How does your garden grow? (Fruit & Veg)

I've never grown celeriac. Be interested to know how you get on with it Tripmeup. I've started harvesting Kohlrabi. Couldn't recommend it enough, it's very tasty indeed. Onions are nearly ready for harvest too. And my fennel is doing well. A lovely looking plant too. Corn has being doing poorly due to bad weather. Anyone getting decent size corn out in the open? Peas also doing very well, and just to remind new gardeners, you can still plant some peas, lettuces, radishes and kohlrabi and with a bit of luck, get a decent crop.
 
Its our first attempt at growing our own veg and we have not got a clue!! but maybe someone can advise, we planted tomatoes that were transplanted from pots indoors to large outdoor tubs, they are very sturdy and quite high but i noticed a flower appearing on them but no sign of tomotoes, can anyone advise?

Potatoes have started to flower - do we leave and when do we know they are ready to lift ?

We planted a lot from seed directly in the ground but have had no success, only lettuce has grown should we always start in pots and then transplant?

Sorry for all the questions but any advice would be greatly appreciated
 
Hi Glynner

Tomatoes are slow this year because of poor weather. The flowers will become tomatoes tho. Make sure they are supported with canes, and also feed them tomato feed once or twice a week.

What variety of potatoes are you growing? Normally, you leave potatoes until after they flower and then they die off. You can harvest then.

What seeds didn't grow for you? Some plants can be grown from seed and then transplanted, but not all plants will grow like this.
 
Thanks for your prompt reply I will feed tomatoes more reguraly as we have only been giving tomato feed fortnightly , we grew potatoes from rooster potatoes we had at home that had gone to seed and said we would give them a try we were just expermenting. We planted carrots, parsnips, red & white onions & rocket. We planted in a new raised bed with new topsoil but i asked the guy ( a gardner friend of ours ) who supplied it was there any fertliser in it and he said no we have fed whats there with tomato feed.

we planted in drills, but our dog got in on the bed and ran around it, so god knows what is what as it was seed we tried to tidy it up but i see some carrot foliage but not sure what is growing as we try to thin out stuff and try to distunguish what is weed and what is veg,

we are a distaster but we really enjoy it.

If we start again and just lift whats there can we plant anything for winter?
 
Okay Glynner, as a general rule, grow spuds from seed potatoes rather than shop-bought, as they are often treated. Roosters are a late variety, so let them die-off and then harvest. They should be fine!

Carrots needs fine light soil with some sand added (if soil is heavy). They cannot be transplanted. Just thin out. Parsnips can be started in a damp tray/kitchen towel, and then transplanted into the soil at roughty 10 -15 cm apart. Use a knife edge to handle, it sounds complicated, but it's a doddle.

Onions need well fertilised soil, but not containing fresh manure. Too late to plant now, but add manure/compost to onion bed and allow it to rot in over winter. You can plant spring onions in window boxes, and they'll do well. Rocket (I find) grows best in pots. Again fine soil/compost and away you go. For bigger onions grow from sets sold around Feb/March and plant around 10-15 cm apart.

You could try and plant some Swiss chard for greens over-winter. They manage the cold quite well, and are very tasty and good for you. Check the earlier posts for some more info on them.

Glad to hear you are enjoying it, gardening is great.

Here's a good website for more information.
 
As a bye the bye Glynner, you can double the dose on tomato feed, and that should give the plants a serious boost.
 
Thank you Horusd - i will take all your advice and get feeding, thanks so much for link . Its great to get info from the threads.
 


hi horusd,

Will certainly let you know how I get on with the celeriac when I harvest it....

