What are you growing?

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SaraR

Full Member
Mar 25, 2017
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Ceredigion
You can never have enough herbs!
Suggest
CHIVES... brilliant in a potato salad
SAGE. .. deep fried sage leaves are an experience.
PARSLEY. ...good with almost everything.
ROSEMARY. ...a must for foccatia and roasts.
THYME.... stuffings and stews.
Then of course there are the medical benefits of many herbs.
Sage makes a good gargle for sore throats and has disinfectant properties as do many other herbs for instance.
Lavender has many uses and is for me a nessasary herb for anti moth satchets, and can be used in cooking too. Makes the place smell wonderful infused into water in a spray bottle spritzed around.
Herbs are a fascinating subject as well as a tasty addition to food.
And the bees love them too! ;)
 

Woody girl

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Mar 31, 2018
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And the bees love them too! ;)

That's true, and we all need to do our bit for the bees.
I realy should plant more flowers, I do have them out the front of the house, I could do with more in the back garden, but my veg are first priority in my restricted space.
Think I'll plant some nasturtium today. Best of both worlds then. Flowers and food!
Thanks for the nudge Sarah.

Just found some borage too. Perfect! The pots are now filled with compost and seeds.
Wish I'd thought about this sooner! Still they are on their way now.
 
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Woody girl

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Mar 31, 2018
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Started a hugel kultur bed this morning, hopefully for the butternut sqash .
It's in an old black plastic cold water tank I rescued years ago.
I've run out of compost now so will have to go buy a bag to finish topping it up to the top as it will settle over time.
I'm looking forward to seeing this planted up and producing lovely food!
 

SaraR

Full Member
Mar 25, 2017
1,638
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Ceredigion
That's true, and we all need to do our bit for the bees.
I realy should plant more flowers, I do have them out the front of the house, I could do with more in the back garden, but my veg are first priority in my restricted space.
Think I'll plant some nasturtium today. Best of both worlds then. Flowers and food!
Thanks for the nudge Sarah.

Just found some borage too. Perfect! The pots are now filled with compost and seeds.
Wish I'd thought about this sooner! Still they are on their way now.
I have a *huge* bag of borage seeds somewhere, but can I find it? Of course not!

ETA: You're amazing Woody girl! I just hit send on that and I suddenly remembered where it was! I've been looking since March :)
 

Woody girl

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Mar 31, 2018
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I have a *huge* bag of borage seeds somewhere, but can I find it? Of course not!

ETA: You're amazing Woody girl! I just hit send on that and I suddenly remembered where it was! I've been looking since March :)

Looks like a mutual nudge! :)
Glad you found them. Next year you will be swimming in borage honey. (And of course a pimms or two. )
 
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slowworm

Full Member
May 8, 2008
2,010
970
Devon
We're growing a similar array of stuff to others, a bit long to list everything. A few things of note though:

Early potatoes, Sharpe's Express, grown under a poly cloche have provided some good sized new spuds for the last few weeks.

We have been growing a mystery brassica that I'm sure is Rapini, AKA broccoli rabe. Although slightly bitter it produced flowering broccoli spikes in about 40 days in the cloche.

We've been picking our overwintering onions, they are not a great size but tend to do better than spring planted ones as we've been having very dry springs recently.

Our bamboos are also establishing well so next year we'll be hopefully eating our home grown bamboo shoots.

Comfrey plants are establishing well and the first cut of leaves is rotting down in a bucket of water to feed our tomato plants.
 
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Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
38,966
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S. Lanarkshire
Everyone's garden sounds like it's flourishing, and so productive :D

I've not long finished building climbing frames for my peas. My garden is at a woodland edge and there's not much of it that's free in good sunshine all day long. I get good crops in pots, but I need to site them just so. The peas are coming up in planters beside the back door and the beans in one at the greenhouse door.
I do manage both a good range of edible and medicinal herbs and the normal range of fruits, from blackcurrants, gooseberries, rasps, loganberries, strawberries and apples, to figs and rhubarb. I also grow quince bushes and the rugosa roses on the fence line for their huge hips.
I plant things to grow in succession. It works like this; comfrey is dying back but the Autumn fruiting rasps are coming up over them, the bluebells are wilting down and the blackcurrant is in full leaf above them now. The first pick of the rhubarb allows the wild strawberries to fruit and then they'll settle down under the growing leaves of the second crop. The chives are about to bloom, but the pignuts are just about by and are now setting seed. St. John's wort is coming up where the lungwort grew and bloomed, and now the chicory is shooting up and taking over where the aquilegias bloomed.
I have a tea plant that looks, finally, like it's going to grow to a decent size :) and my olive bush, it's never going to be a tree here, is absolutely covered in blossom and tiny wee fruits.

