God I love growing our own

[Podilia]

So far I saw few bigger than a car wheel..

I see banana trees? Really?

 

[Pembroke]

We seem to have a small crop of walnuts. Last year there were only about a dozen and the squirrels got to them first. Perhaps this year we might actually get some for ourselves.

James

Roast squirrel stuffed with walnuts, yummy.

 

[Goran]

I see banana trees? Really?

It's not problem to grow it, it's problem to get ripe bananas. These are with small fruits. Will see how fast these climate changes will go, maybe it will be also solved..

 

[Bryang]

Anybody had any rain? We are gagging for it here. The ground is rock hard again

Last nights rain filled a 1,000 litre IBC tank for me last night.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Rain? It's rained practically every day, some of the time, for eight weeks

 

[enrico]

Rain? It's rained practically every day, some of the time, for eight weeks

our ground is dry and cracked. We have had just enough to keep the grass green.

 

[Midget Gem]

Anybody had any rain? We are gagging for it here. The ground is rock hard again

This has been our summer since mid July and it doesn't look like it's going to improve any time soon

 

[JamezF]

This has been our summer since mid July and it doesn't look like it's going to improve any time soon

Yes it will... As soon as the school Summer holidays end the weather will go back to being lovely.

James

 

[Podilia]

It's not problem to grow it, it's problem to get ripe bananas. These are with small fruits. Will see how fast these climate changes will go, maybe it will be also solved..

I also try something unusual. I've started from a citrus tree. Initially that tree, the unknown wild variety from a seed, was in a 30 litres plastic barrel. The barell began to fall into pieces after several seasons when I moved it to the backyard in spring and back into the house in autumn. I think the conditions were harmful to that plastic. However the tree was growing well until it filled up the barrel with roots. I've learned citrus trees in pots always like free space. So the tree dropped leaves during the winter 22. In March it was relocated (with big efforts) to the backyard. Early spring night frost added new suffering to it. It was a bare stick with dry branches. I decided to do the experiment. In youtube I watched a video of a guy from southern England growing citrus trees outdoor. Sure his winter is milder than mine.

During the summer 22 the tree resurrected in the ground. Looks like it's hardy thing but with long thorns. A few years ago I made grafting of some lemon and orange. Grafting also survived. In autumn I made a shelter similar to a small greenhouse with insulation from the north side. I had an idea to put an electric heater there but the situation with electricity was unpredictable. Sometimes we had electricity only two hours per day. I took a metal 5 litres barrel as a heater with hot water. Every evening I put the barrel inside. And my friend overwintered very well. No leaves fallen, only some autumn vegetation was damaged by frost. The lowest temperature was -16 a couple of nights. The drops on the walls inside sometimes were frozen but the water in the barrel wasn't.
So this is the second summer. Now it is 1,5 meter high. It has decided to bloom now. This is the grafted lemon branch. Hope to get some fruits. People say lemon fruits can be on a tree for a year.

 

[JamezF]

I was wandering over to the veggie plot this afternoon and saw this strolling across the drive:

I'm fairly sure it's an Elephant hawk-moth caterpillar. It was huge! I hope it's not going to climb any trees. I don't want them falling on the house.

James

 

[Sutty]

Looks like an elephant hawk moth! I hope you put it somewhere safe.
Some hawk moths will enter beehives unchallenged, but I'd be happy to see them.

 

[enrico]

Looks like an elephant hawk moth! I hope you put it somewhere safe.
Some hawk moths will enter beehives unchallenged, but I'd be happy to see them.

Try picking one up, they rear that big fat head, really makes you jump, coincidentally I found one yesterday

 

[JamezF]

It seemed to know where it wanted to be going, so once it was off the drive I left it to get on by itself. I've never seen one before that I can recall. The actual moth looks very pretty judging by online photos. The caterpillar looks like it could have your leg off though!

