The Vegetable Patch Mark 2

[MereDintofPandiculation]

A continuation of the thread for those of us growing edibles, to share triumphs and failures, swap expertise and solve problems

Thanks!
I won’t be planting much more stuff out, but I’m interested in wrapping up what I have, and in learning what to do next. My marigolds, for instance, is there a way of preserving those?

I need someone to tell me what I do with my tomatoes over the winter, please! The plants won’t survive over winter. Before the first frost or when the plants are looking particularly ropey, pick the remaining tomatoes, green as well as red. Green tomatoes can be made into chutney or put in a warm place (with optional banana) to ripen. Put plants into Council recycling as their composters will kill any blight spores. start again from seed next year.

Marigolds.

You can collect the seeds, leave the seeds to scatter themselves where they will germinate when ready or in some parts of the UK, they will just carry on and reflower next year.

I let all my flowers self seed to be honest. It saves alot of work. And compost.

This is what I do with my calendula & nasturtiums.

I've managed to grow a small watermelon - very surprised! Only trouble is that I can not longer find the seed packet, does anyone know if I have to wait until it gets to be a certain size before harvesting? Its a bit bigger now, photo was taken 2 weeks ago.

You can't harvest watermelons until they are ripe. They don't ripen off the plant.

The tendril opposite the stem that it is growing on must dry out before it is ripe. Also it should smell fragrant.

Thank you for advice. I think I will try a combination of all 3. They were super this year.

This is helpful, too!
I will wait a little longer. There are sooo many but still ripening. Maybe in a week or 2 I will cut back fully & save some seeds.

Mmm green tomato relish, anyone?

@AlisonDonut thank you for the watermelon advice. I guess that it might just be too late in the season for it to ripen now but I'll keep an eye.

@Bumblebeefriend I grew one melon last year (sugar baby) and I waited and waited hoping it was ripe and for the tendril etc to dry out. But it was still pale when I finally cut into it. My hens ate it.

So wait as long as possible and hope for some sunny days in September!!

In all my years I've only ever grown one to ripe, and the day it was ripe, the flies infested it.

I have 3 here, all waiting to ripen, and the temps this evening will probably kill it.

@AlisonDonut and you're not in the UK are you? Is it warmer there?

I'm just north of the Dordogne.

Yes warmer. Longer season. Still no ripe melons though!

Next year. There's always next year.

There's always next year 😂 I might try again if I've got a polytunnel by then. We had the heat this year just not for long enough.

I've ordered seeds for next year today. Including 2 more types of melons.

You'd think being right next to the Charente a Charente melon would be ok here but they all just sat there for weeks doing nothing so lost alot of time in May getting going.

You've already ordered seeds? Oooh you're making me feel like doing a seed shop! I usually do it over Christmas holidays... then create a spreadsheet list of sowing dates, because I'm a weirdo 😂

I've ordered melon seeds following a visit to Wisley this summer. It clearly is possible, I just wish I had as many direct sun hours as their world garden and allotments

So do i but a friend is in the US this week and has ordered some that we split when she is back in the UK, and her friend is over here in Oct and is posting mine to me, and my OH is going to the UK in oct so I'm doing the same for her. So i;m getting them in good time to repack half for her.

Oh I see @AlisonDonut Are you trying anything new next year you're excited about?

Patty pans were new for me this year and we all loved them. I also grew Marvel of Peru flowers that open in the evening and very impressed with them. They smell wonderful - I just need to grow more next year for a stronger overall scent.

These are all new to me things, I often completely change up what I grow.

Winter storage melon, used for jams [i know, blew my mind so had to order it]
A cucumber melon
A different melon [will try that and retry the two i grew this year]
A lemon courgette - i only grow yellow ones these days
two types of tomatillo - [plus ground cherry my friend is getting me]
large eggplant
a drought resistant dried bean
two types of storage tomato
a different type of chilli
A large red amaranthus for dying and eating and seeds...so good all rounder

I'm going to ditch most of my tomato varieties from this year - apart from a few tried and tested favourites and buy fresh new varieties of toms, and grow more peppers and chillis so I'll be seeing out more paste and storage tomatoes and storage peppers if they exist. I'll also grow more dried beans and will retry chickpeas as in the Uk they were hard to get any decent yield but here it should be better.

This year I got 2 tomatillos from a plant swap and they have been superb - the taste is sublime and the drought resistance impressive.

Winter storage melon?! 🤔 I need to google that one. Amaranthus sounds intriguing. I'm not sure I'd know how to harvest that. Is it a grain like quinoa?

I really need to cut down how many seeds I sow. I always do to many and can't bear to compost the stragglers so end up with loads of plants. I used to give extras to my friend but she always kills them 😂

I sow more and then go to plant swaps.

I used to leave spare plants and harvests outside on my front wall, we lived in an area where people would walk by all day long as we were nar a canal. So lots of my spare plants went there. Also to community gardens etc.

When I moved to France I was a bit bereft as I couldn't order from my usual Real Seeds etc places but after nearly 11 months I've found a new set of seed producers that are reviving old varieties, and testing for what grows in extreme drought, and more storage varieties so lots more opportunities to trial new things.

Each new seed supplier has something interesting to offer but I need a decent amount to make the postage worth it.

Plus this year we were growing in new ground and the old veg patch and found that the previous owner never composted any of her grass clippings, she just dumped those in the woods behind the house. Now I've grown for nearly a full season I've got more of an idea of my layout, and what gets sun when, the few places that are shady, and so this winter I've got alot of work to do to reconfigure the space ready for next spring. And I'm using the grass clippings brought back from the woods as a base for each bed.

Today we are clearing out the builders bag that last year's leaf mould is in, ready for this year's leaves which have just started to drop. I've started sieving the leaf mould ready for it to be used next spring.

Amaranth yes like spinach as a leaf crop and a grain once ripened.

You've got your hands full there! But sounds like a lot of fun. I've seen on other forum threads where people post photos of their big projects as they progress to show before and after. Sounds like your new venture would make a good standalone thread!

Brexit has complicated seed purchasing too. Far too expensive if you only want a few. I love the idea of keeping old varieties going. And growing what's not available in the supermarkets!

Now I need to stop myself buying too many seeds for next year. I've already bought some gherkin for pickling.

.. then create a spreadsheet list of sowing dates, because I'm a weirdo I keep my seeds in plastic tubs from Take-aways, organised with latest sowings at the bottom and dated pieces of paper separating them. So in February I start at the top and stop sowing when I reach the piece of paper saying “March “

But I have a spreadsheet for all my other garden jobs