Grow your own 2013

My raised patch has been terrible this year. I think this winter I'm going to have to start digging in some compost. Garlic and Onions are a write off, tiny. Normally I have more spring onions than I can use and this year very few have come up.

Carrots seem to be doing ok and I'm going to get buried in cucumbers and tomatoes. Potatoes are about ready.
 
We seem to have courgette / marrow in everything at the moment...

My girlfriend's sister has an allotment, so after visiting last Sunday we bought home a huuuuuge marrow, raspberries, curly kale, broccoli, beans and beetroot (all traded for some our garlic).

Had some of our own potatoes, loads of courgettes (given some away) and a few tomatoes. Parsnips look promising too.

Our fig bush has a fair bit of fruit on but don't think it will ripen this year, so not sure what to do with it for the winter.
 
I have a decent sized grape vine on the back of my new house, is there any chance of the grapes being of usable size? Is there anything I can do to improve my chances?


 
topgun06 said:
So how is everything going?

I unearthed some nice looking potatoes yesterday. But my carrots were an embarrassment!
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My potatoes this year have been very good, carrots are slow. Garlic and Onions went straight into the recycling bin. I have no idea why they didn't take this year at all. My garlic never got going. Two years ago I had a bumper crop of huge bulbs. This year they didn't get bigger than a gobstobber and my onions didn't get bigger than a golf ball.

I think I'm going to big in lots of manure this year and get a soil test kit.
 
Pete1989 said:
I have a decent sized grape vine on the back of my new house, is there any chance of the grapes being of usable size? Is there anything I can do to improve my chances?
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You should remove 2/3 of the bunches and remove leaves around the remaining bunches to aid air flow to stop mildew forming for the best chance of a decent crop :)
 
Went blackberry picking yesterday. Spotted quite a few bushes whilst out running in Liverpool on Saturday morning so 5 of us went back.

Less than an hours work turned in 10kg of fruit :D Been to Sainsbury's this morning and cleaned up them out of jam sugar...
 
Tried some growing this year on our balcony (photo's from the start of last month):

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Planted 3 varieties of tomato, sweetcorn, leeks, carrots, peppers and my girlfriend gave me a chili plant. Unfortunately the carrots died off and the pepper plant was invaded by green flies, the tried to take the chili plant as well but I wasn't going to let them! I'll get some photo's up tomorrow of how their doing now. In short though, much taller.
 
dannyjo22 said:
My potatoes this year have been very good, carrots are slow. Garlic and Onions went straight into the recycling bin. I have no idea why they didn't take this year at all. My garlic never got going. Two years ago I had a bumper crop of huge bulbs. This year they didn't get bigger than a gobstobber and my onions didn't get bigger than a golf ball.

I think I'm going to big in lots of manure this year and get a soil test kit.
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Did you feed them at all during the growing season, with the right sort of feed? And were you watering them during the dry weather?
I use pelleted chicken manure for mine, raked into the soil before planting. Onions especially need watering in order to swell. They also both tend to put on bulk late into their growth so did you maybe harvest too early?
 
maccapacca said:
Just dug up my onions and potatoes, now have an empty bed, what can I plant out now?
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I always follow onions with winter veg and leave the potato bed clear until November time when garlic & overwintering onions will go in.

You could plant carrots & lettuce for a late crop, or some quick growing winter veg like some of the cabbages or swiss chard.
 
A lot of my tomatoes are now ripening, but only the smaller cherry type ones. The large (Money maker I think) are big but all green and the plant is starting to go moldy as per usual :rolleyes:.

One thing I'd be interested to know is why do supermarket tomatoes taste a lot tangier? All mine I have tried so far are quite sweet with very little tang. Anyone else notice the same, or am I doing something wrong?
 
Mark A said:
A lot of my tomatoes are now ripening, but only the smaller cherry type ones. The large (Money maker I think) are big but all green and the plant is starting to go moldy as per usual :rolleyes:.
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SAME!! Although mine have not quite got to the going mouldy stage yet. The cherry toms are coming on very nicely whereas my main tomatoes are just doing nothing!

I thought I was in for a decent crop this year since we have had some half decent sunny spells. But nope :(

Going to get my remaining shallots and carrots dug up and get some wintery stuff sown.
 
Cannot wait to get involved in this. Clearing a massive space at the bottom of my garden for Veg growing :) Currently my girlfriends dad grows veg and I have to say there is nothing quite like fresh veg :)
 
I am going to try the impossible, and grow an avocado tree, in England.

Not really looking to get fruit from the end of it, just want a plant.
 
Perfectly possible Raymond. When I was a kid my parents had an avocado plant they'd grown from the stone. It was in the house and was probably 4' or 5' tall, hard to judge as we left it behind when we moved south when I was 8 - it was taller than me though :)
 
Put my name down for the plot next to mine a couple of months ago and had a call this morning to say I can have it.

Completely overgrown, fence falling down and needs a lot of work. Bring it on :D
 
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