Gardening Resources & Tips

[Suffs]

A couple of years or more ago Monty Don on Gardeners World created a hot bed to grow melons … I think it was a particularly unkind summer and it wasn’t terribly successful. I’ll see if I can find anything on the site …

[Suffs]

https://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/g ... -part-one/

and

https://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/g ... -part-two/

and
https://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/g ... art-three/

and

https://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/g ... part-four/

[scullion]

i've downloaded the book that john first (the chap in the youtube vid) has written, converted it to a pdf and emailed it to my partner (and my kindle) to read 'after dark'.
from what i've seen, flicking through, it's quite comprehensive and gives a lot of information on the construction, planning calendar and planting guides etc.
i can email the pdf if you're interested.

[scullion]

i can watch the first of the monty's vids but the rest are denied - i'll hunt for them elsewhere.

[Suffs]

Oh that’s a PITA Scully … that’s probably when GW started the ‘Premium Content’ for subscribers.

[Sloe-Gin]

Been a pleasant 29 in the greenhouse. Sowed a few seeds; chillies (from last year's crop), herbs and lettuce. First sowing of parsley is through.

[herbidacious]

I just realized that I must have knocked the temperature dial on my propogator yesterday, while installing new grow lights. So my tender little seedlings (aubergines, chillis, peppers) endured 13C over night. I do hope they will be ok.
It really is getting a bit too late to bother resowing at this stage.
Nearly time to start sowing other things though (but also - cat logistics, energy levels for later on)
I have a few plants arriving this week, I think, plus some dahlias that will need starting off somewhere not to cold.

[herbidacious]

January sown veg were pricked out at lunch time, and I filled a large tray of 7cm pots, and left to soak up some water. Will sow seeds over the weekend. Tomorrow, I guess, looking at the forecast for Sunday, unless I do it in the lean to. (I could...)
Alas it turns out that Hamish is a nibbler - when it comes to pepper seedling leaves, at least. I stopped him before he could actually take a bite, thankfully as they are toxic for cats. Sigh. It does feel like most plants are toxic to cats! (Or every time I loook one up it seems to be!)

I also have some bare root strawberries to plant out this weekend, and some bare root echincea (Green Twister). I think I will pot the latter up. The strawberries will go in a raised bed... with the onions, I think. I think that will work...?!? I suppose it depends mainly on the spacing. Otherwise they are going to have to go in pots.
I have also been growing some alpine strawberries from seed.

[herbidacious]

I mananaged to plant out strawberries and a few other things before the rain became heavy, this morning.

I am looking through my tomato seeds and have selected some varieties, er 10, including two heritage seed libary types. I could be good and stick with those, but have some more. (I need to write reviews of each variety this year...0

What tomato varieties are other people sowing this year?

[Badger's Mate]

I always grow ‘Red Alert’, a bush variety, on the allotment. I also grow the beefsteak variety ‘Brandywine’ every year in the greenhouse. Last season I compared it to the improved variety ‘Brandy Boy’, which didn’t do as well for me. I will try them both again. Similarly I grow a cherry tom under glass - in recent years ‘Red Cherry’ (free seed from Gardener’s World mag) but last year also ‘Fox Cherry’ (free seed from the Heritage Seed Library). Same this year.

GW magazine provided seeds of ‘Sunbaby’ last month. I have grown those before and they are lovely. I will probably sow some of those too.

I will grow way too many plants but surplus ones will be put into charity plant sales.

[herbidacious]

Thanks, BM. I realize I don't have any cherry or beefsteak types on my list, so will investigate. I'd like to grow some yellow tomatoes so the Sunbaby would kill two birds with one stone. (I subscribe to GW so should have the seeds although they aren't in my tomato tin box!)
I had a lot of problems with blossom end rot last year which affected plums and beefsteak types. Not sure why. Probably badly set up Quadgrows. I should not let it put me off. I am definitely growing San Marzano.

I need to start thinking about a solution to Quadgrows toppling...! If my dad were alive, I'd ask him to construct me something big and heavy out of wood

[Badger's Mate]

I use AutoPots, which I have had for many years since seeing them at Eden. Our lovely NDN & holiday plant waterer moved away last year and I want to buy some new AutoPots to fully automate the greenhouse watering. They have developed somewhat; there are larger pots available and the valves are now made with larger tubing to reduce blockages.

[herbidacious]

I don't actually grow tomatoes in the greenhouse. I have tried it 3 years running and it's not very successful. I think my greenhouse is too small and probably doesn't get quite enough light (the trees in neighbours' gardens are growing...) Plus I am not very good at pruning my plants. (I am greedy for tomatoes and I really don't think that the crop is better for pruning - just less prolific.)

