Allotments

[Caff]

Originally Posted by Taf

http://www.packetseeds.com/acatalog/...-_Koralik.html

The fruit comes as normal once the plants are transplanted and fed almost immediately (there is always some food in the new compost they have been moved into). Despite the cold last autumn/winter, we still had ripe fruits to pick at Xmas in our (unheated) polycarb greenhouse. The plants were on their last legs though. Ones planted outside produced just a few less fruit, and ALL survived the blight that drifts through here every year.

Oh Thanks for the clarification.
I always go for Totem or a Tumbling Tom and then eat them like sweets and forcefeed the family with them
You and your polycarb
I bring mine into the conservatory in September and drive everyone mad having to nurture and inspect them every day
What blight do/might you get?

[Caff]

I have no allotment - just a couple of raised beds and lots of pots on the patio.
I've found that the tomatoes are absolutely racing away this year. Plenty of top growth and flowers but no trusses set yet though.
Is anyone finding the same?
Salad has been doing fantastically well to - I have to give it away to neighbours and passing strangers (the Tesco delivery men will back me up on that )

[Taf]

The Koraliks outside here have several baby toms on them already, though the plants look like they want to top out at about 2 feet! Perhaps a sideshoot will romp away when the weather improves.

A couple of their fruit fell onto the greenhouse floor last year... this year I have been treated to about 30 plants that shot up from the gravel in there!

It's climbing beans that are struggling me... they don't like this almost constant wind.

We've been eating Cucino cucumbers from the greenhouse for about a month already..... I might get sick of them raw and start pickling them.

[Kymmy]

Lots of strawberry cream sponge cakes this year

Potatoes are doing well and so are squash.. Grapes being in their 2nd year have grown tremendously and so has the kiwi

Black/redcurrants have been attacked by crows

Tomatoes are doing good, half up the allotment and half in the MILs greenhouse.

Beans (french and broad), leeks, onions and garlic also doing great.

Lots of rain showers this past month so great growing weather...

[Caff]

Originally Posted by Taf

The Koraliks outside here have several baby toms on them already, though the plants look like they want to top out at about 2 feet! Perhaps a sideshoot will romp away when the weather improves.

A couple of their fruit fell onto the greenhouse floor last year... this year I have been treated to about 30 plants that shot up from the gravel in there!

It's climbing beans that are struggling me... they don't like this almost constant wind.

We've been eating Cucino cucumbers from the greenhouse for about a month already..... I might get sick of them raw and start pickling them.

Originally Posted by Kymmy

Lots of strawberry cream sponge cakes this year

Potatoes are doing well and so are squash.. Grapes being in their 2nd year have grown tremendously and so has the kiwi

Black/redcurrants have been attacked by crows

Tomatoes are doing good, half up the allotment and half in the MILs greenhouse.

Beans (french and broad), leeks, onions and garlic also doing great.

Lots of rain showers this past month so great growing weather...

Shield the beans with your body, Taf I take it they are runners? What about some very loose plastic ties?
We've had virtually no rain at all for weeks Kymmy - just the pathetic kind that drives roots to the surface so lots of moving the trickling hose around every half hour.
And my red/blackcurrents don't even seem to be showing an interest.

[techguyone]

I have three plants in a Tomorite jumbo growbag, in bottomless pots, in a plastic greenhouse thingy, all are doing well, 1x Gardeners Delight (cherries) & 2 x Alicante (regular sized) The cherries are showing flowers now. Last year I had issues with dodgy watering (too little, then too much)
So this year I'm trying to be a bit more scientific about it.

I'm currently watering each plant 1 litre a day (so 3 litres overall in the growbag) there's holes punctured in the bottom of the growbag to stop it from running the risk of it turning into a pond..

The plants atm seem to be thriving, nice uniform green, no yellowing or rotten looking stalks indicating too little or too much water, is 1 litre a day about right?

The greenhouse is sited where it gets the sun (if we have any) from about 1pm to sunset)

[Osem]

Got 16 large tomato plants outdoors in the garden all doing very nicely with the first trusses of fruits already being golf ball size. I've tried dozens of varieties (including beef, cherry, plum & various exotics) since I was a lad with an allotment behind our old house but only use Tomato Harzfeuer F1 now. It's an exceptional plant which grows well, fruits very heavily and most important of all, produces large, sweet and very succulent, flavourful tomatoes.

[Taf]

I found some old copper piping in a skip, flattened it and bent into rings. Placed around my plants they have been very effective at keeping the slugs and snails at bay so far.

But this eyar the biggest pest has been ants carrying aphids to the tops of many plants where they milk them for honeydew.

Red ants too for the first time in many, many years. Is it true that their sting is worse than black ants?

[Osem]

Originally Posted by Taf

I found some old copper piping in a skip, flattened it and bent into rings. Placed around my plants they have been very effective at keeping the slugs and snails at bay so far.

But this eyar the biggest pest has been ants carrying aphids to the tops of many plants where they milk them for honeydew.

Red ants too for the first time in many, many years. Is it true that their sting is worse than black ants?

That's odd, this year we don't seem to have any on our fruit at all. Our apple, plum and pear trees were full of them last year but not a sign of any aphids or their ant 'minders' so far...

[Taf]

Loads of gardeners around here are moaning about ants and their aphid herds. The birds are having a go, as are the Ladybirds, but it's a full-on infestation so far this year.

I have noticed that the slugs are mainly Leopards types, and not Keels as usual.

I've just been out in the greenhouse pricking-out dozens of Pak Choi and Chinese Lettuce... I think I heard a slug burp outside....

[Osem]

Looks like all ours migrated west then Taf. Seriously, I can't remember ever seeing fewer aphids about.

[Taf]

If you want several billion just come and shake the council trees in our street!

[techguyone]

Before it gets lost with the aphids, is my 3 litres/day water regime going to be ok (see my last post a few back for more details.

It's that time of the year again.
Kymmy, Have you got any tips on growing potato's in containers?
Last years effort at growing veg was a disaster, so I thought about trying again on a smaller scale and in containers, rather than in the garden.

TIA

[Osem]

Originally Posted by yesman

It's that time of the year again.
Kymmy, Have you got any tips on growing potato's in containers?
Last years effort at growing veg was a disaster, so I thought about trying again on a smaller scale and in containers, rather than in the garden.

TIA

Potatoes can be grown quite successfully in heavy duty gardening/laundry bags or old compost bags with the addition of a few drainage holes.

http://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to...a-bag/257.html