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This week in your Kitchen Garden.

I had a lovely bunch of flowers on my strawberry plant. :)

But I had to nip them off because I have to make plants for next year . :(
 
I'm hoping to have flowers on my tomato plants soon :(
*waits expectantly*

However, I was able to pick enough salad leaves for my lunchtime sarnie today :)

Oh, and I have the first glimpse of green from direct sown stuff - radishes are sprouting and so are the shallots.
 
My three big tomato plants are flowering now and the strawberries are in bud - should flower by the weekend methinks.

However, I think my potatoes might be triffids - they appear to be growing an awful lot overnight. I'm worried..........
 
felixthecat said:
However, I think my potatoes might be triffids - they appear to be growing an awful lot overnight. I'm worried..........
Click to expand...

That's reminded me of a question I had.
I'm growing potatoes in one of those potato bag thingys and I know I have to keep topping it up with compost as they grow.
My questions is - do I just cover everything that appears above the surface or do I leave the top couple of leaves poking out the top? :confused:

ETA: I like the look of those Zenie - let us know how you get on
 
Those look interesting, zenie.

I'm not sure I could get away with it on our roof terrace, mind. I've already been instructed by my housemate that the catering-size mayonnaise tubs I'm using to grow butternut squashes and courgettes are too hideous to be allowed, unless they're painted :D
 
BoatieBird said:
My questions is - do I just cover everything that appears above the surface or do I leave the top couple of leaves poking out the top? :confused:
Click to expand...
Anything capable of photosynthesising - apart from the spuds themselves ;)

At the moment I realise I'm perplexed about potato plants covered snugly with black polythene ...

They're growing spuds at Beechgrove - BBC Scotland, repeated BBC1
 
BoatieBird said:
ETA: I like the look of those Zenie - let us know how you get on
Click to expand...

Will do! :)

fogbat said:
Those look interesting, zenie.

I'm not sure I could get away with it on our roof terrace, mind. I've already been instructed by my housemate that the catering-size mayonnaise tubs I'm using to grow butternut squashes and courgettes are too hideous to be allowed, unless they're painted :D
Click to expand...

'interesting' such a vague word :D You do need somewhere to hang them, so I'm hoping my balcony ceiling is strong enough. :oops:

LOL shove them in a big trough, no-one'll see them then, and the trough will hold the water in. ;)
 
zenie said:
'interesting' such a vague word :D You do need somewhere to hang them, so I'm hoping my balcony ceiling is strong enough. :oops:
Click to expand...
Good point. I meant that they're something I'd like to try making :cool:
LOL shove them in a big trough, no-one'll see them then, and the trough will hold the water in. ;)
Click to expand...

Happily, I was already planning on putting them on next-door's roof terrace. Out of sight, out of mind. It's an argument I'm happy to let her win :p
 
ok, so my table top sale of excess plants didn't quite go according to plan this weekend, so I've ended up planting loads of extra stuff in the garden, then potting up about 20 tomato plants in decent sized pots to go in the porch and along the drive... found some huge pots, and figured I'd try a 3 sisters type approach with them, and add in a mix of beans, tomato and sweetcorn seeing as I had way more than I could plant out.

It's interesting how many tomato plants I've actually managed to disperse around the edges of the garden without too much effort (eg behind the rhubarb / strawbs / lettuces etc), and corgette / pumpkins kinda starting underneath some bushes to grow outwards towards the sun, with some extra manure to make up for the nutrients the bush will have drawn from the ground.

if it all works, I may need to open a temporary greengrocers, if not, well I'm sure 30 or so tomato plants will provide enough for the house for a while. I may have to move on to the flower beds for the next batch of tomato plants I planted supposedly to sell at the next sale thing next month though, which may be more problematic:hmm:

eta - anyone in leeds able to offer a good home to some tomato plants, and probably some other stuff, feel free to take some off my hands;)
 
BoatieBird said:
That's reminded me of a question I had.
I'm growing potatoes in one of those potato bag thingys and I know I have to keep topping it up with compost as they grow.
My questions is - do I just cover everything that appears above the surface or do I leave the top couple of leaves poking out the top? :confused:

ETA: I like the look of those Zenie - let us know how you get on
Click to expand...
erm, you're supposed to be earthing it up to ensure any potatoes growing are covered, not the leaves aren't you? the leaves need to see the sun to do their job, and anyway will grow a couple of feet tall or more, which would need a lot of earthing up;)
 
fogbat said:
Good point. I meant that they're something I'd like to try making


Happily, I was already planning on putting them on next-door's roof terrace. Out of sight, out of mind. It's an argument I'm happy to let her win
Click to expand...

haha :D

I'm also quite keen to try out a vertical planting wall! :hmm: Might try a hanging basket first, don't run before you walk etc. :facepalm:

free spirit said:
ok, so my table top sale of excess plants didn't quite go according to plan this weekend, so I've ended up planting loads of extra stuff in the garden, then potting up about 20 tomato plants in decent sized pots to go in the porch and along the drive... found some huge pots, and figured I'd try a 3 sisters type approach with them, and add in a mix of beans, tomato and sweetcorn seeing as I had way more than I could plant out.

