The all new 2019 growing your own thread!

euronorris

Thanks for the tip about Marigolds. We avoided using them as they also attract slugs, and we were inundated with them here the first year we tried growing anything. But there are still white fly on my tomatoes! Grrr. I ordered some yellow sticky white fly tape stuff to hang on the plants, in the hope that gets quite a few of them. Hasn't arrived yet. And I've heard that foil around the base of the plants can also deter them.


My tomatoes are flowering like crazy, and seem to be setting fruit (the odd flower drop here and there - am putting it down to the heat), but I can still only see ONE tomato growing. The rest seem to be stunted at the initial stage and I don't know why! Any ideas?

unrecordings

Didn't manage to get out yesterday, but picked my first padron peppers (grown indoors) and Mrs Un delivered the first three raspberries and a blinder of a courgette (approx 4" - just right)

In terms of germination, fruit set, failure, pests - I just go with the flow now - could be the weather, the viability of the seeds (either age or strain/supplier), local conditions, timing, luck...

...for the whitefly, maybe you need to attract ladybirds (obviously not while there's sticky stuff being tried) - in lieu of that stuff in the post, you could try double sided tape attached to a strip of card, or loop over a bit of normal tape so it's sticky side out, or maybe try one of those sofa/fluff roller things..? Interesting you mention the foil - so that means the whitefly are hatching (?) in the compo and somehow making their way up the stem ? Maybe a loose sticky collar at the base of the stem is the way to go (just a random thought)

Suffolk_lass

unrecordings wrote: »

..for the whitefly, maybe you need to attract ladybirds (obviously not while there's sticky stuff being tried) - in lieu of that stuff in the post, you could try double sided tape attached to a strip of card, or loop over a bit of normal tape so it's sticky side out, or maybe try one of those sofa/fluff roller things..? Interesting you mention the foil - so that means the whitefly are hatching (?) in the compo and somehow making their way up the stem ? Maybe a loose sticky collar at the base of the stem is the way to go (just a random thought)

Did you know you can buy ladybirds (adults and larvae) to assist with control? - for about £15-25 (sold in 50s typically) - I know Amazing do them but so do Crocus and some of the organic gardening suppliers

unrecordings

I found this too:

https://getridofthings.com/get-rid-of-whiteflies/

euronorris

We actually have ladybirds in the garden. Mostly on a bush down the other end of the garden, but there were loads of babies, which are turning into fully fledged ladybirds. I moved a couple onto the veg trug, but they didn't seem to stay there (the bush up the other end is covered in blackfly, so a bigger feast for them I guess).

Primrose

Serves me right for buying a cheap Passion flower in garden centre's poorly plants section. It had lots of faded flowers on it but was wound round and round and round in one of those circular plastic hoop things stuck into a pot.

By the time I got it home and tried to disentangle the three separate shoots on it so I could train it up a trellis two of them had snapped right off and the remaining one was damaged near the base of the plant. I expect that will now proceed to die on me too !

Mnd

Norris, give the tomato plants a good shake twice a day to disperse the pollen. Either/or get a fine artists brush and brush into each flower to pollinate.

dinner tonight, lettuce, salad onions, new pots AND beetroot...first this year.

Day off the plot tomorrow, real work!

Hope everyone'should gardens are doing OK.

PipneyJane

Morning All

A quick question to the knowledgeable: do I need to be worried about the odd yellowing leaf on the potatoes and/or tomatoes? I am talking about one on each plant at most. Many thanks.

I've already been out in the garden this morning. Our carrots are coming along treat, as are the garlic, the tomatoes and the potatoes. I think the courgettes are a little root-bound in their grow bag - they are well watered but we've only got finger-sized tiddlers, some of which we've had for a couple of weeks. Last year, they'd have been batons by now.

My main reason for being out and about in the garden was to spray weedkiller in the front garden. It's "Invasion of the Flower Bed Snatchers" out there; some are colonising the lawn, too. I had to wait until the last of the spring bulbs had completely died back, now it's War!

- Pip



PS: What i do with the courgettes: as well as drizzling with oil and roasting in the oven, I'll grate them and freeze in 250g bags to add to meat-based sauces as padding (chilli, bolognese, keema, etc). There's also Nigella Lawson's Courgette Cake which is a family favourite. if I'm using frozen grated courgette, I'll add a little less liquid.

unrecordings

PipneyJane wrote: »

A quick question to the knowledgeable: do I need to be worried about the odd yellowing leaf on the potatoes and/or tomatoes? I am talking about one on each plant at most.

As far as potatoes go, the foliage should start to die back when the tubers are nearly ready to lift

Suffolk_lass

PipneyJane wrote: »

Morning All

A quick question to the knowledgeable: do I need to be worried about the odd yellowing leaf on the potatoes and/or tomatoes? I am talking about one on each plant at most. Many thanks.


PS: What i do with the courgettes: as well as drizzling with oil and roasting in the oven, I'll grate them and freeze in 250g bags to add to meat-based sauces as padding (chilli, bolognese, keema, etc). There's also Nigella Lawson's Courgette Cake which is a family favourite. if I'm using frozen grated courgette, I'll add a little less liquid.

Re potatoes - As unrecordings said, this may be normal - just watch they don't suddenly get brown botches on the leaves and start collapsing as this can be blight (in which case you need to act fast to try and stop it spreading and impacting your potatoes)

Thanks for the courgette suggestions - I am off out to get a lime today for the cake...