Author Topic: Deserted!  (Read 2741 times)

tricia

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Deserted!
« on: July 05, 2022, 11:03:30 »
Where is everybody? It's been days since anyone posted  -  I'm worried Dan will think we're no longer interested in AforAll. Come on guys let's hear about your successes or failures so far this season!

My 4 raised beds of squashes, tomatoes, sweet corn and beans are all growing well. I've been picking courgettes, strawberries, blackcurrants and a few early blackberries on a daily basis for some time and the first picking of Cobra beans will be made this weekend.  Slugs and snails have,  oddly, been noticeable by their absence this year  - not that I'm complaining  -  :icon_cheers:.

The apple trees are doing their bi-annual sulk, so apart from one solitary fruit on the Jonah Gold, no apples this year.

The sun is shining and I'm going to harvest some very luscious looking Sunburst cherries 🍒 now.

Tricia  :wave:

Obelixx

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Re: Deserted!
« Reply #1 on: July 05, 2022, 15:50:02 »
I'm assuming everyone's busy.  Not gardening at the mo as I'm in hospital having a new knee so will be out of action a while. 

OH has strict watering instructions while I'm away so the tomatoes don't get blossom end rot or burst, the courgette and squash beds get their supplies so they don't get mildew and my nursery of cuttings, seedlings and plants treasures planting don't wither and die, not to mention all the hostas, fuchsias and herbs on the terrace behind the kitchen.

We harvested and ate or froze all our broad beans by the end of April.  The PSB finished in May and I left il long enough to gather seed as it was very good.   The cucumbers are fruiting heavily and we've had quite a few salad tomatoes and enough to make 3 litres of passata on Saturday.  We've been eating raspberries, strawberries, tayberries and loganberies but the heatwave cooked the gooseberries and some of the taller raspberries.  We've had a couple of pickings or rhubarb but now I'm nurturing the main one to be forced next year and bringing on two babies in the polytunnel to make a proper rhubarb patch.

Beetroot has done well and so have some white Paris onions and the shallots seem fine.  Didn't grow any normal onions this year as the last 2 crops were so poor.  The brassicas are doing well and the 2 pear trees have masses of fruit tho we lost two branches in a storm in early June.

The salad potatoes I planted after they sprouted before we could eat them are doing well too.  I dug some up for Saturday's dinner and they were small but firm and very tasty.

I'm giving up on globe artichokes - huge plants with great form and colour but too much faff to cook and eat so I'm planning to move them to an ornamental area.  OH wants a cardoon too now, but not to eat.

As soon as I'm hobbling well enough I shall be looking to sow some fennel and Chinese greens and maybe rocket and there'll be loads more tomatoes to process for winter.
Obxx - Vendée France

Deb P

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Re: Deserted!
« Reply #2 on: July 05, 2022, 17:51:17 »
I’m busy outdoors from early morning either at the allotment or in our own garden…..still catching up on tasks after travelling and then Covid delayed my usual sowing and prep plans!
So still needing to clear some areas of the allotment after the persistant couch made a comeback, but getting there! Today planted the last of the squash and red corn that have been patiently waiting to get into the cleared ground, just a couple of new paths to put in and fruit and herb beds to be cleared and planted up…..sounds easy when I write it down!
If it's not pouring with rain, I'm either in the garden or at the lottie! Probably still there in the rain as well TBH....🥴

http://www.littleoverlaneallotments.org.uk

cudsey

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Re: Deserted!
« Reply #3 on: July 05, 2022, 18:40:46 »
Well all the salad crops seem to be doing well tomatoes and peppers also in the greeenhouse there are loads of cucumbers (think I sowed to many) early potatoes did quite well still got second earlies to come sweetcorn and runner beans are growing well beetroot is quite slow thats about it  (I dont post that often but I do check in every evening and thought it was quiet 
Barnsley S Yorks

Beersmith

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Re: Deserted!
« Reply #4 on: July 05, 2022, 20:18:33 »
Like every season there is good and bad.  Thankfully more good than bad this season.

Even the bad things have not been a complete disaster.  My celeriac is growing so slowly I suspect it may be dormant but perhaps still time to produce something by late autumn.  I had major problems getting carrots to germinate this year either too cold or too dry but did get four decent rows eventually in early May. I filled thin drills with vermiculite to hold moisture around the seeds and sowed very shallow.  I had notably poor germination with sweetcorn and French beans but I sowed plenty so the overall impact is small. My runner beans are badly hit by blackfly.

The good has been really good and the star this year is the soft fruit.  Strawberries, raspberries and blackcurrants all with great yields, cherries and gooseberries and blackberries ready any day now and plums, apples, and pears to come as are red pink and white currants.

I enjoy these on line chats and am happy to post, but when it is quiet perhaps people are reluctant to seem as if they are posting on every topic and hogging the limelight. I think we should all posts a little more. I hugely appreciate the wealth of good advice given whenever I need help or guidance.
Not mad, just out to mulch!

