Is it worth it

[Polly]

Hotrodder, I sympathise with you about the mystery critter; we used to have a similar problem when we lived near Stafford but there was no mystery - deer! They would trot through the village leaping over gates, fences and hedges and munch whatever they fancied - our next door neighbour set up booby traps in his front garden, which exploded when deer were detected but it didn’t put them off. Another, much older, neighbour sat up at nights with a shotgun but it was never fired - I think his presence kept them from his beautiful garden.

Their favourite munches from my garden were sweetcorn and the new growth of roses, but they would try most things I grew - so disheartening.

I’m sorry for those of you who are short of water - it must be awful to work hard but lose your crops due to the heat and lack of water. I now only grow tomatoes, herbs and salads and not many pots of those - gave up on my large vegetable garden years ago due to back and knee problems.

I used to make up comfrey fertiliser, wonderful stuff but a terrible smell when it’s made - clothes pegs on noses time! now I cut it back several times a year and add it to the compost heaps.

My tomato plants, mainly Gardeners’ Delight, have heavier crops this year than ever before in years of growing them in tubs on the patio - I’ve had to add additional supports, which I’ve never done before. No ripe tomatoes yet, though.

When we’re in France we’re lucky to have a good number of organic growers around us so I buy from them - the next best thing to home grown; I’ve only ever grown salads and tomatoes on our south-facing balcony, not with great success in the heat of the Gard.

[Spectrum]

I suppose I have a slight advantage in living in a new house which we designed, basically a copy of the original one, so we have a "reccupation de pluie" 10,000lts of winter rainwater so the garden beds and baskets get plenty of water, the veg plot and poly have their own 600lts underground tank but can transfer water from tank to tank as needed. It is still a challenge, its just the high temps that are effecting the plants, onions have been good strawberries good, a few melons, aubergines, mixed results with toms Green sausage, and Orange Russian poor, Alicante, Gardeners Delight and cherry coming on. Gardening has always been a challenge we are subject to the weather we have to work with it and not against it. For less weeding use raised beds been using this method for many years, also I have used black plastic with holes in to plant the onion set through, very little weeding needed, just lift off for harvest time dry then store.

[Hotrodder]

I have often heard of people putting huge effort and resources into creating raised beds. What is the benefit?

[exile]

Raised beds can have lots of benefits.

1. It brings the garden up to the gardener so there is less / no bending - depending on the height. It can make gardening accessible to those in wheel chairs.

2. You don't walk on a raised bed. The soil structure remains more open and is not compacted and that is better for the plants.

3. This means you can crop more closely which overcomes the disadvantage which is that you have gangways between the beds that lose some ground area.

4. Smaller beds mans that you can more easily apply things such as black plastic for weed suppression or fleece for frost protection. It also makes irrigation more straightforward and potentially saves on water usage.

5. The looser soil structure means that weeds (and crops) can be pulled up much more easily. It can easily be incorporated into a no dig regime.

6. Over time you get a much deeper and richer bed of quality soil to grow your plants in.



And no, I don't have deep beds.....
... yet.

[manonthemoon2]

Our beef tomatoes are still green, they're a good size but green. They are in sun most of the day until around 4 pm

[exile]

My beef tomatoes are the same. The smaller ones are producing lots of red toms but the Monte Carlo and Mamande just now are still green. The closest we get are the Vintage Vine which never go a full on red anyway. It is a biggish tomato but with a less firm flesh than proper beef toms and a streaky red skin.

[MAD87]

I'm growing Cœur-de-Bœuf Marquise this year, a large old variety that the nursery said was the most resistant to mildew. It's produced lots of fruit, some of which we've eaten. Lots more to come but I can't say that they're the tastiest I've ever had. I also have one Portugese cherry tomato plant (gift from a colleague) which tastes ok. I reckon toms are probably best grown in a well-equipped g/house where everything can be controlled as they are fussy little buggers.

[Blaze]

We finally put our greenhouse up (it's been in bits for years ...) and our long tomatoes are doing brilliantly and are delicious. Up to now we've grown them outside but these have done much better, perhaps because they had a nice warm start. The skins are also less tough. Ants have been dealt with successfully and the marigolds seem to have kept the whitefly at bay.
I very much like the idea of raised beds and large tubs because we have cr@p soil and watering and weeding would be much easier. Just a case of building them though large plastic tubs could be a good temporary substitute.

[Bayleaf]

I have often heard of people putting huge effort and resources into creating raised beds. What is the benefit?

Our, very unconventional, "veggie patch" is sort of all above ground, in as much as the area is stone, so we initially dumped a load of soil (molehills and composted manure) on it and made an edge with breeze blocks. This worked surprisingly well - but with the wet summer last year, we like so many, lost the whole tomato crop virtually overnight. So, we invested in the four season polytunnel (photo on previous page) that would keep rain off the toms during their season, but we could close it up to use for winter stuff as well. We've also filled old broken wheelbarrows and kids' wagons with soil and grow strawberries and such like - so a bit like raised beds. All the rasberries were transplanted from across the road, where it was like others said - always fighting against the weeds. They're still in pots but I hope to make more raised beds. Like Exile says, in general, there's less weeding etc, and it's handier for watering and as close to the house as possible.

[exile]

Our beef tomatoes are still green, they're a good size but green. They are in sun most of the day until around 4 pm

Two days ago I reported that our beef toms were the same as yours - very green
Yesterday there were the first signs of a pink flush that today is turning decidedly red. I reckon by Sunday I will be picking the first ones.

Hope yours are coming on likewise Motm2.