Green and pleasant land...

[mrph]

In lieu of a proper post, another update-in-the-form-of-a-list. The gardening seems to be going pretty well. This is surprising me a little bit...

Currently, the fruit and vegetable collection in the garden itself consists of:

• Broad (fava) beans ('The Sutton')
• Radishes ('Jolly' and 'Cherry Belle')
• Garlic ('Solent Wight')
• Spring Onions ('North Holland Blood Red)
• Parsnip ('Tender and True')
• Hamburg Parsley
• Rhubarb ('Champagne')
• Gooseberry ('Hinnomaki Yellow)
• Quince ('Vranja')
• Asparagus ('Mary Washington')

A few more thngs will be added later in the year - sprouts, mizuba, kailan, borlotti beans, chicory etc. I've got quite a bit of space to play with (due to lack of lawn), so it's really a question of time and effort...

...and still in pots, waiting to be planted out once they're bigger and/or a bit more space has been cleared, we have:

• Kale ('Westland Winter')
• Tomatoes ("Black Krim")
• Strawberries ('Mara De Bois'  and 'Cambridge Late Pine')
• Cucumbers ('Marketmore')
• Jerusalem Artichokes ('Fuseau')

I did also attempt some aubergines, but they didn't wish to cooperate - I didn't get a single seedling from them. :-(

Comments

[redandfiery.livejournal.com]

I've found aubergines difficult to germinate, too. Maybe they need a heated propagator to get them going.

You don't mention courgettes - if you don't hate them, I'd recommend adding a couple of plants to your to-do list. The yellow varieties are especially nommy, and very productive.

I've spent all weekend in my garden, which had reverted to jungle over the last two wet summers when I slacked off. The third nearest the house is looking neat and tidy now, and I have set lots of bean seeds and veggies in the cold frame so they'll be ready to be planted out when I've tackled the rest of the garden.

[mrph.livejournal.com]

Mmm. I was considering courgettes - it's just a matter of space and time, I think...

[ladybirdintheuk.livejournal.com]

That looks like a good list to me, but no chillis?! If you have room you could try pumpkins too - we seeded ours in June last year and didn't plant them out till the end of july, so they can probably go in a place where you had something that crops early. The plants do grow to triffid-like proportions though, so you need room for them.

We're only doing 2 pumpkin plants this year (instead of the 6 last year - we were giving pumpkins out to half the kids in winchester ;) ) but also doing 2 red onion squashes, 2 warty hubbard sqashes and 2 butternut squases too.

Our aubergines came up really well, and have now been planted out, which I fear is a little early. We seeded them in peat pods, and planted them out into bigger pots when they were running out of room.

[dakiara.livejournal.com]

Even if you've no room, some of the smaller varieties of squash/pumpkin are suitable to be grown in pots and trained up walls and fences if you've not given that a go - they do take a lot of feeding though I have found!

Am curious - which chillies do you grow? :O) Grew around 80 chilli plants last year but only know one other person that has grown em!

[ladybirdintheuk.livejournal.com]

Last year we did whatever I bought as a small plant from homebase - small, green and not particularly hot, but nice. This year we got some peter pepper seeds from ebay (aparently they grow in the shape of willies!), and are giving them a try. We got them from the states though, so not sure how they will do in this climate.

[dakiara.livejournal.com]

Seen pictures of the Peter Pepper ones, apparently they have nice heat also for cooking with! As far as I have read they should grow fine over here under cover or indoors on a nice sunny windowsill.

Aji Limo are worth a try if you can get hold of some (though not in full sun) - a lovely citrus flavour to the chilli. We also found that Serrano grew wonderfully - I did these in 10 inch pots and got around three crops of around 40 chillies from each 5ft plant - they also stunt nicely though to a manageable size in 8 inch pots with pinching.

[mrph.livejournal.com]

There are now chillis. :)

Some 'apache' ones, which should be good for a pot - plus some scotch bonnets, as I got some seeds free. I've also got some jalapeno seeds, but I'm considering whether that might be overkill... :)

Meh. Everyone can grow aubergines except me, it seems. :)

[valkyriekaren.livejournal.com]

The recent downpours (and accompanying slug/snail attacks) appear to have done for all but one of my bean plants. Still time to plant more but not until I get back from Whitby.

[arachne.livejournal.com]

I am *so* far behind with my planting year, and it now doesn't make sense to do it 'til after whitby.

I do have my garlic in though.

[valkyriekaren.livejournal.com]

My garlic and potatoes are the only things I'm even vaguely confident are going to thrive!

[aldric.livejournal.com]

It is my considered opinion that the only way to make kale edible is to feed it to a cow and then eat the cow...

Everything else sounds good though :-)

[mimmimmim.livejournal.com]

Aubergines can be finicky - I don't have any problems with them nowadays, but then I do live a lot further south. They're very pretty plants.

[dakiara.livejournal.com]

Aubergines have all germinated fine here for me just on the windowsill indoors - it's getting them to produce actual aubergines that I have found to be a giant pain! O_o

Any advice on gooseberries? Going to try and get some this Autumn but don't really know much about them...

[mrph.livejournal.com]

Um, I got bare rootstock and planted it... and it's done surprisingly well.

Beware of pigeons, would be my main advice. They're sneaky and hungry. And possibly to keep a close eye on it - mine's growing gooseberries at an alarming rate, and some look like they'll be ready very soon indeed!