Deb P

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Re: Deserted!
« Reply #5 on: July 06, 2022, 10:20:39 »
I’ve always had a great response to posts asking for advice, every season is a bit different with new challenges and you can do the same methods and get different results which is all part of the fun!
There is always something new to learn which is always a good thing!
If it's not pouring with rain, I'm either in the garden or at the lottie! Probably still there in the rain as well TBH....🥴

http://www.littleoverlaneallotments.org.uk

Palustris

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Re: Deserted!
« Reply #6 on: July 06, 2022, 12:42:51 »
We don't grow that much in the way of veg or fruit these days. The garden is too small.
Gardening is the great leveller.

peanuts

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Re: Deserted!
« Reply #7 on: July 06, 2022, 14:28:58 »
It's great to hear of lots of successes, but with some envy here, especially hearing of soft fruit harvests! 
We had a very difficult April and May, very dry, and very hot, with temps up to 38.  Until then, all was looking promising.  New raspberries full of  forming fruit, four different sorts of climbing beans reaching the top of their supports, potatoes nearly ready to harvest, peppers and tomatoes all planted and growing.  Some total failures because of the extreme heat, such as nil germination of French beans from two sowings, and only four sweetcorn up out of 35, and the raspberry fruit shrivelled up :sad10:
Then two weeks ago, the hail storm.   Thankfully not as serious as in 2009, when the hail was the size of tennis balls, and the roof and garden were ruined.  This time we had twenty minutes of hail, golfball size.  As before, it was terrifying, an unbelievable noise.
This morning, the insurance assessor has been, all agreed, so at least the roof will be sorted.
But he can't repair the veg patch! We've been able to find and replant some things, tomatoes, salad and peppers, although they'll be very late now. Courgettes are starting to regrow.  The potatoes have disappeared, but there are some underneath! I'm restarting the winter brassicas.  The rest is just depressing.  A few of the climbing beans are regrowing, although their net support is shredded! The rhubarb is just a few stalks.  And the promising harvest of Bramley and James Grieve apples all on the ground.
But nature is amazing - the patch where I grow coriander and rocket, letting  them  self seed all the year round, was smashed.  I pulled it all up the following day. One day later, the 2 square metres of earth was absolutely covered in tiny tiny green leaves.  Two days later it was like a carpet of pondweed, no earth visible.  Today I nibble a tiny leaf - rocket salad we will have!

Obelixx

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Re: Deserted!
« Reply #8 on: July 06, 2022, 14:45:33 »
I understand your distress Peanuts.   Came home to the Belgian garden from visiting Chelsea flower show one year to find a hailstone tornado had gone thru my garden and nuked my veg patch, all the hostas, loads of other foliage and left scars on woody stems of shrubs and roses.  Demoralising.

Then we had a tornado here that ripped the roofs off our barns and flung beams and corrugated iron sheets all over the place.
 That took 8 months to get cleared up.

I don't grow any beans or sweetcorn here as climate change means we get heatwaves and drought in spring now so they either fail to germinate or can't get enough water to thrive.  Broad beans are OK if sown in autumn.   Too dry for salads too as the leaves end up being tough but I'm planning to try rocket in the polytunnel once the tomatoes are done.  Love rocket.
Obxx - Vendée France

Deb P

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Re: Deserted!
« Reply #9 on: July 07, 2022, 14:39:45 »
Hailstones and tornadoes……I’m never moaning about Derbyshire weather again!
If it's not pouring with rain, I'm either in the garden or at the lottie! Probably still there in the rain as well TBH....🥴

http://www.littleoverlaneallotments.org.uk

Obelixx

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Re: Deserted!
« Reply #10 on: July 07, 2022, 14:55:51 »
Feel free Debs P.  We all sometimes need an outlet for weather angst.

I am home from hospital with a new knee, a pair of crutches, loads of meds and a  knee bender machine to add to the exercise and physio routine.   Now to hobble out and see what OH has been doing with my treasurers and the watering.   His meal plan for the coming week includes home-grown veg so he'd better have got it right.   
Obxx - Vendée France

Tulipa

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Re: Deserted!
« Reply #11 on: July 07, 2022, 21:08:56 »
Hope your knee is soon back to normal and makes gardening easier Obelixx and that your OH has done a good job!!

pumkinlover

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Re: Deserted!
« Reply #12 on: July 09, 2022, 10:24:06 »
Hope your knee is soon good to get back to your activities.

Obelixx

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Re: Deserted!
« Reply #13 on: July 09, 2022, 10:44:35 »
Thanks.  It's going really well so far, better than hoped.  I'm already just needing one crutch to get about so ot long before I can get back to messing about.
Obxx - Vendée France

picman

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Re: Deserted!
« Reply #14 on: July 10, 2022, 15:09:22 »
Ive been absent for a while , A4A would not let me sign in .. sorted now, any suggestions for a posts.. ?
« Last Edit: July 10, 2022, 15:12:59 by picman »

Obelixx

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Re: Deserted!
« Reply #15 on: July 10, 2022, 15:21:09 »
Good looking beans.  Which variety?
Obxx - Vendée France

cudsey

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Re: Deserted!
« Reply #16 on: July 10, 2022, 18:56:30 »
I do hope your knee recovers quickly and you can get back to your garden 
Barnsley S Yorks

Obelixx

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Re: Deserted!
« Reply #17 on: July 10, 2022, 20:03:05 »
It's doing fine thanks but way too hot for gardening even if I could.   38C expected tomorrow - in the shade - and 39 the days afterwards.   Staying indoors or in the shade with shutters down.
Obxx - Vendée France

picman

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Re: Deserted!
« Reply #18 on: July 11, 2022, 09:29:00 »
B Beans are Bunyards exhibition.. i managed to keep the black fly off then , with a very dilute washing up liquid spray..
Has been a reasonable harvest so far .
« Last Edit: July 11, 2022, 09:30:55 by picman »

pumkinlover

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Re: Deserted!
« Reply #19 on: July 11, 2022, 13:04:33 »
I pop in but not post much as we are spending a lot of time in our caravan and the internet connection is poor on my phone.

 

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