I have had it with the strawberries :twisted: next year will be their third and theoretically last year so I have bought a couple of troughs and will transfer them there. I can move the troughs around the garden to make the best of the sun.
I am going to put a few raspberries in the raised bed at least the blessed slugs and wet mould shouldn’t get them.
What a show of tomatoes! Both Barry and I have had a bad year with toms. Too wet and too cold.
Are they in pots Mav? I ask because Meg has hers in a pot, and it is doing well.
Hubby decided today, that next year we are going to grow ours in the greenhouse in gro-bags, I like the idea but I’m concerned they might end up like triffids and take over
We are going to move our strawberries too Meg, I’ve rooted some runners, so I may get rid of the old plants. I’m running out of space, moving things about :roll: Ideally, I need to dig up a bit of lawn but I don’t think hubby would like that:-( I think the trough is a great idea.
Good result Bruce. Back on the tomato front I have grown mine from seed and then in pots and they have done fantastically well. All cherry toms and I am struggling keeping up with eating them all
Below these fruit trees are my compost bins and every year they produce tomatoes from the seed in the garden waste.
I remember my old man’s greenhouses in the UK just to grow tomatoes here they just grow outside. I don’t bother to grow them myself other than the ones that seed themselves. I do grow a lot of chillies unfortunately they rarely survive the winter so have to replant each year.
Had a little tidy of the bench in the greenhouse earlier, after I had sat in the shade to tidy the hanging baskets…but it was over 40C in there! So, I did a lot of fuschia and geranium cuttings, got them in little pots and in trays, popped them all on the bench, gave them a good watering and got out pdq
I did notice that my two chillies are turning orange…but my sweet peppers are still very small
I’m still picking runner beans, and they are flowering like mad again :surprised:
How nice Bruce, the citrus trees - lucky you. and ‘free’ tomato plants…I did once get a couple of seedlings from a cherry tom that self seeded. I don’t normally grow them in the greenhouse either.
I’ve done rather well with peppers, and this year for the first time I’ve also grown three varieties of chillie peppers, which are fruiting their little hearts out. Problem is we don’t actually eat chillies, so if anyone wants to send me a stamped self addressed envelope…
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.