Apologies about the odd behaviour of comments box yesterday - not sure what was happening. Further news of my adventures in gardening
Convinced that when the man came to collect the skip, the apple tree would get knocked, and the rest of the fruit would fall, I harvested what remained of the crop. I got just 500g of fruit, but it tasted good, even though the apples were small. Next year...
I picked 3.5 kg of pears from the tree. Their skins were rather blemished - but I have peeled, blanched and frozen them to make pies and puddings later.
I bought some tomato plants from B&Q but they shrivelled and died. I paid 50p each for some more plants, which a village resident had left outside their house on a table, with an Honesty Box.
I may have grown my first ever successful crop of tomatoes! I am greatly heartened by this progress on the gardening front, and hope that in 2022, when I can concentrate properly and not have builders, skips, and diggers around - and the path and lathe palace are completed - I shall be able to grow much more. Fruit and flowers...
Bob is being so encouraging - I shall post some pictures soon of the amazing raised bed which he is building for me as part of my gardening adventure.
There's no such thing as failure in gardening - because there's always next year
ReplyDeleteI may print out this encouragement and stick it on the fridge
DeleteYay, apples! Hopefully, the tree will do better, next year! Nice crop of pears, though! They look a bit like what are known as Bosc pears over here. Your tomatoes look great, too. I planted two tomato plants, this year, and both produced well, but are coming to the end, now.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if the pears are Conference or Concorde variety - I know they are not Comice
DeleteAh, that's v good to hear re the tomatoes and the raised bed news is exciting!!
ReplyDeleteMy tomatoes got blight this year and so I got very few which saddens me.
Wish our plum tree would do something!!! The dwarf Apple tree was planted in the ground this year so has a healthy crop for its size!
Tomato blight seems to have affected quite a few crops (I wonder if that was what was wrong with the B&Q plants?)
DeleteIt looks like a great start to me 😄
ReplyDeleteSomething always fails, or does badly, for most gardeners, every year. The weather will suit some crops better than others, and it will be different each year, so grow a wariety of stuff and something should do well!
ReplyDeleteI don't often recommend books, (and this is much cheaper on Abe than Amazon) but We Made a Garden by Margery Fish is a wonderful book about starting a garden. Old book, but not at all stuffy. Very gentle reading!
I'll check out that book, thank you
DeleteJust discovered it's in our local library. Brilliant!
DeleteNice harvest! Apple drop happens as a way of natural selection but to avoid it, for every branch that produces more than two or three apples, you can remove the rest and that way all the energy and productiveness goes to the existing fruit and hopefully you'll get bigger apples next year. I grow my tomato plants from seeds taken from any tomatoes I've eaten. You just rinse off the 'mucus' from the seeds (I use a fine sieve), dry the seeds off on a piece of kitchen towel and leave them for a couple of days before planting up in compost. I never buy seed trays. I use any plastic food containers,eg that your mince or chicken comes in but obviously thoroughly wash before using, to start off the seeds then when the plants get bigger transfer them to other containers. Large yoghurt pots are good for individual seedlings. I think your pears are Conference. x
ReplyDeleteThanks for all these great tips
DeleteNice to have fresh apples even just a few, and the pears will be a nice reminder of summer when you use them later from the freezer. I got 3 tomato plants from the next door neighbour's honesty stall and I've had quite a few and 8 still to ripen. Our son has raised boxes and does fabulously with his garden wherever he plants, and he doesn't get it from his mother! That's why I appreciate our wild berries so much, they grow themselves, but with my pruning of spent canes this year, I hope they will outdo themselves next summer!
ReplyDeleteMy RHS book says I should prune fruit trees in the winter months, so that will go on my to do list
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