Growing your own - is it worth it?

[doversoul1]

Assuming that you're not planting tall varieties - some of the old peas will grow to 10 feet or more and I've had potatoes that produce very long straggly foliage - perhaps it's an over-high Nitrogen content in your soil. Was your neighbour correct with the 'all tops no bottoms' remark? Do the un-manured parts of the garden produce the same results? Perhaps the horse manure was mixed with something that bumped up its Nitrogen content and adding Growmore or similar has just made things worse. Maybe don't manure this year and see what happens next?

They are tall variety but only in a sense that they are not a dwarf variety (I grow them too). It did occurred to me that over-high nitrogen could be the reason. I’ll try cut the manure down next year. Runner and Dwarf (French) beans are not affected, so far.

Apparently, ‘all tops and no bottoms’ is an old saying so it probably have some truth in it. I dug a couple of self-planted (small potatoes missed from last year) the other day. They had very modest tops and an unexpectedly good crop.

Lat
Are you sure the product you bought is not for mulching?

[gradus]

'Volunteers' can crop very well and I've found that potatoes previously grown in the allotment have produced good crops the following year but not thereafter- something to do with virus accumulation in the seed.
I think you're right re Lat and the manure/mulch. Unless very well-rotted I understood that wood-based mulches rob soil of the nitrogen needed to rot the wood, so not a likely candidate as a manure base.

[Dave2002]

A friend told me last night that he'd given up on potatoes this year, as he'd had blight in recent years.

However, he also suggested that "Christmas" potatoes might be a good idea. Plant about now perhaps?

[umslopogaas]

Potatoes are frost sensitive, so if you plant them now for Christmas they would have to have some sort of frost protection, like fleece. Alternatively they could be grown under cover in large pots. I dont see why not, but I never heard of anyone doing so.

[gradus]

A friend told me last night that he'd given up on potatoes this year, as he'd had blight in recent years.

However, he also suggested that "Christmas" potatoes might be a good idea. Plant about now perhaps?

He'd avoid blight with the Sarpo varieties eg Mira or Axona both of which can cope with blight. There are a number of other Sarpo varieties also available, from early to maincrop.

[Dave2002]

Potatoes are frost sensitive, so if you plant them now for Christmas they would have to have some sort of frost protection, like fleece. Alternatively they could be grown under cover in large pots. I dont see why not, but I never heard of anyone doing so.

I have certainly known people who have grown potatoes for Christmas. Thanks for the tip re frost protection, in case I decide to try.

[doversoul1]

I have certainly known people who have grown potatoes for Christmas. Thanks for the tip re frost protection, in case I decide to try.

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=593

http://search.thompson-morgan.com/seeds/Seed-Potatoes-Christmas

I’m sure someone posted on this thread a photograph of Christmas potatoes.

[doversoul1]

The potatoes have been dug and stored in the cellar. I am pleased to report that ‘all tops and no bottoms’ proved to be, at least for this year, just an old wife’s tale. The ‘bottoms’ were as massive as the tops, and there was no blight which was a record. There was hardly any slug damages either although quite a lot were extensively nibbled/gnawed, many of them deep in the ground. Another thing I noticed was that there were very many potato ‘apples’ on the plants. I don’t know if this was because the plants were exceptionally vigorous.

I shall be planting the chicory where the potatoes were. Getting ready for winter...

[gradus]

We're blight-free too, I think it's the dry season that is responsible, luckily rain has come in short bursts that swelled the tubers but didn't encourage blight to proliferate.
The plums are doing exceptionally well with crops heavy enough to break a bough.

[jean]

...Another thing I noticed was that there were very many potato ‘apples’ on the plants...

I noticed that too! There are always flowers but the fruits rarely develop. I wondered if it was the variety we'd planted this year (but can't remember what it was).

A shame they're poisonous!

[Dave2002]

Zilch - nul points so far! I tried several potato bags this year, and all the bags had masses of leaves and the plants flowered.
Yesterday I thought I'd check one of the bags - first by just feeling around, and then, since I couldn't feel anything, further excavation, finally pulling the plants out. In that bag there were NO potatoes at all. Is this a common problem?

I'm hoping that the other bags will have more - different varieties etc., but this year may just have been a complete washout, though I don't understand why that should be.

This page does seem to have some advice/explanations - https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edi...-producing.htm

Re the above - what are the potato 'apples'? (msg 670)

[jean]

These:

[gradus]

Zilch - nul points so far! I tried several potato bags this year, and all the bags had masses of leaves and the plants flowered.
Yesterday I thought I'd check one of the bags - first by just feeling around, and then, since I couldn't feel anything, further excavation, finally pulling the plants out. In that bag there were NO potatoes at all. Is this a common problem?

I'm hoping that the other bags will have more - different varieties etc., but this year may just have been a complete washout, though I don't understand why that should be.

This page does seem to have some advice/explanations - https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edi...-producing.htm

Re the above - what are the potato 'apples'? (msg 670)

I find that spuds normally take about 80 days upwards to crop and if you've used a large enough container with ordinary general purpose compost, watered and fed 'em when the flowers start to show it's odd that nothing appeared. Was there any sign of the tuber(s) sending out growth or did they only send up leaf shoots?

[Pulcinella]

Loads of swiss chard here; well worth it to have on the doorstep.
Planning a herb garden as part of the front plot, for neighbours to help themselves to!

[doversoul1]

My outdoor tomatoes (our first attempt of growing them outside) have grown into a massive wall and heavy with huge fruit. We have picked quite a lot but now something have found them and all we have left are shells (skin). I was very pleased with myself for managing to keep the rabbits out of my vegetable patch. So it’s not the rabbits. I know blackbirds peck at tomatoes when the weather is dry or maybe just from curiosity. Squirrels nibble at lot of things but do they eat tomatoes in this quantity? The fruit are literally shelled out. They are large variety (the tomatoes, not the squirrels). Eating the fruit and leaving three quarters of the skin/shell looks to me to be not the sort of thing squirrels can or want to do. Birds will peck at them but I don’t think they eat the fruit so thoroughly as this. Has anyone had similar problems?