Gav836 Posted April 12, 2009 Share Posted April 12, 2009 There's already some goosegog bushes and raspberry canes in the garden along with a cooking apple tree so there will be some fruit too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tractorman810 Posted April 12, 2009 Share Posted April 12, 2009 mm apple tree i wonder where i could fit that into?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Ferguson Posted April 12, 2009 Share Posted April 12, 2009 There's already some goosegog bushes and raspberry canes in the garden along with a cooking apple tree so there will be some fruit too There will be no gosegogs if I get there before you Gavvers... I love the sharp little green beauties * - they make you face do this..... :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murray Posted April 12, 2009 Share Posted April 12, 2009 well i burried a £10 note a few week ago hoping to grow a money tree, nothing is up yet :'( :'( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gav836 Posted April 12, 2009 Share Posted April 12, 2009 There will be no gosegogs if I get there before you Gavvers... I love the sharp little green beauties * - they make you face do this..... :D You're welcome to them, I hate the things :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tractorman810 Posted April 12, 2009 Share Posted April 12, 2009 There will be no gosegogs if I get there before you Gavvers... I love the sharp little green beauties * - they make you face do this..... :D they are dam hard to come by unless you grow your own marky, hence our bush, not even the local pick your own does them any more :'( :'( :'( :'( didnt sell apparently Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powerrabbit Posted April 12, 2009 Share Posted April 12, 2009 Speaking of fruit, I have a loganberry thats gone a bit wild and last year it bore a good lot of fruit. Being a rather wet season I made it all into jam, 21 pounds of it and sold it through a local shop, it went so well it ran out in a week. Lesson there for anyone who can produce more than their own need, sell the surplus, you will make some serious money, believe me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Massey Boys Mum Posted April 12, 2009 Share Posted April 12, 2009 Hey I have only just discovered this topic! I am a grow your own freak - my peas and broad beans are in and all the beds are ready for planting. How about a FTF longest runner bean competition? Any takers? Any ideas for a prize? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Ferguson Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 Oooo Ooooo can I be the judge... can I... pwwwwwease.... can I.... And can I enter the longest runner bean comp too.... I can get some hooooge ones for Spitalsfield market tomorrow morning :D Right then... a prize.... how about a bag of carrots :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Massey Boys Mum Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 The whole point Marky is that you have to grow your own not get them from the Market! ... and you can't be the judge if you enter! And this is the standard expected: http://www.aberford.net/blog/2003_09_01_archive.html - (glasses optional but I bet they helped him in some mysterious way!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powerrabbit Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 If you want to grow long or large garden produce you have to have the right sort or varieties. For long runner beans you need a variety called Scarlet Runner. For a big potato grow Aaron Banner or Majestic, the only problem is that these varieties that grow large tend to be hollow in the middle if they grow too fast. And of course, it depends on your soil fertility as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Massey Boys Mum Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 Do you think there would be a compromise on flavour if you went for length? (No silly replies from FTF please this is a serious question!!!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakescot Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 there s a better one than scarlet runner PR...... ;)check out a few of the exhibition seed companies...........there you WILL find some good stuff .......might be a fun idea this......you know how they straighten them to show them? gently pop any small formed beans inside the pod,remember to be gentle so as no to burst the exterior pod.put a teatowel over the top of them and lay a heavy book on the top overnight. ssssshhhhh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unkelfergus Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 uh-oh.........!!!! :o Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Ferguson Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 Do you think there would be a compromise on flavour if you went for length? (No silly replies from FTF please this is a serious question!!!) :-X :-X - Ummm.... this is killing me... :-X :-X Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powerrabbit Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 You're almost there with straightening runners for showing. Just wet a tea towell and wring it out and lay flat. Lay the first bean about an inch from one end, fold the end over it and then roll over the bean and the towel keeping both tight holding the bean straight from both ends, lay in the next bean and roll over again and so on and just lay on the fridge shelf over night and hey presto. If your showing tomatoes, keep the tops on. To show potatoes, wash and smear them when dry with milk on a pastry brush and leave to dry, it gives them a natural 'varnish'. Onion setts and shallotts, don't skin them, leave an inch of dry top and fold the top down and tie around the neck with either thin sisal type string or raffia, trim the folded over end square below the string. Display shallotts in a wooden bowl on a bed of play sand symetrically and a little apart. I could go on for hours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Massey Boys Mum Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 Ok Powerrabbit you have won - nobody else stands a chance with this level of vegetable knowledge! Lets move on to compost. Any tips? And manure - what's on your spade? