Allotment News

*numpty question alert*

How do I know if my spuddies are ready to dig. I've bene looking out for flowers & die back of the plant. Not seen any yet, so assume they're not ready to go.

*orders some patience*

not all early spuds flower before the tubers are ready - for the last 2 years my Swifts haven't and as the growth has died back mostly now I will harvest them this weekend.  not expecting a big crop (they're in bags) but fingers crossed.  spuds benefit from lots of water if you can stop them getting waterlogged which just rots them, so this year may be good from that view!

First attempt at spuddies, so it's a bit of a voyage of discovery. Getting quite excited...

We have a very fat hedgehog.  He is enjoying his slug supper and looking after my tomatoes. I have also given him the job of looking after the single remaining marrow. He seems to enjoy his job as night security watchhog.

emptied the 1st bag of spuds (Swifts) yesterday to see what the crop was like - effing useless springs to mind.   hardly a couple of meals worth - very disappointing.  if the other 2 bags go the same way (mid croppers) then I am giving up on spuds in bags.   this will be the 3rd year I've grown spuds in bags and each year it's not been up to my expectations.  

on the upside - drowning in courgettes

Pah, send some over.  My courgettes get no bigger than fingers then rot

hi all, can I join please

not exactly allotment land here, just pots in the communal rear yard but worth a go

courgettes rotting, HP, have you tried hand pollinating them? I've only got 2 surviving courgettes, one is nearly harvestable size they are the two I hand pollinated after doing some research on the internet on why they might be rotting.

anyway other stuff, tomatoes starting to appear, will be interesting to see how they go, loads of lettuce, carrots were a disaster, pots in a bag, but late ones so got to wait until around september but not holding out too much hope. spinach has been a success, after managing to identify what it was

have got one of those plastic greenhouses, size of a shed, as part of the whole new to gardening and learning experience ... the sides flap against the shelves and knock all the seedlings onto the floor, resulting on me not knowing what anything is. problem solved by putting up some metalwork along the front of the shelves to stop stuff being knocked down.

slugs and snails are a bloody nuisance, I stamp on any i find.

could I suggest other reasons for courgettes rotting:

- not enough air around the plants, or too close to the ground, so they hold moisture in like a microclimate.  mine are in bags with a fair bit of space around them and the fruit don't touch the ground.  botrytis loves damp conditions!

- leaving flowers on the fruits.  the flowers rot quickly when wet and this transfers quickly to the courgette.  just pick the flowers off as soon as they start wilting but be careful not to damage the end.

I've never hand pollinated courgettes and never suffered that much rot - most of which you can blame on the shit weather so far.

thanks FB

having mixed success with the courgettes, have had two really healthy courgettes, the rest have rotted when small and one rotted when it was almost big enough to harvest. but have loads more growing and a few look promising

quick question, does anyone eat the brussel sprout leaves? have got loads and loads of very healthy looking leaves at the top of the plants, have googled and not a huge amount of info, am tempted to just go for it, just don't particularly want to die

thanks happychap, I shall give them a go

loads of tomatoes here but not starting to ripen yet, all looking good though

cucumber babies are starting to vaguely resemble cucumbers pretty limited stuff planted as it's my first attempt and it's all in pots as I dont' have a garden just a paved over communal area. Have gone to the council though and am applying for a transfer on medical grounds (terrible area and suffering depression, stress etc etc etc, long list of bad things) and it's not helping. so hoping to get a place (eventually) with my own private garden so I can enjoy it in peace.  neighbour had some of the cabbage and lettuce today it's great fun

Hi all, I have a numpty question about my tomatoes. I have about a dozen green ones at the moment but the leaves around them are turning brown. Does anyone know if this a good thing? or any advice about how to remedy it?

How are everyone's fruit trees doing?  We'll be lucky if we get enough plums to make a crumble!  No pears, apples or cherries.  I reckon the blossom was destroyed by the rain and wind. 

numpty question, my garden is currently overrun with raspberries, I didn't expect 6ft of growth in the first year given the last lot I grew before I moved sprouted a leaf and then died.  What do I do in terms of this pruning lark, they are currently fruiting at the moment, when/what/how much pruning do I do?

If they're summer fruiting (and I'm going to guess they are if they're fruiting now) wait until after they've finished fruiting, then cut off at the ground any stem that had fruit on it this year. You should have stems growing now that don't have fruit - leave them, they're next year's crop.

You may want to tie them into a wire frame. You can also trim them in height as well, but I suspect that's mainly to stop them growing out the top of the cage, and make them easier to pick than because of any furiting reasons. 

They can get out of control as they grow by runners under the ground. to keep them in an area, you just need to lift the stems growing too far out & cut the runner. (note, best done when the stems are small!)

Thank you very much!