My fingers are still white - and I live in a flat!

Lotus-eater

nodwah wrote: »

Ceridwen don't worry about how far apart they are - the blight spores are floating about in the air and will land on them regardless - it's more down to how wet the summer is whether they get affected or not.

Just don't grow them in the same compost next year if poss - but to be honest I often do and it's very wet here and I get away with it!

Thats basically what I often say as well.

Ceridwen, its more what happens when they do get blight, not stopping them getting it. I find potatoes are slightly more susceptible than tomatoes. so often it will transfer to tomatoes, it seems to me.

Its important you deal with it in the right way as soon as you see blight.

Penny_Farthing_2

I've found it pays to be really vigillant with blight and pick off every leaf with any sign of blight as soon as you see it. If you can do that, it seems that the blight doesn't reach the stems and you can still get a crop. Once the fruit has set, the plant hardly needs any leaf area to keep going and the fruit ripens better because it gets more light.

I've also read somewhere that if you can, it's best to get tomatoes off to an early start so that you can get some fruit before the blight really kicks in. Don't worry if you are growing them on a window indoors and they get a bit tall (leggy). When you put them into their big container outside, you can bury the stem deeply. I've sunk them in by about half their total height. I took the leaves that would be below soil level off first though.

If you follow the instructions on the packet ant take the side branches off as they grow, the plants won't take up much space really - about a foot to 18 inches wide.

I know nothing about growing toms and pots together as I grew potatoes in old bins once and decided it wasn't worth the effort - or the cost of the compost.

I remember chitting potatoes (putting thenm in egg boxes on a windowsill and waiting for them to sprout shoots). It depends on you variety when you need to do this. You put a layer of compost about 4 inches thick on the bottom of the sack. Put the potatoes with the sprouty end up on the surface of that then carefully cover with compost until you can't see anything. Careful as the sprouty bits are brittle.

ceridwen

Thanks for that useful comment Pennyfarthing. Re blighted potato leaves - what are the signs to look out for? Will the leaf turn black or summat?

Errr...and very silly question time....re putting potatoes in eggboxes on windowsill to sprout shoots - is the eggbox lid open or shut? I presume I would need to cut off the eggbox lid - so as to enable light to get to the potatoes?

Lotus-eater

ceridwen wrote: »

Thanks for that useful comment Pennyfarthing. Re blighted potato leaves - what are the signs to look out for? Will the leaf turn black or summat?

Errr...and very silly question time....re putting potatoes in eggboxes on windowsill to sprout shoots - is the eggbox lid open or shut? I presume I would need to cut off the eggbox lid - so as to enable light to get to the potatoes?

The leaves turn black and sometimes slimy and the blight will move at an amazing pace. For potatoes cut the leaves right back to the ground and the leave the spuds in the ground for a while before digging up.

For tomatoes, try to do what pennyfarthing says, although if one plant gets too much blight, pull it up to give the others a chance.

Silly question, yes light available

ceridwen

Thanks for that - on a "waste not, want not" basis then that sounds like good advice. Duly noted - potato plants about to be cut right back if I dont like the look of those leaves - and I can still eat the blighters...

Ta.

Lotus-eater

ceridwen wrote: »

potato plants about to be cut right back if I dont like the look of those leaves - and I can still eat the blighters...

You can still eat them, its more usual for tomatoes (the fruit) to get blight, they go brown or black and the taste is such, that you won't make that mistake again....

noonesperfect

Last year I was unlucky and lost all my tomatoes, I think it was blight . The leaves, stems and fruit were all affected. The fruit seemed to go brown from the inside IYKWIM.
Fortunately my potatoes were unscathed :j . I reused the potato compost to grow some spring onions......

Patchwork_Quilt

InDebted2U wrote: »

Particularly interested in growing beans and seeds, as we eat/use a lot of those (veggie household), so can anyone recommend any that grow well in the UK? I've got a lovely south-facing fence I was planning on training them up, although it's not very wide, but perhaps I could have several rows at different heights?

Last year, we had a really good year with broad beans. We are still eating them. It was a very ordinary own brand packet of seeds but I can't remember the variety ...

Also, I would recommend growing purple beans, so that you can see where they are when you want to harvest.