Today's harvest, what joy.

[ina]

[ina]

[Roy Bham UK]

That is certainly a joy to behold well done, you peeps are making me yearn for a lottie by the day, Ina are those grapes in the punnet? They look similar to what I am attempting although mine are a million miles away from that stage, they are called Vitis Brant.

Roy

[Mrs Ava]

That is it Ina, I quit!  What a gorgeous harvest, and untouched by pesties.  All looks delish.....so....the pinky looking roots with white stems going up to the leaves....some sort of radish?  And Roy, those in the punnet are blueberries, and wow you are lucky having them so early Ina!  If I can keep the darn birds off mine, I will still be waiting a couple of weeks before they are ready to pick!  You are an inspiration Ina!

[ina]

Hi Roy. Not grapes, blueberries!

Who knows, maybe someday you will be able to have an allotment. If I couldn't have one anymore I think there would be a big hole in my life. I think I could say that the goodnes of the home grown veggies and fruit are almost secondary to the joy I get from our allotment. What I mean is that if I could be given all the stuff we harvest, I would still want to keep the lotty.

[Roy Bham UK]

Oops! I'm  :-[ embarrased I did say I was a novice when I knocked on the allotment gate ;D even tho I have been on this planet a long time, I know nutting :-X

I confess I have filled in a form on the internet inquiring about renting a lottie but I won't hold my breath as I believe they are like gold dust to get hold of. :(

Now where's my bucket and spade ;D

[tim]

What colours! Lucky you like beet, Ina.
Pulled the first orange ones yesterday - wife put them in the bottom oven - surprise guests arrived - this am, surprise!! = Tim

[Kerry]

fantastic! can taste those blueberries :P

[eileen]

WOW!! You do realise I'll be in Holland on Wednesday???!!! Sooooo is there's anything missing.  ;D ;D ;D

Eileen.

[aquilegia]

pathetic. utterly pathetic.

That is - my harvest in comparison to yours is pathetic, not your harvest is pathetic.

Three tiny beetroots. zero carrots (there are some currently the width of my little finger - and I have tiny fingers). quite a lot of tiny lettuces. that's it so far. :'(

[ina]

Thanks for all your nice comments.
There are two types of beetroots there, normal ones and choccia's which are white/red ringed when cut but cook up yellow-ish. I also grow white beetroots but they are not ready yet.
When I went up the the water tap to fill the cans, Mr. C. was washing the beets and carrots and had them all laid out like that on top of the hedge. So I just had to get the camera and take a picture, it looked so pretty with those bright colors.
The blueberry bushes are under nets at the moment, otherwise the birds will get them.

[GardnerJ]

All i can say is WOW!
what beautiful crops! you must be proud!
Jemma

[Jesse]

Ina, please tell me more about your blueberry bush. One of the things on my to-buy list is a blueberry bush so I am collecting as much info as possible at the moment before I buy. I would be interested in things like what ph soil do you have, what position do you have the bushes in (sunny?), what soil type, what variety and how many bushes (do they need more than one for pollination). How to you care for them, do you have to spray for pests and diseases, watering etc. They look delicious!  :P and you're obviously successful at growing them so hope you don't mind me asking!

[Moggle]

Those blueberries look divine Ina  :P :P :P :P
Well done and thanks for sharing.  :)

[ina]

Hi Jess,
Blueberries need acid soil.They like to be in half shade but ours do just fine in almost full sun. Some types need cross pollination but even the types that don't, I think will benefit from another one nearby. The soil should not be allowed to dry out.

This is now the third year since we bought the bush on the picture and every year there are more berries. We have 6 bushes now and some are with the large fruits and some with the medium size ones. After we bought them (they were a bit expensive) we dumped a half bag (25 liters) of what we call garden peat in the holes. Garden peat is dry, brown stuff that you can shake out of a bag and it is acidy. Not sure what the ph of our lottie is tho' but we were told it's slightly acid. Every year I work mulch in around the base and put a new, thick layer on top to keep it from drying out. When it's realy dry for a long time I may give them a good watering around the bushes and that's all. Oh, and nets when the berries start getting color!

I made some notes in by little lottie book: The first few years you don't do any pruning, after that you can cut the weak branches, low branches and some old branches out and in feb or march you can cut the fruit branches after 3-5 flower buds (why would that be?). I don't remember where I got this info but I'm sure you can find plenty on internet to help you along.

The jam is wonderful!!!!!

Yes gardener, I'm proud of the harvest (that's why the pictures hahaha).

[tim]

Get him to give you a pH meter for your birthday? One that does light & moisture as well! £14 or so. = Tim

[Jesse]

Ina, thanks for the info and the picture. The bush is smaller than I imagined it would be so that makes me happy, I will definitely have space for two. My soil is only slightly acid so I will take your advice and put garden peat into the holes before planting. May ask for your jam recipe next year, although don't think I will have anything to make jam with, my son loves fresh blueberries and could eat a whole punnet by himself given half a chance, do they make child resistant netting! Now all I have to do is wait until November, I believe that's the best time for planting. Thanks again  :)

[Moggle]

Jess, the kenmuir site has loads of free information sheets, including one on blueberries:http://www.kenmuir.co.uk

It's a PDF, so you will need Adobe Acrobat (which is free) You need to click on the 'ask ken' tab at the top, then the info sheets are in the first drop-down box on the page.

Tells you a couple of other ways to make your soil more acidic in addition to Ina's way.

[Jesse]

Thanks Moggle, I had read that already as Ken Muir is the place I am planning to buy my plants from. He does also mention using peat in the planting hole. Just hope I can get my soil well draining enough.