Grow 2021-24

[Rover's returned]

My plums have been decimated by little brown maggot type things. Plums mature prematurely, look great but are full of maggots and brown eggs. Choker. Any ideas on how to avoid next year?

[Tenbury]

Sounds amazing, will have a go at that next year.
Where did you get them from Tenners?
And will you be keeping some of your harvested tomato seeds for next year?

No, mate, they're F1, so won't come true. I keep seed from the Black Russians, and if I ever find the right San Marzano for my garden, I'll keep that too. The Lizzano F1s I get from Premierseeds Direct (nice people, not too dear, and pretty good).
I buy mostly from MoreVeg, they always arrive, the seed is fresh, and they aren't trying to rip you off.

[V-M]

My plums have been decimated by little brown maggot type things.

I'd seek help with that one

[mushy]

No, mate, they're F1, so won't come true.

Many thanks for the reply Tenners but what does that actually mean please?

[stouffer]

Tenners,have you tried Plantworld seeds in Devon.They have a huge range of tomatoes,plus other veg that are not too common.

[Up the Junction]

I keep seed from the Black Russians, and if I ever find the right San Marzano for my garden, I'll keep that too.

I was gifted a couple of SM plants this year, they are my new favourite toms.

[Rocketron]

Many thanks for the reply Tenners but what does that actually mean please?

F1 seeds are artificial mutants created by man. Their seeds do not replicate what you have sown, but versions of the plants used to create the F1 seed.

[prophet:marginal]

Nice recipe Proph.
You need a lot of it so make friends with your local coffee shop.

The place where we go 'wild swimming' - see other thread - gives away coffee grounds in this little caff they've got.

I think they trap the moisture in the soil, by forming a bit of a crust around the surface of it. We've used it on potted plants, but not in beds, to date.

[Tenbury]

Yep, sort of. Basically different varieties are hand pollinated ( flower growers have been doing this for eons). In the same manner as you cross livestock, you're looking for something called 'hybrid vigour'.
So..... if seeds are F1 hybrids, you don't bother saving them. Having said all that, check out the prices @MoreVeg, you might not think it's worth saving any seed.

I like 'Plant World Seeds', but I've only used them for obscure alpine seeds (a secret obsession). I've actually been to their place, it's well worth a visit.

[mushy]

Thanks guys, I've seen seeds advertised as F1 before and just assumed they were just super seeds or something named after formula one.
I'm mostly happy in my ignorance.

[Tenbury]

I've jusr re read my explaination^^ and realised why my teaching 'career' lasted 2 years

'Swift' sweet corn, plants look a bit pathetic, but cobs seem really good, very sweet. How's anyone else's?

[Up the Junction]

'Swift' sweet corn, plants look a bit pathetic, but cobs seem really good, very sweet. How's anyone else's?

Growing three varieties this year and two of them are huge, Tenners (Bodacious not so) - plants up to 7-8 feet tall and many growing two cobs. I put it down to not having sown the seeds until May and having grown outside since they were 12-18 inches high.

Last year they weren't planted out until they were 4-5 feet tall (the beginning of June) having been sown in early April. I think that was probably too early.

[jevs]

Badgers have destroyed all 24 sweetcorn this week. First year the rats got them all, last year I got 2 cobs and this year the badgers had them,

On a brighter note, tomatoes have been super this year. I always grow a variety called Ilde. Give it a go next year, you really wont be disapointed.

[jevs]

Anyone grown green manure? It's something I really fancy doing on some of my beds

[WHU Independent]

Help. I planted all these seed thought they died, they started to grow eventually and grew really abundently! I repotted some, put others in big planting trays and they grew - really whispy like ferns. I've continued to water them - they are in the GH and have been at al times - and I put stakes next to them as they were really flimsy and delicate.

Now I've gone in the Gh today and I have got asparagus everywhere! Thin yet, over 6 inches tall, some straight, some a bit curly.

What do I do next? Put them outsde in the allotment and let them grow there? Do I buy bigger pots and repot them but keep them in the greenhouse?

I have absolutely no idea what to do

TYIA!

[Tenbury]

I would pot them on now(ish), you will see the ferns start to die off September/October, then cut them about an inch above the crown (you could put them outside, but I'd be concerned about the roots freezing in the pots) leave them in an unheated gh or frame, water very sparingly over winter. Put the pots outside next spring when (hopefully) they'll be larger.
. Next May/June, decide where your bed will be, and cover it with a good layer of cardboard /old carpet/etc. Leave this for 6 months while you collect a load of horse manure ( *try the transfer thread). November next year, take off the covering, spread out the mature, replace the covering.[Once the bed is planted you just want to hand weed it, so you're eliminating perrenial weed with all this covering up]
The following April (2024), you're going to be planting that bed up, and it's going to last you 20+ years, so all this faffing about, is well worth it.

[only1post]

My wife has just come in from the garden clutching 4 decent sized cucumbers.

She seems a bit too excited for my liking.

[prophet:marginal]

Ok, tree specialists, here's a question.

I have a quince tree. I only found out I had a quince tree because, when we moved in, we thought we had a pear, but it turned out (which I understand is routine), the pear part of it was grafted onto a quince. For the first 10-15 years, we had a few pears, but hardly what you'd call a crop and one year it just seemed to give up and that part of it died and we chopped it away.

So, the original quince part then seemed to get kicked into life. For 3-4 years (up until 2021), we had a nice smattering of blossom in the Spring, but this year we have our first quince. It's a mixture colour, almost completely yellow but with a green hue.

The question is whether, if I let the fruit ripen, can I do something with it, at the end of the season, that will give me a fighting chance of growing a new quince tree from that fruit? Or do the fruit and seeds need to be eaten by something to kick start its germination process?

[Tenbury]

My only experience of quinces was 12 or 13 yrs ago working in a client's garden. They seemed different from other top truit in so much as you let them ripen 'till they're really soft.
The very fact that they're used as rootstock for other top fruit suggests they germinate readily from seed (commercial advantages, etc) so maybe try some in different conditions from ripe fruit ( say a couple indoors with bottom heat, a couple on the window sill, and a couple in pots outside, all around next spring). Suggest a well draining medium, maybe JI No. 1,.
Really interesting to know how it turns out, if it works well, next stage.... pear grafting!

[jevs]

next stage.... pear grafting!

Bonsai???