Fruit and Vegetables: Grow Your Own

Can you help me?

Stephani3 — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 12:04:16 GMT

Hi, My name is Stephanie and I'm currently writing my bachelor thesis on the usage of grow lights. In order to gain insight I have spoken to several persons on similar forums. I was getting alot of information and decided to make a tiny questonnaire. (By grow lights I mean any form of lighting used to help plants grow) I would really appreciate if you can help me out by filling it in. It will take no more than 1 minute of your time. It does not matter if you do not use grow lights, your response is still helpful. This is not being used for commercial purposes, just for my bachelor thesis. Here is the link to the survey: http://edu.surveygizmo.com/s3/1208298/Grow-lights-survey Your response is highly appreciated!! Thank you in advance.

rain water storage

jeanie — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 10:50:15 GMT

My local authority imposed a price on emptying garden waste bin and as I decided not to take up this option I was left with a redundant bin,so I decided to place it under an outbuilding roof in my garden with suitable rain water run off,but always keep lid on when no rain imminent. I use on my garden to save water. However if children or/and pets are of a concern, I strongly recommend you purchase a purpose-built water butt with lockable lid

Dwarf French Beans

Simon — Sun, 12 May 2013 13:15:04 GMT

I have grown a lot of dwarf french beans ("slenderette" variety) in modules and small pots. They are about six inches tall, with between two and five leaves - the largest leaves look full-size. Are they OK for planting out now? They have been hardened off and stay out all day now without ill effects. The site is a bit windy, but I am near the South Coast, so quite mild. On a related note, I am going to use the empty modules for some runner beans next, but I have run out of John Innes No 1, which is what I grew the french beans in. Am I right in assuming they will start off OK in JI No. 2, as they would presumably be OK planted direct in the soil?

cherry tree

adele — Fri, 12 Aug 2005 23:16:44 GMT

Hi I wonder if you can help me. For a laught I planted a cherry stone, by the next evening it was an inch tall, honestly I could not believe it. Now 2-3 weeks on it's over 2 foot now and has 8 leafs on it and more to come at the top, also it has long thin things growing at the top, which are wrapping around the sticks I've put in to support it. Another thing what i thinks funny is, the size of th bottom 4 leaves they're bigger than my hand between 7 inches to the biggest 9 inches??? So I'm asking for your help, what should I do now and how do i look after it, well really any info you've got about growing a cherry from seed. Yours thankful and puzzled Adele

Asparagus and apples

Swisschard — Wed, 08 May 2013 11:51:12 GMT

My first post to RHS... Just trying to get a snapshot of Asparagus growth about the place. The bed in our community kitchen garden in Wapping, London is in its seventh year. As regular as clockwork the first spears would appear on or about 16th April. This year two appeared last Saturday 4th May, not too much difference I hear you say, but as yet nothing else despite the glorious weather of the last few days. Has the awful winter weather done for them? What are your observations? And one more question, we have two apple trees on our south facing church wall both in their fifth year. I bought them to train as espalier. Turned out that both were partial tip-bearers and one a triploid (we added a third tree last year)... all in all fairly unsuitable for restricted growth. Anyway having come to terms with their limitations and having pruned them lightly as possible, this year as in previous years there is almost no blossom. What's happening with these trees? Will things improve with maturity? Does anyone have any solutions? Many thanks from St Patrick's Kitchen, Wapping.

Plum Tree

LesleyM — Mon, 13 May 2013 20:48:51 GMT

We have a plum tree that we planted around in 2009 - we had a fairly good crop in 2010 and 2011 as we knew to thin it out. We had no fruit at all in 2012 and thought this was strange given that the whole garden had been covered in thick packed frozen snow the previous years and the winter at the beginning of 2012 had been very mild. We thought it was maybe due to the heavy rains knocking the blossom from the tree as quickly as it appeared. As I write this we have an extremely strange looking tree this year with the leaves barely budding but some blossom appearing? As we are in the north of Scotland does anyone know if this is just due to the cold weather this year or something more sinister? I should mention that our daffodils have only recently made an appearance and the beech trees are still very pale and young looking for the time of year. The plum tree is in a sunny spot in the garden. Any help or advice please? I would normally just leave alone and see what happens next year but maybe I need to do something?

Greenhouse

GinaD — Wed, 08 May 2013 10:55:22 GMT

Hi I am new to the forum. I would like to grow some fruit and veg in my greenhouse. I have two large veg trugs in which to grow them. I have grown tomatoes now for three years but every year they get mosaic virus so I am growing outdoor tomatoes this year. I'd love some advice on what to grow in my greenhouse. I'd really like to try grapes but am I right in thinking the plant roots have to be potted in soil outside?

Minibel tomato plants.

