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Ophelia[_4_] · 25-07-2012, 01:47 PM posted to uk.rec.gardening

"Jake" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 25 Jul 2012 08:51:20 +0100, "mark"
wrote:

I don't know if it can be blamed on the weather but here's my report:

Pear trees (2): Hardly any pears
Nothing on either of my 2 trees

Plum trees (3): Hardly any plums
Plum tree's new so didn't expect anything this year

Apples: Doing okay
I have a grand total of 2 apples between 5 trees

Red currants: Much reduced crop
Don't grow them but blackcurrants and blueberries cropping well.

Strawberries: Disappointing, down by a half.
Cropping really well but I suspect that's because I'm growing them in
tower contraptions rather than on the ground so they don't get
waterlogged and have plenty of air around them.

Raspberries are cropping really well too.

Slugs: bumper crop!
Lost a couple of dahlias but generally not a problem thanks to
hedgehogs, toads, frogs, nematodes and a nightly foray with a bucket
of salt water.

Anybody else experiencing similar?

mark

Plums - none
Apples - a few
blueberries (2 tubs) looking good
Blackberries looking v. good
Blackcurrants looking good
tubs of various herbs v.good
--
--

http://www.shop.helpforheroes.org.uk/

'Mike'[_4_] · 25-07-2012, 02:32 PM posted to uk.rec.gardening

"Ophelia" wrote in message
...

"Jake" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 25 Jul 2012 08:51:20 +0100, "mark"
wrote:

I don't know if it can be blamed on the weather but here's my report:

Pear trees (2): Hardly any pears
Nothing on either of my 2 trees

Plum trees (3): Hardly any plums
Plum tree's new so didn't expect anything this year

Apples: Doing okay
I have a grand total of 2 apples between 5 trees

Red currants: Much reduced crop
Don't grow them but blackcurrants and blueberries cropping well.

Strawberries: Disappointing, down by a half.
Cropping really well but I suspect that's because I'm growing them in
tower contraptions rather than on the ground so they don't get
waterlogged and have plenty of air around them.

Raspberries are cropping really well too.

Slugs: bumper crop!
Lost a couple of dahlias but generally not a problem thanks to
hedgehogs, toads, frogs, nematodes and a nightly foray with a bucket
of salt water.

Anybody else experiencing similar?

mark

Plums - none
Apples - a few
blueberries (2 tubs) looking good
Blackberries looking v. good
Blackcurrants looking good
tubs of various herbs v.good
--
--

http://www.shop.helpforheroes.org.uk/

Plums. So many on the tree we have had to support the branches, but still
very small and still green

Mike

--

....................................

I'm an Angel, honest ! The horns are there just to keep the halo straight.

....................................

Granity · 25-07-2012, 02:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by echinosum

Clearly it can be blamed on the weather. Too dry and hot too soon, encouraged early flowering, but drought caused young leaves and flowers to shrivel up in some cases. Then it was too cold in April for good fruit set. One of my apple trees has a reasonable amount of fruit on it, but the other two have little. And no pears, and few plums.

One surprising beneficiary has been my grapevine. It was delayed from flowering or even coming into leaf during April, then produced huge quantities of leaves and flower buds in May, eventually the flower buds opened only in July and I got huge fruit set, probably over 50 bunches. In fact I've been thinning them out, and cutting back leaves to expose the developing bunches to the sun. If it stays reasonably warm, we'll have a lot of grapes.

The blueberries have been happy.

Huge crop on my 2 year old Black Butte Blackberry had a crumble last weekend and some put in the freezer, still loads to ripen.

Bob Hobden · 25-07-2012, 05:08 PM posted to uk.rec.gardening

"mark" wrote

I don't know if it can be blamed on the weather but here's my report:

Pear trees (2): Hardly any pears
Plum trees (3): Hardly any plums
Apples: Doing okay
Red currants: Much reduced crop
Strawberries: Disappointing, down by a half.

Slugs: bumper crop!

Anybody else experiencing similar?

