Vegetable Growing 2025

We are just finishing our last pumpkin Crown Prince, a great success last year so will be growing again, also tomatoes, sweet peppers, aubergines, yellow courgettes as I find the skins aren't so hard. I don't think I'll bother with dwarf beans this year as they become stringy if I don't get round to picking them, I'll use the space for chillies as I'm running low on dried stocks.

 

It's tomatoes for me this year with lots of lettuce and hopefully spring onions when I buy new seeds.

I’m getting organised for a big harvest of tomatoes this year (lol - May be wishful thinking- but nevertheless it is still getting me eager to get started!

Still sticking with John Innes no.3 compost and maybe adding some extra dry fertiliser when planting into their final 20L pots .
I know it sounds lazy but I am hoping a dry fertiliser can be bought in a bag with Nitrogen, Phosphate and Potash already mixed - I have mobility issue so this will be easier for me to use.
Plus 7-1O day liquid fertiliser when tomatoes are actually flowering.

Westland BIG TOM was my go to liquid fertiliser last year but still have to search which bag of dry I can use " if in fact their is one"

 

Mostly the same things as last year. Melon was a disaster last year but I'm hoping for better weather this year. I'll also grow white turnips but put mesh over as they had root fly last year. I shall grow Crown Prince squash again as it did OK despite the weather. My south african neighbour has promised me some gem squash seeds, she says they're lovely so we'll see how we get on with those. I hope she won't be disappointed, Cornwall is not SA!

 

Surely if you are growing in JI no3 you shouldn't be adding extra fertiliser at planting time.
No3 is the strongest formular so already contains a fair amount of fertiliser.

 

@pete is correct about JI 3 but that said tomatoes are very hungry plants, and the fertiliser in it is only recond to last 4-6 weeks. I would use Vitax Q4 pellets, slower release than something like Blood Fish and bone which a lot of people use, and this will take over once the fertiliser in there is exhausted.

 

Bearing in mind the liquid feed also, I was just thinking it all might be a bit too much, osmacote crossed my mind if it was a peat or peat free compost.

 

I'm simplifying what I'm growing, tried too many varieties and different things last few years and it's a bit too much work to be enjoyable. So no melons, aubergines, cucumbers in the greenhouse, no celery/celeriac/cabbage/cauliflower/PSB/swede outside. Winter crops will be limited to sprouts, leeks,parsnips and maybe some kale.

 

Thank you @Allotment Boy... I did wonder if I was right as bells were going off in my mind that John Innes compost has fertiliser that lasts for few months I was looking at Vitax Q4 only 3hrs ago and now you have mentioned it I think I will give it a try. Last year my plants were looking good until middle of August producing lots of tomatoes and later on even though they were producing flowers very soon they were dropping off?
It wasn't the lack of water or even watering too much so I can only think they needed something more?

 

I bought some loose pea seeds, Ambassador, they only grow about 3 feet max and give high yields. I'm going to sow them in my raised bed.

 

God luck on getting them to grow & harvest, @Michael Hewett

 

We had a very bad season last year with our veg which has always been fantastic. So we wont give up but we need to sow indoors as our clay soil is so cold for many months and then we can plant out later. We wont be sowing indoors though for many weeks and this does leave us behind in the growing season but then that is what we have had to do for many years.

 

Anyone grow leeks for summer time? When do you start and do you have a problem with bolting? I normally sow end of march for late autumn/winter leeks

 

Is anyone growing Kohlrabi?

I have never grown them before but as I like the taste of them fresh, uncooked, decided to invest a £ or so in seeds.

Can/ should they be started in modules indoors or cold greenhouse and would the roots disturb root veg (small carrots and beetroot) if interplanted?

When I was young I had a summer job selling veg in a city centre market and convinced many passing suit wearing city people to buy a purple Kohlrabi for a desk decoration. They do look rather interesting! (Kohlrabi, not the suit wearing folks, that is.)