The beans are still producing the well,
…lots of tomatoes but they aren’t ripening very well and taste a bit ‘wooly’
…sage and mint are a disaster the rest of the herbs are ok.
…I am still eating my way through the large crop of garlic and have ordered more to plant when the beans are done.
In a moment of exasperation I dug up the strawberries from the small raised bed and put them in a couple of troughs.
I should have had lots of fruit this year, the trusses were there but the rain and slugs spoilt them.
At least I can raise the troughs away from the slugs and put them on the patio in the sun when the fruit is ripening.
I notice the local fruit farm have all their strawberries in raised baskets now.
I am going to plant a small row of raspberries in the small bed, Glen Ample I think. I prefer raspberries and at lest the slugs won’t get them and they will tolerate partial shade.
If you only plant one type of raspberry Meg I would suggest you go for an autumn fruiting variety, which in my experience are pest free, they cannot be damaged by winter storms or late frosts, and the fruits are superior in both size and flavour. I grow both summer and autumn raspberries, my summer ones were destroyed by mildew this year because of the wet, but my autumn variety “Joan J” has been fruiting for three weeks now and will continue for at least another month and from a 10` row I should get around 20lbs of fruit! I’m thinking this should be one of my very few successes this year…
I do enjoy this thread so many tips and ideas. Sharing successes and failures, it all helps.
I’m enjoying my garlic too Meg - so is daughter and dil And I’ve ordered my garlic, just soft neck this year.
I read that we should take the tomato trusses off and hang them in brown paper bags to ripen…now where does one get a brown paper bag these days?
Thank you Barry I only have room for three canes I understand you can even grow raspberries in pots.
I really would like some early ones and like the taste of Glen Ample which I know grows well locally. I just want a few for myself.
Janela I have ordered Jolimont softneck garlic again because I know it does well here now. I am using a head a week and have given a couple of heads away.
I have heard about the brown bags ,the only place I can get one is the garden centre and that means spending money .
When we had high wind a few weeks ago some branches broke off by big tomato plant and I stuck a small one back in the tub, the tomatoes continued to ripen :surprised:. So I am going to get a plant pot, fill it with compost and stick a branch containing tomatoes in it then put it on the kitchen window sill to ripen.
That’s a good tip Meg, my silly tomatoes that I stuck in the ground because they were dying, are producing plenty of toms now :roll: but they will have to be de-fruited soon.
I’ve never grown raspberries Barry, and like Meg it will only be a few canes if I do…I do have a very large pot going spare though…
The tomato branches stuck in a pot of compost on the window sill worked a treat and I now have some ripe tomatoes I have already eaten three from here…
Looks to be well worth doing Meg. Bet they are tasty.
The tomatoes on my daft plants are nowhere near the size of yours but they really should have gone in the bin, so the few that I get will be a bonus.
I chopped down my runner beans today Though some were still flowering, the beans were not growing and some were just shrivelling. I’m going to put the garlic there soon. Marco was the variety I bought…supposed to be good storers.
That’s quite a good trick with the toms Meg, I used to wrap them in tissue and pop them into a drawer where they ripened up as well… Although when we had a real glut I used to enjoy making green tomato chutney which was very popular with friends and neighbours.
Hi Janela they taste ok . Next year I will be growing Elegance which I have been buying from Waitrose, they have a lovely flavour.
I am giving the beans another week before pulling them up, there are still some growing.
Good luck with the garlic, I am eating mine so quickly I won’t have to worry about storing it though so far it has stored well (hung on the washing line on fine days now hanging in the garage) and it has remained really juicy.
I have erected a small frame with wires for my few raspberry canes which are due to arrive in October along with the garlic . The strawberries are looking good in their troughs.
Hi Barry the beauty of keeping them on the vine is they retain their fragrance.
I used to make chutney too but gave most of it away so now stick to pickled cabbage and onions which I prefer to eat.
I’ve had about 8lbs of fruit from my Oregon Thornless blackberries already, and I thought I might pick the last of them today but surprisingly it looks like they might go on for another couple of weeks yet…
I have also been picking more raspberries from my autumn fruiting canes (Joan J). I am picking around 8oz every day from a ten foot row and will probably continue to do so for a while yet, so after having lost completely my strawberries, summer raspberries and plums, some of the other fruit crops are finally filling the big gap in our freezer…
I have a very small blueberry bush in my back garden. Planted it last year. My 4yr old grandson was very happy picking the blueberry’s from the bush washing them in a bowl and eating them. He always waited till they were ripe.
Well I’ve finally finished picking fruit from the garden today with the last of the blackberries and autumn raspberries. In spite of bemoaning the poor show earlier in the year and having lost all the strawberries, summer raspberries and 95% of the plums to adverse weather, we really haven’t fared too badly.
Totals for the year (mostly stacked away now in the freezer)…
Barry, that’s brilliant.
Makes me wish I had dug up more lawn to grow more fruit and that we hadn’t changed our chest freezer for an upright one.
I prepared the beds with manure, for the garlic and strawberries today, was going to plant them but my back gave up:roll: I’m gradually lifting and taking cuttings of geraniums though, I do like working in the greenhouse.
Barry that is very impressive :-), I wish I had the room to grow more in my tiny garden.
Janela I hope you back has recovered. My garlic is late arriving this year but should be here this week and I hope to get it in straight away.
The strawberry plants I moved into tubs have taken well and are looking good. The raspberry canes should arrive soon, the ground is all ready for them .
I planted my garlic and strawberries this morning and laid some plastic netting over them. The bl**dy squirrels won’t be digging them up!:twisted:
My back is ok thanks Meg…I used a long handled hand trowel and a ‘pick up’ stick to plant them.
We went to fill the seed feeders and found the wire on the peanut one was chewed and a plastic one had a very big hole, so big that one of the perches was on the ground!
Looks like all our feeders will be squirrel-proof soon.
so many tips and ideas. Sharing successes and failures, it all helps.
I have already eaten three from here…
Bet they are tasty.
Though some were still flowering, the beans were not growing and some were just shrivelling. I’m going to put the garlic there soon. Marco was the variety I bought…supposed to be good storers.
