Growing your own - is it worth it?

[doversoul1]

I've been trying to grow alpine strawberries. They took a long while to germinate, and at one time I had about 20 seedlings - probably about a 50% success rate for germination. Now I'm down to only a few - probably due to a combination of too much heat, too much water, too little water etc. I have thought about putting them outside to harden off, but that doesn't seem too great a technique either. I've been putting them out one at a time to see what happens, but I've lost a few more that way. This may turn out to have been a lot of work (well not really - but attention anyway ...) for no results, as the last few might die off.

I don't think keeping them in is a very good option either. Perhaps this is just going to have to be one of those "write it off to experience" circumstances.

I take it that you have the seedlings now (i.e. not back in spring)? Since they are perennial, you could sow them in spring when the condition is more suitable for seedlings. You can’t harvest very much in the first year but the plants are well established for the second year.

I used to grow lamb’s lettuce (corn salad) quite successfully but for the last 3-4 years, failed to let them germinate. I tried sowing both directly in the ground and in a tray. Very few came up and what came up just died. I am very disappointed, as this makes a very good winter salad.

[gradus]

I grow Alpine Strawberreies and they seem to thrive on neglect and being planted in shady dry-ish places, in fact they have multiplied without any effort on my part. Seedlings that were potted last year and forgotten about have also survived pretty well. So there are my Alpine Strawberry's growing secrets - neglect, shade and dry conditions, much the same treatment as I mete out to other plants!

[Cockney Sparrow]

I used to grow lamb’s lettuce (corn salad) quite successfully but for the last 3-4 years, failed to let them germinate. I tried sowing both directly in the ground and in a tray. Very few came up and what came up just died. I am very disappointed, as this makes a very good winter salad.

Perhaps a germination test would rule out seed viability as a cause?

http://www.underwoodgardens.com/easy-seed-germination-testing-at-home/#.V2V45_krIdW

[french frank]

I grow Alpine Strawberreies and they seem to thrive on neglect and being planted in shady dry-ish places, in fact they have multiplied without any effort on my part. Seedlings that were potted last year and forgotten about have also survived pretty well. So there are my Alpine Strawberry's growing secrets - neglect, shade and dry conditions, much the same treatment as I meet out to other plants!

Now - I have a tomato seedling looking very robust having apparently originated in my compost bin from a discarded tomato. Very inconveniently the blooming plant is in the pot where I have a nice potentilla. Is there any point in keeping it in the hope of getting a tomato or two - it's just coming into flower? (And, no, I don't want to make tomato chutney from green tomatoes that come too late to ripen).

[umslopogaas]

french frank, I think its worth a try, but if it was me I'd tip them out and move the tomato to a separate pot. Tomatoes appreciate plenty of fertiliser, whereas the potentilla probably wouldnt like such rich food.

[Zucchini]

Very inconveniently the blooming plant is in the pot where I have a nice potentilla. Is there any point in keeping it ... - it's just coming into flower?

Definitely. They miight fall in love and produce Tomatilla seed and you'll win trophies and cash prizes at village horticultural shows

[gradus]

If you can get it out of the potentilla pot with it's roots intact I'd also try potting it on but limit the flowering to one truss to give it a chance of setting usable fruit. We've had a lupin and one of those spiky phormium-like things that produce a great long central stem covered in waxy ivory-coloured flowers decide to join each other in the same pot. When the lupin had flowered I separated them and both parties seem ok.

[vinteuil]

Definitely. They might fall in love and produce Tomatilla seed and you'll win trophies and cash prizes at village horticultural shows

... as usual, the Simpsons have already got there before us.

D'uh - you don't remember the tomacco episode??

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-I-E-I-(Annoyed_Grunt)

[french frank]

Thank you for your thoughts. I don't think I can extricate the tomato plant from the roots of the potentilla (currently in full flower). As the flowers are only just appearing on the tomato, I wondered whether there was time for the fruit to ripen. Are people picking tomatoes yet?

[doversoul1]

Thank you for your thoughts. I don't think I can extricate the tomato plant from the roots of the potentilla (currently in full flower). As the flowers are only just appearing on the tomato, I wondered whether there was time for the fruit to ripen. Are people picking tomatoes yet?

Well, I don't see why a tomato plant can't stay where it is. Potentilla are pretty to look at but not tomato plants is only a cultural perception .

Tomatoes: I have been picking a few from the greenhouse and had one from outside. Rather slow this year.

Cheapside

Perhaps a germination test would rule out seed viability as a cause?
http://www.underwoodgardens.com/easy.../#.V2V45_krIdW

Thank you for your suggestion. The problem is that as germination very much depends on the actual condition the seeds are sown, testing in this way doesn’t tell you very much.

[gradus]

Just picked the first large toms (Ananas) today from the polytunnel, the small ones, both orange and red have been picking for the last two weeks inc outside-grown.

[gurnemanz]

No outdoor toms turning red yet but plenty of runner beans coming through.

[Dave2002]

I take it that you have the seedlings now (i.e. not back in spring)? Since they are perennial, you could sow them in spring when the condition is more suitable for seedlings. You can’t harvest very much in the first year but the plants are well established for the second year.

I started the seedlings months ago, then repotted them. I lost a few then, and then a few more. My thoughts about putting them outside went on hold, as first there seemed to be too much rain, and more recently too much sun. I still have a few left, which seem to be doing well enough indoors. The few I put outside appear not to have done so well, and only one survives, and it doesn't look too well.

I'll put it in a shadier place, and neglect it, and hope for the best, which seems to be the best advice so far. I'll leave the others inside for a while, and hope that they don't suffer any further problems.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Not food related, but we've been growing our own Christmas tree for a few years, humping it into the house every December, and out into the garden in January. So far, so good, but last Christmas it was becoming a little too heavy, so be bought a palette on castors from a local garden centre. The castors buckled under the strain, so I made my own palette and bought a set of industrial quality castors.

It works!

[greenilex]

An impressive feat, but I think you have constructed a pallet rather than a painter's palette...