Whitelaw87 — Mon, 13 May 2013 17:06:25 GMT

Hi, I have grown 5 minibel tomato plants on my windowsill, all 5 are around a foot high and they have small yellow flowers starting to open up, do they self pollinate or will I have to help them along? Also on 2 of the plants the bottom leaves have gone brown and crispy I think they are dead but the rest of the plants look ok just those bottom leaves, is this type of plant a perennial? Any advice and tips would be great!

Tomato Plants - Furry Fertilizer Issue

Scorpio721 — Sun, 12 May 2013 19:29:50 GMT

Hi All, I am fairly new to growing tomato plants (in a greenhouse). The way in which I have started is as follows: 1: Greenhouse disinfected with Jeyes Fluid. 2: Pots Cleaned with Soap and Water. 3: Into the Pots then went a mixture of Multipurpose compost, a hand full of sand and a hand full of Fruit & Veg Fertilizer Pellets - all mixed up! 4: The pots were then placed in greenhouse with bottoms buried (the pots have holes in) and watered. 5: The pots were allowed to settle whilst cane supports and netting were set up and secured before placing the tomato plants (already grown) in the pots. 6: Soil around the pots was then well watered but evenly. 7: Unwanted off-shoots were then plucked. The next few days were sunny and required almost no watering, however the following three to four days have been cool with rain (off & on) which has kept the soil damp and so I haven't watered them. There is however condensation on the glass inside the greenhouse which I am unsure is a problem, although I have been wiping the condensation and leaving the greenhouse window slightly jar for small periods of time to try and lift the condensation. Today, However i noticed some of the fertilizer pellets near the surface of the pots are becoming furry/hairy and I am unsure as whether this is normal or a problem? Any help would be gratefully appreciated! Thanks in advance. Scorpio721

EU- Plant Reproductive Material Law - Seeds to be made illegal unless registered!

miladdo — Mon, 13 May 2013 10:47:19 GMT

Please have a look at the link and add your voice to protest - http://www.realseeds.co.uk/seedlaw.html

I'm not sure if I'm posting the right place or not, please move this post to the best area.

To put it dramatically ,in the original proposal, all seed stock in Europe will be illegal, unless it is registered and controlled by the EU. The registration process, of course, will be too expensive for any normal gardener and most smaller seed stock businesses.

We growers should be made aware of this less than delightful propose piece of EU legislation. Although it has been watered down somewhat, changes may well be made at a later stage.

Although it has been amended - please do not be fooled the danger is far from over. The main changes mean that individual growers can save and share seed without registration and companies with less than ten employees can do the same. The danger is; all this can be amended at a later date, with no further consultation or appeal. If you can see the danger this bill raises - then please do something about it. You can find your local MEP here http://www.writetothem.com/

Thanks for reading.

Identification help please

Clematis — Wed, 08 May 2013 18:15:14 GMT

Several of these were growing in my greenhouse and I wondered if it was cabbage that I may have planted at some point last autumn and are only now growing or if it's something else entirely? I have potted them up today into larger pots and am wondering if I should put them outside or leave them in the greenhouse?

RHS Forums

Swisschard — Wed, 08 May 2013 13:18:16 GMT

Admin, I have just joined My Garden this morning... now I read that this Forum is going to close. As a newcomer I'm a little confused. Is My Garden closing? If so, when? I can only echo other subscribers and say what a shame. The Guardian has closed their allotment blog as well. Where else to find intelligent comment?

Jade Lady melon = pollination

les150 — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 18:23:30 GMT

Hi all We have just realised we are supposed to pollinate the melon plant! it's grown nicely but we were wondering why we had no melons! So, is it too late now? There are no flowers at the moment. And if so, will it keep until next year if we take it inside when the cold starts? Thanks in advance

Growing fruit and veg in a greenhouse

charliefrazzles — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 11:19:05 GMT

Hello I'm very new to gardening and I'm just about to inherit a greenhouse. Would love to grow fruit and veg like my grandad did. Please can anyone recommend what to grow in the greenhouse from July onwards? Many thanks!

Stopping Stocks

Paul — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 10:08:10 GMT

Can anyone tell me whether I should stop my Stocks or just leave them before transplanting - the plants are now about 6" high but this is the first time that I have grown them

flowering rhubarb

Helen Philip — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 12:33:35 GMT

i'd never thought of a rhubarb flowering until mine did last week. my plants are about 2/3 years old now but never flowered before. I wondered if anyone could tell how often rhubarbs flower and if the stalk can still be eaten or was there something i should have done to prevent flowering to just keep the the leaves coming? Thanks

plant which tastes like maple syrup

chiquita — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 21:40:37 GMT

I was listening to a prgramme on radio 4, a couple of months ago, which may have been the food programme, in which the interviewer visited a grower who was growing some previously common but now old forgotten herbs and plants in an urban garden/plot. One of the plants mentioned apparently tastes like maple syrup but is cheap and easy to grow in the UK. Unfortunately, I did not catch this plant's name. Did anyone else hear this programme or know which plant they may have been referring too, please?

