Vegetable Growing 2024

@noisette47 I have a yuzu - yet to produce edible fruits - and a limquat which produces well. Not sure OH would be happy if I got more as they have to be lifted in and out of the polytunnel for winter........

I've never actually weighed how much the lemon produces but they are delicious.

 

Ah...the snails did for my little Yuzu, the only one I've ever risked in the ground. True it's a bit of a chore transporting pots twice a year. Do the houses in Vendée have traditional roof overhangs? I bundle all the pots and barrels against the house wall and OH built some nifty plastic-clad frames that fit under the guttering to make a sort of temporary conservatory. The citrus seem to much prefer the conditions in there overwinter and little wheels on the containers will hopefully take care of my old age and decrepitude

 

We have 2 stories @noisette47 so any overhang effect is lost. We may get to the stage where I build a temporary frame and cover for them for winter but it would need careful thought as the south facing side of the house is also the front so it couldn't be a bodge job.

Maybe a wheelie/dolly thingy would be better for easy transportation.

My yuzu is very happily throwing out new shoots with no flowers in site so I'm going to have to threaten it with secateurs.

 

Looks like Lidl has finally got some more seeds in, at least their Dumbarton store. So I picked up some carrots, spinach and leeks. It looks like they have a couple of different varieties that they didn't have last year, most are the same though. They also had potted white currants, grapevine "Marechal Foch", fig "all year hector" for £4.99 each. I've had good luck with their lemon trees in the past, sort of tempted by the fig.

I'm already looking forward to the weekend where I'll sow some parsnips, carrot and maybe plant some brassicas

 

@Appleblossom
If you want, and so you don't waste anything, you could continue to grow them on a bright windowsill and when they become crowded pull a few as micro greens.

 

I haven’t sow any veg yet .. it’s too cold here in Glos at the moment, however I will sow carrot in my domed plastic raised bed next weekend … if they don’t germinate it’s a small row of wasted seed … if they do I’ll be a happy chappy
I have some beetroot from last year still in another domed planter .. will it be any good now ? ( my first ever year of sowing beetroot)

 

My vegetable garden is in Dordogne, SW France and it is absolutely sodden. It needs weeding but when I pull a weed up it comes with a lump of sodden, sticky clay.

I've sown sugar snap peas and broad beans in pots, the seed potatoes are sitting on a tray and I've bought red onion sets. There is a lot more rain forecast, I don't know when I'll be able to plant anything.

 

My natural soil is clay, and I dont know how big your area is, but I have found growing green manure plants over winter and dug in during early spring to be really usefull in breaking up the clay, it would take a couple of years to make a difference but it really does work.

I used Hungarian grazing rye, seems odd turning grass in come spring but it very soon disappears and doesn't regrow.

 

Thanks @pete, but I'm not always here in winter as OH lives in England so we spend more time there in winter and more time at my home in France in summer. It has rained an awful lot this winter and there have been floods.

 

I have planted a few shallots under some fleece and cut a bit of grass, that is the sum of my outdoor gardening so far, sure everything will catch up, but my early tatties could do with going in.

 

@Busy-Lizzie we had a place in lot et Garonne for 25 years and I once tried growing potatoes in my field. Planted in April and came back in July lol. … no sign of them at all.
Always loved going kayaking on the dordogne when we were over in summer !

 

Did you dig for them @glosmike? I can't grow maincrops because of Colorado beetles so I usually grow Charlotte which matures fairly early and then stays in the ground after the foliage has died down so I can harvest them all summer and into autumn.

 

I didn't know that colorado beetle are around in Europe.

 

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lol no I didn’t as the ground was rock hard and the weeds/grass about 4 feet high !!