Fruit and veg growing, how’s it going this year?

I haven't started yet as we still have frost some nights. I will plant strawberries in a basket at my back door, alongside parsley and lettuce. I use my little greenhouse for propagating flowers. I intend to get to the garden centre this week for beetroot, carrots and peas to try them in pots. If they are successful, then I'll branch out next year.

We don't have an allotment any more but in our garden we have planted strawberries, bush tomatoes and beetroot. Runner beans and lettuce will be next. We have a plum tree which hasn’t had much blossom this year, raspberries, rhubarb and a gooseberry bush.

Slow start of seed sowing, toms, cu, peppers, chilli, courgettes and beans germinated in the greenhouse. Carrots and beetroot sown in the raised bed where my few new potatoes have popped up. Three blueberry bushes are finished flowering and the elephant garlic looks good.

I have tomato seedlings and courgettes growing well in the greenhouse and cucumber seeds that I sowed 9 days ago are up.
I have runner beans growing well that need planting out and I will sow carrots and beetroot in modules today as well as salad leaves.
My strawberry plants are growing as are the fruit bushes and raspberries and my apple tree is smothered in blossom, beautiful.
The plum tree had 4 flowers, the pear tree has a few too (they were only planted a couple of years ago.
All in all it’s looking good ???

Same here Grandmabatty. I keep looking at the blossom on the fruit trees and willing it to slow down or there will be a heavy frost and there won’t be any fruit at all this year here. My coldframe is full to bursting with stuff ready to go out after the last frost.

My plum tree is only 3 or 4 years old and usually flowers sparsely and quite early, when I suspect there are too few pollinators around. This year it was laden with blossom and alive with bees and the fruits are already set. If only half of them survive I will have a good crop - although with gardening there’s no knowing what may yet happen.

It is still early here in Scotland. The seeds in the greenhouse are sprouting but I won't plant them out yet.
Tatties are in though and coming through and the spinach from last year is going great. I'm picking rhubarb too..
I have just been given 2 josterberries which I have planted.
Isn't it nice to be able to pop outside and gather herbs in the sunshine.

I havent even managed to get outside to my little pots this year. (And they're only outside my backdoor!)

I want to plant some potatoes that are sprouting but I haven't the energy.

My fruit bushes and trees are looking promising.

My tomatoes are doing OK, as are the beetroot (sown in modules this year after slugs/snails devoured them as they put their heads out of the soil last year) and the cucumbers.

My parsnips are a disaster. Only four have appeared in the whole row. The seed was well in date, so not sure what the problem was. I know people used to sow parsnips in February, but I've always been more successful sewing them in April, so I think I've still time to try again with fresh seed.

I might have to get some fresh courgette seeds, too. I only had three seeds left in the packet. I only want two plants anyway, but one hasn't germinated at all, and of the two that did, one couldn't shed its seed from the first leaves, and I accidentally beheaded it trying to remove it. That leaves one. If it thrives, I will make do with the one plant this year.

The rest of my seeds are either still in the packets, or still under the soil, having only recently been sown.

It's a good job I don't grow veg in my front garden - that has been scratched up by a foraging badger this week, on two consecutive nights!

Some potatoes are coming up. Radishes look promising as does spinach. We have had frost here, so a slow start.

Too early for beans yet here in Durham, but autumn sown onion sets are romping away and spring sown sets looking good. (onions are my most successful crop ) Sowed two lots of garlic in separate big tubs, one lot looking fine, the ones in the other tub, nada! I think they rotted.

Some nice healthy looking tomato plants doing well in the cold greenhouse. Leek and beetroot seedlings coming on. Peas sown in guttering in the greenhouse looking ready to plant out. Courgette seeds just coming through. Purple sprouting broccoli ready to prick out.

Debating whether or not to sow cabbage this year as the slugs always seem to get to it before I do...

The plum tree blossom is beginning to fall. No frosts while it was in full bloom so hoping to get some fruit this year. Apple blossom just appearing. Apples were very poor last year so fingers crossed for this year. I've a very old variety, Lord Derby, which is a dual purpose apple that ripens very late. Huge yellow fruit, much nicer than Bramleys...

I won't do much more now, just the beans.

I think the next stage is to work out how to keep the harvest over winter. I froze part-boiled (5 minutes) charlotte potatoes last year. They were marvellous for roasting in my air fryer. I freeze all my blueberries, 12 kg last year and I make a compote from strawberries and rhubarb or just strawberries, which I freeze in small pots. I bottled umpteen jars of gooseberries, which I am enjoying right now, I also freeze small pots of gooseberry sauce. Rhubarb and currents also bottle very well. I pick apples carefully and have a dedicated apple storage unit. I will make apple sauce with the blemished fruits

I don`t freeze my green beans, I have done, don`t like them frozen. I made bean pickle once, that could be an option. I did make bottled beans, in brine, one year, did not like them. Tomatoes are easy to preserve, tomato sauce as a base for bolognese, soup etc. Ratatouille with courgettes. Shallots are fantastic, easy to grow, harvest in june and dry very well through summer and keep until february

Carrots wrapped up in a t towel, in a poly bag, will remain crunchy until christmas. I am experimenting similar with beetroot. Leeks sliced, cleaned and frozen

