The even bigger and better and hopefully not lower bits of growing your own in 2022!

Suffolk_lass

I have a number of stunted, unproductive squashes, and at least two of my outdoor tomatoes look as though they will end up with half a dozen between them, so you are not alone.

To give your three remaining corn plants any chance of pollinating @MissRikkiC you need to plant them in a triangle - they are wind pollinated so maybe a feather to assist - advice is to plant them in a block (not fewer than 3x4 or 4x5 plants in a domestic setting is normal minimum, but you might be lucky).

My chillies have been producing for a month now and I have two large ziplock bags in the freezer and they are still flowering. Lots of hover flies in the greenhouse are helping. My little bud peppers drop off when not pollinated so if yours are holding on, watering and feeding, and plenty of space and light is the way to go. 

I have never grown potatoes for Christmas so can't comment.

Kale, carrots and beets are all suffering from a mole and lack of water

LessImpecunious

Around the end July / early Aug is recommended to plant Xmas spuds - there's a guide here (though they've run out of stock) https://www.simplyseed.co.uk/christmas-potato-seed.html

Alnat1

Thanks for a reminder for Christmas potatoes.

I tried it last year, think they got planted around the end of August, I ended up with some shop bought salad potatoes that had grown little legs while we were away. I put 4 in an egg-box on kitchen windowsill for a couple of weeks or so until the legs showed more purple/green colour. I put about 4 inch of compost in a bucket sized plant pot in the greenhouse and sat the spuds in it, covered them and kept topping up compost as they grew until the bucket was full. Harvested a few days before Christmas. Got plenty of lovely small tatties, from marble size to their parents size.

carinjo

I think i might try a few in a growbag too @Alnat1. I stopped watering my maincrop potatoes, will start digging them up next week. The last 2 years the maincrops kept well enough in a hessian bag for us to have roasties on xmas day, so will see the size of harvest.
Finally started harvesting tomatoes from pots at home, none yet on allotment. Since not expecting a big harvest this year, will enjoy it fresh and not use for preserving. 
Planning on clearing the rest of the cabbages and bolted calabrese from brassica tunnel this week and plant one of the kale seeds i got to use as baby leaves.
My purple sprouting brocolli starting to form, doing my best to keep it from bolting.

Fosterdog

I put my Christmas potatoes in a couple of weeks ago and they have flown up, I've been earthing up every few days and only have about an inch left in the pots to top them up. 

I harvested the onions a few days ago and have them drying, they are tiny this year, I have had just three carrots from the first sowing and only 2-3 from the second sowing still in. I might try a final sowing of some autumn kings and see if they come to anything. Also harvested the first cucumber, really tasty but none of the others are coming to much.

Out of the two sprouts I planted one is tiny and barely doing anything but the other is huge and hopefully going to give enough for Christmas dinner. Peppers and tomatoes also doing well.

Kantankrus_Mare

The spring onions I sowed and havent got around to using have grown large bulbs. Does anyone use these as onions or do I just need to discard them?

in_my_wellies

Kantankrus_Mare said:

The spring onions I sowed and havent got around to using have grown large bulbs. Does anyone use these as onions or do I just need to discard them?

During lockdown I went overboard planting everywhere and got mixed up. What I thought were leeks had turned into huge spring onions before I noticed. I left them to grow and used them as onions/leeks in casseroles / stir fry, etc. They were lovely, very sweet and not stringy. 

Suffolk_lass

in_my_wellies said:

Kantankrus_Mare said:

The spring onions I sowed and havent got around to using have grown large bulbs. Does anyone use these as onions or do I just need to discard them?

During lockdown I went overboard planting everywhere and got mixed up. What I thought were leeks had turned into huge spring onions before I noticed. I left them to grow and used them as onions/leeks in casseroles / stir fry, etc. They were lovely, very sweet and not stringy. 

Yes, American recipes often call for green onions - slightly older versions of spring onions as I understand it. Our main onions are drying before I plait them

carinjo

My golden plum tree has got these shoots coming up around the tree. One dig i tried i could not see if they came from a fallen pit or if it is a shoot from the main tree itself. Any ideas? I would like to do spot treatment on the shoots, but don't want to accidently kill the tree!I tried to research it, but no luck. 

carinjo

Ps. Most of the plums have little holes bored into them with a tiny worm munching away at the inside