2023 Gardening Decisions

At this time of year when everything in the garden is quiet, thoughts turn to deciding what to grow next year. I’ve increased the space in the tunnel dedicated to strawberries which means there won’t be as much space for beans but it will be easier to separate them. There will still be space for…… Continue reading 2023 Gardening Decisions

Tomatoes starting to finish – 2022

Ok, so the tomatoes are still producing a reasonable quantity (2.5 kg today) but it’s obvious that it won’t be going on for much longer. Unusually it’s the beefsteak that are turning off first. Today we picked the last of the Aunt Rubies German Green and Black Krim. It’s a few weeks sooner than other…… Continue reading Tomatoes starting to finish – 2022

Effects of Dry Weather

The weather this week has been hot, dry and windy. As a result, whilst the plants in the greenhouses are doing well and the tomatoes are starting to ripen in quantity, all the outside plants are suffering and need copious amounts of water. Even so, the runner beans have lost all their flowers and no…… Continue reading Effects of Dry Weather

Cucumbers – plenty & pickling

This year I’ve grown a different variety of cucumber. Normally I grow ”Burpless Tasty Green” which are an outdoor variety and are usually quite successful in the greenhouse and outdoors. This year, however, I had run out of seed (I know, I should have checked). Anyway, I had to go to the local garden centre…… Continue reading Cucumbers – plenty & pickling

Growing Vegetables at Home – Growing for Value

With the increasing cost of food, many people are writing about “growing your own food”. In some instances, they describe situations which aren’t representative of the average family with an average garden. Two Acre walled Gardens, the ability to keep livestock (usually chickens), etc. or they are growing things that aren’t practical or useful (Asparagus,…… Continue reading Growing Vegetables at Home – Growing for Value

2022 – End of June Status

So here we are approaching the end of June (which means we’re past midsummer and on our way to Autumn) the garden and vegetables are beginning to be productive and I’m making the record of what we’re harvesting. The tomatoes are all growing well and have small fruit growing on them. I have a feeling…… Continue reading 2022 – End of June Status

Planting out Tomatoes – 2022

So, the plants have got to the stage where they’re large enough to plant out. I grow my tomatoes in a couple of small greenhouses (since my polytunnel failed last year) in “Morissons Flower Buckets (MFBs)”. (For those of you who don’t know about them, Morissons is a UK supermarket and one of the things…… Continue reading Planting out Tomatoes – 2022

Tomatoes Germinating -2022

The tomatoes I sowed in the middle of March are (mainly) germinating and growing reasonably well. Of the 29 different cultivars, three have so far failed to show any sign of growth (which shows how old some of the seeds are so I’m unlikely to get Amber Coloured, Carotina, or Kibits Ukranian this year. I’ve…… Continue reading Tomatoes Germinating -2022

Sowing Tomatoes – 2022

I selected the tomato seeds I planned to sow this year and found that many of them are quite old. Nonetheless, I’ve given them a whirl and hope that they will germinate. I’ve sown 29 different varieties (30 pots because I’ve grown two different lots of my Oleron Yellow because I still seem to have…… Continue reading Sowing Tomatoes – 2022