2025 Fruit & Veg Thread
Discussion
Time to get your gardening boots on 
With a dry spell forecast , I took the opportunity this morning to run the vintage Merry Tiller rotavator over the veg plot. Wanted to get some air into it and help the worms go to work on the compost mulch I put on in November. Pretty boggy in places but with 10 days reasonably dry weather , I hoping it will dry out.
Leeks are still being harvested and over-wintered Onions,Garlic and Broad Beans doing OK.
Spuds chitting in the spare bedroom and next week I'll be sowing Toms,Peppers & Aubergines in the propagator.
With a dry spell forecast , I took the opportunity this morning to run the vintage Merry Tiller rotavator over the veg plot. Wanted to get some air into it and help the worms go to work on the compost mulch I put on in November. Pretty boggy in places but with 10 days reasonably dry weather , I hoping it will dry out.
Leeks are still being harvested and over-wintered Onions,Garlic and Broad Beans doing OK.
Spuds chitting in the spare bedroom and next week I'll be sowing Toms,Peppers & Aubergines in the propagator.
smifffymoto said:
If I start my seeds now,when do I plant them outside.Hardening off seems like anytime but actually planting outside is more difficult.
Growing veg in France,the cold wasn’t such an issue.
(Assume you mean potatoes)Growing veg in France,the cold wasn’t such an issue.
I go by the personalised calendar at https://gardenfocused.co.uk. Mine are chitting now (cool garage, by the window).
Will plant out last week of March (Shropshire).
smifffymoto said:
If I start my seeds now,when do I plant them outside.Hardening off seems like anytime but actually planting outside is more difficult.
Growing veg in France,the cold wasn’t such an issue.
Too early to start most seeds for outside (i.e Cabbage/Caulis ..) , Greenhouse plant seeds (Toms etc. ) OK now in a propagator , which I would transfer to Greenhouse March/April and plant out May ( but I have heat in the Greenhouse if required ... we can get late frosts in May !!!) April sowing for seedlings (under glass) and plant out End of May in generalGrowing veg in France,the cold wasn’t such an issue.
borcy said:
How long for lemons to ripen on the tree? I brought mine inside in Oct, they are still green (about the same as a lime) quite hard flesh.
Can it take a year to go yellow and a softer flesh?
I only have ONE lemon on mine now in the Greenhouse and is green , it will be Mid Summer before it turns yellow ,.. like Oranges they take for ever to ripen in this country ... then they are very pithy but its fun to grow citrus in this country Can it take a year to go yellow and a softer flesh?
.First batch of chillies have been potted on. Didn't all germinate (or got eaten, there was a slug in there somewhere, got in with the compost which had been in the infested greenhouse) so some have been sown again in the second batch.
Second batch of chillies, plus some aubergines (up) and tomatoes.
Put a new veg bed in, in front of the greenhouse. This is where I grew things in pots last year, this year they are going in the ground.
The broad beans, peas, and sweet peas I sowed in the autumn got eaten - mostly by slugs, but I think some mice got in too. I have completely emptied the greenhouse and bleached everything, and nothing is going back in without being cleaned and checked for slugs. So I have sowed some broad beans, peas, and sweet peas and am germinating them indoors.
Pack of Nemaslug has just arrived with a hose attachment for spreading - looking to get on top of the slimy little b
ds early this year, they caused havoc last season. Hopefully their predators are in good numbers this year and we won't have a repeat performance.
Second batch of chillies, plus some aubergines (up) and tomatoes.
Put a new veg bed in, in front of the greenhouse. This is where I grew things in pots last year, this year they are going in the ground.
The broad beans, peas, and sweet peas I sowed in the autumn got eaten - mostly by slugs, but I think some mice got in too. I have completely emptied the greenhouse and bleached everything, and nothing is going back in without being cleaned and checked for slugs. So I have sowed some broad beans, peas, and sweet peas and am germinating them indoors.
Pack of Nemaslug has just arrived with a hose attachment for spreading - looking to get on top of the slimy little b
ds early this year, they caused havoc last season. Hopefully their predators are in good numbers this year and we won't have a repeat performance.I dusted off the heated propagator at the weekend, so the first load of pepper and tomato seeds are gently cooking away now.
We've decided to try to reduce the number of pots we use for produce / crops, so are going to build two more raised beds. Bagged compost has crept up in price (like everything) so chewing through a few bags every weekend filling tubs starts to add up. We do have three big compost bays but we're still filtering rubbish out, so really need to sieve it before use in tubs.
I looked at the big Scheppach electric compost sieves but they are £400ish new. Two extra beds will give us more space to displace the tubs and hopefully last 10 years or more. We have a builders dumpy bag of topsoil from another part of the garden, so some of our own compost and that bag should get close to filling the new beds (2.4m x 1m).
We've decided to try to reduce the number of pots we use for produce / crops, so are going to build two more raised beds. Bagged compost has crept up in price (like everything) so chewing through a few bags every weekend filling tubs starts to add up. We do have three big compost bays but we're still filtering rubbish out, so really need to sieve it before use in tubs.
I looked at the big Scheppach electric compost sieves but they are £400ish new. Two extra beds will give us more space to displace the tubs and hopefully last 10 years or more. We have a builders dumpy bag of topsoil from another part of the garden, so some of our own compost and that bag should get close to filling the new beds (2.4m x 1m).
Harpoon said:
We've decided to try to reduce the number of pots we use for produce / crops, so are going to build two more raised beds. Bagged compost has crept up in price (like everything) so chewing through a few bags every weekend filling tubs starts to add up. We do have three big compost bays but we're still filtering rubbish out, so really need to sieve it before use in tubs.
I filled the new bed in front of the greenhouse with used compost from last year's pots - 220 litres from 20 chilli pots, plus three or four of other large buckets from growing cucumbers or bitter gourd. We've also got a wheely bin full of used compost to recycle from last year, plus two Dalek type composters which are full. I'll mix the recycled compost with the homemade compost and add blood, fish & bone and chicken manure pellets, but I bet we still end up buying some.
Need to move in to the new place, get some beds built, get a greenhouse built, sort out the irrigation etc.I'm waiting to hear back with the fixtures and fittings, but it looks like ours might have a greenhouse already - it is in a secluded "secret garden" around the side of the garage. The garage is to the south, so blocks out the direct light, but I have been told it still works well as a greenhouse.
The Three D Mucketeer said:
The first Jersey Royal potatoes appeared at the greengrocers last week ...... £10/kilo 
That prompted me to plant my Early spuds this week
Wasn't there a story the other year saying that true Jersey Royals have been lost, and so similar equivalent varieties are now grown?That prompted me to plant my Early spuds this week
Gassing Station | Homes, Gardens and DIY | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff