The Vegetable Patch

[MereDintofPandiculation]

Now bookbook has sadly left us, and stirred into action by @DobbleDobble, I think it’s time to start a general thread for those of us who try to grow edible produce, fruit, veg, herbs, to share successes, failures, questions and answers

@TheGander . I'm no expert but I mainly just pinch out the shoots growing at right angles between the main stem and horizontal branches. But I also read that you should remove the lower branches to help air circulation.

One of my plants has got what Google suggests is blossom wilt. The end of the green tomato is black 😩. Apparently it's a sign of a lack of calcium in the plant and isn't infectious. Nevertheless that plant has been removed from the greenhouse and placed at some distance!

Thanks @StrawberryPot . Tomatoes are my prize crop and it’s such a nail bitter sometimes!

@TheGander - this is just my 3rd year and I've had little success to date! But this year I have a greenhouse so am hoping it will be better.

I could really do with a crash course in pest and disease control!

It’s a constant battle. I’m in my 11th year and either I’m getting better at spotting pests and disease, or they are accumulating in the soil. When I took the plot on I can’t remember so many issues. Just found onion rot on my shallots 😡. But blight is in a different league, I literally have nightmares about it.

@PoseyFlump I don't think there's much practical difference between day neutral and perpetual in terms of how long you get strawberries for. However, depending on the variety, June bearing ones can actually fruit between late May and late July, so if you get different varieties you should be able to get a fairly continual supply. The perpetual ones then start fruiting properly in August and last through into September/ October. I only planted this year so can't say how well that works in reality though! It only covers some varieties but I found this chart quite helpful in getting a sense of what fruits when kraege.de/en/services/strawberries/reifezeiten-sortenvergleich/ .

You can get frozen runners online to plant now, and they are discounted as its end of season www.kenmuir.co.uk/index.php?route=product/category&path=171_188 . I suspect the main problem with planting them now is keeping them well watered enough, I bought cold stored runners in June and they all survived and the first ones are now flowering.

@PoseyFlump I forgot to reply on the previous page, if you can get the bed ready in time it might be worth planting blueberries in the autumn. Autumns are generally still reliably wet, so watering isn't a problem and then by spring they are more established and less likely to struggle if we have another very dry spring.

@CrabbyCat that's brilliant thank you!

From the Ken muir site are there any you would particularly recommend? I like the idea of the mixed packs too and I could add another variety or two next year. I feel a strawberry addiction coming on

Note to self also to buy blueberry plants in the autumn!

@PoseyFlump I was mostly looking for perpetual strawberries, as I already have some mid season plants. I got Mara des Bois (for flavour) and Flamenco (for yield) but both are out to stock now and neither has ripe fruit yet so I can't comment on either anyway.

Of the other varieties they have, the ones I have seen recommended for flavour when I was browsing various gardener's world forum threads in research were Cambridge Favourite and Marshmello (both mid season), Honeye (early season) and Florence (late season). I have no experience of any of them though.

@CrabbyCat I did a bit of googling last night and came up with pretty much an identical list to yours! I'm going away for 2 nights this week though so I daren't order them jiust yet. If I don't go for these I'm assuming potted on runners will be available in the next few months I can establish for next year. That's a great website btw, going to have to stop myself from buying stuff I'm not ready for

cambridge and honeye are both good - not had the others.

My local garden centre was selling off strawberry plants when I was in there this week.

I managed to pick up some leek seedlings for a few pence.

And my first tomato is going to be ready any day now!

First ever pumpkin flower and tumbling toms ready to eat 🎃🍅

@PoseyFlump : strawberry plants were half price at Squires yesterday and a few other places too (I bought Cupid, also have HoneyOye, Cambridge Favourite & Elsanta).

I’ve potted mine temporarily in some window box style planters & will sort the bed out in oct most likely. IME they are easy to grow & having a variety of plants extends the cropping period.

@PoseyFlump yes, I've been eyeing up various other bits from Ken Muir. I think you can start getting potted plants from about September, but I suspect they'll be more expensive - 12 plants for £10 including postage is very cheap. If you like browsing, Chris Bowers is also worth a look, they tend to have lots of interesting heritage varieties.

@BlooberryBiskits if you find them easy to grow, do you have any tips about defending them from slugs? I find raspberries a lot easier, I've had to pick the strawberries pre peak ripeness this year to stop them all being munched!

Thanks everyone. My nearest garden centre is a Dobbies and I never see anything on sale. I probably just go at the wrong time! Using planters until I get the beds ready is a good idea. Maybe I'll have a scout around now I've got a good list of varieties in my head and order online if I can't see any bargains. My leeks don't look great so I could do with some of those too.

That Chris bowers website looks good too. I had to stop my DP from buying some supermarket dwarf fruit trees because I know once I start looking properly I'll change my mind and don't want to rush into the first thing I see.

I've been using mineralised straw (Strulch) for the last couple of weeks and fingers crossed so far no slug activity but it might be a fluke and I've just jinxed myself!

Harvested today a load of black currants and some gooseberries - not loads but moved the plant earlier this year so did well considering. Also some chard and courgettes for dinner, and some lettuce for tomorrow’s sandwiches.

My successional lettuce sowing has been a bit rubbish - I have about 10 plants all ready for seed plus more behind them. Chickens are helping deal with those - and as they then turn them into eggs I’m happy.

first tomato is starting to change colour - with a bit of warmth I should hope I’ll be picking those soon. No idea variety - I only showed a small currant variety and a black variety, but his plant is a rogue one and appears to be yellow. French beans should also be soon, and cucumbers are starting to set.

@CrabbyCat : slugs & wood lice (or something like that - vine weevils?) can be a problem for strawberries: I had more trouble last year than this

I think the best way is to keep them off the ground: I have some in troughs (cheap window boxes from Morrisons), some in a raised bed & the best are in the ground bordering a path: I’ve edged that bed with bits of old slate and ‘hang’ the fruits over the edge so they are not touching the ground. I think this patch is best as established plants, it’s in the ground so they have room to grow, but the berries are not touching the ground - could use tiles or any other edging, even stones/old brick as it’s just for a couple of weeks. I’m told you can buy straw for this purpose at supermarkets/garden centres but I’ve never seen it

what did make a huge difference in output is adding manure/soil improver all over the beds in v early spring so I’m going to do that again : I haven’t used any other feed since and they are doing well

@PoseyFlump : if you are thinking of blueberries, I got some v good plants for £5 each in Morrisons in Spring (about half my plants cars from Morrisons tbh): they are fruiting now & comparable size to plants currently £15-20 in local garden centres: worth popping in to see what they have.

My local one has v v small raspberry/blackberry/Tayberry plants for £2 at the moment which I think are worth it if you are prepared to wait a year or 2 for them to produce

@PoseyFlump : I bought several different blueberry plants (blue crop, blue gold, Elliot, duke & Birgitta). Of these, blue gold is v slow (it only has 2 berries, but was in shade vs the others), others much of a muchness, apart from, blue crop has fruited the best by far for me

We've been buying plants from Morrisons for years. They don't have a wide range but they're very good value and you can pick up some real bargains.

I think the best way is to keep them off the ground That’s my experience too. Mine are all in pots. I pick when one side is red and the other just turning rather than waiting till red all over. It doesn’t affect flavour. Cambridge Favourite is an old variety, my parents were growing it in the 50s. It’s an indication of how good it is that it’s still appearing in “best strawberry” lists.

My berries are all in the wrong order this year. Usually there’s a sequence - strawberries, followed by raspberries, and finally tayberries and loganberries taking us through to mulberry season. This year, the strawberries, tayberries and loganberries all arrived together 3 weeks ago, and the raspberries are still at least a week away. I’m clearly going to have a big gap before the mulberries.

Quick question from an enthusiastic amateur: is it ridiculously too late for leeks?

I sowed some seed in trays 2 weeks ago (it still hadn’t come up whereas everything else I sowed at the same time has - spinach, kale etc). I know I’m a bit late to this but will they be ok for baby leeks perhaps or am I wasting my time?

I would like to companion plant them with some cauliflower & broccoli: would I be better off at this point to buy some plug plants?

Thanks @BlooberryBiskits would you say all your blueberry varieties taste just as good as each other?

Cambridge strawberries are definitely on the list!

@BlooberryBiskits they are in a raised bed, and have straw round them. I've also put copper tape round the edge but I don't think it's made any difference. I'm using straw but the strulch sounds worth a go though. I'm wondering about investing in nematodes next year.

@MereDintofPandiculation my berries have been all mixed up too. The strawberries were first, but the autumn fruiting raspberries were only a couple of weeks behind. I normally leave unpruned any canes that grew too late to fruit the previous autumn, and they fruit a bit earlier than the new growth - but that's never meant June before! The tayberry is now fruiting its heart out, the redcurrants and gooseberries are early (last year they were mid July) but for some reason both my boysenberry and my loganberry are still a few weeks off being ready. Normally they fruit pretty much simultaneously with the tayberry. Clearly something about the combination of a warm autumn and a dry spring has confused everything.

@BlooberryBiskits Monty “the “ Don tackled this very question last Friday’s Gardeners World. He said it is, but if you can buy young plants online/ in gardeners centres that should work .