What are you trialling this year?

Quote from: coldandwindy on April 28, 2022, 07:59

Raab Broccoli  'Cima di Rapa' (outside)

Can I ask when did you sow that? I've tried February, April and September sowings but it's never performed well. God, I miss Cima di Rapa.

I haven't sown it yet . (I'm a long way north of you!)
If it helps you, the instructions from the seed company for growing in UK are :-
Prior to sowing dig over the soil removing any stones, add some well-rotted organic matter and firm. Sow directly Mar-Jul. Sow 1cm deep into prepared soil. Avoid very hot or very cold weather. Germination will vary depending on the weather. Should be ready to harvest 40-60 days from sowing.
Water regularly. Keep weed free. May require staking. Can be container grown. This vegetable should be eaten young, like sprouting Broccoli.
Someone has posted a review that says it will be more than 60 days to harvest in UK.
Like I say, I haven't done it before but the plan is to sow next week, some inside & some out. I'll let you know how it does. (Laughing up here that I'm told to "avoid very hot weather" - at last an instruction I can comply with.   

Blue Lake are my go-to French bean despite trying many others over the years. Yields are huge, they have the culinary "snap and squeak" factor that I enjoy, but most of all they taste so good! I used to grow them up a net in the back of a cold greenhouse, with the net continuing up to the apex. Grown this way the yields are truly enormous, but since the kids left home we no longer need the same quantity.

Like you, I'm growing bedding plants for the very first time, having finally moved to a house with a garden. It's adding a welcome new dimension to my gardening repertoire, one that is highly satisfying. From the list you've given we seem to be growing similar flowers, too. Good luck!

Sounds good on Blue Lake.
Must admit so far in the greenhouse, for the Blue lake sowing they have all got off to a great start.
Will be planting them out in a week or so.

Had my first few cosmos flowers too that have opened the last few days, so well happy.
Glad with the flower success do far, as have in the past spent a fair amount each year on plug plants, so its a welcome success there too and of course the satisfaction that you can grow your own. Will even for this years new ones of Cosmos, verbena and dianthus save some of the seed for next year. The Gazania will carry over for years, so no need.

A pic of two of my first cosmos flowers that have appeared and many too are budding nicely.
Also in pic are some of my Blue lake, the front three pots. The two pots at the back and one to the side are my French bean Violet for comparison, sown same time on April 9th.

Quote from: Rob the rake on April 29, 2022, 00:12

Blue Lake are my go-to French bean despite trying many others over the years. Yields are huge, they have the culinary "snap and squeak" factor that I enjoy, but most of all they taste so good! I used to grow them up a net in the back of a cold greenhouse, with the net continuing up to the apex. Grown this way the yields are truly enormous, but since the kids left home we no longer need the same quantity.

Like you, I'm growing bedding plants for the very first time, having finally moved to a house with a garden. It's adding a welcome new dimension to my gardening repertoire, one that is highly satisfying. From the list you've given we seem to be growing similar flowers, too. Good luck!

Sounds good on Blue Lake.
Must admit so far in the greenhouse, for the Blue lake sowing they have all got off to a great start.
Will be planting them out in a week or so.

Had my first few cosmos flowers too that have opened the last few days, so well happy.
Glad with the flower success do far, as have in the past spent a fair amount each year on plug plants, so its a welcome success there too and of course the satisfaction that you can grow your own. Will even for this years new ones of Cosmos, verbena and dianthus save some of the seed for next year. The Gazania will carry over for years, so no need.

A pic of two of my first cosmos flowers that have appeared and many too are budding nicely.
Also in pic are some of my Blue lake, the front three pots. The two pots at the back and one to the side are my French bean Violet for comparison, sown same time on April 9th.

Interesting to see the difference in climatic conditions between our locations. My cosmos will be going out next week and the beans in late May/early June.

I am trying a mixture of winter squash which I ordered from Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00XNSN2VU/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I've added the image used on Amazon and hope to have some success with them.  Here's the most annoying thing though, all the seeds come in one envelope so there is no way of knowing which is which until they set fruit.  A major drawback really, as some grow as a bushy variety and others just go mad. 

However, next year I can grow what I want from this year's seeds, so I must look on the bright side.  I sowed 18 seeds, two failed completely, one grew the seed-leaves and then stopped growing.  But, the others are romping away in my unheated greenhouse in 4" pots ready to be set free in my plot next week (assuming no chilly nights). 

Butternut squash always do well in my dry climate and heavy soil but thought we'd try something different this year. 

Wow MoS, I had not thought of that.  Good call.  I once grew mini sweetcorn and ordinary sweetcorn about 3 metres apart and ended up with rock hard inedible rubbish.  What my wife called Brundle-corn, after the famous film "The Fly" with Jeff Goldblum.  Should have thought my planting plans through. 

UPDATE.  After a bit of searching the old internet thingy, I've learned that you can safely grow Cucurbita maxima, with C. pepo and/or C. mixta and/or C. moschata.  Which explains how my courgette (zucchini for our American chums) and butternut squash left each other alone as they are pepo and moschata.

Another handy tip was to plant each one 1/2 mile apart.  Yeah right.  The people who can do that are not called gardeners, they are called farmers. 

So, as I cannot tell which is which until there's some fruit on them, I'm going to risk it.  I've got
Cucurbita pepo … Acorn, Small Sugar Pumpkin, Spaghetti, Table King, Potimarron
Cucurbita maxima … Blue Hubbard, Jarrahdale pumpkin or Australian pumpkin, Rouge Vif d’Etampes
Cucurbita moschata … Butternut, Musquee de Provence or the Fairytale pumpkin.

Interesting. I read about this some time ago, but since most of the squashes I grow (barring Crown Prince) are so cheap and seed counts are reasonable I've only regularly saved two varieties.
[/quote]

Worth considering premierseedsdirect for these. 20 seeds for 99p.