Container gardening

 Container gardening is an excellent way to grow vegetables and herbs in small spaces, such as balconies or patios. The key is choosing the right pot size for each plant. Here’s a quick guide:

Choosing the Right Pot Size

5L Pots: Lettuce, Chard, Parsley, Basil, Chives

10L Pots: Radish, Celery, Turnip, Carrot, Kale

15L Pots: Cabbage, Beet, Garlic, Brussels Sprouts, Chillies

20L Pots: Tomato, Broccoli, Pepper, Chícharo (peas), Cauliflower

40L Pots: Cucumber, Potatoes, Watermelon, Zucchini, Melon

Quick Tips for Success

Use Quality Soil: Nutrient-rich, well-draining potting mix.

Sunlight: At least 6-8 hours daily.

Water Consistently: Pots dry out faster than ground soil.

Fertilise: Use organic or liquid fertilisers as needed.

Drainage: Ensure pots have drainage holes.

Support Climbing Plants: Use trellises or stakes.

Final Thoughts

With the right pot size and care, container gardening is an easy and effective way to grow fresh produce at home.

They are easy to grow from seeds.

 Sow directly into the ground in spring and your garden will sparkle with bright colors in summer!

Lavatera
Godetia
Eschscholzia/California Poppy
Nasturtium
Cosmos
Sunflower
Zinnia
Marigolds
Nigela
Gaillardia

Can I plant potatoes in June in the UK?

You can plant potatoes in June. 

The storage conditions we have ensure top quality – the tubers will not need to be chitted as the ground will be warm enough to start the growing procedure off. 

Just watch out though, potatoes planted later in the spring will be more susceptible to blight in later summer.

Quince

Radical trimming of a quince tree, also known as rejuvenation pruning, can be done by cutting the tree all the way to the ground in early spring. This method is particularly useful for overgrown quince trees and can help rejuvenate the plant, allowing it to develop a new framework that supports ample flowering and fruiting.

When pruning quince trees, it is important to do so during the dormant period, which is typically between late autumn and early spring. This timing helps the tree recover more easily from the pruning process.

For radical trimming, you should remove up to one-quarter of the oldest branches that are close to the ground. Additionally, prune back the longest branches to lateral buds to encourage new growth. Always remove dead, damaged, or crowded branches completely and close to the trunk.

After a radical trim, the tree may take a couple of years to begin producing fruit again. It's important to note that quince trees are tip-bearers, meaning they produce their fruits on the tips of shoots formed the previous year. Therefore, avoid removing these tips during pruning to ensure a good harvest the following year.

For tools, use sharp pruners that have been disinfected with a solution of bleach and water to prevent the spread of disease.

When pruning, aim to maintain a framework of well-spaced branches on a clear trunk to allow sunlight in and improve air circulation, which can help prevent diseases.

Radical pruning should be done carefully to avoid over-pruning, which can delay the tree's cropping. If the tree is very overgrown and congested, more extensive renovation pruning may be required, but this should be done sparingly to avoid stressing the tree.

More about the tree: A Guide to Growing Quince Trees

https://tinyurl.com/288n4baf

никакого навоза больше не нужно

  средство творит чудеса активирует полезные организмы в почве насыщает микроэлементами делает грунт рыхлым предотвращает развитие болезни и вредителей никакой химии и никакого навоза больше не нужно готовлю за пару минут из двух копеечных домашних ингредиентов

 восьми литрах воды размешивают 

2 л кефира или молочный сыворотке добавляю 

100 г сахара и 

настаивают 2 дня чтобы активировались полезные бактерии 

1 л получившегося раствора разбавляю в 10 л воды и проливаю всю землю

от сорняков

 Итак от сорняков я применяю простые ингредиенты 

в 10 л воды наливают 50 мл жидкого мыла 

стакан девятипроцентного уксуса 

добавляю столовую ложку лимонной кислоты и 

пять ложек соли 

опрыскиваю сорняки и через пару часов они сами засыхают сорняки сами засохнут за 2 часа без химии 

Control Slugs and Snails with Bread Dough

Control Slugs and Snails with Bread Dough

Ingredients:

• one cup flour
• two cups water (only one cup if you are making dough)
• one pack of dried yeast

Mix the ingredients. Add more water if it is too thick. It can be used right away, but it becomes more potent after 24 hours.

