If, like me, you cannot resist cheap little plants (whether at the budget grocery store or the garden centre bargain table), you may be interested to know that Aldi has plants in at the moment.

Fruits: Summer and autumn raspberries (Autumn bliss, but can't remember the summer), blackberry, redcurrant, gojiberry, tayberry, loganberry, green and red gooseberries, and probably a few more.

Euonymus, clematis, calla lilies, and several other varieties.

I have grown six  Habanero chilli plants which are now ripening. The problem is that the fruits are only the size of a large pea? I have kept them watered and gave them a feed once a fortnight. The plants look healthy but the fruits are tiny.

Any idea of what I have done wrong SC?

I'm in the market for some new anti-insect mesh to protect my alliums from the leaf miner and brassicas from flea beetle and as my hoops made from left over rebar aren't really big enough I though I'd invest in some supports too. But why is everything round, meaning that the outside edges can't be easily used?
Does anybody make/sell rectangular frames to support mesh or plastic? I can't find anything on the French market, beyond modular solid plastic cloches.
I may have to set MrPP a task, although he still hasn't made the bench from the tree my neighbour cut down three years ago ...

http://bristol.ac.uk/cabot/news/2020/app...edR_EE703A

Interesting research project to identify apple varieties from their leaves - but more leaves are needed. 
Wish I lived nearer - I have lots of unidentified apples.

Just having a wander round the garden today and noticed this cherry tree trunk...is the tree dying? The leaves seem healthy enough though.

   

Afternoon folks

Earlier in the year I sowed asparagus and rhubarb from seed and both seem to be doing well.

The question I have is should I leave them in their pots until next year or plant out in beds now?

TIA

This is not really a problem as I have 2 cucumbers in the fridge and there are still 4 growing slowly on the plant but the leaves on the main stem turned pale green then yellow and now are dead. There is a cucumber near the top and a few green leaves at the end still may be growing. 2 other vines (same plant) are on the floor with 3 smallish fruit still growing and some leaves on them, again some have yellowed. This picture was taken 2 weeks ago and most of the leaves in the picture are now dead:

   

Any ideas what the cause is likely to be (ignore the nettles in the background)?

Hello all!

I'm looking for some soft fruit recommendations. Anniversary gift for my partner, so trying to channel his preferences in my description.

We're on heavyish soil with some clay and some stones (though has been improved over the years) at the top of a very gently sloping site - not too exposed and windy but will probably get frost over the winter.

He was really impressed with a fruit that our plot neighbors grow - elongated, shiny, black fruit, must be a blackberry hybrid. Not sure what they were called though and never see our plot neighbors to ask! We have a boysenberry, some raspberries, and (unintentionally, of course) lots of wild blackberries. Any recommendations for one of the other blackberry hybrids?

Also, he rescued a white grape variety from a discount table at the garden centre. But it's actually a wine variety and that will be a totally new adventure for us (why not?! hate to see a plant go to waste). Any recommendations for an eating variety (any color) that will grow in Birmingham?

We also have black, white, and red currants, and strawberries (plus rhubarb and some fruit trees). He says he doesn't care for gooseberries. I'll probably buy some blueberry plants for my little one separately, which I'll need to care for in pots as our soil isn't acidic enough for them. Prefer something that can be planted in the ground. I think he'd also be interested in late-season strawberries. We're planning to get a fruit cage sorted for next year, so can be something that needs protection.

So, the short version: any suggestions for blackberry hybrids? eating grapes? late-season strawberries? any other must-grow soft fruits?

Thanks!

Hi all,

I sowed some creeping thyme which has turned into loads and loads of very little seedlings. Do I prick out one by one or, like lobelia, prick out little clumps together?

Thanks!

Just received an email from Plants of Distinction that's a bit worrying:-

[b]New rules coming into place at the end of the year[/b]

will mean that we are unable to continue offering the wide selection of Heirloom Tomatoes that many of you have enjoyed growing over the years.

Our new catalogue will be available in a few weeks and you will see a big change in the Tomato section. We do have lots of lovely new varieties to tempt you, however most of the heritage varieties we have all come to love will no longer be included and so whilst we are still able, we wanted to give you a chance to grow these favourites for one last time.

Familiar names such as Black from Tula, Caspian Pink, Halladay’s Mortgage Lifter, Hill Billy Potato Leaf, Japanese Trifle Black, Lemon Tree, and Russian Black are just a few of the varieties disappearing from the UK for good.
.............................................

I presume this is something to do with Brexit or ?paying to register seed varieties?

Whatever the cause, its all the more reason for us to save heritage/open pollinated seeds before they disappear for good.