It's interesting how many tomato plants I've actually managed to disperse around the edges of the garden without too much effort (eg behind the rhubarb / strawbs / lettuces etc), and corgette / pumpkins kinda starting underneath some bushes to grow outwards towards the sun, with some extra manure to make up for the nutrients the bush will have drawn from the ground.

if it all works, I may need to open a temporary greengrocers, if not, well I'm sure 30 or so tomato plants will provide enough for the house for a while. I may have to move on to the flower beds for the next batch of tomato plants I planted supposedly to sell at the next sale thing next month though, which may be more problematic
Click to expand...

Shame you're not nearer mate!

Loads and loads and loads of sun blush/sun dried/oven dried/tomato chutneys in your house this year then. :cool::D
 
I'm already well into the flower beds! Sprouts, beetroot and dwarf beans all in there!

I reckon you can pretty much never have too many tomatoes anyway (oh for your problem! :facepalm: :( :D )! What you can't eat fresh/give away can always be dried and made into chutneys and stuff! :cool:
 
I imagine that by the autumn, my colleagues and friends will all be thoroughly sick of courgettes, peppers, and chillies :D
 
sheothebudworths said:
I'm already well into the flower beds! Sprouts, beetroot and dwarf beans all in there!

I reckon you can pretty much never have too many tomatoes anyway (oh for your problem! :( :D )! What you can't eat fresh/give away can always be dried and made into chutneys and stuff! :cool:
Click to expand...
my thinking is that if I actually manage to entirely fill every bit of available space, then I'm going to go off doing some guerilla gardening on the local fields... unless I can offload them on the neighbours or something:hmm:


*lightbulb*
I've been helping a mate do up a house... which has lots of tubs full of weeds in it's sun trap of a back yard... this is now going to be my tomato factory until he manages to flog it:cool:
 
sheothebudworths said:
Excellent plans, fs! :cool:
Click to expand...
only thing is, that I counted nie on 50 tomato plants in the second tray, which added to those I've just planted out / potted up would give me something like 70 tomato plants. :eek:

I'm no expert on such matters, but I get the feeling I'd be struggling to eat the combined produce from 70 tomato plants even if I had the time to harvest them all regularly:hmm:

I suspect there may be some threads appearing towards in a few weeks time asking for recipe suggestions for tomato's, followed at the end of the summer by queries about whether it's normal for you skin to turn this shade of red if it's not sunburnt...
 
free spirit said:
erm, you're supposed to be earthing it up to ensure any potatoes growing are covered, not the leaves aren't you? the leaves need to see the sun to do their job, and anyway will grow a couple of feet tall or more, which would need a lot of earthing up;)
Click to expand...

Not if you're growing them in tubs or potato bags - its a bit different to growing them in the ground, when you'rs absolutely right about the earthing up. In containers, you start them in about 3" of soil/compost and cover them up each time they show their little green leafy heads, until the container is full. Then you just let them be.
 
felixthecat said:
Not if you're growing them in tubs or potato bags - its a bit different to growing them in the ground, when you'rs absolutely right about the earthing up. In containers, you start them in about 3" of soil/compost and cover them up each time they show their little green leafy heads, until the container is full. Then you just let them be.
Click to expand...

That's great felix - just what I needed to know!
and just in time too as I noticed some green shoots poking through this morning.
 
BoatieBird said:
That's great felix - just what I needed to know!
and just in time too as I noticed some green shoots poking through this morning.
Click to expand...

Ah, its not that urgent! Tbh it doesn't really matter if you cover them completely or not, as long as most of the shoot is. It just creates a nice long stem so more potatoes! Mine are now at the top of the pots, and the ones in the ground are about 6" high - almost time to start earthing up those.

Everything is growing really well.....so far:hmm:. I thought my beetroot weren't going to do anything, but this morning when I had a good look there's lots of little shoots - hooray!!

I think I'll plant the courgettes out this weekend before they crawl out of the greenhouse and plant themselves.
 
felixthecat said:
Not if you're growing them in tubs or potato bags - its a bit different to growing them in the ground, when you'rs absolutely right about the earthing up. In containers, you start them in about 3" of soil/compost and cover them up each time they show their little green leafy heads, until the container is full. Then you just let them be.
Click to expand...
oh, ok, I shall mark that down as my thing that I have learnt for the day then... ta:cool:
 
Did anyone see the Gardener's World where Tony Buckland showed how to neutralise the static charge so the taproot doesn't get attracted to the side of the hole while you're pricking things out ?

Either that, or remember which programme it was ?
 
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