Just a question back to you on your reply to glynners regrading onions/spring onions...
I had sown some from seed into topsoil that had been dug and that had farmyard manure added with soil then covered over this and then seed added..The first go produced little or nothing so I tried again in different area but with same approach...They are growing but seem quite slow to grow compared to other stuff..do you think the approach re the farmyrad manure had caused the first to fail and these to be slow..?
thanks
 

It's hard to say, a big problem with all seeds this year has been low soil temp. which led to poor or patchy germination and poor growth. Personally I grow spring onions in long tubs (around 20 ") which I leave on a windowsill for maximum light and heat. Big pots work as well. Onions prefer well rotted manure or compost. I have had good and consistent results over the years from doing this.

In onion beds (and carrots/parsnips) manure should be dug into the soil and mixed through it. If manure is smelly, it's not rotted enough is a good rule of thumb.

The best time to apply manure is in the late Autumn. If you have a warm windowsill you could still chance onions in pots. The key with onions is to get them to germinate. That's the most important thing, after that, they are fairly low maintainace.
 
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This is a repost from "Recomend Tradesmen and suppliers" section so hope (mods) it is ok to post again here as I thought most keen gardeners might not look in the above area so might ask here as well for advice.

Was looking at buying a polytunnel (Mayo area) and found two local suppliers.

These people here [broken link removed] have different types on their website and this crowd I found on adverts.ie http://www.adverts.ie/plants-pots/polytunnels/578434.
The first seem more expensive but seem to have or claim to have all the whistles and bells, the second though cheaper dont look as sturdy which is my biggest fear if it wewre to take off in a storm !!

Anyone with any experiences of poly tunnels that could advise would be gratefully received, should I go for an expensive model or one that might not look as neat and tidy but fits the bill, dont want to spoil the ship for an apeth of tar but would like to know perhaps what I should and should not look for before I part with around a thousand euro for a good sized tunnel.

Thanks in advance
 

Long way from above to now..!!

Harvested some carrots yesterday and the smell of them from just pullling them..beautiful

Also have plenty of turnips, cabbage, courgettes, radishes, beetroot and various salad leaves ready now...
Harvesting and eating, can't beat it..!!
 
Turnip, Spinach, Radish, Onion, Lettuce, Cabbage, Peas..

Check [broken link removed] out for more ideas
 
Thanks Ronan. I have a lot of spare space in the bed after pulling my potatoes. We tried 3 types of potatoe. Maris Pipers, planted in a sunny position. Best yield. Homeguard planted in a slightly shaded dry position, poor yield. But....a few potatoes that we bought in a supermarket and had seeded in the 10k bag produced a good yield, and these were free to plant.
Is anyone watching that RTE programme "How to create a garden" based in Fota. It really is an exercise in how NOT to do things. The presenter Peter is dreadful. Did you see him planting the Cyprus hedge a few programmes back and didn't even bother to fill the hole with soil properly. The other night he planted oversized plants in a window box that was not suitable.
Kitty the female presenter is far better.
 
Main crop onions are in and drying in the shed, good crop despite weather. BTW that website is very useful RonanC, got some ideas for planting form it. I have a problem with some Caulies and a blueish/greyish "mould" on the white flower. Anyone seen this before?
 
Still hrvesting away on my salads, carrotts, turnips, courgettes etc...

Still havent lifted the celeriac yet, another week or 2 I reckon...
Have just planted winter cauliflower, swiss chard ( due to recommendations here), and some leeks.....
Will plant some onions and garlic later on in late Autumn and maybe some beans....all going well..!
 
Looking out my window this morning and I still have a bed of Cosmos still flowering. The best display of flowers yet.
 
This very mild weather has everything confused..!!
My overwinter onions are gowing too quickly at this stage, so hope the first bad frost doesn't do for them...

I still haven't harvested my celeriac..will pull some next weekend to see what's there, although after doing some reading I dont think I looked after them too well....
 
Anyone with an update on this thread? I planted all my vegetable seeds outdoors and direct in to the ground on Monday before the rain and I am afraid that they will be washed away. Last year I planted my seeds indoors, this year I thought I would try a shortcut by planting direct in to the ground. Any thoughts?
 
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