Do I need a male or female kiwi plant?

Soilmonkey79 — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 12:35:52 GMT

Hi As a newbie I am looking for some advice on my Kiwi plant. It was a gift from my son some 4 years ago and I planted it as per instructions. Every year it grows fairly strong and then suddenly dies off. I was told recently that in order for it to fruit, I have to have a male and female plant. This is something I didn't realise this and I wonder now if this is the problem. The details on the label are Actinidia Deliciosa. Does anyone have any ideas, do I need another plant to go with it (don't know if this is male or female?) if so what do I need to look out for. Appreciate any advice.

Cherry Tree Trunk Splitting

JasonandCorrine — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 21:56:47 GMT

We are amateur gardeners and this is our 3rd growing season, when we got our house we were pleased to find out that we have lots of different fruit growing. We have a cherry tree around 15ft tall which we believe is a white cherry tree. It flowered and created fruit in the first year and last year it only flowered but we have noticed that what started as a small split in the bark on the trunk has now turned into a large section of the trunk and a branch has now split. It is starting to bud again but we are not sure if it has a disease. We have never pruned it.. We're hoping that someone may be able to offer some advice as we have pear and apple trees close by and don't want those to contract any disease that this may have. I have pictures that I can send if anyone requires.. Many thanks in advance http://i1331.photobucket.com/albums/w597/Jason_Tomes/image_zpsb4e0db44.jpg?t=1367145271

Asparagus

Pip — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 10:10:14 GMT

I have an asparagus bed which we planted 2 years ago there is no sign of growth this year so far, is anyone else experiencing the same delay? I hope it's just the current weather that's causing the delay!

Spraying apples

Tom93 — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 11:35:09 GMT

I am at college studying a foundation degree horticulture course and was just wondering if anyone could help me with my research project?

I have been supplied with a fine kaolin clay, much like the product 'surround', which is a pest, or insect, repellent. As part of my project I will be spraying this clay at a 5% solid to 95% water onto 12 apple trees and using another 12 trees as a control. I will then look at how much damage and intensity of pests are on the sprayed trees compared to the unsprayed to test whether the clay is an effective insect repellent.

However as this particular product has not been used before i am uncertain of a few things...

I can’t find anywhere a suitable spraying schedule, and I am unsure what, if any effect the clay will have on buds or flowers. Should I stop spraying during the flowering and then resume when the fruit begins to appear or continue spraying throughout the whole season from now-ish to when the apples are collected??

If anyone has any suggestions or can help in any way i would be very grateful!!!

Tomato seeds

Howard — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 12:41:07 GMT

Hi, First time here and quite new to growing veg. I have been trying to grow some tomato seeds in my electric propergator. Fist lot went fine, moneymaker variety. Bought some beef heart and some cherry seeds. But most of them dont germinate, and the few that have get to 1 inch and die. Should I not have them in the propergator, is it maybe too hot? Tried two lots now, both times 3 or4 beef seedlings stuck, no cherry, then all died, as if cooked! Should I just try to srike them in my greenhouse?

Howie

Root Trainers

Pip — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 16:10:17 GMT

I have used Root trainers to start my tomato seeds, do I need to pot them on before placing them in their final growing position or can I place them straight into the bed?

Planting a plum tree where another tree once stood

Jody — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 15:27:00 GMT

Hello and thanks in advance for any advice. I'm thinking of getting a plum tree to replace one of the trees currently in my garden.

1st question: I'm not sure what the current tree is - here's a picture if someone can please help to identify (I had no luck using online identification tools!)

2nd question: if I cut this down, and dig out as much root as possible (which will be from a 1metre radius before I have to unearth other plants to get at the root), am I ok to plant a 1yr old plum tree in it's place? Any advice welcome.

3rd question: My garden faces West, and the side of the tree that will look into my garden will face south and get sun in the afternoon. So I'm presuming that the tree would get enough sun to fruit, but any thoughts are again appreciated. I've never planted a tree or looked after a fruit tree before, which is why I'm asking.

It does pain me to remove a healthy tree to put in a young one, but the current tree is getting too big to chop and manage it's height from a step ladder and the neighbours complain it's blighting their sun light. I'm also short on space, living in London.

Any recomendatiosn for websites to buy plum trees, or general plum tree advice also welcome.

Thanks

Potatoes chitting since February and nowhere outside to plant them!

Helen Philip — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 12:37:52 GMT

After my garden was flooded with raw sewage, i'm just having my veg beds replaced this week and with everything else i have accumulated for various projects just realised that i have nowhere to put my potato growbags for probably another couple of weeks and my potatoes have been chitting since February! Will they still grow if i plant them in a fortnight or should i start again and if so what varieties would be best for planting now? Thanks.