How Does Your Garden Grow?

[Onoff]

Up the pub briefly last night discussing what's growing and what's not. The landlady said I could take apples and pears from the trees growing against the pub wall and in the garden. One apple variety and two pear. The pears are not a bad size but rock hard at the moment. I brought one of each home to see if they'll ripen. I was thinking pear vodka or wine.

 

[ajlelectronics]

The blackberries crop at the workshop has been magnificent and there is another ready now. Yet at the marina, it is the first crop and they are very small. My sample of one suggests that as the marina plants have an abundance of water, that a drought is more conducive to a good crop.

Boatyard owner predicts a hard winter due to everything up there bearing fruit.

 

[Onoff]

The blackberries crop at the workshop has been magnificent and there is another ready now. Yet at the marina, it is the first crop and they are very small. My sample of one suggests that as the marina plants have an abundance of water, that a drought is more conducive to a good crop.

Boatyard owner predicts a hard winter due to everything up there bearing fruit.

With blackberries it always amazes me how the berries say either side of the same woodland path can taste so different, or from two different bramble patches in the garden.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

In what way the weather d'you think, too hot, too dry, not "just right"?

I think far too hot...a lot of mine bolted and produced wonderful green leaves....but no beet root.

Previous years have been bumper crops so this year is definitely an outliers.

I believe the leaves are edible but never tried them.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Plenty of other stuff doing well though so on balance it's been a good year.

 

[Onoff]

I want one!

 

[Greeves246]

I want one!

How Much? ( said in Yorkshire accent)

https://www.diy.com/departments/jml-rayzer-shovel-the-super-strong-cutting-chopping-sawing-shovel/5057693038785_BQ.prd?&&&&gclid=3533321844be1715b6e15ab833449a2e&gclsrc=3p.ds&msclkid=3533321844be1715b6e15ab833449a2e

 

[Onoff]

How Much? ( said in Yorkshire accent)

https://www.diy.com/departments/jml-rayzer-shovel-the-super-strong-cutting-chopping-sawing-shovel/5057693038785_BQ.prd?&&&&gclid=3533321844be1715b6e15ab833449a2e&gclsrc=3p.ds&msclkid=3533321844be1715b6e15ab833449a2e

That's why I won't be getting one...it has given me an idea for that bit of 3mm plate I've got though...

 

[Onoff]

Sorted!

 

[RaceDiagnostics]

First year

Good year for figs here. Was going to show you my plums but it's too hot.

View attachment 508435

For figs from this plant.

I just eat them.

Was considering making fig wine...

First time for fully matured figs from this plant.

 

[Greeves246]

That's why I won't be getting one...it has given me an idea for that bit of 3mm plate I've got though...

Looks similar and much cheaper

Roughneck Sharp Edge Round Shovel

This Roughneck® Round Shovel has a sharp serrated edge, ideal for digging in compacted ground, slicing through roots and opening bulk bags or bags of cement. Built to last, it is manufactured from heavy-duty, carbon steel with a corrosion-resistant,...

www.axminstertools.com

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

I've tried cheap spades...just gave me a bad back and ended up with holes which were more like craters.

This spade I really love...long handle (I'm tall)...and sharp so can cut out cubes of earth...ideal for allotment digging I find.

 

[Dapph2]

In what way the weather d'you think, too hot, too dry, not "just right"?

I've been pretty good keeping them watered. This is in the "salad barth". I planted radishes, lettuces and beetroot. The radishes did ok, (another batch gone in a couple of days ago), the lettuce though did absolutely nothing.

Too hot & dry . All crops do best when the growth medium is of a consistent moisture & temperature level , if you have quick draining soil work at using composted wheat straw in your composting heaps in the beds as a moisture retention vehicle .

Express Compost :-
Wheat or barley straw has to have the cellulose broken down so mix it in with your composting veg in a Dalek composter and after a week put a power washer into it for thirty seconds or so to help break things up and keep it wet and rotting . Repeat every four days After three or so weeks most of the bin will be useable moisture retaining compost vehicle .

Do remember that four bed cycle of sowing planting / in freshly enriched soil .

My beets grew exceedingly well in soil that was enriched four years ago . seeds sown in my bottomless tubes in late June last year , carefully ejected up out the tube when just over an inch high into a prepared precision hole so no root disturbance , veg bed site is a north facing wall that catches late afternoon sun . They were on micro misting spray heads 3 min twice a day once at 0700 and the other at 19.00 hrs , if it rained I still left them on as my soil less beds are very free draining but have a consistent moisture level .

Left them in over this last mild winter and harvested them when 3 to four inches in diameter just before the tops died off , many had run to seed but none of them were hard and woody . Suspect it was this late season sowing and slow north face growing that helped .

Getting the precision hole is easy for any size of round or square walled pot .
Make a hole for the container , put it in the hole , lightly press soil round the container dampen the soil if it's too dry to stay put . Give the container a wiggle to loosen the compaction ..... enough to extract the pot . Eject the plant and slip it in the precision hole & water it in well with a jug of water not a hose pipe .

For pots with bottoms , stand the pot in several inches of water for a couple of hours and the soil & plant will usually slide in to your open fingers with ease if you invert it and give it a little shake , ready for slipping it in the precision hole . Again water it in well .

 

[Dapph2]

I've tried cheap spades...just gave me a bad back and ended up with holes which were more like craters.

This spade I really love...long handle (I'm tall)...and sharp so can cut out cubes of earth...ideal for allotment digging I find.

You'd love my garden spade & fork .. they are a ladies spade & fork properly put on a true straight waisted pitch for shaft . Bulldog tools made them for me in 1982 after I got injured two years previously, The spade is now about 2.5 inches shorter and has pronounced rounded cutting edge that is more rounded on one side than the other .
The foprk is a true pitch fork on a strainght waisted shaft heats to make the square outer tine shape and then have an inside U welded in place to make it a very light fork .
I must have dug several acres of ground and loaded the mixer with many many cubic feet of concrete & mortar materials over the years ...

Injuries include left knee joint .... now artificial , spinal injury in three places and a whole left shoulder joint and mountings ( on the list for urgent surgery as of last Thursday ) .

I have also successfully put full straight waisted pitch fork shafts on a ladies Wilkinson sword stainless steel border spade and on one of their ladies border garden forks for my son in law who has a crooked thoracic spine and has difficulty bending . The technique of using them was strange at first as I was one handed for three years , but after a few more years it became second nature .