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakescot Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 excellent PR you know more than me , ive picked up a few wee tips over the years but only borrowed the NVS judging handbook, i don`t own one . i presume you know about mahogany sawdust for darkening onion set skins,talc to dry the bottoms etc............good stuff oh and no if you decide to have a competition for the longest bean, i`ll not have an entry for manure..... i presume you mean a feed for the plants?..........sheep sh*t in a hessian bag dumped into a barrel of water makes a good liquid feed, failing that comfrey leaves ,perhaps no quite up to miracle grow standards but a heap cheaper..keep me right PR if you have a better one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Massey Boys Mum Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 I am also a great fan of the comfrey leaf potion - smells worse than sh*t too! I dilute 1 to 10 for my tomatoes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robl12 Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 sheep sh*t in a hessian bag dumped into a barrel of water makes a good liquid feed Any sh1t in a water works well As for me I use pig Sh1t has been rotted down for several years now. Also have a pile of about 6 tons of cow manure that came out our shed last year which is well rotted now good amount has gone on the veg patch this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakescot Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 I am also a great fan of the comfrey leaf potion - smells worse than sh*t too! I dilute 1 to 10 for my tomatoes! yes or just dilute any midden run off , hard to get a consistent quality so ive found it sometimes a bit hit or miss......my only claim to fame if you like with tomatoes was pickin perfectly ripe and edible tomatoes on the 5th of december off a 10th truss.........the skins were very tough.......grown in a lean to home made of corrugated perspex and a wood frame . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powerrabbit Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 You can make brown eggs a little browner by staining with coffee. Manure. Well, depends what you're putting it on or feeding it to. Tomatoes don't like very much nitrogen as it makes them put on more green growth and less fruit. Sheep 'dags' are good all-round manure mixed with water and soaked in a butt or large container for 6 months. Pig dung is high in phosphates. If you want very long rooted carrotts and parsnips you have to dig the soil very deep and sift it very fine, an old oil drum or silage additive barrel is a good thing to grow these in. The art of producing good large exhibition garden produce is not to till things too tight together or to thickly. As for compost, most of it is rubbish really as now less and less peat based compost is available a lot of it is now composted wood bark and chips and you need to mix it with about a 1/3rd fine soil and coarse sand to give it a bit of 'weight' and better drainage as used 'neat will water-log and your plants will rot off. I think that's covered a bit more. I used to do a lot of veg showing at local shows, started when we used to do it for the Young Farmers section, Very often went away with several 1st prizes. It was the actual competing that gives the buzz. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakescot Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 yes im finding the compy you buy isnt what it used to be..bits of plastic i even got half an action man head in a bag last week. i loved the buzz too, my veg growing skills arent that good ......A 35 lb veg marrow was all i managed, did have 17 on one plant with three of them over 20lb ..............select seed off a showman of the long green trailing variety.I think if more of us got into growin our own food , it has to be a good thing i used to grow early spray chrysanths for the august to end september shows, took a year or two to get them worked out.i had 400 plants .the guy that worked with us when i left school grew chrysanths and he got me into them. i`m not boasting much!!!!!!!!!! i did get some silverware at local shows over the years,......... at one show i got 2 cups, for best exhibit of cut flowers and the most outstanding exhibit in the horticultural section for two years running at our wee local show.it wasnt all down to me, i just got lucky with a particularily good batch of plants i bought . i was then was able to get cuttings off them.........................i lost the lot following the bad car crash i was in back in 95........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powerrabbit Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 I've never tried it, never had the need but they say that you can grow huge marrows and pumpkins by placing a jar of sugar and water solution with a lid on, bore a hole in the lid of the jar and a small hole in the neck stem of the marrow or pumpkin when its big enough and insert a length of string, one end in the jar and the other in the stem to act as a wick, the shorter the better, to give it extra feed. I say you can't really beat growing them on a mound of dung with soil on the top to hold it and keep well watered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbo Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 I may not be much of a grower when it comes to giant show type veggies but I have always had a small plot in the garden. This is this years effort, mainly spuds and onions but they are both staring to show through. I only grow early spuds, firstly they are best straight from the ground and secondly they are the most expensive to buy. After they are lifted then I can then get some courgette plants into the same ground. Maincrops are in the ground too long for me and they are cheap enough in the shops by then as well The second picture is some peppers and chilli peppers that were started in the conservatory (I haven't got a greenhouse) and are now ready to go on the windowsill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.