily. Last year the early fruit just rotted on the canes with the continual wet weather but the later autumn canes made an excellent crop. As you will have guessed I grow two types, the summer fruiting variety that fruit on last years new wood, and the autumn variety, which I prefer, which fruit on canes made this year. I find the autumn varieties much more reliable and the fruit is both bigger and sweeter. Both types grow on runners which spread underground and can be quite invasive, so I always hoe any I find that are not in the raspberry bed to prevent them from spreading too far out of control…:shock:
16th June.
…The runner beans are taking ages to get going, I think it has been just too cold.
…The grafted outdoor tomato plant (Elegance) has a couple of little tomatoes on there but I think the crop will be disappointingly small.
…The strawberry plants in their tubs are doing well with fruit setting.
…I will have a few gooseberries and blackcurrants but because I pruned both back severely the crop will be small this year.
… The newly panted raspberry canes are looking good with a few fruit though they are not meant to fruit the first year.
I have been a bit concerned by the lack of bees but I notice this morning the flowering Ceanothus is covered in bumble bees