We only have Cherry Trees now, grubbed up the currants as we don't eat jam
and strawberries are not worth the effort IMO so didn't bother when we
changed sites. Got a few Cherries but they then all got eaten before we
could. Can't be birds as they were well netted, muddy ground showed no
footprints so it must have been wood mice.
Gooseberries are looking good, some are ripe already, this sun should
improve the sweetness too.
Loganberry has a very disappointing crop and it may be it's last season as
it's never fruited well.
Boysenberry has a decent crop again, but what a thug of a plant.
--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK

kay · 25-07-2012, 10:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob Hobden

[/i][/color]
We only have Cherry Trees now, grubbed up the currants as we don't eat jam
and strawberries are not worth the effort IMO so didn't bother when we
changed sites. Got a few Cherries but they then all got eaten before we
could. Can't be birds as they were well netted, muddy ground showed no
footprints so it must have been wood mice.
Gooseberries are looking good, some are ripe already, this sun should
improve the sweetness too.
Loganberry has a very disappointing crop and it may be it's last season as
it's never fruited well.
Boysenberry has a decent crop again, but what a thug of a plant.
-

Apples, medlars seem fine, hardly any pears. Mulberries on track - surprised at the poster who has lost them - we don't expect ours to ripen till Sep. Figs looking good (cross fingers). Alpine strawberries, as someone else has said, doing really well, and the fruits are large. raspberries - abundant but lacking in flavour. Loganberries, tayberries cropping well.

Rhubarb - two plants doing well, two plants completely obliterated by slugs.

Last night I noticed the grass seemed to have strange black markings - looking closer, I realised it was slugs, neatly spaced out at 18 inches apart.

26-07-2012, 08:04 AM posted to uk.rec.gardening

kay wrote:
Figs looking good (cross fingers).

My fig was doing really well up until I noticed it this morning - the
damned water dripped had fallen out, and I have no idea how long it's
been sat in baking hot south facing sunny wall position with nothing
to dampen it, but it looked /sad/. :-(
Not dropped fruit yet, but it may only be a matter of time.

Kate Morgan · 26-07-2012, 08:55 AM posted to uk.rec.gardening

....

kay wrote:
Figs looking good (cross fingers).

My fig was doing really well up until I noticed it this morning - the
damned water dripped had fallen out, and I have no idea how long it's
been sat in baking hot south facing sunny wall position with nothing
to dampen it, but it looked /sad/. :-(
Not dropped fruit yet, but it may only be a matter of time.

Never tried figs, always thought that they were too tricky !
My apples plums and pears are all very poor, my husbands favourite apple a
local Tom Putt is the worst, must do better next year.
When do we start a plan for improvement?

kate

26-07-2012, 09:34 AM posted to uk.rec.gardening

Kate Morgan wrote:
Never tried figs, always thought that they were too tricky !

We bought a Brown Turkey (recommended ok-for-UK) about 3-4 years ago
and it is doing its first proper attempt at a crop this year, if I
haven't killed it.

[email protected] · 26-07-2012, 09:36 AM posted to uk.rec.gardening

In article , wrote:
Kate Morgan wrote:
Never tried figs, always thought that they were too tricky !

We bought a Brown Turkey (recommended ok-for-UK) about 3-4 years ago
and it is doing its first proper attempt at a crop this year, if I
haven't killed it.

You won't have. Figs are very drought-resistant.

Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Martin Brown · 26-07-2012, 09:38 AM posted to uk.rec.gardening

On 26/07/2012 09:36, wrote:
In article , wrote:
Kate Morgan wrote:
Never tried figs, always thought that they were too tricky !

We bought a Brown Turkey (recommended ok-for-UK) about 3-4 years ago
and it is doing its first proper attempt at a crop this year, if I
haven't killed it.

You won't have. Figs are very drought-resistant.

Mine died in the cold snap end of 2010 along with all my bamboos.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

[email protected] · 26-07-2012, 10:08 AM posted to uk.rec.gardening

In article ,
Martin Brown wrote:
On 26/07/2012 09:36, wrote:
In article , wrote:
Kate Morgan wrote:
Never tried figs, always thought that they were too tricky !