I am waiting for some rain in order to water with slug nematodes. It has to happen soon though

I don`t have much space for veg, just the equvalent of 5 x 1msq beds and I need to rotate or I would grow parsnips. As it is I only have room for 1 sprout plant and 1 purple sprouting plant, obviously will underplant lettuces. I am having trouble, again, to get marktmore cucs to sprout properly, they are so weak to get going without a greenhouse. I have one and want one more and am trying a few more seeds. I have my one courgette, that will have to lurk amongst the flowers and apple trees

I’ve found dwarf green beans frozen whole are better than kidney beans for some reason, they keep the flavour better and don’t go that weird greyish colour that frozen kidney beans do. I freeze them whole, and use them in curries, casseroles etc. Carrots and parsnips keep for months if you partially bury them in sand in the garage or shed - I don’t bother because they are so cheap and I don’t think carrots are worth growing for me, as mine never come good, but my grandad always stored his in sand and they tasted fine for months.

We grow in containers. Potatoes are doing well, the beans are surviving and I think waiting for the warm weather. Carrots need thinning, a job for tomorrow. Lettuce will be following soon. We don't have the space to grow much but do enjoy what we can grow, enough for our needs in season with rarely anything over as we share excess amongst neighbours. Our small freezer can take very little. The family enjoy our potatoes in season - goodness knows why we grow them really as I don't eat potatoes, far too many for Mr C, just like the harvesting process I think, very satisfying.

frost last night, I am glad I covered my potatoes and seedlings

If plants get frosted, spray with cold water before the sun gets to them

Once the berries form on my blueberry plants do I need to net them to stop the birds eating them? It's my first year of growing them.

I have 9 blueberry plants and 6 are very large, in pots, 3 are only a few months old. Re birds and net, no, watch out for the first blackbird and that is the signal for picking to start. I go out every morning and evening and pick the berries as soon as they get large, (it happens suddenly) they do not need to be dark blue. I bring them indoors and put a plate on top. I do this each and every day and always dodge the blackbirds, which give up very quickly., I never net The berries ripen nicely indoors.

Watering is important, only with rain water. If not possible then use a dusting of sulphur powder on the soil. I feed with either water fom my comfrey plants or tomato feed in order to build up the flower buds for next year and help the plants while growing the berries. If in pots then be aware of watering, they need more than direct rain

grannyactivist A mild winter, In our part of the country, while we haven't had a freezing winter with widespread ice and snow, we have had a cold winter with an almost continous bitterly cold wind. I also feel the cold and the wind nearly froze me when I went out to do weed and tidy. I was also on holiday during that lovely warm weather over Easter

My greenhouse crops are doing well. I bought pepper, aubergine, lettuce and cucumber plants about six weeks ago.which I kept on the kitchen window sill and plantedout in the greenhouse 2 weeks ago, when I also planted potatoes and broad beans, but the big planting season starts today.

I pre germinate my parsnips indoors Oldnproud that seems to work better.

It's autumn here so not a lot in garden. Capsicums still going, I'll put in some caulis. Summer I do corn, capsicum, tomato, spring onions, passionfruit, Grapes, beans, peas (eat them raw), radish, courgette, strawberries, kumara.

Jaxjacky

I pre germinate my parsnips indoors Oldnproud that seems to work better.

That's a good idea. I already do it with my tomato seed, but hadn't thought of doing it with parsnip seeds because of the quantity required. However, as I still have some seed parsnip left, I think I will try that. If nothing else, it should show me if the seed is the problem or other factors.

Here in Cornwall, I have a polytunnel with a propagator with two beds and three raised beds outside. We live in a frost pocket so have to be careful when I plant out some things. Lost all my runner beans one year. One year lost one row to the deer too.

My supersized toms have germinated well then the snails got to them and ate half. Lots of plum toms ready to plant up.
Having my second attempt at sweet corn (minipop) and aubergines. Three varieties of lettuce and beetroot have germinated. Runner, french beans and sugar snap peas are ready to go!

Growing well outside is garlic (including elephant garlic) and shallots. I put out purple sprouting broccoli and cauliflower today. Both did really well last year. Have to keep them netted and still spray with weak washing up liquid to keep caterpillars off.

Strawberries are in the polytunnel and I picked the first one yesterday.

Fruit cage has blackcurrants (which do well year in, year out). Autumn raspberries and tayberries. I keep trying rhubarb but get very little. Don't know why, but fail with gooseberries too Lost three plants now.

I'll try that with my blueberries karmalady. I've got three varieties in pots. Two apple trees and two cherry plum trees - all yet to give me some fruit.

I've dug over a new area and will devote it to cut flowers.

I'd love to grow figs.

I’ve got some of my veg in but I’ve never had any luck with fruit so not bothering anymore.

Karmalady thank you. I will follow your advice. They are in 50cm pots and used the correct compost. I have a water butt so been using that water just for them. Luckily it rained yesterday evening and still raining now so my butt should be filling up.

I have a strawberry flower on my Toscana plant. I managed to save 2 over winter in a cold greenhouse. It was an experiment to see if I could.

They are in a large plastic raised planter on legs with a lid. And will stay there all year. I will insulate it in the winter.