Here is my Garden

[tim]

Richard - I admit that I now buy in a few things as back-up but, having been involved in commercial growing (father) from 1934 - 1962, I learnt that it is better, as an example, not to try hothouse plants outside in the Cotswolds, and that it is therefore important for me to label carefully

I admit that I now only grow some 4-500 plants from seed, as compared with the several thousand that we used to handle, but add this to all the other things like 150 pots, 600 onions, 100 garlic, 50 shallots, carrots Jun-Dec, 90 or so brassica, lettuce Jun- Dec, beet, corn, 8 varieties of beans, chard, chinese greens - to name a few - you'll see that, at my age, I can't compete with such growers as yourself. = Tim

[tim]

[campanula]

blimey tim!

Turkey -yep, great fish restaurants all along the Bosphorous bridges. I haven't been there since 1988 tho'.
sheepheel biting - that's my dog, lila,  tim, not me......and she is a bit of a wimp too.

oh yes, you are always on my mind.
cheers, suzy

[Mrs Ava]

I was, I really really was going to do it this year.  Bought stacks of labels, cut up yoghurt pots, purchased a selection of pens all with the intention of labeling everything, and I do label ever single seed tray, and I do label all the oddities I grow, but when I pot all my delphiniums for example, one label in the first pot, maybe another in the next, and after that I figure, so long as I bunch them all together, next spring as they emerge, I should (note I said should) be able to tell what is what.  This method fails me constantly!  I will will will label at the allotment, I will! I will!   :o

[mysticmog]

I reckon (in my considered opinion  ;D) that you shouldnt worry about what you should have done, or what you should be doing, but enjoy what it is you do naturally - if you dont naturally label stuff, dont sweat it, I'm sure nature care's not one jot if it's plants are defined, as long as they grow happily and are loved.

There endeth the lesson (I am such a hippy  :D)

Peas

XX

[Hugh_Jones]

We are fortunate that the great gardeners of the past DID find the time to label, experiment, and record their results (as some of us still do).  Without those efforts there would be far less information available to the gardeners of today, no gardening books, no RHS Encyclopedias, and (lovely thought) nothing for the TV gardening Idols to have written up on their indispensable cue boards.

[mysticmog]

Ah, tis true, without scientific labelling types much current knowledge would not exist.....tis a shame that much knowledge has been lost down the ages, if it had been written down and even better, published, then we would probably know more now than we do.

Not knocking people for being labellers, just think everyone has their own way with gardening.

You are a scholar Mr Hugh, any pointers on where I can find out more about less modern gardening techniques - am v interested in old techniques, especially tools...

[Doris_Pinks]

I've got a stoop MM, no no, not a back complaint a tool given to me by my 80 plus friend ;D I thought it was a scythe but was corrected rapidly!! Going to see him tomorrow, apparently he has made me a small tool that will help with my stoop, for a Christmas present :)!! (A walking stick perhaps?!)

[mysticmog]

Ah, back to the raised beds questions then  ;D

Was toying with getting a scythe to clear my many many many brambles but they're v expensive, Mr Grim Reaper must be pretty flush  

[MagpieDi]

I have one of those friends too Dottie  ;D......but mine is only 70 plus!....aren't they wonderful storytellers?

[Doris_Pinks]

you need a stoop MM, it is what I am using to clear mine! Must be cheaper as it is half the size ;D (I have no idea what they are called elsewhere, it s probably an old sussex name)
Di, he is marvellous, still lays hedges, and speaks his mind!! He used to pick hops, and scythe acres of fields in his youth :o Trouble is whenver we go over, he insists we drink his home brew in various forms...........how we drive home......................hic!

[MagpieDi]

Mine owned and actually worked a banana plantation in Northern Queensland for 30 years, then came back to Yorkshire, when he lost the whole lot in severe storm!

He's amazing, soooo many tales to tell about life in Aus, tho' still has some Aussie bad habits!!  e.g  he will have a bet on anything that moves!!!  and of course his jokes are even more rude than Hugh's!!  :o

[tim]

MM - you saw my 'old techniques' slot??

