The all new good, bad and ugly of growing your own in 2020

Suffolk_lass

DiggerUK said:

" Does anyone else feel that it is a strange year?".........I feel that every year, I've come to the conclusion that garden years are like folk......they're all queer.

We haven't got any black currants, but our granddaughter has. She came in to the kitchen just after the jam had been potted up, they would have gone in if we had remembered. She went home with a "nanna jam" and has been telling everybody that her black currants are in it, so we're still loved.  We made our own Cassis one year, never again, talk about faffing about.

Got another job to do now that I have been reminded, will need to get the French Beans in toilet rolls in glasshouse. Better late than never, one of my favourite veg..._

I'm going to make blackcurrant cordial with mine. My sister makes it. I am going to try a tweak to her recipe with the addition of campden tablets. Mary Berry uses them to act as a preservative in Elderflower cordial and I have made three batches of that this year. No need to preserve it as everyone has been drinking it!

Thanks @bloosooz, one of my friends alerted me. Quite a nasty contaminant. Personally I buy F1H squashes

greenbee

My poor tomatoes have been somewhat neglected - first of all they got very leggy on the dining room windowsill waiting for the greenhouse to be delivered and installed, and now they are rather overcrowded in the greenhouse as I couldn't bear to kill any of them off and couldn't get rid of anymore! They're all Gardener's delight (apart from one orange cherry tom given to me by a neighbour which is apparently similar) - I haven't pinched out any tops or side shoots, and it's now a jungle in there. Is it too late to rescue them? Any suggestions as to what I should be doing? I'm watering and feeding them - they're in a variety of pots (probably most smaller than they'd like) in compost, and the pots are in large gravel trays which I try to keep damp (I've got post-Covid fatigue so can't always manage to water as much as i'd like). The greenhouse has auto-openers on the vents and louvres, and most days I can make it out to open and close the doors. I've got a watering system, but need to get the water butt set up in order for it to work (a job for after I finish the raspberry netting, which I hope to get done this weekend). 

bluesooz

greenbee - I would be quite brutal with your toms as it's never too late to rescue them. (I always feel so guilty if i have to kill off any of my seedling too)
Have you got trusses of toms yet?  If so I'd just prune round any trusses you have, getting rid of as many side shoots as possible and just see what you have.  The plants won't mind losing a few leaves either if that makes it easier to see. The plants in the smaller pots probably won't give as big a crop as those in bigger pots but feeding will help.  Most guidelines reckon about 4 trusses to a plant, but mine tend to have as many as they want, till they reach about 5-6 foot before i stop the top. - as they're gardeners delight they will ripen quicker than the bigger toms, so not such a concern if they are still cropping later in the season. Are you in a cold part of the country? - my greenhouse doors are always left open at this time of year as it's still warm enough overnight.  

DiggerUK

I've heard as many arguments about how to prune and trim tomatoes as I have about the merits, or not, of hanging net curtains and putting milk in first or after pouring.

My take is that you do need leaf to photosynthesise natural sugars for the fruits, so I'm not a fan of a short back and sides that leaves you with a tomato stick in a pot. 

If the plant is looking a bit like our lovely leaders hair, trim all leaf growth back to a pair of large leaves, and take bluesooz advice and remove any side shoots. I'm with blue on leaving any fruits that are there to grow, just pinch out anything beyond them.

Still waiting to pick our first..._

bluesooz

flying ant day today, here.  One positive is that I've found the hole in the flooring where the ants were getting in the greenhouse.

ancientmum

I had a swarm of flying insects coming out of my compost bin today.  I think they are probably flying ants as they look nothing like house flies.  Is this normal and will they disperse or be eaten by birds?  Do I need to treat the compost in any way?  It is a mix of fruit and veg waste, tea and coffee grounds, eggshells, shredded paper, dead plants and grass cuttings. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thank you
L.

ancientmum

OK.
Just googled "flying ants" and apparently swarming is a phenomenon where males follow the queen and try to mate with her.
, so it's not just my compost bin!  It is on the allotment so no danger of them invading my house,  It made me feel cootie just looking at them.  And apparently gulls go crazy for them, so as we have plenty of those round here they should be gone quickly

carinjo

Finally got around to going to allotment yesterday, just been too tired. Dragged Ms C along with the promise she could dig up the charlotte potatoes. 8.8kg later! I honestly had no idea a few chitted potatoes can produce so much, and she says there still some in the ground. 
Harvested the last of the cos and rosso lettuce. Something went wrong between harvest and this morning: the heart of the cos all went rotten. Think i either waited too long before dunking them in water, or left them in water too long (overnight). 
Also harvested the last of the pak choi, next time will invest in netting to protect it from insects.
The gifted chard went crazy in last 10days, such beautiful, big leaves. Just harvested the outer leaves, going to blanch and freeze the lot.
My new favourite, leaf beet gave another bumper harvest and one plant has bolted. Going to try and harvest the seeds at a later date. 
Grabbed a few William's Pears, they came off the stem easily, so think they will ripen in fruit bowl ok.
Managed to get a few broadbeans, enough for a snack/side dish along with some leaf beet. 
My local garden centre got half price on seeds, got packet of green manure for the back plot and some borage to try out.
The herb and salad boxes at home doing well, as is the patti pan and tomato plants. Fingers crossed, going to do compound dill butter for the freezer tomorrow. 

greenbee

Thanks for the tomato advice. I hope to be able to spend some time sorting them out at the weekend! 

Broad beans are starting to look good, birds keeping eating the strawberries and raspberries before they are ripe (need to sort out netting properly for next year. Mangetout are also producing, but not enough to be significant, so I need to replan how I grow them next year. Lettuce just keeps on coming. My best crop is probably radishes... which I probably need to start sowing more of. 

MysteryMe

Have lots of green tomatoes, hopefully the weather will improve and they will start to ripen.