Gardens and gardening 2025

  • 218 replies
  • 53 subscribers
  • 6382 views

Hi everyone, I used to post a lot in a previous Gardens etc until my wife was also diagnosed with cancer just over 2 years ago and she went through such a hard time so my time was taken up with not just Mrs Tvman but I was not good because of the rise and fall of red cells, white cells, neutrophils and platelets. 

The good news is that I have a little bit more free time to garden. I never stopped because it's in my DNA to get working in the garden. I'm also a wheelchair user because of a serious back condition called spinal stenosis and the pain is so great that I'm only able to work in short bursts.

So let's see photos of your gardens or allotments, whether they be large or small or maybe you only have room for pots and troughs in a balcony or back yard. 

My speciality for the last 40 years is vegetables and I have won hundreds of prizes over the last 20 years or so. I have had vegetables in show that have made me Northern Ireland champion for my sins. Unfortunately, since covid some shows have ceased therefore I haven't entered any for a few years. 

I've a few photos below, that's if I can remember how to insert them! It's been a while.

Below is a photo of the contents of my greenhouse, there are tomato plants left and right of the pathway. Also just past the tomatoes are cucumber plants against that have frames for them to climb up. The cucumber variety is Mini Munch, they're a small variety that are sufficient for a few salads 

The plants in the large pots below are aubergines, variety Black Beauty and inbetween the pots is a seed tray in which spring onion seeds have been sown which of course haven't germinated yet. Over here in Northern Ireland we call spring onions "scallions" and apart from in salads we have them with butter in mashed potatoes and that dish is called "champ". Believe it or not that was served as a stand alone dish that we had when I was small, some 60 years ago. Just mashed potatoes with small pieces of cut up scallions, cooked slowly in real butter then a dinner plate was loaded up with champ, a hole made in the top and filled with more butter then everything was mixed together and eaten. Along with an Ulster Fry in the morning, no wonder we had the highest rate of heart disease in Europe! 

Last photo below for this post is a bed of garlic (on the left), shallots in the foreground and at the far end for those of you eagle-eyed is a few red and white onions that are just 2 or 3 inches high. They are grown from onion sets that are small immature onions and usually come in a net bag weighing 250g and there are about 70 in total.

You'll notice that I have wire netting around the beds, that's because 3 years ago I had a rabbit problem. 35 years without them, 1½ years of rabbits and none since! The wire netting is staying for a while yet!

What about some photos from anyone else?

Tvman 

  • They are what I mean (not the lettuces in the photo)

    Patrick xx

  • Hi Marie, the number 1 rule with growing your own is to grow the things you love, 

    Eddie xx 

  • Patrick your Kohlrabi look perfect  Ok hand.

    Eddie xx 

  • Hi Eddie, that was a photo from Wikipedia what they should like lol, mine just shot up, are spindly and no cabbage bit on them. I think I still have some seeds so will give it another go

    Patrick xx

  • Patrick, there much better as a crop for late autumn, early winter harvest, as their the only brassica  I know of you can store for a few months.

    Eddie xx 

  • Hi Patrick, I grew kohlrabi a few years and entered them in one of the local shows. I was within earshot of a couple of people who stopped to look at them and had obviously never seen them. One said to the other that they looked like spaceships!!! Lol

    Anyway, back to yours Patrick, you haven't done anything wrong, that's what they're supposed to look like and they're grown mostly for the bulbous part although you can eat the leaves too. 

    I've copied a section about growing kohlrabi and it's below.

    The entire kohlrabi plant is edible, including the leaves and stems, but most commonly, people consume the bulbous part, which is the swollen stemThe bulb can be eaten raw, cooked, or even used in salads. 

    No need to worry Patrick and once you eat them, as Eddie says, there's plenty of time to sow more. As for your lettuce, they look great Patrick. Hope you like to eat lettuce or you can give them away to friends and family before they bolt. The secret with growing some veg like lettuce is to sow a few every couple of weeks. Successional sowing.

    HTH 

    Tvman 

    Love life and family.
  • Eddie, you have forgotten about swedes, they're brassicas and keep for months in a cold, dark place. 

    Weirdly here in Northern Ireland we never call them swedes, we call them turnips!! Always been that way and as for your turnips, I have never seen them in a greengrocer's here. I have very occasionally seen them sold in M&S only. (We don't have any Waitrose stores in Northern Ireland)

    Tvman 

    Love life and family.
  • Hi my friend, pedantic mode today, lol I know swedes were bred from turnips, but they are NOT turnips, and as for your weather forecasting, technically it did rain, we had about 1mm, but what use is that?, it looks like I'll continue to call you tvmanUnamused, PS, your going to get a good soaking today lucky youThunder cloud rain️, 

    Eddie xx 

  • Eddie, don't know why we in Northern Ireland call them turnips, only blow-ins from across the water would call them swedes. I didn't know that they were really called swedes until I was in my twenties! Actually, I think we're right and everyone else is wrong lol

    Yesterday was wet enough Eddie, 5 minutes sunshine then 15 minutes rain, heavy rain at that too then repeat, then repeat....I think it's heading your way.

    Today it's Mrs Tvman's birthday and I took her to Goldsmiths in Belfast to buy earrings that she wanted. The staff made us complementary tea in china cups (I paid for them 20 times over in the price of the earrings!) Just got home and the rain came on about half 3 and it's still raining close to 8pm

    I didn't realise that Patrick had put a photo of the kohlrabis that he took from the internet or somewhere. I thought he had grown them which is why I said they were perfect lol.

    Have a nice evening 

    Tvman 

    Love life and family.
  • Hi tvman, please give Mrs tvman my belated happy birthday wishes, and I'm sure she loved the earrings, and those little touches, a cuppa in a cup and saucer go down well with the girls.

    I don't think those bloow-ins call them  swedes, Americans have their own name for them, I mean egg plant, have you ever seen a 6inch purple egg.

    We've only had 1 light shower, it's supposed to be raining now, not a drop, it looks promising for tomorrow Fingers crossedwe finally get some, gardening must be so easy for you Grin , just stick a seed in the ground and watch it grow lol.

    I hear your coming over in the Summer, is that to visit family or a holiday, please bring some rain Cloud rainwith you my friend. and I hope you get your treatments sorted tomorrow.

    Eddie xx