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Gardening

Vegetables yous say? We have a bit of space to grow those at the back.

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It's the wife's main hobby. I just do the donkey work. That photo was taken a few years ago but we now have Asparagus , Potatoes, Leeks, Strawberries, Green Beans of all varieties , Courgettes , Onions, Carrots, Parsnips and all manner of other things that just keep on growing.
 
Aethelist said:
It's the wife's main hobby. I just do the donkey work. That photo was taken a few years ago but we now have Asparagus , Potatoes, Leeks, Strawberries, Green Beans of all varieties , Courgettes , Onions, Carrots, Parsnips and all manner of other things that just keep on growing.
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Yes I'd quite like to grow asparagus -- they are perennial and very much nicer fresh from the garden.
 
Asparagus takes forever to establish. It's taken over 15 years but we now get a great crop every year. I really look forward to the spring. There's nothing better (well, apart from Peruvian white which is just about the best tasting thing on the planet)
 
Aethelist said:
we now have Asparagus , Potatoes, Leeks, Strawberries, Green Beans of all varieties , Courgettes , Onions, Carrots, Parsnips ....
Aethelist said:
Asparagus takes forever to establish.
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My garden pales into insignificance but somehow I grow all those things plus raspberries, peppers, tomatoes, brassica etc. Our asparagus, planted about 8 or 9 years ago, took 2 years to pick any and each successive year we harvest more and more. The wife lets it go to ferns for 6 months to retain the energy. We have too much to eat immediately so freeze some, and it freezes well (no blanching). I'm experimenting with brassica grown in the otherwise unused big greenhouse this winter; outside ones have been a bit hit 'n' miss.
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Rockmeister said:
Brassicas love firm ground. Big difference when you tread down the soil really hard before, and after planting.
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Yup; wherever I grow our broccoli/cabbages/kale/sprouts etc the soil is really well compacted to begin with and when they start to take a firm root & they've been thinned out as necessary; the soil gets compacted again

Some of the red sprouts I've grown this year I've had to stake they've grown that high!

We've had a few frosts here now, so they should be set very nicely; all brassicas love a bit of frost :D
 
A massive fight is going on in my garden , Lots of starlings fighting over the fat balls :confused:
Time to bring in the feeder me thinks
 
hifilover1979 said:
all brassicas love a bit of frost :D
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Didn't know that re all brassica plants; just sprouts. Unfortunately, moles push up the soil on occasion, esp. in the greenhouses, so I now have a plant perched on top of a molehill; I'll need to firm it down, Normally the moles avoid the plants, but not always, it seems.
 
Mike Reed said:
Didn't know that re all brassica plants; just sprouts. Unfortunately, moles push up the soil on occasion, esp. in the greenhouses, so I now have a plant perched on top of a molehill; I'll need to firm it down, Normally the moles avoid the plants, but not always, it seems.
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TBH all the brassica family, carrots/parsnips/swedes/turnips/beetroot etc; any earthy root veg and the greens get better and taste better after a frost; it sets their sweetness in etc

No issues with moles here thankfully due to the woods... Just larger 4 legged greens-eaters haha :D
 
hifilover1979 said:
TBH all the brassica family, carrots/parsnips/swedes/turnips/beetroot etc; any earthy root veg and the greens get better and taste better after a frost; it sets their sweetness in etc

No issues with moles here thankfully due to the woods... Just larger 4 legged greens-eaters haha :D
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I grow my sprouts in a raised bed which has far proved mole free (now I've gone and woken the mole gremlin, the little so and so's are everywhere else). They are around 1 meter high again this year (Sprouts, not Moles) and staked with solid bamboos. I net the whole bed in a frame and as a result usually get a really good crop of them starting about now and going through into Jan. I used to hate sprouts as a kid, but how anyone ever grew those shrivelled bitter things i have no idea. these are big, crunchy and sweet. Flippin lovely!
Here's the frame and net. Paid about £50 for it IIRC but the quality of the net and poles are excellent. Not a single catapillar in the last 3 seasons. Amazing.
Behind in the pic is the greenhouse where we grow Tomatoes, Sweet and hot peppers and flowers.
In this year it was Beans and courgette in the 'others' bed, Sprouts and Beetroot in Brassicas and Spuds and carrots at the back. Right at the rear, against the fence you can just see the tops of the Comfry plants. We cut these hard down each year and 'tank' them to make an excellent organic liquid feed. Maybe that's why the Sprouts are doing so well? But it is good.

I always put in 20 or 30 French marigolds. They bring the carnivorous insects like hoverflies which clean up the pests like black fly and Aphid amazingly well. No sprays here at all, and all the compost is home made organic to boot.

veg garden by John Dutfield, on Flickr
 
Amazing colour transformation. Once upon a time the future was orange but it sure is green now. It's a very restful colour too.
 
We are fortunate to have a disused railway line next to our garden. The bridge over this backs our garden. So all through the summer when I prune shrubs and trees the green branches get chucked under the bridge.

This morning I have been out with my Bosch chipper grinding through these branches. The resultant chippings are very popular with my wife to mulch the flowerbeds.

This and the compost heap make the garden very green in the eco sense as nothing is wasted.
 
I had a cock pheasant in the garden yesterday, in suburban Leeds. Very tame, hung around while I fed him, then took fright when I came back with more food and spoke to him. There aren't many around here, so I'm not sure where he was from or how he got lost.
 
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