Labelling? Please don't think that I am unhappy - couldn't live without growing - just kick myself now and again! = Tim

[Hyacinth]

MM - you saw my 'old techniques' slot??

 couldn't live without growing - just kick myself now and again! = Tim

and regularly concuss yourself on ceiling beams?

[tim]

- but that's involuntary! And if I had hair on top, it would help stop the scarring.

You ought to have seen the damage to my 'bone-dome' when flying Shackleton aircraft, and having to go back and forth to the loo, or galley to cook. = Tim

[Doris_Pinks]

Well, I got it wrong it is called a swap! (or swop?) and my gift was a hooker!! (no comments please! ;D) We had a glass,under insistence, of Damson liqueur, hic hic! It was 10.30am!!!  :P

[Garden Manager]

Richard - I admit that I now buy in a few things as back-up but, having been involved in commercial growing (father) from 1934 - 1962, I learnt that it is better, as an example, not to try hothouse plants outside in the Cotswolds, and that it is therefore important for me to label carefully

I admit that I now only grow some 4-500 plants from seed, as compared with the several thousand that we used to handle, but add this to all the other things like 150 pots, 600 onions, 100 garlic, 50 shallots, carrots Jun-Dec, 90 or so brassica, lettuce Jun- Dec, beet, corn, 8 varieties of beans, chard, chinese greens - to name a few - you'll see that, at my age, I can't compete with such growers as yourself. = Tim

Wow!  Tim I hadnt bargained on this reply when i made my last posting.

No I dont 'mass produce' plants at home as i might have hinted at earlier.  I dont have the facilities!  

I love propagating plants, but dont always have the space to grow them on let alone plant them out.  Went a bit mad this year with seed grown stuff, some annuals but mostly perennials (herbaceous).  As i couldnt bear to throw seedlings away, i ended up with far more plants than i really needed. Had young plants coming out of my ears almost, the area I was growing them in was simply heaving with growth!  

This excess was not a problem with the annuals, what couldnt be planted found their way into large flowerpots to fill gaps in the borders, left by early perennials

As for the perennials I'd grown, well i didnt get the time to plant out what I wanted, so I am having to over winter them,to be plated out, given away or sold in spring. Needless to say i think i will be cutting down a bit next year!

Couldnt tell you exactly how many I grew, but i dont think it could have been more than what you grow each year tim.
 
Richard

[Hyacinth]

your first msg to Tim, f, did set me wondering...how many veggie growers buy in plants?

I tend to go to a specialist grower, browse,  & try out new cvs if the fancy takes me..last year it was one plant of 'Amateur' and one of 'Red Alert' (both tomatoes, Richard)..don't recall buying anything else. Both did so well, and the taste was good, that this year I've invested in a packet of seeds of each. Otherwise, no! of course they're all grown from seed - and lots of them there are, too. But with such a mix of cvs of different types of stuff, without v. carefully labelling...

[Garden Manager]

Alishka,

One good way to avoid mixing up tomato cultivars, is to only grow one variety of each type of tomato.

For example this year I grew one type of bush (sub arctic plenty) one cordon cherry (gardeners delight), one 'ordinary' sized cordon (shirley) and one cordon for indoors (moneymaker).  That way i could tell either by the growth habit , fruit or location, which variety a plant was without labeling every single plant. I was though carefull at the seedling stage to label/classify the different types, since at that stage they all look the same!

Of course i dont grow that many plants, since we dont need tons of fruit, but I suppose this system might get a little tricky if you grow lots of plants.

[tim]

No argument, Richard - just interested.
I think it was the seedling stage that I was going on about?
As to 'all the same' - with the exception of the potato-leafed varieties?
Growth? Ochradel, this year, remained stunted, whereas it would normally be up with Santa and the other cherry-type earlies. It could almost have been a bush.
Oh, and recognition - I even have trouble if I mix up courgette and cucumber seedlings.
Keeps you on your toes? = Tim

[Spud]

What a beautiful garden you have!

 ;)I loved everything but my favourite is the vegetable patch. You must be a very accomplished gardener!