|
Post by mickthecactus on Jul 5, 2020 14:20:26 GMT
I do grow potatoes tod. In containers for the last 2 years but in the ground this year as everybody wants more. My tomatoes are always grown outside and I get a decent crop each year unless it’s a blight year which we haven’t had for some time. Surprised you can’t grow them!
|
|
|
Post by tod2 on Jul 5, 2020 16:12:55 GMT
Our recent You Tube veg expert is "Home Grown Veg". He is such an encouragement . And of course he sounds like a Yorkshireman which sits well with us.!
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Jul 5, 2020 18:06:09 GMT
What time of year do you grow tomatoes, Tod? It seems there might be an optimum slice of the year there which would work nicely, especially since Mick gets tomatoes in his relatively short growing season.
I wouldn't think you'd need a greenhouse. Tomatoes come up pretty quickly from seed, so you could start them indoors by a sunny window.
|
|
|
Post by mickthecactus on Jul 5, 2020 19:14:43 GMT
What time of year do you grow tomatoes, Tod? It seems there might be an optimum slice of the year there which would work nicely, especially since Mick gets tomatoes in his relatively short growing season. I wouldn't think you'd need a greenhouse. Tomatoes come up pretty quickly from seed, so you could start them indoors by a sunny window. I sow seed end of March in the greenhouse, plant out end of May. By mid September that's it.
|
|
|
Post by tod2 on Jul 6, 2020 8:07:55 GMT
Bixa & Mick, we are sowing seed in containers now, but have also planted out a dozen or so seedlings. We do not get frost as we are on the side of a small hill, but even if we did the frost season is over. Last year we had some really strong vines but the strangest thing kept happening. One minute the plant looked vigorous and within hours it had wilted and ended up a limp heap of leaves. The tomato plant right next to it in the same pot was ok.
|
|
|
Post by cheerypeabrain on Jul 6, 2020 9:04:06 GMT
Is something is attacking the roots? vine weevils for example, lay their eggs in the soil around the base of a plant and their grubs eat the roots...plant copes until there aren't enough roots to support it and then falls over. It can be a problem here, particularly in pot grown plants.
|
|
|
Post by mickthecactus on Jul 6, 2020 9:46:44 GMT
Sounds very much like vine weevil or similar.
|
|
|
Post by tod2 on Jul 6, 2020 12:45:10 GMT
Thanks so much for your help - We pulled them up to see if the roots were too wet or too dry and there were plenty of roots, but if the weevils got into the main stem no matter how many little side roots there were, its not going up the plant. Closer inspection if this happens this year. Thanks again.
|
|
|
Post by mickthecactus on Jul 19, 2020 10:05:38 GMT
Potatoes dug from one and a half plants this morning
|
|
|
Post by tod2 on Jul 19, 2020 14:11:51 GMT
Oh my goodness Mick you are way ahead….narurallty as we are just coming into Spring.. I', am hoping we can replicate your wonderful crop! What are your spuds called? Winston? I can see they are not Niciloa by the shape.
|
|
|
Post by mickthecactus on Jul 19, 2020 14:52:38 GMT
I think they are Rocket but I didn’t expect them to be that big.
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Jul 19, 2020 15:33:27 GMT
It's nice when you are in the middle of harvest season, until suddenly you are overwhelmed with too many crops. But of course potatoes keep for a long time, so they are not the problem.
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Jul 19, 2020 16:58:17 GMT
Nice spuds, Bud!
|
|
|
Post by mickthecactus on Aug 13, 2020 12:06:49 GMT
|
|
|
Post by bjd on Aug 13, 2020 13:55:47 GMT
Good Lord! Are you fertilizing them all? Especially the cherry tomatoes!
My cherry tomatoes are so pitiful this year that my neighbour offered me some tomatoes from her garden. She said,"When I saw yours, I thought you might appreciate some."
