Grow Your Own Magazine

Hi all,
I live in West Cornwall & we have pretty decent weather most of the time.
My actual garden is very tiny and my yard is not much bigger.
I have a d.glazed porch over the back door, which is my 'greenhouse' !
I don't have a lot of interest in flowers, but I do try to grow fruit'n'veg (or anything edible).
I have started with some exotica, which includes: (all very young [just started])
1 Nectarine tree. Produced a couple of good sized fruits last year. I am currently pollinating the flowers for this year.
1 Lemon Tree. About 4 years old. It has flowered & fruited from the beginning, but I kept losing the fruits. Last year I managed to keep 3 fruits on, which are still growing & ripening.
1 Tangerine Tree. Only bought last spring, but got about a dozen fruits this year - also still growing & ripening.
1 Fig Tree. Has had decent fruit for a couple of years.
1 Olive Tree. Flowers & fruits regularly, but the fruits don't grow much bigger than a rice grain - but lots of 'em.
4 Blueberry bushes. 2 are 3 year olds & fruit well. 2 are this years babies.
4 Kiwi vines that I grew from seeds about 3 years ago. No fruit or flowers yet.

I also bought some Hazel nut trees & a Cherry Plum (?!?!) last year, which are about 4 feet high now, & budding very well (fingers crossed).

I planted an apple pip 5 years ago & the tree is about 5ft tall now. No fruit/flowers yet - am keeping my fingers crossed for this year - I’m itching to see what variety it is ?!

I have planted some nuts from Christmas (Almond, cob, walnut, pecan, brazil etc) but don't hold out a lot of hope.
I also planted some Clementine seeds. I saved them in different ways to see if it helps.
I dried some on my room heater. I put some in the fridge for a fortnight. I just left some in the kitchen & I planted some 'fresh'. The only ones showing anything are the ones that I just left in the kitchen for a couple of weeks. They are about 2" high at the moment & still in the propagator.

I have grown tomatoes for quite a few years, but last year I tried a couple of smaller varieties. I had some Dwarf bush & Hanging basket types. Both very prolific (if a little erratic) & were still flowering at Christmas.

Unfortunately last years erratic weather didn’t help the ripening of most of my choice of plants - so am hoping for a bit better this year.

Most of my stuff has to be grown in pots - due to not much soil. I do grow a bit of garlic, radishes, s.onions etc in the bit of soil that I do have.

Have just bought a couple of mango’s,,,,, so will planting the stones as soon as I eat them.

If anyone has comments or advice re my stuff (or suggestions as to other exotica that I might try), I’d be pleased to hear from you - & maybe other readers would also.

All the best for now

Wow! What a busy boy!!
Hello Furkin, nice to meet you and welcome to the vine!!

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Imagination is everything, it is a preview of what is to become.

Hi and welcome to the vine. You are growing some interesting stuff there! I bought a nectarine tree which was in flower but I didn't realise I would have to hand pollinate - guess I won't be seeing fruit this year

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Happy Gardening,
Shirley

http://www.honeyjukes.co.uk

Hi there - phew, what an interesting line up you have there! An there's me struggling with lettuce and carrots haha!

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Life may not be the party we hoped for but since we're here we might as well dance

Hi there, nice to meet you. I love cherry plums. They are often used in hedges up here - well not often, but frequently enough for me to have found several stretches of them in my walks. As we're a fair bit north of you we don't get a fruit set every season but when we do, they are sweet enough to eat straight from the tree. They can be red or yellow and they make fabulous jams and chutneys.

Do you grow anything 'ordinary'?

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Some days you're the statue, some days you're the pigeon!

vegheaven.blogspot.com Updated July 1st 2008

Hi there Furkin- and welcome to the Vine!

Why not tell us a little about yourself??

Actually- that was very interesting reading....I think I'll be needing to ask you for advice!!

Mangoes eh? that sounds wonderful!

Here's a bit about Brazil nuts....

Selected species and strategies to enhance income generation from Amazonian forests

thanks all for your warm welcome:
SHIRL: There is still time to polly nate your nectarine.
The problem with these (& I think peaches & apricots) is that they flower so very early, & the lazy bees are still in bed !
As you probably know, they have beautiful red flowers before any leaves. If your flowers are still open (!) a little paint brush might do the trick - it's what i'm trying this time. Last year I used a bit of cotton-wool !
NICOS: I very nearly bought a couple of mango seeds on fleabay,,,, but my astute son said "why not just buy the fruit - & use the stone" [still not sure where he gets his brains from ?!] After reading a bit about them, that's what I did. Whilst shopping this very morning (at about 5) I picked up a couple of mangos, & have just prepared a stone for planting.
Advice ? Me ? not yet i'm afraid - i'm still learning as I go along - still, sworth asking eh ?
FLUMMERY: I thought that the seller was having me on,,,, I bought some Hazels from her & just added a Cherry / Plum to the order (I was expecting either) as I hadn't heard of them before. I thought she may have grown something from a pip & forgot what it was (I hate being cynical !).
It's getting it's first lot of greenery now,,,, so I hope it will fruit this year.
MOGGSSUE: I also struggled with lettuce & carrots many many years ago - I don't even try any more.
My garden isn't big enough to grow anything of any size or amount,,,, so just a few bits of 'experimenting' more than anything.
Ordinary ? Well, I s'pose not. Thats like my pets over the years - i've owned just about everything except dogs & cats (well,,,, when I say cats,,,, but thats another story,,,, for another forum,,,,)

NICOS:
Thanks for the link re Brazils.
It's as I thought,,,,, I should have taken the shell off before planting - mind you, I only did One nut (I get hungry) !
I am assuming that, like peanuts (or Ground-nuts to be proper) you have to be careful not to cut or graze the skin on the kernel.
I believe that if you plant ground nuts with ripped skin etc, they will not grow.
That's possibly why children are encouraged to leave them in their shells also when planting (the nuts,,, not the children !).

I read a bit of the Forestry Commissions notes on growing native nut trees, but they only covered cobs & walnuts etc. They didn't mention anything about shelling (or de-shelling) them tho',,,,,,

Hi Furkin, welcome to the 'Vine
Happy St Piran's Day too, are you planning a tipple later?

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Sarah

http://wixypixies.blogspot.com/

“Tell me one last thing,” said Harry. “Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?”
“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?”

Thanks Sarah,
We had a couple of power cuts today,,,, so I did manage to pop out for a celebration drink !

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For those of you that havn't seen a Mango stone, i've attached a piccy here,,,, note the £1 coin for comparison !
I didn't realise they were so big !
You will see that i've removed the kernal ready to plant - which i'll do tonite (more fingers crossed) !

Attached Thumbnails

 

Welcome to the vine Furkin. Can't decide whether the piccie resembles a legless, armless, headless 'wookie', a yeti, cousin IT, or the little guys with the clubs on wacky races? Good luck with the propagation!

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My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)