God I love growing our own

[Erichalfbee]

Anyone know of a genuinely blight resistant commercially available seed

• Tomato ‘F1 Crimson Crush’ produces larger fruit weighing up to 200g that ripen well outdoors. This cordon variety has very good blight resistance, so is a great choice for affected gardens.
• Tomato ‘Crimson Blush’ is a beefsteak that has been bred with the UK climate in mind and will crop from June to September. Start this blight-resistant variety as a grafted plant for extra vigour.

According to Suttons.

 

[JamezF]

There are also some tomato varieties from areas with short growing seasons that fruit earlier thereby avoiding the worst effects of blight. I believe "Latah" is one.

James

 

[pargyle]

• Tomato ‘F1 Crimson Crush’ produces larger fruit weighing up to 200g that ripen well outdoors. This cordon variety has very good blight resistance, so is a great choice for affected gardens.
• Tomato ‘Crimson Blush’ is a beefsteak that has been bred with the UK climate in mind and will crop from June to September. Start this blight-resistant variety as a grafted plant for extra vigour.

According to Suttons.

Worth a try I suppose - Shirley F1 was a recommendation as it normally fruits early but the weather was not kind and they were late developing. As you know my track record of growing tomatoes is not good so I should be used to the disappointment by now.

 

[enrico]

There are also some tomato varieties from areas with short growing seasons that fruit earlier thereby avoiding the worst effects of blight. I believe "Latah" is one.

James

We plant really early which is why most of our tomatoes are over by the time the blight hits. We do it to avoid blight and because we like eating tomatoes in the summer rather than the autumn. But ..... we risk early frost. We have had leaves blackened with cold nights but it hasn't affected the final crop.

 

[pargyle]

We plant really early which is why most of our tomatoes are over by the time the blight hits. We do it to avoid blight and because we like eating tomatoes in the summer rather than the autumn. But ..... we risk early frost. We have had leaves blackened with cold nights but it hasn't affected the final crop.

Do you set your seeds in a warm environment - I only have an unheated greenhouse so about the earliest I can get germination is March ... and this year Spring was so bad the plants really did not grow that much ... It's annoying because I have no chance with plum tomatoes for sauce as they take forever to ripen and by the time they are even of a size and green the blight strikes. My greenhouse is not big enough to take full size plants so I can't even protect them from blight.

 

[enrico]

Do you set your seeds in a warm environment - I only have an unheated greenhouse so about the earliest I can get germination is March ... and this year Spring was so bad the plants really did not grow that much ... It's annoying because I have no chance with plum tomatoes for sauce as they take forever to ripen and by the time they are even of a size and green the blight strikes. My greenhouse is not big enough to take full size plants so I can't even protect them from blight.

We get ours growing inside in a well lit room that never goes below 12⁰ end of Jan beginning of Feb but we use a grow light to stop them going leggy.
You really need something to keep the rain off them to reduce the chance of blight.
Whitefly are our biggest problem

 

[Erichalfbee]

Whitefly are our biggest problem

Used to be ours too. We plant marigolds and basil in the tunnel and now don’t get any

 

[roche]

Sweet corn on the cob last night, direct from the garden. Biggest bestest luxury in the world.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Sweet corn on the cob last night, direct from the garden. Biggest bestest luxury in the world.

Gets stuck in my teeth. For me there are nicer ways of getting butter into me; fresh home baked bread and home made honey.

 

[roche]

Gets stuck in my teeth. For me there are nicer ways of getting butter into me; fresh home baked bread and home made honey.

Those, too, are luxury...

 

[JamezF]

Sweet corn on the cob last night, direct from the garden. Biggest bestest luxury in the world.

The only type to have now I've got the hang of growing it properly. The difference in taste between home-grown and bought from a shop is huge.

James

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Those, too, are luxury...

what? teeth?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

The only type to have now I've got the hang of growing it properly. The difference in taste between home-grown and bought from a shop is huge.

James

still, there are much easier ways to make a mess of your face when eating.

 

[JamezF]

still, there are much easier ways to make a mess of your face when eating.

At this point the jokes are making themselves up.

James

 

[Moobee]

Sweet corn on the cob last night, direct from the garden. Biggest bestest luxury in the world.

 

[pargyle]

Spent the afternoon cutting down the summer raspberry canes and tying up this year's growth. Autumn raspberries still producing fruit but it's not been a great year for any of the raspberries - certainly not enough for the freezer this year. Cut back the blackberries and loganberries as well.

Watching the bees while I was doing it - very busy in the sunshine - one colony was doing lots of orientation - new bees hopefully.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Autumn raspberries still producing fruit

Raspberries have been weird this year. The Polka have been fine and some are in the freezer. I squash them in little pots topped with honey and that goes on my porridge in the winter. The yellow ones you gave me I nearly gave up on. They have grown five feet high before suddenly bursting into fruit at the very top; still going
Peppers, similarly, have grown very tall before starting to flower. I won't get many from those this year
Sagitta and Charlotte spuds have done really well as have @JamezF Amish tomatoes, along with the Polish ones I usually grow. Blueberries have been spectacular and there are still a few left
Pleased with the carrots and parsnips as both have grown pretty straight this year

 

[pargyle]

Raspberries have been weird this year. The Polka have been fine and some are in the freezer. I squash them in little pots topped with honey and that goes on my porridge in the winter. The yellow ones you gave me I nearly gave up on. They have grown five feet high before suddenly bursting into fruit at the very top; still going
Peppers, similarly, have grown very tall before starting to flower. I won't get many from those this year
Sagitta and Charlotte spuds have done really well as have @JamezF Amish tomatoes, along with the Polish ones I usually grow. Blueberries have been spectacular and there are still a few left
Pleased with the carrots and parsnips as both have grown pretty straight this year

Yes ... my yellow ones have been the same this year ... nothing lower down all the fruit at the top - and very tall canes and they are still flowering - very late this year. I think I might leave about 2 or 3 feet of the cane when I cut those back and see if I get an earlier crop on this years canes before the new ones develop. Not a great year for raspberries - I think I will give mine a really heavy mulch of compost in the next few weeks and a good feed with comfrey tea.... see if it's a feed they need.

 

[JamezF]

It's quite odd comparing how various plants have done this year. What has clearly worked well for some has been completely different for others. We had a fantastic crop of Summer raspberries (can't recall the variety off the top of my head), the the Polka plants that I put in last Winter have really struggled and in fact a couple died. Charlotte potatoes have done really well, as have carrots, but squashes and courgettes have been very poor. I have lettuce that I sowed well over a month ago now that are still only an inch tall. Peppers, tomatoes and basil have been very slow compared with previous years and climbing beans haven't been that great either.

My best guess is that whilst it has been quite warm over the Summer, we've had so little sunshine. Most days seem to have been cloudy to heavily overcast. My solar wax melter only needs the air temperature to be in the low twenties to work as long as it gets fairly consistent sun, but it has only actually worked on five days this Summer. It has been quite depressing.

James

 

[Jimmy]

My autumn raspberries (polka) have suffered from the wet winter, indifferent spring weather and then the dry cloudy summer. As have most of the other fruit and veg in the garden apart from apples.
I've had a couple of blight free years growing a couple of the Crimson tomato varieties, yield was poor this year compared to 2023. Seed are expensive (£4.49 for 10?) but better than an afflicted crop.
Beetroot have stayed golf ball size, celeriac tennis ball, not many borlotti beans, sweetcorn was average, mange tout were thirsty, salad leaves were good until the flea beetle arrived, courgettes never really got going. I had a satisfying time yesterday clearing the summer veg and spreading last year's leaf mulch.
Parsnips look promising though, looking forward to them at Xmas. They're definitely veg planted without much rational thought - we don't eat that many, they're cheap to buy and I doubt freshness is an issue.