eating my home grown potatoes !!

[gardeningmum05]

and they are bloody lovely
have charlotte potatoes ready,cant believe how different they taste to shop bought ones
have courgettes coming and caulis,and tomatoes
what has everyone had success with this year?

[12StoneNeedsToBe10]

ooh - how long did they take? I've got potatoes in and they're massive but I can't find and solid advice re when they're ready. Some say wait til flowers drop off, others say there won't be any flowers - so what do I look for?

[12StoneNeedsToBe10]

when I say massive - I obviously mean the greenery, not the potatoes (they're in the ground )

[gardeningmum05]

cant remember when they were planted
i waited til the leaves looked scruffy and were flopping about. they grew to about 5 feet!
i was waiting for them to flower too as had read this, but they were grown in potato sacks, so apparantly they dont always flower if grown in containers.
hope this helps
gonna have some tonight with quiche and fresh crusty bread, sitting in the garden enjoying the sun

[12StoneNeedsToBe10]

they're probably about 3-4 feet high so far. some of the front plants are drooping but that's because a thunder-storm the other week battered them to within an inch of their lives

mine are in the ground so maybe there'll be flowers. I planted the chits at the end of April.

[gardeningmum05]

i planted mine in march i am sure, they are a lovely taste, i was really surprised at the difference, and no need to peel, just give them a good wash, enjoy...

[snorkle]

Mine were planted 1st April & I am eating the first earlies now. They are much, much nicer than shop potatoes.

I've had good success with peas, broad beans, beetroot, strawberries & blackcurrants, but have lost about 20% onions/shallots to white rot . Salad stuff is going well too - lots of lettuce and peppers and now starting to eat toms, courgettes & aubergines. I had a small but tasty melon yesterday. A couple of cabbages are looking just about ready to harvest. Carrots have been OK, tasty but not very big yet.

Disappointed in Lidl fruit bushes - 3 out of 4 blueberry bushed died, no fuiyt on the last. Not a gooseberry, redcurrant or blackcurrant in sight either (the successful blackcurrents were cutting given to me by my neighbour) though the plants seem healthy.

Overall, really enjoying my new allotment .

[gardeningmum05]

i had earlies too, but the charlottes were much nicer
my sweetcorn is about a foot tall now,grown in a block. apparantly they have to pollinate each other any advise on this?

[OrmIrian]

Ohhhh home-grown spuds are the best. I love them boiled just with a little butter and some salt. Could eat them by the bowl full.

[amisuchabadmummy]

gardeningmum... if they are in a block they should pollinate fine (providing there are pollinating insects like bees around).

[Botbot]

We had our first spuds on Sunday - bloody lovely. We've had our first broad beans and one tiny courgette too - all getting very exciting! Also well into the spinach and salad mix, and distributing strawberries to all and sundry (ridiculously, no one likes them in our household).

[gardeningmum05]

thanks badmummy, had visions of having to rub them togeter or some such daft thing

snorkle,havent done any fruit except strawberries. might try next year

botbot, my courgettes are about an inch so far, loadsof them though

[snorkle]

sweetcorn in a block is usually pollinated by the wind. You can try and help things along a bit by shaking the plants a bit (when the tassles at the ends of the cobs start showing I think) as you walk past.

My sweetcorn is about the same size as yours - could do with some rain though. My neighbours is much bigger , but my celeriac is the envy of everyone!

[jumpingbeans]

lmoa, at artificial insemination of the sweetcorn... rubbing them together,omg thats so funny

[jumpingbeans]

I have had the best ever beetroot this year, most evening i cook some, but eat it as it's cooling, so not to much has made the salad bowl yet

[gardeningmum05]

not done beetroot as dont like it

what about caulis? got big green leaves, now what

[snorkle]

caulis can take a long time to grow heads - even as late as next spring depending on when you sow them/variety. You may need to protect them from caterpillers (or rather butterflies) somehow. They are hungry plants too - might like some chicken pellets or something.

[gardeningmum05]

thankyou snorkle, i guess i need to be more patient then

[midnightexpress]

I've got more blimmin potatoes than I'd need if I had a family of 10. Arran pilots are yum, though they haven't flowered, even in the ground. My 2nd earlies have all flowered, but I'm leaving them in the ground - I think (please correct me if I'm wrong), that I can harvest them as and when and they'll just get a bit bigger for a few weeks so I don't need to lift them all.

My beetroot is doing well too, though I haven't harvested any yet (we're oop north in Scotland) and I've just planted some more. Courgettes look like flowering any time now, I have blueberries and strawbs ripening and have discovered a wee patch of wild alpine strawbs in the garden too. We have kale growing, and radishes, and brussels sprouts (some of them have bolted). My garlic, which I grew over winter in pots is ready too and deliciously sticky and garlicky. I'll do lots more of that this winter.

[gardeningmum05]

i have left some new potatoes in as not ready for them yet, hope to dig up next couple of weeks

brussels, what does bolting mean

my garlic is starting to droop, is this ok?

[midnightexpress]

• don't worry, I'm quite a newbie at all this too!

Bolting is when things rush to grow and flower too quickly (usually because they're not getting enough water/nutrients, so they try and grow reallyreallyfast so they can get it all over and done with before they drop dead), and then don't grow properly - salad crops like spinach and rocket often do this.

And as for the garlic, yes, I think you need to leave it till it's almost withered - it's like with spring bulbs like daffs I think - the green growth dies back and if you leave it, the goodness goes back into the bulbs and makes them nice and plump. I don't think you should water them too much at this stage though, as they can rot. But you can rootle arund a bit to see if they're ready before you hoik them up.

[redclover79]

We have v. healthy looking sweetcorn, runner beans and squash. All our sweetcorn - 2 plants - got eaten by deer last year so I'm hoping my deer proofing tip will work this year (split a 2 pint milk carton lengthways and fit over cob).
Blackcurrants have done well this year (2 years old) snorkle in the 1st year I had 7 blackcurrants in total on 1 bush, other 2 did nothing. This year we had a good couple of pounds.
Peas have been a bit pants. They've gone yellowy and the pods are a bit curly. Also not very much of a crop on any of them...
Pulled garlic early as it was going black (some sort of fungus).
Strawberries have been excellent this year. I'm hoping rapsberries will be as prolific but for some reason my autumn rasps have started fruiting already and the summer ones are struggling to keep up.

[redclover79]

'scuse typos

[maggiethecat]

Our broccoli is looking good but broke a floret and tasted it uncooked and it was v bitter - is this bcos it was raw or does it suggest that it's not ready or is it that some are just bitter (tho I've never come across any before)?

[Granny23]

Made my first (this year) batch of raspberry jam tonight - 2Kilos of fruit + 2 of sugar = 11 full sized jars as fruit nice and dry. Next batch probably not so good as had cloud bursts yesterday and today. Harvesting mange tout & spring onions and salad stuff. Courgettes & peas are flowering at last. Lost all black and red currants to birds but gooseberries are ripening safely under a net. Brassicas suffering under the onslaught of cabbage white butterflies and subsequent caterpillars. Only one pear left but hundreds of plums on our tree and tons of apples (next door).

[snorkle]

redclover, I hope I'll get lots of fruit next year then.

Maggie - not sure about bitter brocolli, this suggests that it might be the hot weather & that other people have the same trouble.