veg growing Newbies- Feb 2010! lets learn together!

kimmee

janibrown wrote: »

When peas have flowered how long is it until you can harvest them ?
Thanks Jani:)

Hi Jani - wait until the pods are fat & firm to the touch and with no 'give' when you press them lightly. It will be a couple of weeks between flowering and this stage. I got this tip from a post on here (sorry, can't remember who posted ) and the poster also said not to leave them any longer as the peas would be hard and not tender. HTH

Lotus-eater

misskool wrote: »

redfraggle: looks like blossom end rot (BER) from erratic watering while the fruit is forming.

@Redfraggle
Agreed, make sure your watering regime is constant from now on, to make sure the rest of the fruit will be ok. You can still use those tomatoes, you will just need to cut out a small amount of them when you eat them.

Ugly tomatoes though! What variety are they?

I think you have been a bit severe with the cutting of the leaves, bit early for that yet, don't cut any more off for a while, unless they go yellow.
The plant may have stopped producing fruit because you cut off the leaves, it will grow more before starting fruit production again. The rest of the fruit on the flower trusses will come along, no need to panic.
Make sure you feed them properly.

lolly5648

How often should you feed vegetables? I have been giving everything a feed once a week with tomato feed - is this OK, should it be more often and are there any veg that don't like tomato food?

unhappy_shopper

Yesterday I picked 3 courgettes from my plants and made ratatouille with this recipe.

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2903/ratatouille

It counts as 4 of 5-a-day, oh my.

There is nothing better than eating food you have grown yourself. :j.
Hope many in this forum agree with this.

Redfraggle_3

Thanks Misskool and Lotus-eater

I work shifts so have been watering them sometimes before work and sometimes after. Will make sure I am more consistant from now on!

No more "haircuts" for a while either. I was trying to uncover the plants as I wondered if they werent getting enough sun.

They are Beefsteak tomatoes from B&Q- they really are hideous:rotfl:I hope they taste better than they look!!!!

Out of interest- How long roughly does it take for fruits to turn red?

Wayne1983 - yes they are grown in the house. I have a sort of lean to type thing attached to the house which has windows all the way round and a clear plastic corregated roof. I is hideously ugly but very useful!

Lotus-eater

Redfraggle wrote: »

They are Beefsteak tomatoes from B&Q- they really are hideous:rotfl:I hope they taste better than they look!!!!

Out of interest- How long roughly does it take for fruits to turn red?

Possibly a Marmonade tomato, I've grown some that looked a bit like that.

Take as long as they take, is the easy answer. They will probably grow some more fruit before they start ripening the ones you have. Although you never really know.
I always put banana skins round the bottom of mine, it can help to ripen them and contains nutrients the plants love anyway. Win, win.

lolly5648

I am also growing beefsteak tomatoes, they grow really big and are mis-shapen but are very tasty. Good for salads and for slicing.

bizliz27

Thanks Slinky. It was me with the small holes in my strawberry leaves. I'll keep a look out for the slugs now!

I was also wondering, my aubergine plant has side shoots (much like tomato side shoots) and I was wondering do I nip these out like you do with tomato plants?

thank you
Elizabeth (bizliz27)

Greenbynature

Lotus-eater wrote: »

I always put banana skins round the bottom of mine, it can help to ripen them and contains nutrients the plants love anyway. Win, win.

Am so glad you wrote that about banana skins! I remember reading somewhere last year about using them and started putting brown bananas, that no one would eat, round the base of my clematis, a positive side effect to this is the slugs seem to be eating the bananas and not my plants! :j Wasn't sure to try it on my toms tho, just read about it for my flowers/shrubs. thanks

spendaholic

I know it's a bit late in the year to be joining this, but that's what I'm going to do. I've been really short of funds and need to start from scratch and even get a shed.

I've gone from having a nice, big vegetable garden (apx 20' square) to a teeny tiny yard (apx 14' x 10'), and from being in a couple to being single. This means I only need to grow what I want, like and eat.

I have 2 minarette apple trees in a pot each, one is doing great, the other hasn't even come into leaf this year, but when I pruned it, there was green wood. Maybe I just need to look after that a bit.

In the past I've put cherry toms in hanging baskets, planted with marigolds that attract the pollinators and make the baskets look attrractive while the toms are just growing. Then, when the marigolds have gone over, the toms come into their own. I had 2 baskets and had such a glut of cherry toms I was giving them away by the pound several times a week.

So I know I can do it, I just need to start planning now maybe for next year - and get that shed. No point getting a greenhouse as where it will go gets no sunlight whatsover.

Not caught up on all the thread yet, but will do, and apologise if I've duplicated anything.