Quadgrow works well usually but I messed up the set up last year and some were leaking. (Either not on a sufficiently flat surface - I trialled growing them in a new spot) or I didn't tighten the valves enough). But it is less good with plum tomatoes, for some reason. The water all comes from below as it does with autopots, but relies on the wicking action of capillary matting going up through the soil.
The older design was better (fewer parts, leaking not possible) but not very stable (tendency for the whole set up to topple if not kept full... which they never are when I go away and ask someone else to look after the tomatoes. People seem very reluctant to fill the tanks for some reason! Either it takes too long, or they just don't belive that the system can work.)
They can be connected to water butts which I did do last year but they still fell over while I was away. This time the pots fell off the tanks. (I did use velcro which usually helps.)

[scullion]

today, i have sown some yellow cherry ones, (saved from seed first grown at an organic veg course i did some years ago),some 'buffalo horn' (given to me by the teacher of that course), some currant tomatoes (originally from garden organics probably a decade ago) and some 'roma' - saved from a tomato a couple of weeks back from lidl. they were really tasty - especially grilled.
i will be sowing some others (the blight resistant ones i mentioned on the 'wild' thread).

i, too, have a 'tomato box'. it contains packeted seeds, ones i've been given and grown from friends stashes and ones from tomatoes i've eaten that have a great flavour.

i'm hoping this year will be better - i've had really bad blight for the last couple of years - but then they are grown outside and cornwall can turn wet in the summer (and every other season, it seems!).

[herbidacious]

I always grow a few blight resistant ones. The Crimson Crush (cherry, blush, plum) etc series are pretty good. Mountain Magic and Losetto are too. I have run out of seed for the latter two. Not sure whether to restock.
I think I might try some Marglobe again. I have some Histon Cropper and Legend seeds too - both blight resistant.
But yes of course all the seed sellers will say they taste amazing...

I have also run out of Shimmer which is quite (late) blight resistant and worth growing (prolific, pretty but quite hard to tell when ripe, so easy to pick when not quite ready and think they are too acidic).

I will be growing a couple of San Marzano, Tigerella, Crimson Crush, Mortgage Lifter and a few new to me ones including Black Moon Hybrid and Heartbreakers Vita.
I am a bit worried about cats eating the leaves after Hamish's attempts to eat chilli leaves. All toxic to cats but not fatal I think unless eaten in largeish quantities.

[Badger's Mate]

I have grown plenty of other sorts in the past. A few years ago there was a big crop of ‘Roma’ on the plot, but it got an Imperial thumbs down from Mrs B. The pointy ones ‘Andine Cornue’ were tried after being featured and favourably reviewed by a Mr Montagu D from Herefordshire. I disagreed with his opinion. Gardener’s Delight were part of the scene for several years but I prefer other sorts. The yellow ones are often good; ‘Sungold’, ‘Sunbaby’, ‘Yellow Brandywine’ and ‘Yellow Pear’ have all done well. I first tried the last of those as seeds brought back from the States in the 80s. Recently the GW freebie was ‘Maskotka’, which I think was OK. I have tried another American variety from Real Seeds, forget the name but apparently very early. Not here it wasn’t. A friend at W*** gave me seeds of a currant variety courtesy of her (German) mum. They did alright but I hadn’t got the space then that I have now and they took up too much room for the yield. I’d happily grow them again this time on the plot. Some of the tumbling ones have been grown in containers pre allotment, but Mrs B prefers flowers.

ETA I got one of the dark ones from a plant swap a few years ago. ‘Indigo something or another’. It tasted a bit different but the texture was funny, slightly mushy.

[scullion]

It tasted a bit different but the texture was funny, slightly mushy.

yes, i've often thought that some of the 'black' varieties are lacking a bit of firmness in the flesh and were a bit disappointing flavour wise, too.

the flavour of the 'roma' definitely came out more when cooked than eaten raw.

[herbidacious]

I didn't particularly like Indigo Rose or Black Russian when I grew them, but wanted to give another dark-coloured one a go. I have to admit, while I think Tigerella do taste nice, I grow them partly for their appearance.

I have some Roma seeds - I grew some last year - but don't want to grow too many plum types. I also grew Maskotka last year. Can't remember what it was like.

I really must do proper taste comparisons and write them down. I was put off my stride last year by the suspicion that tomatoes were exacerbating my knee pain...

[slimpersoninside]

I've gone completely crazy and ordered 2 different peppermint plant's today. This is it for my gardening this year.

[Stokey Sue]

Will be interesting to see which you prefer Slimpersoninside

Herbi, when my sense of taste was very distorted I could eat ordinary red tomatoes as long as they were fully ripe, but they were disgusting if underripe. Black Russian and Tigerella retained the nasty flavour however ripe they were, I can’t draw any great conclusions from this, except that the flavour profile is distinctly different.