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Gardening 2008

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My tomatoes are outside now in growbags and they seem to be going quite well. There are a few flowers on them and a few more budding but they seem to be taking an age to flower. The courgette plants are getting massive but a cpl of the leaves on each plant are turning black. I have sprayed a cpl of times with an insectiside and i think I have just caught it early enough. Is it ok to remove the black leaves?

My potatoes in the barrel are getting huge and it seems like I am earthing them up everyday, still no flowers on them though. How long do they take to appear?
 
Inch High PI said:
My tomatoes are outside now in growbags and they seem to be going quite well. There are a few flowers on them and a few more budding but they seem to be taking an age to flower. The courgette plants are getting massive but a cpl of the leaves on each plant are turning black. I have sprayed a cpl of times with an insectiside and i think I have just caught it early enough. Is it ok to remove the black leaves?

My potatoes in the barrel are getting huge and it seems like I am earthing them up everyday, still no flowers on them though. How long do they take to appear?
Click to expand...

I have been keeping my outdoor toms covered with poly at night untill this week. I think that helps with the evening temps. They are in hanging baskets.
I have just taken the poly off, but they are still under corrugated clear plastic sheeting overnight. Last year, we had some heavy downpours which knocked all the flowers off, and set me back a month. No sign of blight at the moment.

I don't have any suitable planting ground, so all my stuff is salads in containers, just to go with the plentiful BBQ's.

Got my toms doing well. Red & green italian cut and grow again lettuce, raddish's. Bl00dy spring onions will not germinate.
I sow'd one lot about 6 weeks ago, and they didn't germinate, so I went out and bought new seeds. They've been in about three weeks now and done now't.

I have a lot of fun with growing food, but you have to be prepared to accept some failures.
At least I do.:PDT_Xtremez_31:
 
Inch High PI said:
My tomatoes are outside now in growbags and they seem to be going quite well. There are a few flowers on them and a few more budding but they seem to be taking an age to flower. The courgette plants are getting massive but a cpl of the leaves on each plant are turning black. I have sprayed a cpl of times with an insectiside and i think I have just caught it early enough. Is it ok to remove the black leaves?

My potatoes in the barrel are getting huge and it seems like I am earthing them up everyday, still no flowers on them though. How long do they take to appear?
Click to expand...

Any leaves which are infested or disfigured should be removed with a sharp knife. Do not put them on a compost heap, but bin them or burn them. They can spread diseases.
 
Outdoor toms and peppers still looking forlorn and probably aren't going to amount to much though with the better weather the last few days the toms have staged a little bit of a recovery. I may well not even bother with growbags next year as I have had very limited success, last year and this, growing stuff in them outdoors. Spuds going like mad loads of top growth but no flowers but I am trying to be patient with things. Thinned the carrots this evening removed lots that were smaller than my little finger and left the remainder about 4" apart. Beans now in flower so at least one thing is doing what I want it to do.
 
TB, don't give up with the toms. They are worth the effort when you get it right. I spent years trying to grow them in a greenhouse, and also in growbags without great success.
A couple of years ago, I turned to outdoor cherry tomato's, and last year, after a poor start, I ended up picking 50 toms per week.

I chose the variety "Tumbler" and I put 6 plants in 3 hanging baskets.

This piccy was taken ten mins ago.................

Toms 028.jpg


They are about two feet tall, loads of flowers, and about 12 marrowfat pea size toms on each plant. I reckon about 4 weeks to eating.
Raddishes are doing well. Italian lettuce are doing well, but I can't grow spring onions for some reason.

Keep trying mate.
 
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'kin lilly beetles

'kin lilly beetles

This is what I said last year about the blighters

http://www.e-goat.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?p=95342&highlight=lilly+beetles#post95342

Seems I spoke to soon the things have arrived on Mrs TB's favourite flowers , her lillies:PDT_Xtremez_42: . Does exactly what is says strips the leaves in short order. The adults I have yet to see (3/8"long and bright red) but the larva I have found this morning. Ugly little feckers look a little like a grain of black rice. As a defence they cover themselves in their own poo to stop birds eating them so messy unpleasant bu99ers as well::/: . If you are quick you can squash the little feckers on the plant but they drop off onto the soil at any sign of danger so I only got about half a dozen before they disappeared. They are very hard, almost impossible, to spot once on the ground as they stay still once down. The affected leaves look like badly made lace these I have removed and binned. So what's the best way to kill the little blighters then ?????:PDT_Xtremez_32:
 
I've just come back from the patch where I was remarking in a 'mocking you for telling me I'd get nothing in the first year' way that this allotmenteering lark is a piece of p!ss as everything bar the parsnips have grown...and I'm told that parsnips aint easy anyway...

