The Vegetable Patch 2024/2025

[MereDintofPandiculation]

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

forgot photo

So nice to go to the allotment and not have to water 💦

We did not get the promised downpour today, maybe two drops of rain.

Dried up enough this afternoon to get to the allotment to attack the bindweed that's running rampant.

Loads of courgettes, purple French beans, 2 golden beetroot, potatoes (Charlotte), a few raspberries (I think we're actually onto the autumn ones now) and some massive blackberries.

I went away for a week, just got back yesterday and now I’m drowning in beans (climbing French and runner beans), my freezer is almost full so I will either have to give loads away or make chutney. I’m struggling to find jars as it’s been such a good year for fruit, so haven't had a chance to make chutney yet.

we had rain last night for the first time in a loooong time, so I don’t have to water for a day or two. Keeping my fingers crossed for more rain this week……I am done with lugging water cans around.

Courgettes starting to reach glut status 🤣

First tomatoes picked, I don't think we've ever had ripe tomatoes this early before.

Custard white.
I sliced it and fried it with lime and chilli.

I see no mention of garlic. Surely some mistake?

Hi, I hope it’s ok to post here.
Does anyone have any idea why some of my courgettes are growing funny shapes? They’re all in pots and watered the same.
Thank you

Are some of them from saved seed? Sometimes they can look like a leg in a compression stocking, fat at one end and skinny at the other and that is due to incomplete pollination which can happen if the female flower is wet/ muddy inside. But I don’t think yours quite have that look. Except the 4 th from left in the first pic.

No, they’re all grown from seeds bought online. I think it was a place called Raven.
Only one of the varieties is growing like that.
Some are growing long and thin or they have a thin middle.
Thanks

Love that one of the pics is marked 'sensitive' 😂

Could any of them be Tromboncino?

No idea how that happened.☺️
No, they’re called genovese and di napoli .

My photo of the custard white was also initially flagged as ‘submitted for approval when I first posted. Not sure why.

All photos are approved first now, since MN was spammed with vicious horrific pornographic photos by women haters

First Uchiki Kuri coming along nicely. I'm assuming I wait until they're red to harvest?

Various other random squash set too.

Beans, soft fruit and courgettes still producing well

Gosh that’s awful.

I love your squash! Yes, wait until the uchiki gets red/orange.

All of my uchiki seeds failed to germinate this year but I have loads of crown prince and North Georgia candy roasters.

I also have a problem that I have created for myself. In a fit of curiosity I salvaged some squash seedlings that were growing in the compost this spring. They have thrived and while I thought it would be easy to tell what they were once they produced babies, I am stumped. A lot of cross pollination seems to have been going on. It is a problem because for some I can't tell if they are summer or winter squash. Apart from the pointed leaves, how do I tell?

Will post photos later, that might help.

I planted a number of "mystery squash" this spring, as I said. I picked these guys just now, all from pointed-leaved plants. This may be a myth or something that I made up but I always thought courgette types, summer types, had more pointed leaf ends. Winter types have more rounded leaves

Bottom left looks exactly like a sweet dumpling in shape size and colour. I grew them last year so not unexpected but they are winter squash.

Top right is almost a patty pan, but with segments, and very unusual colour.

The other three (from 2 plants) are like sweet dumpling but larger and without the green stripes. I had one plant like this last year in a batch that were all supposed to be sweet dumpling seeds.

If I picked these too early and they are all really winter squash well, lesson learned. Next time I will ignore the gorgeous squash seedlings springing out of the compost heap! I do think the green and yellow one is a summer squash though. It has that feel. Can't explain.

Then there are these, quite definitely courgette type, in the colour of a candy roaster, adding photo of candy roaster for comparison

Two of mine are from a mixed gourds selection tray I picked up from the reduced shelf so could be anything. I have the feeling the label said they were all edible if not necessarily tasty!

I mucked out the quail aviary this morning and I absolutely stink. That's a rotten job, but the birds are happier and the compost will benefit.

I need to find a fleece to wear to pick the party pans; my arms come up in welts if I don't and it itches like mad. I tackled the asparagus bed with the hori hori for an hour or so to dig out the docks that had taken hold. Pernicious buggers, docks.

Then I read the article about the bloke arrested and cautioned by Manchester police for walking back from his allotment with his hori hori on his belt and felt particularly glad I don't have an allotment anymore!

I’ve been travelling on the bus with mine but have wondered about the sense of that!

They didn't even give him his tool back!

I understand the problem though!