Gardening

[Erichalfbee]

I grow Sungold to eat and Marmande and Polish Linguisa to render. The polish are plum tomatoes that freeze beautifully skinned but still raw. Have tons in the freezer

 

[Moobee]

We had masses if whitefly in the poly tunnel last year despite using Encarsia and marigolds.
This year everything got sprayed weekly with SB plant invigorator and we had no problems at all. Still waiting to harvest sweet potatoes. Our freezers are groaning with bumper crops and raspberries are still going

Best way to start sweet potatoes? I’d love to grow them but buying slips was eye wateringly expensive…

 

[Moobee]

Won't ever try tomatoes outdoors again, even had some blight in the greenhouse this year. Have tried Mountain Magic but underwhelmed with cropping and taste tbh. If you can find the seed, Fandango is really worth a try and I always grow Sungold as the sweetest bite size tom. Or can anyone recommend a better one?

Red Alert is a brilliant outdoor bush tomato and fruits early. Had no blight with these on the outside deck this year.

 

[Moobee]

Always amazes me just how full you can keep your greenhouses in winter! I have two large greenhouses that never stop producing stuff. Water dress grows all year in the soil perfectly well just as an example!

Have you tried land cress? Easier to grow than watercress and does well in light shade. Mine is still chucking out new leaves so I reckon I can keep it going over winter under a cloche.

 

[enrico]

Have you tried land cress? Easier to grow than watercress and does well in light shade. Mine is still chucking out new leaves so I reckon I can keep it going over winter under a cloche.

I have no problem with the water cress, it grows like a weed and we have to cut it hard back every now and again. I like the strong taste of water cress! I found landcress a bit weak!

 

[Ely]

I had 42 tomato plants wiped out by late blight in the polytunnel at work. I've read it doesn't stay in the soil and needs living plant matter to continue to be present. Still feel I'm taking a chance if I don't dig out the soil though.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Best way to start sweet potatoes? I’d love to grow them but buying slips was eye wateringly expensive…

Best person to speak to is Phillip who makes his own slips @pargyle

 

[pargyle]

Best person to speak to is Phillip who makes his own slips @pargyle

It's too early now ... around February watch our for temperate climate sweet potato tubers being sold on ebay ... the last ones I bought came from Czechoslovakia - cost me about a fiver for three tubers. Growing your own slips is dead easy ... just put tuber suspended in a jar of water with the bottom of the tuber in the water ... roots will start to form and very quickly shoots (slips) will start to grow from the eyes at the top of the tube. This works better if they are in a warm place - I put my jars on the top of the central heating boiler to get them started. When the slips get to about 3" (and sometimes they start to show roots) you just break them off from the tuber .. put them in another jar with some water and within a week or so they will develop a healthy root system - transplant them into a pot of well drained compost (I usually mix a bit of grit in with the compost) and when you are ready to transplant them ... into the ground or into tubs they go ! Simples ....

You will get dozens of slips from your tubers - just keep picking them off and more will grow,

I know someone who just buys a couple of sweet potatoes from the supermarket but these tend to be warm climate imported sweet potatoes so ... worth a crack but ... pray for a hot summer.

They need to go in as early as you can in order to get a good crop and they are very greedy plants ... I grow mine in 50 litre tubs but a lot of people grow them in hot beds in compost on top of a pilf e of horse manure. They really are principally tropical plants and the longer hotter summer the better. I feed mine with comfrey juice weekly from the time they get to about a foot or so of foliage,

I got about 20lbs from three tubs this year with three plants in each. I leave them until all the foliage has died down before I harvest them. I suspect I would get a better crop if I had a poly tunnel to grow them in.

 

[pargyle]

I had 42 tomato plants wiped out by late blight in the polytunnel at work. I've read it doesn't stay in the soil and needs living plant matter to continue to be present. Still feel I'm taking a chance if I don't dig out the soil though.

The spores stay in the soil. I grow mine in tubs with fresh compost every year ... the spent compost goes on to the top of my rhubarb which is not affected by blight.

 

[Hux70]

Most of the allotment plots were wiped out by tomato blight this year. Some not getting a single ripe tomato. I was fortunate and didn't get it in the greenhouse until everything had almost finished. I didn't bother with Mountain Magic again due to poor taste. Old favourites Alicante and Gardeners Deilght lacked flavour. Sungold, Sweet Million and Red Cherry all tasted amazing again but the best of all, a free packet from somewhere, was St Pierre. A large French variety that was perfect sliced in half in the pan with a big steak! Honestly I think it was the best tomato I have ever tasted. I've saved some seeds for next year.

 

[Bettenham]

Thanks Hux70 - on the strength of this just bought some St Pierre seeds!!! Just got to wait to the summer now which seems a long way away!

 

[Goran]

Of tomatoes usually we grow: Ox Heart, Honey Heart, Marathon, Pear tomato, and kiddo has always some weird ideas like these cherry tomatoes or " apple type" tomatoes. We eat A LOT either conserved for cooking or fresh.. Sometimes I pick it and eat as apple..
We have to spray it to keep it healthy. Later when they start to ripe, I use chems which have short " no eat" period like " Quadris"..

 

[Amaranth]

Instead of growing cooking tomatoes, I think it is well worth growing tomatillos. No blight, scarcely any slug damage, and they taste excellent in a sauce with onion and garlic. More tangy than a tomato. Good as a topping for fish. They sprawl a bit so do better with plenty of room. Best used before they are quite ripe. Dozens of recipes on line.

 

[Erichalfbee]

They sprawl a bit

that’s a bit of an understatement
We grew two in the tunnel. They took over no matter how much cutting back I did.
I made pickle and three years later we are still eating it. Nice pickle though.

 

[Amaranth]

Golly. I wouldn’t use precious tunnel space for them, at least not in Devon. They do very well outdoors.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Golly. I wouldn’t use precious tunnel space for them, at least not in Devon. They do very well outdoors.

Yes I didn’t know. I never knew they could do that. I felt like Jack and the Beanstalk.