James

 

[Sutty]

The only time I've seen the moth was sadly in the mouth of my tom cat some years ago. He let it go though & it had 2 small punctures in it's body - I put it outside & hoped for the best.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

had a few in the greenhouse a few years ago - lurid pink beauties. Don't seem to have kept any photos though

 

[pargyle]

Blasted tomato blight has reared its ugly head. Noticed a couple of brown spots at the weekend but no time to attend to it. It's taken hold very quickly - Stripped all the affected areas today and disposed of it - lost some fruit but with the warm weather now for a few days I'm hopeful I won't lose the lot. Some plants not affected but about half the cherry toms and most of the Roma had signs. The Roma patches are on the main stems so there's not much I can do with them and I suspect my pasta sauce ambitions are blighted again this year. Pity as there's a lovely crop of good sized fruits on the plants but nowhere near ripe - I think they are doomed. Some on the Moneymaker - big crop on those all still green. So annoying.

So much effort to get to this stage and then have thiis come along. I'd decided not to grow toms again this year having lost the lot season before last season and most of it the previous year and then I succumbed - if I lose this lot that's an end to it as far as Tomatoes are concerned.

 

[Erichalfbee]

That's hugely unlucky. I have processed kilos of mediterranean veg for the freezer already. Even the peppers are coming on stream in time. The Polish Linguisa, after a really shaky start, have done well and the new Ananas Noire that I tried are splendid. The Sagitta spuds in buckets have been brilliant, except one whole container which was rotten...never seen that: big spuds but every one stinky! One other had a mouse nest in it with a few nibbled.
The rats in the poly tunnel have disappeared so the rest of the tomatoes are safe. We have tons of Sungold and I'm even processing some of those into puree.
Happy days

 

[rossbyjove]

I was wandering over to the veggie plot this afternoon and saw this strolling across the drive:

I'm fairly sure it's an Elephant hawk-moth caterpillar. It was huge! I hope it's not going to climb any trees. I don't want them falling on the house.

James

We found one in the garden couple of years ago.
The missus got some leaf mold and bits and pieces put in some fuchia leaves (they love it) and it pupated , over wintered in the shed. In the spring it hatched out and off it went. They do huge craps that look like something one would crumble into a king size rizla.
Beautiful moth.

 

[JamezF]

The weather feels like it's ideal for the spread of blight to outdoor plants at the moment, especially after the storm that's just passed through. The wind can carry it for miles. After last year I decided not to grow maincrop potatoes any more because they always seem to get it -- I just can't get them to the end of their growing season before the conditions turn ideal for it to spread, and it seems to spread like wildfire once it gets going. Fortunately Charlotte potatoes seem to make fantastic chips And actually it works out nicely that the first and second earlies are out of the ground in time to get winter brassicas into the same space after lifting the potatoes.

By comparison, inside the polytunnel and Frankenstein's Greenhouse the tomatoes seem to be doing fine, presumably because it's much harder for the wind-borne blight spores to get to them. I'd love to be able to grow some tomatoes outdoors, especially perhaps some cherry varieties in hanging baskets, but I just don't see it as worth the effort if the plants aren't likely to make it past August. I'm starting to pinch the tops out of the plants once they reach the polytunnel roof now. Most of them will be at least ten feet tall by the time they do and I don't really have space for them to get any taller. It seems to be taking ages for the fruit to ripen though. I'm guessing that's a weather thing.

James

 

[enrico]

The weather feels like it's ideal for the spread of blight to outdoor plants at the moment, especially after the storm that's just passed through. The wind can carry it for miles. After last year I decided not to grow maincrop potatoes any more because they always seem to get it -- I just can't get them to the end of their growing season before the conditions turn ideal for it to spread, and it seems to spread like wildfire once it gets going. Fortunately Charlotte potatoes seem to make fantastic chips And actually it works out nicely that the first and second earlies are out of the ground in time to get winter brassicas into the same space after lifting the potatoes.

By comparison, inside the polytunnel and Frankenstein's Greenhouse the tomatoes seem to be doing fine, presumably because it's much harder for the wind-borne blight spores to get to them. I'd love to be able to grow some tomatoes outdoors, especially perhaps some cherry varieties in hanging baskets, but I just don't see it as worth the effort if the plants aren't likely to make it past August. I'm starting to pinch the tops out of the plants once they reach the polytunnel roof now. Most of them will be at least ten feet tall by the time they do and I don't really have space for them to get any taller. It seems to be taking ages for the fruit to ripen though. I'm guessing that's a weather thing.

James

Storm? Lucky B still nothing here all our maincrop spuds were dug two weeks ago. Hate leaving them to slugs