Gardening 2022

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.