Growing your own - is it worth it?

[doversoul1]

Summer has arrived down here in Kent but too late for most things in my garden. Blight arrived very early and we had to dig the potatoes before they were fully ready. Peas grew well but they didn’t seem to have the strength to sustain the pea production. The worst is the broad beans. They have what seems to be a very bad case of black spots/rust which rotted most of the young beans before they began to grow. This was particularly severe in the dwarf variety that usually do very well here. Still, the runner beans are starting to flower. I’ll see how they’ll fare.

[umslopogaas]

If the broad bean problem is dead brown patches on the leaves, that will be chocolate spot (Botrytis fabae). If it is erupting brown pustules on the lower surface, it will be rust (Uromyces viciae-fabae). Its quite possible to have both. The book suggests only potassium fertiliser and avoiding damp shady places. There are no fungicides labelled for use on broad beans for amateurs. Copper fungicide is available for use against potato blight and would be perfectly safe to use on broad beans, but because its not approved I cant recommend it. Of course, whether or not the Pesticides Safety Directorate is likely to take an interest in what you do in the privacy of your back garden, only you can guess ... Remember that copper is only a protective fungicide, you have to get it on before the disease arrives, it has very little curative effect.

[gurnemanz]

Likewise superb loganberries which I like on top of breakfast cereal. Also red white and blackcurrants. Enough reds to share with local blackbirds and sparrows. Runner beans slow. Outdoor tomatoes perking up after initial reluctance. We should be digging spuds through go September.

[gradus]

Copious runner bean flowers for two weeks or more but they're only just starting to set. Incipient potato blight temporarily halted by the sudden spell of hot dry weather but heavy sustained rain will bring it on again when the inevitable thunderstorms break out. Good goozgogs though.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Like last year, the raspberry and strawberry crops are amazing. Every day, we pick more than we can eat ourselves, so give more than half of them away.

[gradus]

Cauliflowers! I'd forgotten them as they were under fleece but yesterday found that by some miracle of grace I actually had cauliflowers, yes with proper cauliflower heads. How this happened I am at a loss to explain. Bit of a come-down to discover that the outdoor toms had succumbed to blight. How gardening really works I really have no idea despite years of trying to find out.

[vinteuil]

Cauliflowers! I'd forgotten them as they were under fleece but yesterday found that by some miracle of grace I actually had cauliflowers, yes with proper cauliflower heads...

... if you have more cauli than you know what to do with - I can much recommend this easy-peasy recipe we tried last night. I wd suggest halving the amount of vinegar he states - possibly lemon juice wd be an improvement. But it was well good...

https://www.asdagoodliving.co.uk/food/recipes/james-martin-cauliflower-couscous

[umslopogaas]

Congratulations! I gave up on brassicas years ago, too many problems with cabbage white caterpillars. I expect the fleece kept them off. As for tomato blight, there is a variety out there - I think its called Ferline - that is resistant, but otherwise, you have to spray. I have packets of Bayer Disease Control and Murphy Traditional Copper, both of which contain copper oxychloride and are approved for use against tomato blight - or were, when they were sold, both are several years old. As noted, they are protectants and have to be applied before the disease appears.

I think how gardening works is largely down to fending off the pest and disease problems. Its easy enough to grow plants, but there is a lot of competition out there, especially for edible stuff. My biggest problems are vertebrates. Rabbits and deer are fenced out, birds I can repel with netting, but mice are a menace, I set traps and catch lots. Peanut butter is best as a bait, much better than cheese, they cant resist it.

[Dave2002]

... but mice are a menace, I set traps and catch lots. Peanut butter is best as a bait, much better than cheese, they cant resist it.

I agree about peanut butter, though chocolate is also quite good. Make small shavings, and place them appropriately.

Somewhat to my surprise, they are also attracted to mice and rat poison. I had a packet in my garage, but I never deployed it. However, when I looked at it later, it would appear that they had found it anyway and chewed their way in, and then gone off into the roof to die and rot, which caused some offensive smells for a while.

[umslopogaas]

Interesting. There must be something added to the poison to make it attractive to eat, unless warfarin itself is an attractant as well as a poison. Perhaps the bulk material is a sort of cereal, that would attract them.

[gradus]

... if you have more cauli than you know what to do with - I can much recommend this easy-peasy recipe we tried last night. I wd suggest halving the amount of vinegar he states - possibly lemon juice wd be an improvement. But it was well good...

https://www.asdagoodliving.co.uk/foo...lower-couscous

Lovely suggestion that I will pass on to Mrs G, many thanks.

[doversoul1]

Cauliflowers! I'd forgotten them as they were under fleece but yesterday found that by some miracle of grace I actually had cauliflowers, yes with proper cauliflower heads. How this happened I am at a loss to explain. Bit of a come-down to discover that the outdoor toms had succumbed to blight. How gardening really works I really have no idea despite years of trying to find out.

Try Crimson Crush. I have some in the greenhouse unaffected next to Gardeners’ Delight that are badly affected by blight, also some outside un- blighted next to the potatoes that suffered early blight. This is the second year I have grown them and they do seem to be blight resistance.

We are well into August and I’ve had less than a dozen ripe tomatoes. The fruit are there but they are just not ripening. Cobra, the climbing beans are doing well. The separate fence I put up for the runner beans and Cobra managed to keep the rabbits off the plants but it makes weeding very awkward.

[gradus]

Ah yes Crimson Crush, I'd forgotten them but won't next year, glad to hear they're delivering.

[Jonathan]

Last year I made a pizza with a cauliflower base. I'm sure a recipe is easy to find online, if anyone else wants to try it. It was very nice!

[Dave2002]

Alpine strawberries

I've been trying to grow alpine strawberries. They took a long while to germinate, and at one time I had about 20 seedlings - probably about a 50% success rate for germination. Now I'm down to only a few - probably due to a combination of too much heat, too much water, too little water etc. I have thought about putting them outside to harden off, but that doesn't seem too great a technique either. I've been putting them out one at a time to see what happens, but I've lost a few more that way. This may turn out to have been a lot of work (well not really - but attention anyway ...) for no results, as the last few might die off.

I don't think keeping them in is a very good option either. Perhaps this is just going to have to be one of those "write it off to experience" circumstances.