Blackcurrant fruit cuttings

Blackcurrant cuttings

Of the six original cuttings started in the pot

(see photos)

looking closely you will see three have taken.

Further down the page you can find photos and details of how I went about taking the cuttings.

Digbys day at the beach.

Roast courgette recipe

My courgettes
Chopped courgette, onion and tomatoes provided by Paul x and mange tout. lemon and basil oil roast in the oven till crispy

Container Kiwi Actinidia arguta issai

Kiwi is called Actinidia arguta issai

I know I will be looking for information about this, on the internet at some stage.

It is a mini kiwi fruit which is self fertile & hardy. Smooth skinned - eat like a grape or plum!

I am going to try (note try this is all new to me) to train this flat to the wall in espalier fashion and I will let you know how I get on.

This is size and pot I purchased in so will re-pot shortly.

please click photo link to see espalier kiwi
Container kiwi

Brown turkey container fig tree

I am quite excited about this tree
I have never tasted fresh fig before only in fig roll biscuits
Strange coincidence today driving through town I noted a fig tree on a roof top garden with figs on. If they can do it I dont see why I cant.! Even Chris showed a bit of interest in this.

I purchased this last week from the garden centre £7.99 I have re-potted in slightly bigger pot and am not too worried about the brown on the leaves at the moment as am hoping that now it's been repotted this will improve.

Container fig tree

Mandarin orange

Here is my mandarin orange tree a treat to myself from (father in law)

This clearly does not look as it should the leaves are too yellow with the dark green veins. The leaves should be all dark green.

I brought specialist citrus potting compost and am feeding the correct summer feed possibly I am over watering I must leave this alone think this is going to be a problem. There are some tiny mandarins.

I have removed most of the fruit as have read this is better for the plant in the early few years. I am going to keep fingers crossed with this plant and try and leave to its own devices.

Blackcurrant cuttings.

The blackcurrant was a gift from my cousin

Cheers Kim. In the first year there were a small amount of berries and the second year slightly more. I have big expectations from this next year! Looks quite healthy must be doing something right.

This blackcurrant was the plant that fired my enthiusiasm for fruit growing

I have taken some cuttings and can see some tiny green new growth. I know again these were taken too early as cuttings should be done in winter. I think they are approx 10'' long and I made sure that below the soil there are buds and also buds above the soil where hopefully the new plant will shoot. If 1 or 2 take it will be a bonus.

Blackcurrant cuttings

I clearly have a problem with patience. I knew the cuttings were best done in winter but still went ahead anyway.

Carrots

Oh i was gutted!

No longer than 1'' and only 1 carrot on each plant.
I was hoping for, at least a few if not a bunch on each plant.

Where did I go wrong ? not sure if they were lifted too early or if the ground was too hard and not dug over, enough.

When I sewed them in the garden I quickly dug the ground in my rush to put the seed in.

I think this, was a short cut too far.

I know parsips will be the same failure as they were planted in the same manner. Cant bare to look yet, I am hoping for a miracle and will leave as long as poss.

Not ready to take two failures in one day.

The parsnips were planted in the same hap - hazzard way. I was a bit like a bull in a china shop, packet of seeds in one hand with a bit of free ground underfoot and bingo bad combination.

Memo to self.

Tina, do your homework and prepare the ground and know what your doing.

Tiny vegetable plot

This patch was lawn nearest to the house

Digby ruined it

The best solution was to dig it over.

The first two pics I put seaweed on the earth, which was allowed to dry out.

I hope I have dug the ground well enough.

Next year I hope to plant potatoes plus different veg

I am sure I will be pulling a few weeds, between now and next year.

Any suggestions welcome

To date: I have tried growing courgette, mange tout, cress bay leaf and carrots and parsnips.
Also some fruit i have in pots this being their first year.

Mange tout

I started the mange tout seeds at the same time as the courgettes. I started them indoors. I planted six in each box.

The beans taste fine, I am not sure if the leaves are meant to have white patches but I am quite pleased with the result. Next year, i will plant beans in the ground, rather than the boxes but use the same type of support.

In the boxes, I do not think the canes are deep enough and they wobbled about in the wind. If you can see, the box on the right has only three beans in. as the first six got eaten by slugs. I started another three later. Next year i will do a few more to freeze.

For a newbie i am quite proud of these.

I need a field.!

Courgette

I should of photographed these in the morning with the flowers open. Never mind next time.

Tunisia Holiday

Classic cars.

Classic cars

Classic cars

Our boy Digby

DIGBY - Seven Years old

Our Star.

My courgette in the garden.

Not a great photo, I really should read the book that came with the camera.

Courgettes

I started some courgette seeds earlier in the year, bingo no problem. I had planted six in pots to see how they went, at the same time I planted some mange tout.

Two courgettes got eaten by slugs in pots in the garden, I gave Paul, my son two and pictures have been posted of the two that were planted.

I now have a little problem, I do not do the cooking in this family, not totally by choice I hasten to add but over the years it has come to be this way and it suits me and Chris.

Cooking is Chris's domain he enjoys it and i will admit he is better, more organised and less stressed than I am. It works for both of us.

The problem is, although Chris is a great cook, vegetables are not his thing. He does a great roast dinner, Roast beef, yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes and occassionally roast parsnips always peas and gravy.

so now i have this new interest and will need to cook the darn things as I did not realise how many you get from just the one plant.

I am going to try and get Chris to add recipes. Any ideas or tips on how to use these up welcome. I have made some courgette soup which is now in the freezer.

Lemon tree from seed

I will post further pics of the progression of the lemon seedlings

At the same time as starting the lemon pips, I also started some Kumquats, exactly the same way. These had no problems although i think they may be slower growing and possibly have a smaller leaf i am watching them closley and not sure if they are the lemons that are maybe slow or they are the Kumquats I got a bit confused as i did not label them immediately and thought i would remember which were which.

Lesson learnt. Label immediately!

Once i can distinguish the lemon from the Kumquat i will post pics for comparison.

Lemon pip seedling

These are approx 2 months. See sept archive for progression on these plants

Can you grow a lemon tree from a pip ?

Today I'm posting photos of my lemon pips / pits or seeds which ever you prefer to call them.

I started these from a shop lemon and was so pleased with myself at how well they took, that I then brought a second lemon.

My way of thinking, is, if it works go for it. There you go, that's how i tick.

I removed the pips and washed and dried them. At the pointed end of the seed with a small blade or your finger nail. Peel the outer case or skin off the pip. I then took two sheets of kitchen roll which was folded in half and half again, and then again so i ended up with a long thick piece about 1'' wide, I then dampened the kitchen roll under the tap and lightly squeezed the excess water off. Place all the seeds on the damp kitchen roll, then fold into a package and put in a plastic sandwich type bag. Leave on top of the fridge (nice and warm)

I checked every few days, well every day actually I could not resist peeking anyway they took no more than ten days to shoot.

Chris (hubby) is currently surrounded by tiny flower pots with lemon plants.