Kitchen Garden Forum

Getting a bit disheartend, what with the vine and the dog digging up the cabbages!!! A bad day at work, mind, any day at work is a 'bad day '.

And my other hobbies; fishing, boats and photography, they ain't going so well either . . . ho-hum . . . I get discouraged easily these days old ghosties come back and haunt me??

CJS

Amazing, been out this morning to survey and water the estate at 'CJS Towers' . . . of the 10 grubbed up cabbage plants, 8 look like they might make it!!! just one is still on the danger list Watered last night and this morning, covered with anti dog mesh!!!! A lesson learned . . .

Still got to face another day at work though . . . no amount of watering can help that

CJS

Morning CJS, learn by your mistakes, and you won't go far wrong.

And it's a whole new day out there, enjoy it.

oldherbaceous wrote:Morning CJS, learn by your mistakes, and you won't go far wrong.

And it's a whole new day out there, enjoy it.

Morning 'oldherbacious', a new day, things look better . . . I think ? Bedfordshire . . . I'm born and bread, Hemel Hempstead, then lived in Dustable for 15 years, before moving to Ipswich in 2002.

CJS

Here we go, very simple, small dog barrier, had some plastic square mesh fencing offcuts, a few redundant plastic flower pots. Keeps Oliver (small Jack Russel size mongrel) and the birds as well perhaps, or is it a great perch!!! ?

Sorry if I'm telling you how to suck eggs or being stupid, but it seemed a good temporary solution at the time





He loves the patch where the cabbages are, gets very warm in the sun!!

CJS

Hi CJS,

I know the problem. My JRT sized mongrel, Mouse, tends to soak up the rays where I have just planted out. The French beans got it this week.
I stick in a few short canes until the plants are well grown, and she gets the message then. Other than that she is very well behaved in the garden. And most other places really.

And conrats on the progress so far. A steep learning curve means you are learning lots!

Dear CJS, a fine dog barrier indeed, and it will keep any pidgeons at bay as well. But you might have to raise it as the cabbages turn into the finest of specimens.

Progress!!! . . . I think The green house is usable, a friend who I normally go fishing with popped round this morning, he is a keen vegi gardener, see how I was getting on with my new found pleasure. We chewed the fat, over a cup of tea, put the world to rights . . . then retired to the green house.

I discussed the vine and my concerns, we dug 2ft down no roots evident . . . therefore, we decided as the vine was old it had its roots way out of the soil bed in the green house. So a reconditioning of the soil would be practical over a period of time, in the mean time, use grow rings. Good or bad move???

So I also decided to treat the vine to some 'tough love', see if we could continue to 'run with the hair and hut with the hounds'. Roddy eventually left at 3pm. having helped me to replace a broken roof pain, I'm not so agile, nice to have good friends.

This is what the vine looked like last week, short back and sides!



This is after half an hour of 'tough love pruning', have I gone OTT? obviously I'm looking to train as it grows on?



And by 5.30, I had the Aubergines, Sweet Peppers and Courgettes neatly tucked up in their ring beds




I'm not sure if I am approaching this in the right way, your advise and pointers will help greatly. Roddy and I have worked out a new positioning for the water butts, for easy access.

CJS

Dear CJS, the best pointer i can give you is, to enjoy what you are doing.

I must say from your photos, you are making excellent progress.

Hello CJS!
I think it all looks marvellous, and I'm glad that you have given the vine a last chance ! You might get enough grapes to make some wine in the autumn!

CJS wrote:So a reconditioning of the soil would be practical over a period of time, in the mean time, use grow rings. Good or bad move???

Rings are always a good idea. But I wonder if your soil is impoverished to start with. Greenhouse border soil can be deceptive. If it is dry and dusty, it can look very tired and lacking in vitality, but don't let appearances put you off. Vines do not necessarily take much from the immediate soil — their roots are far-ranging. The proof will be in the pudding, I guess.

This is after half an hour of 'tough love pruning', have I gone OTT? obviously I'm looking to train as it grows on?

How old is the vine? Is it a good variety? There seems to be a good crop starting to form there. I hope that taking off most of the leaves doesn't diminish it. You can remove the shaggy bark from the trunk if you like, to make a clean sweep of it.

That's a fabulous greenhouse. I wish I had the space and / or money for one of that size and quality.

FelixLeiter wrote:

CJS wrote:So a reconditioning of the soil would be practical over a period of time, in the mean time, use grow rings. Good or bad move???

Rings are always a good idea. But I wonder if your soil is impoverished to start with. Greenhouse border soil can be deceptive. If it is dry and dusty, it can look very tired and lacking in vitality, but don't let appearances put you off. Vines do not necessarily take much from the immediate soil — their roots are far-ranging. The proof will be in the pudding, I guess.

This is after half an hour of 'tough love pruning', have I gone OTT? obviously I'm looking to train as it grows on?

How old is the vine? Is it a good variety? There seems to be a good crop starting to form there. I hope that taking off most of the leaves doesn't diminish it. You can remove the shaggy bark from the trunk if you like, to make a clean sweep of it.

That's a fabulous greenhouse. I wish I had the space and / or money for one of that size and quality.

No idea what variety . . . its a black grape with seeds. The fruit in the past have been small'ish but large well formed bunches, very sweet and juicy, the flesh is best described as soft? Growth is very vigorous, I'm hoping that the restriction of the number of bunches will improve the size of the fruit? Age? i have no idea, it was there when the previous GH was blown down in the 1986 gales. The cottage dates back to 1882. There is a though that the original GH was a Victorian structure, steam boiler in cellar, boiler still there, unfortunately I have no way of confirming this history. We bought the house in 2002, the owners emigrated to New Zealand, they fed the grapes to their African grey parrots, are parrots choosy?

CJS

Feeding question;
Now I have the Peppers etc in there rigs, whats the best feeding plan, Miracle Grow early on to encourage the green, then when the flowers set, go on to Tomato type feed??? Or as I do with my toms, nothing until the flowers set, then Tomato feed??

Do the 'Courgettes' need any different treatment?

Or something completely different, the above is only a guess?

CJS