Just noticed the wads of broad beans that are dangling down...they didn't take long from the flowers...and the spuds are on the cusp of flowering so I'm looking at the start of July for firing up the deep fat frier...

Thing is I may have miscalculated how many spuds to have planted...working on my made up theory of getting 2kg's of spuds from a plant I will have over 170kg's of spuds to get through...Does this sound realistic?

If so who wants to buy some lovely fresh spuds...much cheapness!
 
lilly beetle update

lilly beetle update

About two hours since my last look round just had a real good inspection of the plants of which there are around 25+. Found another 15 or so of the blighters. So far I have discovered that when placed between two flat stones that are firmly pressed together they don't like it, similarly when placed in a small container and covered in Avtur they don't like it, surprisingly they don't appear to like being dropped in boiling water either. One of OC House's plants just looks like a bright green stick all leaves devoured tw@ts.

Vim sounds more like a small holding than an allotment. Spuds dig some up early (less spuds per plant) at around golf ball size loverly new spuds boiled some butter hint of parsley.
The rest should be okay to keep if you sort some form of proper storage either that or find a local farmers market and flog of the first 100Kgs or so to the general public.:PDT_Xtremez_30:

For storage gen look here

http://www.allotment.org.uk/allotment_foods/Storing_the_Surplus_Potatoes_and_Root_Vegetables.php
 
I am tempted to scratch around on a plant or two to see whats underneath...I know it'll be spuds before any smart ar$e states the obvious but how many and how big...

What is suitable storage?

My plot is 56m x 8m...although chickens are going on the back end of it...I'm going down at 1300 to finish off the ground work for them then it's cage building time and going to an auction to choose some chucks...
 
TB, for the buggy things on the lillies, if they drop onto the ground at the sign of danger, can you put plastic sheeting down, spread a bin bag around the base of the plant etc, then they'll drop onto that and you just need to pick the sheet up then and get rid of them all in one go.
 
laboratoryqueen said:
TB, for the buggy things on the lillies, if they drop onto the ground at the sign of danger, can you put plastic sheeting down, spread a bin bag around the base of the plant etc, then they'll drop onto that and you just need to pick the sheet up then and get rid of them all in one go.
Click to expand...

Seems like a plan LQ. Just found this snippet on t'internet on a Canadian web forum the final sentence doesn't paint the best picture

"The beetles lay eggs in early spring and the larvae hatch a week later and spend the next 2-3 weeks chowing down everything in sight. True, they do cover themselves in faeces to deter predators, but with gloves on, it's your best method of killing them. They also drop to the ground if predators are around, so first lay a light coloured sheet, cloth, towel, etc all around each plant as you pick and the darker beetle or larvae will be more visible against it and you can stomp or squish. Also, dig up the first 1/2 inch of soil around the plant from time to time and be prepared for the little beggars to spring out. If it's really a bad infestation, then use a systemic insecticide asap as well as at spring emergence. Oh, and after you squish them, put every single one in a trash bag which you'll then dispose of or burn - they're very good at playing dead. Sadly, there are no natural predators as yet".
 
Anyone know about or even own a bee box?

I was clearing some land tother day and unearthed a bee's nest...Queen busying herself in the middle and little damp looking bumble bee's taking their first steps etc...

Now I see them as useful around the garden and Mrs F has heard of these bee box's but when I perused them in Pennels today they were circa £30! For a box ffs...

Essentially I want one for less than that to keep her indoors onside...
 
Stick the missus in the garden, and let the little buggers have access to the honey pot.
 
Not to mention with bee's if you move them three feet you might as well move them 3 miles. they might get lost if you move them from one side of your garden to the other.
 
How's your patch??

How's your patch??

I seem to have won the war against the lilly beetles and their horrible grubs. Took a while but a regular spraying plus daily squashing of any of the little bu99ers I could find has resulted in no sightings for a week now. Greenfly still a problem on the peppers and chillies despite all my efforts at controlling them. Strangley no sign on the roses. Everything else is going well spuds, carrots, runner beans, radish, lettuce and Mrs TB's flowers. Grass needs cutting once again but that's a job for a nicer day.
 
Does anyone know what Tipping or topping is.

I know it something to do with taking off some leafs etc to encourage growth.

But which ones do I nip off, top, middle, or bottom, new or old. (it for a tommato plant)
 
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