Gardening 2022

^^^ got fruit on all my maters now, pretty good result for early May

Jell! Do they fruit all summer or does the heat become a problem at some point? I can grow lettuces and peas right now but nothing else. Won't have tomatoes for MONTHS.

Theoretically they'll produce all summer and into the fall if I train and prune them right. This is the earliest I've ever had fruit set; I'll do some research to see how to maximize the yield or whether I should just start some more later. My usual problem is not being willing to go out into the sauna in July/Aug. I need to give them some food and calcium (nonfat dry milk) right now.

I'm presuming these are US replies!?

oh yeah, deep SE US

This is the year I start gardening, I promise myself.

Start with removing every weed in my garden, getting rid of the trees/plants I inherited buying this place two years ago, and then what? try out a mini veggie patch? First things first I guess.

Do you need to get rid of everything?

I've got a 1 metre by 2 metre raised bed that I grow veg in. It's not nearly big enough and I also have stuff in pots ... but it brings me an incredible amount of joy ... even the few minutes I nip outside to see how things are coming along, when I'm working from home.

I made a stupid amateur mistake and picked up some small tom and pepper plants a couple of and stuck them into grow bags. Duh, too early, even for California. They are alive but sulking. As is my parsley plant, but I've always found those fussy except for ones I grew from seed in situ. In positive news, the lemon tree continues to pump the fruits out like crazy, with zero input from me whatsoever!

Start with removing every weed in my garden, getting rid of the trees/plants I inherited buying this place two years ago, and then what?

i would start by just trying to conquer a manageable area that you'll be able to commit to maintaining on a regular basis. after you first clear weeds you will inevitably have further waves of them to deal with as they resprout from any roots you might've missed, and also as you clear the soil, you'll be bringing dormant weed seeds to the surface where they'll proceed to germinate. so unless you only have a fairly small space, i wouldn't try clearing everything at once because you'll have to keep having to weed it all just to stand still and it will probably be somewhat discouraging. what i would recommend doing is putting and inch or so of compost on the top of any areas you clear, and that will add nutrients and organic matter to your soil, and also help to suppress some of the next wave of weeds. while you're cultivating with one section though, you can just keep chopping down and pulling out any major weeds in other areas because that will weaken them and stop them spreading. better yet, you could cover those areas with e.g. thick layers of cardboard weighed down by bricks, and leave them like that for six months or so, and that would be a very easy way of killing off longterm weeds without very much effort.

I think the gambling on early planting is a fairly standard thing?!

(UK but) I transplant those "living herbs" pots of parsley that you get from supermarkets into the garden and they sometimes keep going but, yeah, often sulk.

x-post:

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/feb/26/alys-fowler-lasagne-gardening?msclkid=0a681362d0ac11ecbd0d7097ee76ade5

Went away for the weekend and pleased return home to discover an actual *cucumber* growing on the cucumber plant - currently a bit smaller than one that would be sold as a baby cucumber in Marks and Spencer. Not really sure why but have planted loads of varieties of courgette/squash and could do with them starting to fruit!

Mildly niche post but what size is best for harvesting cucumber (Telegraph) - pick while young or aim for something like you'd find in a supermarket?

guessing that if you keep harvesting young ones, then it'll keep fruiting, whereas if you try and get them to grow bigger, the plant might invest all its energy in that one fruit? also there's more risk of the cucumber rotting

I always enjoy Allan Jenkins' column in the Observer but this is also handy in a practical way:

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/jul/03/allan-jenkins-on-gardening-with-july-comes-a-whole-new-gardening-agenda

Just for my own amusement I'm keeping a tally of my tomato production this year -- 25 fruit, 237.2 oz so far. (3 plants)

Anyone visited Beth Chatto's garden in Essex and stayed nearby(ish)? Pondering a long weekend.

What's worth planting/propagating/doing now (UK)?

Oh no!

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/dec/23/we-have-gardened-together-for-12-years-but-its-time-for-me-to-sling-my-billhook

^ Going to have a column on Caught By The River, apparently.

Gosh. Was there really not a 2023 thread!

Anyway, has anyone been to the Gardening Museum or Horniman Museum in London? Worth travelling for (from Oxford)?

we used to live near the gardening museum, it was a fair while ago and i don't think we went to the actual museum more than once and I'm not a gardener (um so why am I here?) so can't really comment, the building/exhibition space was good and the cafe was posh :)

horniman is a nice little museum in a big park & gardens. stuffed animals and anthropological objects mostly, not on a par with the pitt rivers but what is?

Thanks Ledge.

Posh caff sounds a good thing.

The Horniman's lovely, especially when it's sunny. It's small but there's enough for 2-3 hours when you factor in the gardens and the cafe and the butterfly house (which is the highlight IMO). If you're in the area, you could also see the fake dinosaurs at Crystal Palace, which is only ten mins away on the bus.