2013 gardening thread

[Albion]

Time for a new gardening thread. Winter may at last be leaving us, so what is everyone planning on growing this year?

[Vesuvian Sky]

Well these days I am trying to get more in touch with my 25.15% Baltic hunter gatherer side but years ago the Anatolian-Mediterranean farmer components in me helped produce a thriving strawberry patch.

But that was a while ago.

[Kazimiera]

Come on! Post pictures of what have or want to plant! I love plant and garden threads but they are NOTHING without pictures!!

[Dombra]

Any members with cannabis plants to show?

[Albion]

Come on! Post pictures of what have or want to plant! I love plant and garden threads but they are NOTHING without pictures!!

You're right.

This year I'm growing -

Veg:

• Peas
• Onions
• Potatoes
• Sweet corn
• Maybe some lettuce
• Chillis (if they ever germinate!)
• Tomatoes

Fruit:

• Cherries - the tree should be mature enough now, I'm hoping for some cooking cherries off it
• Grapes - I should have one grape vine mature enough to produce this year. Depending on the quality, I'll either eat them or make wine
• Apples - may not bear this year though, tree is still young
• Pears - see apples
• Plums - see apples
• Other grape vines - I'm acquiring new varieties. Already have 4 varieties, want to make that 9 or 10 by the end of the year - I know exactly which ones I want
• Rhubarb - already started growing, want to bake pies from it
• Strawberries - have plenty of plants this year, should get good amounts this time
• Raspberries - I planted some canes in winter
• Gooseberries - planted some in winter
• Blackberries - I have them growing wild in the hedge
• Peach - planted a young tree at the start of the year. It's a variety resistant to leaf curl, a disease they're susceptible to in UK conditions. Will take it a few years to mature yet though.

Edible herbs:

• Mint
• Hops

[Albion]

New grape vine breaking dormancy. It's a small, Russian seedless eating grape that does well in cool climates because it's early ripening and tolerant of cool temperatures.


A very rare grape vine that I acquired. I only know of two others in the world, both in the UK. It's an old, forgotten variety from a derelict manor house. Apparently it has massive crops with good flavoured grapes. It seems to be growing vigorously at the moment anyway, and it's a Vitis labrusca variety (American species).


Those leaves clearly aren't European (Vitis vinifera) ones.


More peas growing. I've already planted some outside.


Sweet corn - it's been slow to germinate but is getting there.


Potatoes chitting


I'll post my tomato plants and other crops some other time. The tomato plants are coming along very well, they're making quite large plants. I'm quite pleased with them.
All these things are indoors at the moment because it's still not great outside. The grape vines will be planted in the ground by their 3rd year.

[Albion]

On another note, I think I've got a chimera on my pear tree. A chimera is when a plant has a genetic mutation on a part of it (not the whole plant) that causes this part to differ somehow.
There's a branch that got broken, but the cambium layer was preserved (so the branch could survive), so I tied it back on with a splint. Eventually it'll heal.
But the branch seems to be budding a lot faster than the rest of the tree, the buds are swelling much faster and turning green as if they're ready to come out whilst the rest of the tree is dormant. This may be an early growing chimera from the damage to the tree. I'm going to watch it to see if it's of any use. Something with superior fruit, some interesting foliage or earlier ripening would be interesting and maybe warrant me taking cuttings (clones) of it. Then again, like most genetic mutations and chimeras, it could be rather useless.

BTW, most variegated plants started off as chimeras - mutations in leaves of a plant. Variegated holly, ivy and whatever else rarely exist as the norm in nature.

[Kazimiera]

Albion, you MUST get a pinotage vine!

[Albion]

Albion, you MUST get a pinotage vine!

Pinot Noir grows fairly well in Southern England where sparkling wine is made from it (officially, only France and America can call a sparkling wine 'champagne'). Pinot Gris can also grow too, but isn't as easy and Pinot Meunier grows fine too.
I've actually seen Pinot noir and Charddonnay vines in shops though. I've resisted buying, I'm really growing table grapes. I want to cross a few varieties and breed some earlier ripening ones.
Pinot noir may be okay as a table grape and it might be of some use in breeding new varieties since it is quite good in a cool-ish climate and also has a ridiculously high genetic mutation rate.

I'll think about it, but I've been trying to resist buying any more wine grapes. I'm after 5 American seedless varieties, 3 wild species and 1 obscure European variety that flowers late (missing frost), ripens early and sets good crops even in cool, wet weather. The American varieties are good enough in Southern England, but not as good as they could be in the rest of it. I want to take the traits from that European variety and some of the wild species and make improved table varieties even more suitable for Northern Europe. Obviously I also want to grow crops of grapes as well, it's not entirely about breeding them. All the American ones will do fine in most years, but I want to make them bombproof in even the poor years.
Of course, one of those varieties may be good enough, since the genetic diversity of grapes (especially hybrids) is very high whilst my resources (space mostly) are limited.

The two varieties in the pictures I hope to cross as well. The Russian one is good (early ripening, good in cool conditions, good flavour, seedless) but is let down by small grapes, the other one is let down by seeds (but has large grapes, very large crops, good flavour and is reliable). Hopefully they'll produce good, seedless offspring.

Any good crosses I'd release into commercial cultivation and collect royalties to get some sort of return for ten years or so, then eventually make them royalty free so others can improve them and expand their cultivation.
We have plenty of vineyards growing wine grapes in England, if we get the varieties right then we can have them growing table grapes too (which is probably cheaper and easier to do). It's probably already possible with the seedless American hybrids. Essentially, Joe public wants seedless table grapes without a labrusca (Welch's purple grape juice) flavour.

If I have to limit myself to just 2 more varieties then I know exactly which ones to get. One of the American ones and that European one. It's a bit of an aspie obsession of mine, grape vines.

[Kazimiera]

Albion, pinotage! It is from South Africa. It is a cross between Pinot Noir and Cinsaut. You MUST get one of these!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinotage