God I love growing our own

[fian]

They really do look like small tomatoes I'm told they're toxic though.

James

Solanine is a glycoalkaloid that protects the potato and is an extremely toxic agent for the human body. It is found in all green parts of the plant, from the stem to the leaves. It is even customary to throw away potatoes that have been uncovered with dirt and have turned green.

 

[fian]

Indeed so. Some of my potatoes were beginning to look rather droopy and they've all picked up again this morning. The puddles on the drive have all but disappeared already, but we're forecast more showers for later today. We'll see...

It's rare that I drive more than ten miles or so at a time, mid-50s workshy cause of all this nation's troubles that I am. This morning is quite possibly the first time since I took my son up to Lancaster for the start of term in January. Sod's law that the first time it rained in more than six weeks was exactly when I was doing a stupid o'clock airport run Someone must hate me though. The forecast for tomorrow afternoon is rain and thunder. Early doors tomorrow I am off up to Lancaster again to bring my son home, so if the forecast is correct I shall probably end up driving through it on the way home

James

Well, from the weekend we have sun. The Azores anticyclone will be located halfway between Galicia and Ireland and its counterclockwise circulation will serve as a brake on Atlantic storms and allows a corridor of warm air of African origin. In Galicia, 35°C is expected, so in the United Kingdom you can easily reach 25°-30°C

 

[enrico]

Never had flowers like this on our olive. Last summer and this summer are giving us amazing fruit crops

 

[Amari]

Last year all our Brussel sprout plants failed to grow beyond mid-summer. Cabbage white caterpillars did some damage then the leaves started to curl with aphids and related dross within the folds. I sprayed but too late - we got no crop.
This year they're protected by butterfly net but a few leaves are beginning to curl. The first two pics show the aphids, the third shows eggs.
Does anyone know which aphid this is? Anyone had similar?

 

[fian]

Last year all our Brussel sprout plants failed to grow beyond mid-summer. Cabbage white caterpillars did some damage then the leaves started to curl with aphids and related dross within the folds. I sprayed but too late - we got no crop.
This year they're protected by butterfly net but a few leaves are beginning to curl. The first two pics show the aphids, the third shows eggs.
Does anyone know which aphid this is? Anyone had similar?

Potassium soap and next year I planted garlic and nasturtiums among cabbage, radish or cabbage plants.
If you see ants on your plants, it is gray aphids or aphids due to the sweet secretion they secrete to protect their offspring. The ants will protect the aphids since it constitutes the origin of that honeydew.

 

[enrico]

Last year all our Brussel sprout plants failed to grow beyond mid-summer. Cabbage white caterpillars did some damage then the leaves started to curl with aphids and related dross within the folds. I sprayed but too late - we got no crop.
This year they're protected by butterfly net but a few leaves are beginning to curl. The first two pics show the aphids, the third shows eggs.
Does anyone know which aphid this is? Anyone had similar?

Looks like normal vegetable aphid. That's the trouble, net and you don't get caterpillars but you also don't get the birds to eat the aphids. Try a mix of 17mm rape seed oil, a litre of water, and a drop of washing up liquid to help it emulsify. Need to spray the actual bugs as it is not systemic
Aphids are really bad this year but we are starting to get loads of ladybirds which is helping Ng.
Don't compost the plants the eggs stay in the compost for next year!

 

[JamezF]

Even just water and washing up liquid seems to do the trick for me, but a few repetitions may be necessary. It could also be worth checking for ant nests as ants will "farm" aphids and defend them against predators.

I have my brassicas under a very fine mesh net until they're at the point of being too big for it. That appears to keep the aphids and beetles off until the plants are sufficiently large that they can't do too much harm. I suspect however that lack of wasps may be a factor this year, certainly here. I've seen very few despite reports at the start of the spring suggesting that this could be a successful year for wasps.

I've always composted affected leaves, but I know my compost heaps get hot enough to destroy the eggs -- not much is going to survive an extended period at 60°C+. I'm not sure what kind of temperature might be a reasonable minimum, but I'd have thought if your heap is spending a few weeks above 40°C that would be sufficient.

James

 

[Amari]

Potassium soap and next year I planted garlic and nasturtiums among cabbage, radish or cabbage plants.
If you see ants on your plants, it is gray aphids or aphids due to the sweet secretion they secrete to protect their offspring. The ants will protect the aphids since it constitutes the origin of that honeydew.

Looks like normal vegetable aphid. That's the trouble, net and you don't get caterpillars but you also don't get the birds to eat the aphids. Try a mix of 17mm rape seed oil, a litre of water, and a drop of washing up liquid to help it emulsify. Need to spray the actual bugs as it is not systemic
Aphids are really bad this year but we are starting to get loads of ladybirds which is helping Ng.
Don't compost the plants the eggs stay in the compost for next year!

Even just water and washing up liquid seems to do the trick for me, but a few repetitions may be necessary. It could also be worth checking for ant nests as ants will "farm" aphids and defend them against predators.

I have my brassicas under a very fine mesh net until they're at the point of being too big for it. That appears to keep the aphids and beetles off until the plants are sufficiently large that they can't do too much harm. I suspect however that lack of wasps may be a factor this year, certainly here. I've seen very few despite reports at the start of the spring suggesting that this could be a successful year for wasps.

I've always composted affected leaves, but I know my compost heaps get hot enough to destroy the eggs -- not much is going to survive an extended period at 60°C+. I'm not sure what kind of temperature might be a reasonable minimum, but I'd have thought if your heap is spending a few weeks above 40°C that would be sufficient.

James

Thanks for the comments. I've not seen ants or L.birds on the foliage so far so think I'll give an insecticide spray this evening when it's cooler (30C here atm). I hate the thought of killing L.birds. Not practicable to spray "the actual bugs" - about 40 brassicas in the plot.
The B.sprouts are on our allotment 400m down the road. None of the allotment tenants have planted leeks this year because for two years running they have cropped poorly because they were ravaged by leek moth. The pic shows this year's solution in our garden.

 

[fian]

Thanks for the comments. I've not seen ants or L.birds on the foliage so far so think I'll give an insecticide spray this evening when it's cooler (30C here atm). I hate the thought of killing L.birds. Not practicable to spray "the actual bugs" - about 40 brassicas in the plot.
The B.sprouts are on our allotment 400m down the road. None of the allotment tenants have planted leeks this year because for two years running they have cropped poorly because they were ravaged by leek moth. The pic shows this year's solution in our garden.

Swap the garlic and nasturtium for mint and carnations. arrange these plants in the corners or edges of the beds.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Not home grown but growing in the apiary…. Found quite a few wild cherries. Got half a kilo before I couldn’t climb any more. Made a couple of jars of jam with a little juniper and star anise added.

 

[pargyle]

Not home grown but growing in the apiary…. Found quite a few wild cherries. Got half a kilo before I couldn’t climb any more. Made a couple of jars of jam with a little juniper and star anise added.

I should be so lucky ... I have a massive cherry tree in the garden that is hugely productive but I've never managed to harvest a single cherry from it as the wood pigeons get to every last one - usually before the are even ripe !

 

[enrico]

I should be so lucky ... I have a massive cherry tree in the garden that is hugely productive but I've never managed to harvest a single cherry from it as the wood pigeons get to every last one - usually before the are even ripe !

The blackbirds strip ours before then even ripen. Our cherry plum on the other hand is completely different and a far nicer fruit. Will post a photo when they are ripe. I have no idea what type it is but would love it identified as we have never seen another like it. Does anyone know if you have to pay the RHS for an id if you are not a member.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I have a June berry ( Amelanchier) that’s bare already and they are swinging from the far from ripe Rowan. Food must be scarce so I’m feeding them sultanas and suet pellets.
Stan has “dealt with “ six squirrels in the last fortnight.

 

[enrico]

I have a June berry ( Amelanchier) that’s bare already and they are swinging from the far from ripe Rowan. Food must be scarce so I’m feeding them sultanas and suet pellets.
Stan has “dealt with “ six squirrels in the last fortnight.

Yes they have stripped our amelanchier too.

 

[JamezF]

Stan has “dealt with “ six squirrels in the last fortnight.

What recipe will you use?

James

 

[Erichalfbee]

The local buzzards prefer them raw

 

[JamezF]

We've had to net the summer raspberries to keep the blackbirds off. I suspect they'll be at the strawberries next, so I'll have to net those this week.

Elsewhere in the veggie plot we're starting to get the first flowers on the chiles. All the peppers are doing better this year than I've ever managed before. I don't know if that's down to growing them on a bit more than I usually do in 3" pots or lack of slugs due to the weather or something else entirely. Tomatoes and cucumbers are looking good too, but we have no ripe fruit yet.

Having been diverted over the last couple of weeks by other stuff that needed doing this weekend I finally got to spend some more time on Frankenstein's Greenhouse and at long last I believe it's at the point of being ready to get the glazing in. I'm going to end up having a mixture of glass and twinwall polycarbonate I think, but I can't decide yet whether I should have the majority of the glass in the roof or walls. At the moment I'm thinking walls because they'll let in more light when the Sun is low. I still have to work out how to fit the door because I'm using the sliding door from one greenhouse on the end of the other (which originally had a hinged door). I'm sure it won't matter if it doesn't have a door for the next couple of months though, so I have time to think about that.

Now my son is back from uni we're using up some of last year's harvest. I promised him we'd made some mead at Christmas, but we've only just got around to doing that, and at the same time we've attempted cyser (with our own apple juice), blackberry melomel and raspberry melomel. Plum melomel and strawberry melomel are also planned. I also came across something called "capsomel" which is like a melomel but made with chiles. Not sure I'm quite ready for that yet, but it is tempting...

James

 

[Erichalfbee]

I wonder whether you can make melomel from blackcurrants or would it be too overwhelming?
Had a few cucumbers already ...we grow the lunchbox size ones. First winter squashes are just starting baby squashes. We grow these on the field grass cuttings heaped in a corner. It's always damp there and they do well. Strawberries are coming to an end. Have lots frozen.
One or two blackbirds are investigating the cotoneaster which is very far from ripe so more sultanas and suet pellets out.

 

[Goran]

We had some outbreak of stink bugs in the green house and had to cut it down with insecticide. Since we have lot of paprika/peppers in it I had to react. Since our salad cucumbers are also in the green house I had to spray them also. As result while we were waiting to " non eating" period pass we throw around 50kg of cucumbers on the compost heap.. So in commercial production I don't want to imagine..
Paprika is on the menu also..
We had first moussaka with zucchini.. I like it more than with potato.. Also zucchini/garlic salad is good as always.. Now we have more than can eat.. our hens are helping us..
We still eagerly wait for tomatoes.. our kid's cherry tomato seems will be the first..
Little of walnut what left is falling down, we managed to pick some for walnut liqueur ( green unripe we use for it).
Something creepy is happening to all the plants.. Our few hundred years old true service tree was in full bloom and after loaded with fruits, suddenly in few days like the whole is burnt and not just it lost all the fruits, it lost 2/3 of leaves also, I am in fear we could lose it.. Wild cherries look simmilar. We for about 5 years have no real clear blue sky as I know it.. My personal opinion is we f.ck.d up something really bad.. But as I said before no worries as long the beer is cheap..?

 

[JamezF]

I wonder whether you can make melomel from blackcurrants

It would appear so. According to my mead-making book it is just called "Black Melomel" or "Black Mead".

James