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Aug 13, 2020 17:15:03 GMT
Good grief, Mick ~ that is a veritable farm! Everything is so healthy and beautiful. The plant guy I met recently and I have been exchanging plants. This is great for me because I have limited space & duplicates of some things. Not so great because he has given me things I covet, but that I know space will be a problem for them in the future. He is also my source for the neem treatment, which has been good for many things, but not all. I consistently have trouble with flea beetles and leaf miners. I avoid poisons in any event (except for roaches -- I'll poison the world to get rid of them), and the problem creatures are on the herbs, so obviously I can't soak them in poison. Anyway, when he came over yesterday to deliver more potting soil, he reviewed my plants and gave me a great tip, which was to add a tiny bit of fabric softener to the neem/water mixture in order to defeat the flea beetles. Apparently it softens their shells and kills them The brand he said to use is Vel Rosita, which is a Mexican brand also available in the US, but I don't know about other countries. (Here is more than you want to know about fabric softeners. The science-minded might be able to figure out which ingredient is the one that zaps the flea beetles: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fabric_softener) The proportions to use: 1 milliliter Vel Rosita, 2 millileters Neem, 1 liter of water.
|
|
|
Post by mickthecactus on Aug 13, 2020 17:30:56 GMT
Flea beetles were always a problem with radishes. The fabric softener is interesting. Also cucumbers and I gave away 4 more this morning.. Onions drying in the greenhouse
|
|
|
Post by casimira on Aug 14, 2020 12:19:40 GMT
What a plentiful bounty of vegetables Mick! I am impressed and envious.
All my vegetables both in my garden and the kind neighbor who left me her vegetables to harvest this summer are all turned to rot now. Way, way too much rain. Everything has turned to snot.
Just waiting for Autumn to arrive and put in my cool season vegetables. It can't come soon enough for me. Right now it's just keeping up with all the weeds. At least they come up easily from the ground being so wet. I have been putting down layers of newspaper in the bare spots and throwing mulch on top to keep down the new weed growth.
|
|
|
Post by tod2 on Aug 19, 2020 14:41:18 GMT
|
|
|
Post by mickthecactus on Aug 19, 2020 15:14:58 GMT
They look lovely and healthy. Don't think I could wait a fortnight!
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Aug 21, 2020 20:17:22 GMT
My parents lived in a small village in France for 9 years, and their crops were not always safe when they were close to the street. Have you ever had any problems, Mick?
|
|
|
Post by mickthecactus on Aug 21, 2020 20:26:21 GMT
In what sense?
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Aug 22, 2020 6:06:35 GMT
Vegetables disappearing in the night.
|
|
|
Post by tod2 on Aug 22, 2020 7:33:35 GMT
I was thinking that too, but then everything not padlocked shut or fenced off will disappear here! Maybe people are not that bothered in the UK - or the area where you live.
|
|
|
Post by mickthecactus on Aug 22, 2020 8:09:16 GMT
I was thinking that too, but then everything not padlocked shut or fenced off will disappear here! Maybe people are not that bothered in the UK - or the area where you live. I'm on a pretty quiet road and few people go by. Nothing has disappeared yet.
|
|
|
Post by mickthecactus on Aug 22, 2020 8:45:11 GMT
My first chinese tomato
|
|
|
Post by tod2 on Aug 22, 2020 9:04:56 GMT
Mick, where did you get the seeds? It does have similar shape to those peaches I've seen in Paris. Like somebody has squiged it down. And the flavour?
|
|
|
Post by mickthecactus on Aug 22, 2020 9:44:39 GMT
It came from one of my cactus friends in Wales. His wife is Chinese and he visits China on a regular basis (not this year) as he is a computer professor and gives seminars, judges competitions etc. Haven't tasted it yet but he says it is a salad tomato.
|
|
|
Post by mickthecactus on Aug 22, 2020 10:30:19 GMT
Here's all this morning's tomato picking
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Aug 22, 2020 16:30:05 GMT
Gorgeous! Does the purple one have a name?
|
|