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

Suffolk_lass

Tabby_cat said:

@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.

Only because people typically tip their spent tomato grow-bags into their compost and being the same family as potatoes, it has the potential to spread fungal diseases. We also put kitchen waste on ours and tomato seeds have germinated all over the place this year

Suffolk_lass

Still picking and weeding here this week. And watering and feeding!

carinjo

Slowly working my way through the beds weeding and feeding. Harvested couple handfulls each runnerbeans and broadbeans and one huge courgette! Thanks @Suffolk_lass for advice. Also got a pears bottled in brandy recipe ready to go, but Mr R says i am too eager, another few weeks before i can start harvesting them. He gave some advice on the cabbages today and I offered him some of my blackcurrent bushes end of season, since i am not a fan and he loves them for his summerpuddings.
Ms C sorted out the shed for me today including hanging space so we got some room to move around. 
No luck in finding Maris Piper online, but did find Nicola, so going to get some for autumn harvest. 
At home the salad box almost finished now, made compound dill butter from the herb box and the sage cuttings left in a corner since i gave up on it, finally looking like it actually might go somewhere. Hope to put them in allotment next year.

Suffolk_lass

carinjo said:

Slowly working my way through the beds weeding and feeding. Harvested couple handfulls each runnerbeans and broadbeans and one huge courgette! Thanks @Suffolk_lass for advice. Also got a pears bottled in brandy recipe ready to go, but Mr R says i am too eager, another few weeks before i can start harvesting them. He gave some advice on the cabbages today and I offered him some of my blackcurrent bushes end of season, since i am not a fan and he loves them for his summerpuddings.
Ms C sorted out the shed for me today including hanging space so we got some room to move around. 
No luck in finding Maris Piper online, but did find Nicola, so going to get some for autumn harvest. 
At home the salad box almost finished now, made compound dill butter from the herb box and the sage cuttings left in a corner since i gave up on it, finally looking like it actually might go somewhere. Hope to put them in allotment next year.

We were given some homemade eau de vie to bring home from our friends in France (Charente-Maritime) last September. It was fantastic. I am seriously considering growing a Williams/Bartlett pear

DiggerUK

Re tomato grow bags, we overcome the problem of infection by tipping them on the patch we used for that years potatoes. We don't  put them in the compost.

Red Sprouts and Rainbow Chard have been mentioned, did somebody else get a birthday present from a Moonpiggy type place consisting of those seeds? Did they also come with Yellow Courgettes and Stripey Tomatoes? Our courgette failed.

Re pears, we have a long established Conference, and Bartlett, neither have fruited well,  fruits formed then disappeared. 

By chance we found someone online who said that it's main cause is because the fruits weren't pollinated, meaning the fruits never become fertile. This year for the first time we hand pollinated....et voila. Doesn't prove they were correct, but just could be correct. Anybody else.

There should be a law banning weeds from the onion beds 🤬..._

Charly27

Digger UK why stop at onion beds? I’m happy to have a blanket ban on weeds! Always think it means the soil is good. Though depends on weeds. Only managed a couple of hours each week at the allotment for the last fortnight. Not enough really but work is crazy. Have a week’s annual leave but away to gut DS’s bathroom. Harvested a couple of pounds of red gooseberries (netted so pigeons didn’t get them this year) will freeze and make jam, strawberries, one decent courgette, lettuce & a couple of pounds of very big, first earlies yesterday morning. Problem is we haven’t eaten a spud in over six weeks being low carb. Might have to try a few and then store as suggested and share with friends & neighbours.
Beans & sweetpeas are away finally, Cornflowers, Dahlias & Cosmos as well. Salad onions, radish and beet really slow. Go figure! Plum tree has leaf curl. Nasturtiums have blackfly despite repeated soapy water soaks. Anyway after mowing today should be okay for a week. Here’s a ‘fairy ring’ I found there yesterday.

Suffolk_lass

DiggerUK said:

Re tomato grow bags, we overcome the problem of infection by tipping them on the patch we used for that years potatoes. We don't  put them in the compost.

Red Sprouts and Rainbow Chard have been mentioned, did somebody else get a birthday present from a Moonpiggy type place consisting of those seeds? Did they also come with Yellow Courgettes and Stripey Tomatoes? Our courgette failed.

Re pears, we have a long established Conference, and Bartlett, neither have fruited well,  fruits formed then disappeared. 

By chance we found someone online who said that it's main cause is because the fruits weren't pollinated, meaning the fruits never become fertile. This year for the first time we hand pollinated....et voila. Doesn't prove they were correct, but just could be correct. Anybody else.

There should be a law banning weeds from the onion beds 🤬..._

I like your idea of putting spent tomato compost where you previously grew potatoes! Not sure it will all fit this year as I have over 30 plants (don't ask!) and potatoes are in an 8x6' bed.

Re pears - Conference are potentially self fertile but a second tree in pollination group 3 (which they are) should ensure they pollinate reliably. Williams (or Bartlett as USA calls them) are also group 3 so your problem is more likely to be a less than sheltered spot, or a late frost (which we get in the East), causing problems. Traditionally pears are most successful facing south or south west against a wall. There is also a suggestion that pears can cross-pollinate with a crab-apple which is known as a universal pollinator because of its long flowering period. A small crab-apple (such as Malus jelly king) is worth its' space in most small domestic gardens as they are lovely and decorative and good sources of pollination (and the fruits make excellent jelly to serve with cold meats). Pears are one fruit we do not grow currently but not sure why

-taff

Just in  case you don't look at the Old Style board

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/77422437#Comment_77422437

Suffolk_lass

-taff said:

Just in  case you don't look at the Old Style board

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/77422437#Comment_77422437

Thanks for re-posting the message @-taff, I had just opened my messages to the same message from Mrs Un. He has been much missed on here, and very sad to hear of his passing. He had been defying the odds for a long time prior to the pandemic, but very sad. A lot of wisdom.

peewhyeff

Picked my 1st runner bean yesterday, and 1st tomato today. One rogue bean, all other runner beans still only tiddlers.  Same with toms, dozens of toms as green as grass yet this was one full size and proper red just right for picking.  Very odd.