Anyone growing strawberries, tomatoes or chillis?

[Jonny69]

Anyone on here grow strawberries, tomatoes or chillis?

I bought 3 small strawberry plants last year and we got a couple of strawberries off them, then they bred like mad and this year I have 8 plants. The three original ones are now huge and clumpy and literally teeming with fruit:



And the smaller ones are doing pretty well too:



The bigg'uns are in a large terracotta pot with last year's soil and I've been feediting them Tomorite tomato food whoch apparently feeds the fruit rather than the plant itself. Well it seems to have done the trick and with the good weather it looks like we're going to have a nice crop. The smaller ones are a bit crammed in platic planter but I think I've left it too late to re-pot them.

We also have a hanging basket with two Tumbler tomato plants which seem to be growing quite well too and I have a baby jalapeno pepper plant on the sunny window sill in the bedroom.

Do you good people of BD have any tips or tricks for me? I've heard you get more strawberries the next year if you don't let them breed, is this true?

[Roberta]

This year I have planted gooseberries, raspberries, loganberries, blueberries, and both red and white grapes. I've also had a peach tree for 2 years and it flowers bu the fruit always dies before it gets anywhere near ready to eat!

[Tak]

Originally Posted by Roberta

This year I have planted gooseberries, raspberries, loganberries, blueberries, and both red and white grapes. I've also had a peach tree for 2 years and it flowers bu the fruit always dies before it gets anywhere near ready to eat!

Would love to grow lots of different berrys but I'm terrible with plants of any sort - I just manage to kill them all :/

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by Takhisis

Would love to grow lots of different berrys but I'm terrible with plants of any sort - I just manage to kill them all :/

Well all I've done is potted them and chucked them in the garden! They do the rest!

[Jonny69]

Kitten my grandma used to grow toms and it's down to the variety. She said get one called Tumbler and it's fine in a hanging basket. No more than 2 plants per basket and keep them nice and watered and feed regularly. You're a bit too late this year if you want to start from seed, they need to be started around April ideally but saying that our summers have been going on very late so they will still fruit going on past experience. Best to get them as plants and pot them up nicely.

I'm quite lucky to have particularly green fingers but naturally I want to optimise my crop

[Roberta]

Gooseberries tend to need a year or 2 to get their roots established in my experience. After that I've noticed you'll get a huge harvest one year and a small one the year after!

[Jonny69]

I think the plant over-exerts itself bearing too much fruit and compromises itself for the next year. I've heard this is why you should cut the runners off when they sprout. However I've also heard that if they are pot-bound they send off lots of runners which they don't do it they are in a field etc.

[Roberta]

Mine is pot bound at present. Have to sort out garden so should be planted next spring.

I just learned you should cut off 10% of the fruit when it is small to allow the other berries to grow big.

[Jonny69]

But, but, but...

I can't bring myself to do it

[Lynnie_pitch nee Leigh]

Originally Posted by kitten_caboodle

i'm about to invest in a little fake-greenhouse for the garden. Been told it's too late to start with tomatos and chillis though, but don't trust the person who told me

She also said that the tomato hanging baskets didn't work well because the shape doesn't allow the goodness to travel the length of the plant. A friend of mine says they are great though.

So I'd be interested in some advice too if anyone has any on good ways to start off.

For tomatoes my dad used to put them in a propergator (It heats the soil, makes the plant think its a nice time of year ) then he'd plant them up in the green house. But we haven't got one anymore, so I pretty ****ing useless really telling you that

Strawberries - these lot say it better than me:

The three year life cycle
Strawberry plants have a 3 year cycle…. the first year you get a small crop…the second year you get a large crop, and possibly the third year, but after three years, they lose their oomph…. so you need to replace your plants,

Take runners during the first year to make sure you have a second year crop all the time. When strawberries are growing well, they throw out tendrils, which grow miniature plants on the end, and they are the runners. When they get to a size of 3 or 4 leaves, then cut off the runner, and plant it in a pot of good multi-purpose compost, and keep well-watered. When you take the runners in the first year, do not let the runner plant crop. Just let it sit, and produce leaves. They are called maiden plants…. if flowers look like opening, take them off. Don't forget to label and date your runners. Remove surplus runners, and make sure you keep your plants well weeded if growing them in the ground.

When watering, do not wet the fruits, as they will develop botrytis, so use a watering can, and gently water near the crowns. Do not use a hosepipe, as it will spray the fruits, and disease will follow.

http://doctorgreenfingers.co.uk/

When we used to grow them at the allotment, we had a section for the strawberries and they basically looked after them selves, new ones grew, old ones died and we just tidied up tbh, never grown them in pots so think advice above is better