Pour some into a small dish such as a old yogurt container or tuna can. Sink it in the soil so that the edge of the container is at soil level. If it starts to dry out add more water as needed. If the top gets crusty, give it a stir.

The mixture is good for 14 days but in a heavily infested area you might need to dump it out more frequently.

Bread dough is toxic to pets so keep them away from the traps or cover the traps well.

Will sourdough discard work? It has not been tested but the researchers feel confident that it too will work.

Make an Ericaceous Soil Bed for Acid-Loving Fruits

Make an Ericaceous Soil Bed for Acid-Loving Fruits

Green plants as fertilizer

 

Here are some green plants that can be used as fertilizer in the UK: 

Comfrey 
Rich in potash, comfrey is useful for flowering and fruiting plants and vegetables. To make a liquid fertilizer, add 1kg of comfrey leaves to 15 liters of water and leave it in a sealed container for six weeks. Then, use it undiluted. 

Nettles 
High in nitrogen, especially in spring, nettles can be used as a liquid fertilizer. To make a liquid fertilizer, add 1kg of nettles to 10 liters of water, leave it for about two weeks, and then use it at a dilution rate of 10:1. 

Green manure 
Plowing living plants into the soil is a practice called green manure that can enhance soil fertility. This releases nutrients slowly, which supports microbial activity and benefits plant growth. For example, incorporating green manure crops like legumes can add nitrogen to the soil, improving crop yields. 

Other organic fertilizers that can be used in the UK include seaweed, hoof and horn, dried blood, fish blood and bone, bone meal, and poultry manure pellets.

However, did you know you also can use herbs you grow in your garden to build your soil? Plants such as borage, comfrey, fenugreek, sorrel and many others can help the soil to accumulate nutrients, reduce soil compaction, act as cover crops or green manures, accelerate composting or serve as mulch.

Gooseberries

 Gooseberries in pots or containers: a loam-based compost such as John Innes 3.

If growing cordons, each June prune all new side-shoots back to five leaves to encourage fruiting spurs to develop and tie the leading shoot to the support as it grows. In winter, shorten the previous year’s growth on the main stem leader back by a quarter to encourage new side-shoots. Shorten side-shoots pruned in summer to two or three buds.

 As fruits form on old wood and around the base of last year’s growth you should prune back the previous year’s growth to two buds and remove any shoots that are growing into the centre of the bush, and cut back leaders by one-third.

Invicta makes a vigorous and spreading plant that bears large, pale green berries suitable for dessert and culinary use. It gives high yields when grown as a bush or cordon and is largely resistant to mildew.

Would it be possible to train a 6 year old hinnonmaki red into a cordon? 

 The normal pruning regime recommended for gooseberries is the regenerative system – remove the lowest stems every winter, feed to encourage new growth up the centre which over the following years will spread out and eventually be removed, this is just a rather more drastic form, and at 6 years old the bush is still relatively young so should adjust to the transition without too much difficulty.

I would suggest you start by getting the stake or bamboo cane in place up which you intend training the cordon. That can be done this coming winter. There is little point doing anything earlier (the ground may be too hard anyway) as the pruning needs to wait until January/February. Then reduce the bush back to a columnar shape by cutting back the lower outward growing branches to short stubs, ultimately leaving just the upward-growing trained stem and side-shoots. This should ideally be done in one go, though if the bush is large (1.2m/4ft + in spread) giving rise to concern that this might give it too much of a shock it could be spread over say 2 years. When cutting back the main side branches try to leave some short spurs of younger growths back near the main stem – the bush will find it a lot easier initially to re-grow from younger buds.

Unfortunately I can see no way of doing this without losing most of at least one year’s crop.

Companion Planting

Broad Beans and Tomatoes are listed as companion plants for Gooseberry as they help to deter the gooseberry sawfly. Broad Beans also fix nitrogen into the soil . Some growers also like to use onions and garlic as companion plants, again to confuse insect pests.

Crops such as parsnips and fennel should not be positioned near Gooseberry beds as they are reported to attract saw fly.

Blog : Pomona Fruits: 

Gooseberries: A Forgotten Fruit

The Urban Veg Patch: Perfecting the art of growing big gooseberries in a small space https://images.app.goo.gl/KgCobn9EDuEwLG747 https://images.app.goo.gl/KgCobn9EDuEwLG747