Edible Gardening

@Thevictorian Thank you for your input , i dont have any pears but my neighbours either side have conventional pear trees. Thats well worth knowing about concorde at your end which i could probably get mail order as a young stepover ; i am tempted to try something different with a maiden and do...

I don't pinch tops or remove side shoots, but just eat what I get. Optimisation of the crops is important obviously if it's a livelyhood or if you have plans for preserving produce, but for a leisure gardener like me less fuss is the way to go. One year I tried to do a bit of a gourmet...

I have grown Strawbs for years in pots/containers and they were ok, this year I have moved some into the border in my greenhouse and we are struggling to eat them all, will not be growing them in pots again. I grow "Flamenco" a perpetual type, which here in North East Scotland do better under...

Ah- I see what you mean @JennyJB . I thought it was just brought inside because of the wind/storm warning, but you could be right! I've also grown toms in quite small pots without a problem, but only cherry/plum types and I nip them out when they only have a few trusses.Hopefully, @Bee will...

Yes - just pinch the top off just above a leaf - that'll force it to branch from the leaf nodes - with or without thorns.

If you have club root it will be in the soil, not on the plant when you plant it out. My Father always said, brassicas need good stiff ground. By that he meant lots of compost or manure for a previous crop, firm soil as well. I always plant deeply, almost up to the first set of leaves and...

Try going back on some episodes of Beechgrove on iplayer. They have grown "tatties" Potatoes in bags and other containers several times over the last 2or 3 years, just not this year it seems. Usually no more than 2-3seed per container depending upon size of container .

I have one fig developing on our brown Turkey, which is in a large pot on the patio. Apart from not fruiting heavily, it does seem pretty immune to drought and neglect. It occurs to me that I have a drying setting on my airfryer. That might be a possible option for preserving some of the glut...

Thanks all... I'll add them into my meal tonight. I absolutely love broad beans, so I'm glad they won't be wasted

@Butterfly6 Size control is exactly what i need from summer pruning the cordons. I am trying to keep them around 6’ tall ( but growing at roughly 45 degree angle) but my 5 cordon trees are in a narrow bed 15’ long , so they take up very little space . I also deliberately ran them south- north so...

Thankyou infradig. I do also have a patty pan, shooting star, tromboncino and round yellow 'summer holiday' varieties already growing. It is likely a good thing the honey bear is a winter squash because we can only eat, give away, pickle so much.

They may be forming hard seed traces from stress as you say, just as unpleasant as viable seeds. That may be built into the variety then unfortunately

Well the shallots are now pickled. Thought that we would end up with more jars but did get 5 big jars. Some of the "spring" onions in the tunnel are turning into small bulbs so will look at pulling them and pickling them as well.

Radishes require sulphur as a trace element to promote spicyness. Its a defence mechanism to ward off slugs etc. To grow hot, spicy radishes you need soil which has received animal manure in most preceding years,as a source of nitrate and sulphur. Adequate but not excessive water supply from a...

Thanks @waterbut You've all sadly confirmed what I thought I'd have to do - cut out some of the branches to improve air flow. With the amount of rain we regularly get here, I don't water it, but this spring was a bit different and probably caught me out.

Yes, any of the above.

@Selleri Around here they sell petrushka in the Polish shops

Nice email from Pomona Fruits received today confirming rootstock for all plums and gages is St Julien A with instructions for pruning my cordons attached.They're growing in what for twenty years was the southern edge of my vegetable patch - garden compost dug in every couple of years. Regime...

Hi All,I've also given watermelon a go this year, had most germinate in the Spring and gave a few plants away, keeping 4 in the greenhouse. Had plenty of tiny fruits start to develop but one seems to have taken off:I would say it is the size of a tennis ball now! No others seem to want to...

Now we wait and pray ....... Hutton BlightSpy