It's been a beautiful Spring and a lovely start to Summer. So long as it doesn't stay too dry, it'll be a marvellous year for fruits :D

M
 

Robson Valley

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Nov 24, 2014
9,959
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McBride, BC
I'm convinced that buying and collecting seed is an entirely distinct hobby from planting seeds.

Got a piece of ginger root in the kitchen with 2 x 6" green sprouts. When filled out, use like green onions
and dice the ginger flavored leaves.
 
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slowworm

Full Member
May 8, 2008
2,010
970
Devon
We get much better germination results with our own saved seed.

I might try growing gigner for the shoots, I've tried to grow it for the tuber but it doesn't seem to produce much. I do manage to get some usable tubers from turmeric though and fresh turmeric root is much better than dried - more scented.
 
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Woody girl

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Mar 31, 2018
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I've finished building the hugelkulture bed in the water tank.I shall be planting out the butternut sqash tonight along with some rainbow chard which is desperate to go in somewhere.
Managed to get 5 realy desperately sad looking tageties yesterday. They have perked up overnight in some water and don't look like the same plants anymore. They have gone in underneath the runner beans this morning.
My roses are comming out but I can't get to them because of the bubble dome and I've just noticed a thicket of nettles growing underneath them. That is going to be a delightfully job! I'll let them grow for now for the butterflies and cordage material later on, but they are so totaly in the wrong place to be able to stop them taking over. They will have to go eventualy.
The broad beans are in flower.
They are a different variety than normal, and have delightful purple flowers. No idea what variety they are but they seem a lot smaller than my usual ones. Actually that is a bonus as I have more space than I envisioned, and they are so pretty.
sweetcorn is growing nicely.
Gooseberries are getting a red blush so they are nearly ready.
I'm desperately hunting for more items to use as pots for the tomatoes.
All looks good and tidy in the beds. They have never been so weed free!
 
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bobnewboy

Native
Jul 2, 2014
1,296
849
West Somerset
Hi WG. We use old compost bags, bags for life etc for our tomato plants. Also this year we have invested in another 10 builder’s buckets from Wickes, each holding 13 litres of homemade compost. It seems a shame to make drainage holes in them, but at £1 each they’re cheaper than ‘proper’ plant pots, and much tougher, so they last. We now have 41 plants about 2 feet tall, with a few baby toms on a few of them :)
 
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Nice65

Brilliant!
Apr 16, 2009
6,488
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W.Sussex
I've been doing some research and some plants do not germinate well in hIgh temperatures. My garden is very hot. 25° in the shade today. 35 ° out of it! Wonder if that is the problem?

It could be, it’s been hot. I’m having to start the chard and beetroots again.
 

Woody girl

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My second sowing of beets are beginning to peep through but I'd say the germination rate is poor.
I water religiously every night and even check how deep the water has penetrated. By noon it's dry as a bone again to a depth of about an inch of soil.
 

Woody girl

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Mar 31, 2018
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So last night we finaly had some rain! The garden has loved it, and many things have shot up overnight, including the grass which was very sun scorched.
I can hardly believe such a noticeable change in the size of the veg in one night. I swear everything has put on at least an inch in height. You can now see the tiny beetroot seedlings which were struggling to germinate and grow. I can actually see them from the back door now instead of having to kneel by the bed and search for them.
I was beginning to think we were heading for a drought this summer.
 

punkrockcaveman

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Jan 28, 2017
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yorks
completely agree woody girl! My wee courgette plant has shot up over night and it's just what the strawbs have needed. I'll have to sling some pics up of them they have gone nuts.
 
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Woody girl

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Mar 31, 2018
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On my daily bimble someone had left a box full of excess plants for people to take by their gate.
I never normaly grow peppers or chilli but I have got one plant. It occurred to me that I have no idea what I've got.. pepper or chilli. Do I need more than one for decent pollination? Or can I get away with just the one plant? Hoe do I tell what I've got or will I just have to wait to see?
I hope it's a bell pepper as I love them but hate chilli!
 

punkrockcaveman

Full Member
Jan 28, 2017
1,457
1,514
yorks
A little garden update. The strawberries are coming on strong, I've built some netting over them as the birds smashed the few we had last year, looks like it's going to be a bumper crop! The potatoes are growing well too I've recovered them. Very thankful for the rain, just need some more sun now!


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Woody girl

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Mar 31, 2018
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Exmoor
My beans,peas, tomato and courgette are in flower. I've had my first rocket and lettuce with radishes. Picked my first Gooseberries and wild strawberrys.
Planted more kale and purple sprouting. Brussels are ready to plant this week.
Herbs are being dried ready for the winter, and the elderflower is out!!! Yaye! Elderflower syrup to be made.
 

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