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

Dizzy_Ditzy

Hello! 

Just popping my head in to see how you are all doing  

My allotment is a weed fest at the mo. My gran passed away and we spent every spare minute dealing with her flat but now we have handed it back, its been time to get our own houses in order, quite literally in my case! I had accumulated so much clutter where I hadnt had time to deal with it Although i have been to the allotment, i have only done the bare minimum while I have been there so havent done any weeding. Hopefully that will change in the next few days. I've been pulling up potatoes, onions, garlic and shallots, picking peas, beans and carrots My courgettes are hopeless this year. Of 8 plants, I have had two courgettes. TWO! I cant even blame it on the seeds being the dodgy ones. I have 4 at the plot and 3 at home. One went over the fence because it was infested with blackfly. 

This year has sucked so far. I do hope it gets better! 

MysteryMe

Yeah, my courgettes are not doing anything special. Not had one plant form yet!

Tabby_cat

Hello All,
I've thoroughly enjoyed reading all your exploits, triumphs and failures, over the months and thought I should chip in a question.
Can someone advise please, this is the first year I've grown new potatoes and I've grown them in those vegetable bags. I've been harvesting a few for about 3 or 4 weeks now, but putting back any which are too small to eat at the moment (hopefully keeping the roots attached). This week the leaves turned yellow and storks flopped over. Should I harvest the lot, or can I just cut the storks off and leave them in the bags until I want to use them? If I leave them in the bags, would it be a good idea to move them into the shed to prevent them getting wet and mouldy? 
Many thanks in advance.

DiggerUK

It's a BBQ day, sitting around doing £ugger all day, drinking the elderflower champagne in the sun day Sunday, reading in the summerhouse day.

Sorry won't  will happen again..._

[Deleted User]

Sounds good digger! 😊🍾 
Tabby, I can't advise unfortunately as I don't know anything about potato growing but hope it works out! 😊 
I've had a few courgettes off my green courgette plant and there are two on my yellow ones that will be cut today - I'm sure when I grew them years ago that I had shed loads but I'm pretty happy with anything I get this year as everything went in so late!! 
This morning, I saw my first baby tomato has started to form!! 🙌 I'm over the moon with that (although I couldn't find it again when I went to show dh! 😂) we still have lots of flowers so fingers crossed they work! 
I've got loads of rainbow chard to harvest - to be honest I'd forgotten I'd put it in and as it's next to the rainbow beetroot, I thought it was that! 🙈 I'll harvest it today and cook it later - I'll probably dehydrate some too as I have a lot to pick 😉 Runner beans and climbing french beans have started to get flowers on them and my cannellini beans have some pods too 😊 the spaghetti squash has a number of squash forming and the butternut looks like it's also started, the herbs are doing great, salad leaves are mental as are the radishes. The red brussel sprout plants are looking great as is the tuscan kale - think I weeded out my calabrese though 🙈😂 
All in all, I'm pretty happy with the results so far - just wish we had a bit more sunshine 😉

basketcase

Sounds like you're really doing well, squirrelgirl.

You have red Brussell Sprouts?  I'd be jealous if it wasn't undignified!   I  bought some seeds, but couldn't get them sown in time, so they're saved for next year.

Suffolk_lass

mmn @carinjo - Williams pears - in alcohol with a bit of sugar. Yum!

We got back from a weekend away to find DS had been too frugal with the watering in the greenhouse and suddenly a load of tomatoes have gone brown underneath (blossom end rot) and the other half had all fallen over (carnage) - it took us about an hour to pick and tie them up. My poor melon is all yellow-leaved where he has drowned it with no feed. I will see if I can recover it a bit. I then spent a couple of hours picking in the veg garden.

So many courgettes (only 2 trying to be marrows, to be fair he picked 2) - I find they grow faster and produce more fruits the more you pick them - so pick as soon as tiddlers are there and the plant "thinks" it is failing to reproduce and the fruits get faster and bigger. I picked a punnet of strawberries, the same of sungold tomatoes and a trug full of beans. Runners are two handfuls but the dwarf french beans I have two thirds of a trug full. I have prepped three giant bags of courgettes to freeze ready for soup later on.

@Tabby_cat When the leaves suddenly collapse on my potatoes I chop the top-growth off to the ground immediately as I always fear a fungal infection (Blight, I assume) that starts with the leaves and spreads to the tubers (showing as tiny craters on the potatoes) - I test them for evidence on the potatoes because if there is, they do not store well. If you dig them up, you can store them in either a box of fresh dry compost or soil, or in a hessian bag - but don't think they will be OK if they are damaged - they will rot and take the surrounding tubers with them). You can still eat them (or cook and freeze them). Make sure you don't grow potatoes in the same place next year (if in pots, completely fresh compost, not from your heap) and remember tomatoes are the same family.

@Dizzy_Ditzy - I feel for you. Our garden is a mass of not-chopped down spring seed heads (aquilega) and rampant weeds - and the paths are just a riot of weeds. Got some stuff to spray but they are so well established I think I shall have to get down and dirty with a fork this afternoon.

carinjo

Just a quick question: I am looking to stick some potatoes in the ground for autumn/christmas. Are there any big difference between Maris Piper and Maris Peer? The first not easy to find quickly online at the moment, but can get the second one no problem. It will be for roasties mainly. And need to be able to store it, struggled a bit with the charlottes, probably should not have dug it all up in one go! 

Tabby_cat

@Tabby_cat When the leaves suddenly collapse on my potatoes I chop the top-growth off to the ground immediately as I always fear a fungal infection (Blight, I assume) that starts with the leaves and spreads to the tubers (showing as tiny craters on the potatoes) - I test them for evidence on the potatoes because if there is, they do not store well. If you dig them up, you can store them in either a box of fresh dry compost or soil, or in a hessian bag - but don't think they will be OK if they are damaged - they will rot and take the surrounding tubers with them). You can still eat them (or cook and freeze them). Make sure you don't grow potatoes in the same place next year (if in pots, completely fresh compost, not from your heap) and remember tomatoes are the same family.

@Suffolk_lass - Thanks for the advice, greenery cut off and all potatoes are looking good so must have caught them before any problems. But I'll keep checking them to be sure. Could  you please explain why I can't use compost from my heap. I used compost from my heap this year but it was the first year I've tried growing them.
Thanks once again.

silverwhistle

squirrelgirl said:

 think I weeded out my calabrese though 🙈😂

Hurrah!  It means I'm not alone. :-)