We bought a Brown Turkey (recommended ok-for-UK) about 3-4 years ago
and it is doing its first proper attempt at a crop this year, if I
haven't killed it.

You won't have. Figs are very drought-resistant.

Mine died in the cold snap end of 2010 along with all my bamboos.

That's unusual, unless it was in a pot that froze or your soil
is poorly drained. Our fig got hit hard by the frost this year,
but regrew from old wood; if they hit hit harder, they will
usually regrow from the base.

Figs aren't tricky to grow if you can provide them with good
drainage - but they are definitely tricky to get a decent crop
from. And only a few people will manage to get two crops a year
in the UK.

Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Martin Brown · 26-07-2012, 10:26 AM posted to uk.rec.gardening

On 26/07/2012 10:08, wrote:
In article ,
Martin Brown wrote:
On 26/07/2012 09:36, wrote:
In article , wrote:
Kate Morgan wrote:
Never tried figs, always thought that they were too tricky !

We bought a Brown Turkey (recommended ok-for-UK) about 3-4 years ago
and it is doing its first proper attempt at a crop this year, if I
haven't killed it.

You won't have. Figs are very drought-resistant.

Mine died in the cold snap end of 2010 along with all my bamboos.

That's unusual, unless it was in a pot that froze or your soil
is poorly drained. Our fig got hit hard by the frost this year,
but regrew from old wood; if they hit hit harder, they will
usually regrow from the base.

Figs aren't tricky to grow if you can provide them with good
drainage - but they are definitely tricky to get a decent crop

I think the frozen waterlogged heavy clay soil did for it. There are
large old fig trees/bushes at various old monasteries hereabouts on the
same soil so I guess once they are big enough they can take anything.

You should be fine on light sandy Cambridge soils.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

kay · 26-07-2012, 10:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by

In article , wrote:
Kate Morgan wrote:
Never tried figs, always thought that they were too tricky !

We bought a Brown Turkey (recommended ok-for-UK) about 3-4 years ago
and it is doing its first proper attempt at a crop this year, if I
haven't killed it.

You won't have. Figs are very drought-resistant.

Their drought-resistance consists of a) being able to send exceedingly long roots in search of ground water (not needed in UK, but I have seen fig roots in Greek caves) b) recovering well.

So it will almost certainly regenerate, even if it loses all its leaves. On the other hand, mine dropped a lot of fruit last year after a dry spell, so I've now learnt that mine needs a bucket or two of water chucked at it if we've had a couple of weeks of sunshine. Not something that's easy to envisage at the moment.

kay · 26-07-2012, 10:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kate Morgan

....

Never tried figs, always thought that they were too tricky !

They may be like a lot of things, need attention to maximise the crop, but will muddle along very well on minimal attention.

I don't do anything with my Brown Turkey, apart from cutting back branches in the winter if they're in the way of the path or the dustbins, and making sure it doesn't get too dehydrated in long sunny spells. Brown Turkey fresh from the tree are lovely - much richer in flavour than the blue figs that you can buy fresh in the supermarkets.

Ellis Morgan · 26-07-2012, 11:47 AM posted to uk.rec.gardening

In article , mark
writes

I don't know if it can be blamed on the weather but here's my report:

Pear trees (2): Hardly any pears
Plum trees (3): Hardly any plums
Apples: Doing okay
Red currants: Much reduced crop
Strawberries: Disappointing, down by a half.

Slugs: bumper crop!

Anybody else experiencing similar?

mark

Frost related:
Walnuts - none (but kept its leaves unlike two years ago);
Plums, Damsons - none;
Sloes, Apples, pears - poor (variably so depending on where they are and when
they flowered);

wet related:
Red currants - average to good;
raspberries - very good;
blueberries - looking good;
strawberries - surprising (ours are quite early, usually at their best the week
before Wimbledon. When we first went to pick there was only rotten or unripe
berries but the weather was patchy and by picking just before each shower we
did better than expected still below average but some jam was made.)

slugs thriving, bring back the hedgehog.

In Hampshire, west of petersfield, but still in the Weald.
--
Ellis Morgan

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