A view of my garden

Polytunnels, cold frames, greenhouses, propagators & more. How to get the best out of yours...

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Westi
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Wow Tiger - looking good!

My beefsteak in the greenhouse has fruit turning red & my orange baby plums are away but I'm trying to get a full truss of ripe ones of them so a bit of an experiment. Normally the top ones on the truss go a bit soft before the bottom are anywhere ready - but I am nibbling some of the non experiment ones. My pointed sweet pepper plants are really small but both have healthy looking fruit, the aubergine is in flower but is also a small plant for some reason. I haven't had a cucumber yet but not far away - it sulked for weeks & did nothing. It's actually confusing me this cucumber the first fruit is all prickly & chunky like an outdoor one, whereas the rest of the fruit are bald of prickles and long & slim. Is this a pollination/genetic/stress thing?

I'll try to get some pics tomorrow to show what I mean.
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tigerburnie
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I haven't grown cukes for some time, I have dodgy tum, waiting for a hernia and gall bladder removal op, they really upset me, so my wife buys half of one when she needs to. I have had a lot of success with ridge cukes in the past, we used to like pickling the small ones, so you didn't get a glut. Never grown Aubergines as neither of us like them. My "odd one" is a melon this year, plants going everywhere in the greenhouse, but no sign of a flower let alone a fruit, getting late in the season I fear.
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Westi
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Well tiger - as promised a few pics.

Used my real camera not my phone as sick of upside down pics on here. I checked it out with Mac support & apparently I may have taken the picture in whatever angle it comes out as on here, but the computer recognises that & changes to the proper view, but if you post it onward it will revert to what I took. Now that I debate, click button is bottom of phone & lens at top & that's the way I take most photos, sometimes with my finger over the lens to prove that.

Anyway transgressing as normal! The ripening beefsteak toms.
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The orange little plums nearly filling the truss.
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The sweet pepper plant.
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Will do my cucumber pics separately.
Westi
Westi
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OK Tiger! All successfully the right way up - good start! :)

I've got a watermelon taking over the place but it is a grafted one. I've tried for a while to get even a mini melon type of any sort to ripen from seed but without any luck. This is also a mini type one & has flowers & has gone from it big pot with the orange plum, across the beefsteak, around the cucumber & I'm now I'm training it outside the greenhouse. I've got to research more then & pinch it out but want to see some wee fruit first. Anyway my cucumber - taking the prickly one tomorrow, will see but expect it to be seedy.

The first prickly, different shape one!
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The follow on ones - still some spines as expected but different colour & even shape!
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Nice looking specimens Westi. You must tell us about the flavour of the orange cherry tomatoes. I might grow a plant next year. A multi coloured tomato salad is always eye catching.
tigerburnie
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I like the look of those orange ones, you'll have to let us know the variety Westi
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Westi
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They are Santa Orange - or something similar. I think Real Seeds?

They are nice, taste starts normal Tomato like but has a sweet note at the end. I'd grow them again for sure as my truss experiment is doing well, the first ones hold well while waiting for the others to catch up. Looking forward to roasting a few to see how that sweetness transfers. My absolute favourite tomato has been a no show this year, it is more intense in the tomato flavour. It's a James Wong one, if you look at last years posts you'll see it in it's glory!
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Geoff
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Sweet Peas have been left for a day or two as my wife wants a big bunch.

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Thought the runners were coming along nicely; Firestorm, Tenderstar and Moonlight.

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...as are the greens for Winter.

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Geoff
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We have visitors this weekend - guess what they are getting for dinner.

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I've not grown sweetcorn in the polytunnel before, they have grown very tall but at least the tassels are showing so something should happen.

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As I can post three photos at once, I'll finish off with the rose bed, been a bit slow but nice this week.

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PLUMPUDDING
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The roses are lovely Tiger, mine are having a rest after their first flush, which was beautiful, so giving them a good feed is at the top of my to do list.
Your crops all look very good too. What variety of sweetcorn is it, I've never grown it under cover, but if it doesn't interfere with the pollonation you should get a good crop. This is my first year growing the seeds I've saved from last year's Special Swiss Sweetcorn (not f1) from Real Seeds. It isn't a tall variety but has the pollen and tassels on this week and I've noticed that the tassels have formed earlier than other varieties I've grown before. Sometimes the pollen shoots seem to be ready ages before the tassels appear.
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Geoff
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The sweetcorn is Lark. I always grow it under cover but in the cold greenhouse. I grow three small batches two weeks apart. Usually they are next to each other so I often wonder if the second batch pollinates the first as like you I find the male flowers are ahead of the tassels. The other two batches are in the cold greenhouse as usual so it will be interesting to see if the set is less even than normal.
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My sweetcorn is at the same level as yours now, giving them a shake a few times a day and there's pollen everywhere in the greenhouse, I hope it won't affect the taste of the tommies and chillies lol.
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Westi
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Geoff - that looks amazing!

It feels so nice to see things thriving this year after the last couple of challenging seasons! My 2 surviving sweetcorn look like I'll have 3 cobs on one & 4 on the other - & decision to keep them at home away from the rats means that are all mine! Just have to check the variety - if I can decipher the fading label or even worse I may have deleted the order confirmation from the seed company. All the others I have grown before give perhaps 2 cobs.

I can feel a Westi v's rat challenge next year on lottie if they manage to mature.
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Sorry Geoff, I put the wrong name. Lark is my usual choice too but I thought I'd have a change with the Swiss one and although it isn't quite as sweet as Lark it is a good size, tender and definitely worth growing. It will be interesting to see how my saved seeds perform.
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Up date on the greenhouse
ImageDSC02291 by R MAURINS, on Flickr
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