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This week in your Kitchen Garden.

Me too, Iona. My strawberry patch was about 5 years old and really rubbish - I didn't even mind when blackbirds ate them last year...but was motivated to buy 20 new plants in the autumn. I didn't have enough for the top layer of my new 3 tier bed, so dug out the best from my old patch...and OMG, the difference. O swear I am replacing the strawberries every 3 years from now on. Have quickly yanked the older strawbs out and put a couple of dahlias in.
No chance of taking pics though - ate them immediately.
 
Thought my windowsill lettuces had given up the ghost 2 weeks ago. Lots of dried out leaves. I took away the dried bits and was giving the tomatoes
a tiny bit of tomato food and gave a little to the lettuces.
They've taken off like mad now. 😊
 
campanula said:
Me too, Iona. My strawberry patch was about 5 years old and really rubbish - I didn't even mind when blackbirds ate them last year...but was motivated to buy 20 new plants in the autumn. I didn't have enough for the top layer of my new 3 tier bed, so dug out the best from my old patch...and OMG, the difference. O swear I am replacing the strawberries every 3 years from now on. Have quickly yanked the older strawbs out and put a couple of dahlias in.
No chance of taking pics though - ate them immediately.
Click to expand...
I eat mine immediately but have to save some for Max (Max is my neighbour's pet bearded dragon. He likes strawberries), and put one on the bird table because I feel guilty when the blackbirds sit there looking all sad and confused by the netting :rolleyes:
 
Not sure I sowed enough kale

DSC-0642.jpg
 
TopCat said:
I planted loads of poppy seeds this year to er, attract bees. Flower heads just appearing now. I love the growth spurt they put on at this stage of their life.
Click to expand...
I recounted on The Gardening Thread how my attempts to grow the more mundane poppies ended in failure as after the first year they had self-seeded themselves everywhere except where I wanted them.

The "sleepy" poppies which I've never planted have been equally obstinate in growing just where they want!

Here's a photo I've just taken so apologies for the poor light.

 
In other news, the soft fruit war has begun. I've had ripe strawberries, raspberries and tay berries but the wildlife have got to them before me.

I've just picked some raspberries and tay berries before the wildlife got to them but the wildlife were right to leave them as they weren't completely ripe. :(
 
My weed is getting a bit big. Hoping the sunflowers will flower soon and obscure the green to an untrained eye.
 
Picked the last of my broad beans. My favourite allotment vegetable, over for another year...sigh. Will have one last meal (frittata with beans and pancetta) tomorrow. Frenchies are just coming into flower though.
I broke a new potato patch this year, from my old asparagus bed and my prunings burn pile (which is always bloody vast). The pink fir maincrops are up to my chest! Going for a record crop so I got the seep hoses in place last week. My youngest walks past my allotment on his way to work at 7.30am and nips in to start the hose...which can run until I lurch down to the plot 3 hours later.- genius as the other 2 plots which share the hose have even slacker tenants than me.

My best yield was over 15kilos from one potato...and on my atrocious soil too (although I did fling about a fair bit of organic fertiliser and seaweed...but loads of water cos I garden on sand and stones!) Aiming for at least that and maybe more off the end row (where I had my incinerator) as half of this new patch had been fallow for years. Will definitely post pics.
 
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My empty compost bag potatoes are at shoulder height and currently being held upright by a combination of canes, string, paving slabs and a garden chair :oops:
 
Rather annoyed that roasting up the beets today made them all go black, they've oxidised in the oven for some reason :(
 
Anyone using Mr Fothergills courgette seed this year? Watch out it might be poisonous...

www.bhaf.org.uk

Poisonous courgette warning

A cautionary tale!
www.bhaf.org.uk www.bhaf.org.uk

I was given a large courgette/small marrow about 20 years back by an allotment holder, made a ratatouille and spat it out as it tasted so awfully bitter. Maybe it was a close call :eek:
 
Last summer, there wasn't a single day when blight was a threat but I was complacently caught on the hop this year, as I had (and missed) my first Blightwatch notification (on the 10th July). Will be anxiously watching my tomatoes and might have to top the potatoes, but mostly making certain I have some copper sulphate to spray at the next critical period. There is always a 24 hour window when temperature and humidity set the scene for phytopthera spores, but p.infestans needs 48 hours of 90% humidity and 12C. This used to be a 'Smith Period' but is now called a Hutton Period.

Blightwatch is free and easy to sign up to - uses local data (postcodes) to give you a blight notification so you can nip out with a fungicide (copper is still regarded as organic). East Anglia is relatively dry but blight is still ever present...and avoidable unless you are as negligent as I am...although I am on it now! For gardeners in the west, I really recommend signing up for blight emails or texts.
 
Thanks so much for this. It's my first year of doing proper gardening and we have four enormous tomato plants. Would be really shit to lose them before the harvest and I wouldn't have known about this at all. I'm signed up now and I'll be buying copper sulphate tomorrow.
 
20200714_095432.jpg
This morning I found these caterpillars on my broccoli plants. They're starting to do some damage to the leaves but I'm a bit loath to kill them. Is there any way of stopping them from destroying the whole plant without hurting the moth/butterfly population?
 
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