***Grow Your Own 2011***

Freecycle bless it, had a poster offering all the rhubarb crowns i could carry so mailed her and picked up 2 full carriers of crowns.

Duno how good they are but i planted one lot down my mums in a very large tub and i have yet to plant mine as just got home but im starvin so having my tea first then ill probs get em planted about 7pm.

Will post some pics later.

Cant wait till they establish and put out a ton of rhubarb. Some like to cook it which i like the odd pie of the stuff but as a kid i gew up eating it raw with a small cup of sugar to dip in and sometimes without so mmm lookin forward to that day when harvest comes. Tho its a bit late supposably to pick em (if they grow) by end of july. So probs will have to grow through till next year.

Oh and got a 6 pack of reduced jamie oliver pack of herbs from homebase. Suppose to be 1.50 but stupid cashier done the £2 sticker instead as was reduced to 2 then 1.50. :(

They aint too bad lookin hopefully a repot will bring em up trumps.
 
Heres one a pic of one of the crowns. Planted the rest this one is for my sister to try and grow.

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I might have to do some rhubarb soon, I love it!

Lovely day with my 2 year old today. Pottered round a garden center and put in the last of our tomato plants. 9 planted now.

Potted up some more Rocket, mixed salad leaves.

So far apart from the trickier stuff he has planted almost it all with a helping hand:

9 Tomato plants. Two cherry varieties and one plum.
6 bags of potatos, 3 different varieties.
Garlic
3 different onion varieties.
2 varieties of spring onion.
2 varieties of peas.
Carrots
Chives
Rosemary
2 varieties of mint.
Sage
Multiple types of rocket.
Spinach
Half a dozen types of salad leaf.
Leeks.

Everything from seed except the rosemary. This is the first time I have ever done any of this and have made quite a few mistakes that I won't repeat next year. Even if I only get one potato and a pea I have had immense fun with Joe doing this. A full day together outside today and we are learning together.

Made an almost tragic error whispering to Joe to turn the hose on his mother, he turned it on me instead and I slipped up running away and landed rather badly, karmas a bitch :D

Anyway some quick snaps...

Potatos getting a drink...



Garlic, onions and various salad leaves, rocket planted in stages.



Everything gets a good flooding, typically an hour later it rains!



Last of the tomato plants went into my last temp greenhouse. Unreal how quick they grow once in the growbags :)

 
What are the little yellow flowers in between the tomato plants?



Anyone else having trouble with alphids on their herbs? ive never had any trouble with them beore, but bought a couple of herbs from the garden centre and now have loads of them. They seem to love my corriander plant :(.

Tried giving the plant a squirt with soapy water and that hasn't worked.
 
They dont seem to be bothering my tom plants, or chillies. Just the herbs.

They're impossible to eradicate. I removed all the leaves that had them on, then gave the plant a blast under my hosepipe to shift any I might have missed. then a couple of days later it was full of them again :mad:.

I think in future I'll always start from seed, its just the ones from the garden centre affected.
 
Mark A said:
What are the little yellow flowers in between the tomato plants?
Click to expand...

Marigolds, I read a book my Mrs got me for Christmas on veggies that said the best way to protect your toms is with Marigolds. The smell makes bugs and caterpillars go to them instead of the tomato plants.

A guy at work swears by it as well. I can't claim the knowledge or whether it works, I just thought as a newb it was worth the £2 for all 3 growbags :D

Not sure on Alphids but I have a few white bugs on my carrots. I sprayed them today. I was hoping never to have to and nothing else has them on.
 
Planted out my outdoor cucumbers and last three squashes yesterday, in the drizzle. The ground is still bone-dry beneath the surface so they're all going in specially prepared planting holes for strategic watering. Helps save on water and keep the weeds down.

With aphids I tend to just squish then off with my fingers. You can kill scores of them easily like that.
 
Got a question for any tomato growers out there...

My tomato plants grown from seed are doing really well, they're about 1 1/2 feet tall now (it's a dwarf variety btw) and got loads of flowers on them which is lovely.

However, I want to pollinate the flowers but they aren't opening fully. The outer petals have opened, but the inners have remained closed so I can't get to the bits that need pollinating...

I figured they would open up a fter a few days but some of the flowers have started to die on me without having opened for polinating...

what can I do to get them to open, I'd be gutted if after all the love and care they've had and all the flowers, none opened and I got nothing from the plants...

Any help much appreciated
 
A thread revival :)

I am growing cucumbers, courgettes, tomatoes, spring onions, lettuce, carrots, strawberries, fennel, dwarf beans, potatoes, cayenne and jalapeno peppers, bell peppers and various herbs.

Everything is going fine although I did have a disaster with my first batch of strawberries. Already enjoyed my first cucumbers and should be harvesting the early potatoes in the next couple of weeks. Cant beat the taste of freshly dug new pots.


Will post some pics of my crops tomorrow.
 
valve90210 said:
Got a question for any tomato growers out there...

My tomato plants grown from seed are doing really well, they're about 1 1/2 feet tall now (it's a dwarf variety btw) and got loads of flowers on them which is lovely.

However, I want to pollinate the flowers but they aren't opening fully. The outer petals have opened, but the inners have remained closed so I can't get to the bits that need pollinating...

I figured they would open up a fter a few days but some of the flowers have started to die on me without having opened for polinating...

what can I do to get them to open, I'd be gutted if after all the love and care they've had and all the flowers, none opened and I got nothing from the plants...

Any help much appreciated
Click to expand...

You've probably researched this by now, but if not, rub the petals and stems, not the centre, with an electric toothbrush for a few mins a day. Replicates the buzz pollination technique normally produced by bumblebees.
 
Wow! Ripened tomatoes already. What's your secret? :p

Got a fair few big tomatoes growing, but they are not for ripening at all. Had the exact same problem last year as well. They all ended up getting tomato blight as i got fed up of taking them inside every time it rained.

This year they're in a greenhouse so shouldn't get blight, but I have had one or 2 go mouldy and drop off. Not quite sure what that's about :confused:. Might have something to do with some strawberry plants that have white mould on and its spreading?
 
Lifted my first spuds today. here they are in the salad tray. got about 5lbs from 2 bags, which is a pretty good result. Charlottes will be ready in the next couple of weeks.

These are Annabelles.

Photo0049-1.jpg
 
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