The Vegetable Patch 2024/2025

[MereDintofPandiculation]

Come and share your triumphs and failures in your vegetable plot or allotment.

Mange tout fine.

French beans fine.

Squashes not fine, unless you are living on a huge homestead and are only growing one variety or you have isolated and/or hand pollinated.

@Pebble21uk beware mutant squash/courgettes as they can be bitter and poisonous. beans you have to grow away from each other type unless u r ok with crosses. chard is super easy....just leave on the plant and pick off later in year, as are lettuces. But the best instructions are on real seeds website. dont be too keen on cleariing things in the autumn and you may find that they self seed for you.

No French beans dont cross. Runner beans can cross but often are fine.

https://www.beansandherbs.co.uk/seed-saving/

at the risk of being pendantic....this is what this website says about french beans. but you may generate some exciting new variety if you plant too close.

Give approximately 10m isolation (separation) distance between different French Bean varieties to ensure that they do not cross-pollinate with each other

I've been saving French Beans for about 15 years, you get the odd one that reverses its colouring but rarely a cross. I've traded across borders, across the world, been a seed guardian and rescued rare beans with Russ Crow in the USA and used to run various bean based groups and blogs.

For the purposes of saving beans in a garden setting, they really don't cross. Many of us save upwards of 30-50 varieties each year and they are all fine. Even in the same bed. Even next to each other. The only concession I ever made was to plant different colours next to each other as they will intertwine as they grow.

That site says 'peas tend to self pollinate'. Yes, they do because they are already pollinated before the flower opens. They are just hedging their bets. They don't seem to know the basics.

thanks alison, thats useful. my allotment isnt huge and i do like beans, so i will be a bit more easygoing in future

Real Seeds do a good seed saving guide - I would stick with that

The rules that really matter are that the cucurbit family cross pollinate like billy-o and that brassicas need at least 40 good plants otherwise you get manky babies. And that carrots and parsnips cross with Queen Anne's Lace, which is everywhere and never save from a plant that bolted or you will just get more plants that bolt.

Peas, beans, tomatoes are the easiest to save from and really, everyone should be doing it if only to save on next year's seeds.

Ooh, interesting, AlisonDonut !

Please can you tell me your favourite bean varieties then? I've been growing Blue Lake for years as my French, but fancy a change. I want a prolific one, that doesn't go stringy, tastes great, copes with our new weather patterns... Slug-proof would be a help, as I had to sow 3 times this year, and whilst my home beans are fine, my allotment beans never really recovered. I want the moon on a stick. But in bean form, basically!

I normally grow a runner and one other (Enorma and a yellow Marvel of Venice this year) but I am not very loyal here.

do potato leaf & 'normal' cross?

I really like the yellow pearshape variety but was not keen on black nightshade (utter tasteless).

I never seem to have much luck with dwarf French beans.

the runners I have been growing for years is Lady Di they are superb

I usually grow for the beans to be dried rather than green, or a halfway house like a fat borlotti shelley bean. I grow alot of red kidney types for winter eating.

In terms of beans to eat as fresh the best ones I grew were the Franchi 3 colour mix. So yellow, purple and green and all really delicate and thin. Or any of the filet types. But I am happy with any bean this year after such a horrendous start.

seedsofitaly.com/tris-of-dwarf-beans-box-uk-only/

and really, everyone should be doing it if only to save on next year's seeds. They’re reporting on the news that there will be seed shortages next year because of post Brexit regs

I tried Kentucky Wonder beans for the first time this year, they are a slug magnet but completely rust resistant. The beans appear in the pods pretty early so are good if you like to eat the beans, and the young leaves are a good size and edible.

My runner beans are coming to an end already, I’m sure last year I was picking them still in September? Climbing French beans slowing down too, I think I will put them both out next week and start clearing the plot ready for next year, it’s no dig so I will cover with manure over winter. Spent today weeding my other plot (dig), this plot has been such and work this year so I want to change it to no dig next year, problem being that I have broccoli, sprouts and leaks growing on it and they won’t be ready until November/December. Can I just cover the spaces with cardboard and do a little at a time?

Also wanted to ask if anyone plants fruit bushes or raspberries now ready for next year? I planted some raspberries in spring and they haven’t done well at all, some have died, so was thinking of planting some now and possibly loganberry? Can I also plant my strawberry runners now ready for fruiting next year or would I be better putting them in pots and keeping them in the greenhouse until spring?

Strawberries are tough. No need to overwinter in the greenhouse.

You’ll only need one loganberry. The runners are about 3m long.

Aaargh it's my turn to do the chop of death on the only decent size squash I can find. What makes it worse is that even as I cut it I thought 'this one's a bit suspect' but my secateurs were faster than my brain. And I thought i was being so good taking off excess foliage and flowers that were never going to come to anything....

I feel your pain 😥

I’ve just done it to a cucumber

I came back yesterday to some dry shrivelled leaves but also some good signs of life. Courgettes are probably done - even the ones that survived. But I got a small bowl of tomatoes today and a couple of dinners of French beans. And there are more of both to come. I'll probably sacrifice the basil plant to some pesto tomorrow.

What I saw when I walked in - tomatoes were in the bath with a trickle from the shower, the rest were well watered before I left but had no ongoing water for the 9 days I was away.

Thank you. I have a loganberry in my garden that’s gone crazy, is it possible to grow from cuttings? I was just giving it a tidy and accidentally chopped what I think is a runner off. I would love to get them growing on my plot rather than in my garden as I have more space.

I have potted up raspberry runners and given them to friends. They have all done really well. Give it a go.
I suspect summer is done in NE England. It's very autumnal yesterday and today. I still have a few courgettes and cucumbers, but I can see that being the last of the season 🥲

Loganberry is a hybrid with a blackberry, so like a blackberry it roots at the tips of the branches. So arch a long branch so that it touches the ground at its tip, and peg it in place. Once it’s rooted well and is growing from the tip, you can sever the branch.

You may find you already have several rooted!

To keep them in order - erect a rough framework or trellis about 1.7m high. Plant your loganberry in the middle and tie a couple of branches in each direction, forming an arch or even a circle. These will produce side branches and fruit.

During the summer, gather up any new branches and tie them in a loose bundle vertically up the centre. Just let them flop once they’re above the height of the frame.

When fruiting has finished, cut out at the base all the branches that have fruited. Cut loose the bundle of vertical stems, choose the strongest to tie in for fruit, and cut out all the weak ones at the base.

This works for all the blackberries and blackberry hybrids (boysenberry, tayberry, sunberry etc)

Something wonderful happened to me this summer: I went for a walk one morning and the house at the end of the road had a blackcurrant potted up outside with a “free” sign attached 😃 Can you imagine how quickly I crossed the road to pick that up.

Went past again a couple of days later and they had a loganberry.

A week after that: a whitecurrant.

I’m absolutely made up and thrilled that these kind hearted souls shared these wonderful plants with their neighbours rather than just binning them. All three are now planted up on my little home allotment and I admire them every day. The currants are really thriving, the logan seems a bit sad, I hope it’s going to be okay. So pleased this happened though. I love gardening serendipity.