Comments on: Weeding & Clearing the Plots

By: John

John — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 08:58:31 +0000

Renata – I’d say a good chance but who can predict the weather?

Alan – what nonsense!! For a start you’d spend a fortune on Jeyes to destroy the blight in the soil, not to mention the worms, microbes and everything else that makes soil what it is rather than a ’sterile growing medium’

Secondly, blight is airborne. The spores float on the wind and your site can be completely free at the start of a season but a tiny spore can float in from miles away.

By: Alan

Alan — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 11:50:00 +0000

We’ve lost all outdoor tomatoes on our plot through blight. One of our plot elders is now saying that to clear the blight spores from the soil, we should “wash it” with jayes fluid.Not to keen on disinfecting the soil in this way, preferring to let nature and rotation take there course. Any views on how to do it,should we or is this just another old tale??

By: Renata

Renata — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 09:02:37 +0000

We also have tomatoes in a veg patch in the back garden … this is the first year we have the veg patch!

Most of them are still green with a few orange. We are in Sussex … from experience, what is the likelihood they will ripen outside (not in a greenhouse) and when will I need to pick them before they get completely spoilt?

By: John

John — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 21:32:02 +0000

Hi Ted – Sarpo are a blight resistant variety of potato. Just a tip for you, pop Sarpo into the search box on the top left and it will bring up all the references on this web site.

By: Ted

Ted — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 19:03:41 +0000

Iv’e had an allotment for 45 years now and have grown many sorts and varieties of vegtables, but in your weeding and clearing bit you mention ‘Sarpo.’ what is that? it’s new to me.

By: John

John — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 17:08:17 +0000

Phil – I harvested mine because the foliage was mostly dead so no benefit to leaving them on the ground.

Don’t worry about green tomatoes in a greenhouse, there’s time yet. If they don’t ripen, put them in a drawer with a ripe banana and they’ll go red pretty quickly for you.

Glad to hear it doesn’t put you off, my not being perfect! Recipes are always welcome – just use the form on the recipes section and it goes to Val

By: Maggie Hale

Maggie Hale — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 14:06:22 +0000

It is really good to hear that even those who know what they are doing have problems. Definately don’t cover up failures. Our whole allotment plot has been decimated by blight on the tomatoes. Cabbage caterpillas are also the worst we have ever had. They are even eating our comfry and honesty leaves. Last year we covered our cabbage plants with fleece until late summer and it really helped. Made batches of Pumkin and also Celeriac soups at the weekend. Recipes available upon request:)It sounds like you soil is the same as ours. After 8 year of hard graft we can now just about use a hoe on our weeds too! Fingers crossed for a better year next year. We may have to invest in a poly tunnel though if we have another year the same as this.

By: Phil Moores

Phil Moores — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 11:57:03 +0000

We haven’t cut our pumpkins yet, planning on having at least another 3 or 4 weeks before we’re likely to get a strong enough frost to damage the fruit. Should I have harvested them already?

We also have a greenhouse full of green tomatoes. Not a single fruit has so far shown any inclination to turn red (or even orange). Looks like we’ll be making a lot of chutney.

This year’s bane has been caterpillars. First year we’ve grown brassicas and we were so paranoid about the pigeons we were told would massacre them, we forgot about caterpillars and butterflies until it was too late. Next year, we’ll be covering everything in fine netting as soon as the first brassica seedlings go into the ground.

By the way – I agree with you that knowing that even gardeners as experienced as you don’t have perfect plots and results is far more encouraging than believing you’re a failure because you aren’t growing rows of ginormous carrots.