Monday, August 28

Why we don't put all our potatoes in one bed.

We dug more potatoes last week with very mixed results. The bed that we cleared was alongside the roadway.

The first couple of rows dug on Monday were Orla and Nadine. As I have described in previous posts, up until now most of the potatoes have had no damage at all other than a few wireworm drillings in an earlier lifted row of Orla.

With respect to the potatoes dug from this bed things were to change dramatically.
21 August
There were four rows of potatoes growing alongside one another. Of the two varieties dug on Monday, the crop of Orla had about 50% of the tubers with slug and wireworm damage and Nadine had similar problems but not as many of the tubers were affected.

On Friday the remaining two rows in this bed were lifted. This time the varieties were Vivaldi and Winston. Vivaldi showed a similar amount of damage to Nadine but the row of Winston were a complete disaster. Every tuber was riddled with slug and wireworm damage on top of which the tubers were probably the scabbiest that I have ever seem. In the past Winston has proved to be a slug favourite but never to this extent. More Winston are planted in another part of the allotment so it will be interesting to see how these compare. From this performance it looks as though Winston is off next year's list.
Winston
I think this demonstrates our reason for growing a range of varieties and not planting all the potatoes in the same part of the plot. 

Our trial potatoes varieties were lifted. We planted four tubers of six different varieties. The yield was variable. More detail will be posted at a later date. Some varieties may make our main list next year and some definitely will not. Each variety still has to pass the taste test.
Trial potatoes 25 August
Another disappointment this week was our first Rolet squash. It was rock hard and had very little flesh so it seemed hardly worth struggling to prepare it for cooking, consequently it went the way of Winston. 
 Between plot visits we have been harvesting from the garden greenhouse.
Our first sweet pepper, first aubergine and the bunch of basil shown above went into a pasta sauce and the Gardeners' Delight tomatoes and watercress below went into our lunchtime sandwich.
The Shirley tomatoes below were also destined for lunchtime sandwiches.
We picked some Mini Munch cucumbers which are just the right size for the two of us to eat in one sitting. No shop bought cucumber can compete with the crispness and juiciness of one picked fresh from the garden.
The highlight of the week, however, has to be the harvesting of the nectarines.
From outside in the garden we picked some cooking apples - Peasgood Nonsuch and Bramley - and a handful of Brown Turkey figs. The apples were combined with the blackberries picked from the plot.
On Friday I was disappointed to find that mildew has struck and had claimed the pea plants that we were harvesting. I did manage to pick some pods but many were covered in the stuff. I washed the pods to remove the white powdery mildew before shelling the peas which were fine. It's a shame as there are lots of pods still swelling. I'm not sure how many more pods I will be able to rescue or whether the last lot of peas planted, and have yet to crop, will avoid being affected.
.25 August
The Loch Ness blackberry is now at its best producing lots of large juicy berries. The first lot of berries were rather hard so maybe the recent rain has improved matters.
I wasn't expecting much from the All Gold autumn raspberries as these were tidied, split and replanted earlier in the year. 
Surprisingly they seem to have responded well to this rough treatment and are full of flowers which are being attended to by busy bees. The Joan J raspberries that I gave the same treatment the previous year still haven't recovered and are only producing a tiny amount of fruit.
A few alpine strawberries added colour to our fruit salads.
We are still harvesting Victoria plums and we are now beginning to harvest plums from the Marjorie's Seedling. This tree is the last of our plums to have ripe fruit. The two varieties look very similar. So far still no wasp activity.
The Sungold tomatoes, outdoors and in both the plot and garden greenhouses are now ripening quickly. The ones below were picked from our outdoor plants which have had some fairly rough conditions to put up with. These are plants that were left over once the greenhouses had been planted up and are more or less left to their own devices.
We have now also moved into apple picking time.
I think some of the trees will breathe a sigh of relief when they have been relieved of their heavy burden. Our Egremont Russet tree has keeled over completely. Hopefully once the apples are removed we will be able to coax it back into a more upright position. Martyn posted yesterday about the plight of our over-burdened fruit trees. It's not only this apple that has suffered.
I'm a little concerned that there are the first signs of mildew on our sweet pea plants but so far this isn't impeding their will to produce masses of flowers.
At one point I had eight vases of sweet peas in the house and that was after I had taken one of the bucketfuls above to my sister.
27 August
The pears and Egremont Russet apples above had either fallen from the tree or were casualties from broken branches.

In case you are wondering why there is a carton of eggs in the last photo - we haven't started keeping hens - the eggs are from our plot neighbours hens. It's not often that you have a multi coloured box of eggs and it is an allotment harvest of sorts.

As usual I am linking to harvest Monday hosted on Dave's blog Our Happy Acres


20 comments:

  1. Wow, incredible harvesting, despite the problems. When I grew veg, I did the same with potatoes, grew about 12 varieties, about 8 favourites and 4 newbies to trial each year in different beds and this meant I always got a good crop from most of them. Your house must smell nice with all those sweetpeas!

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    1. I just can't keep up with the sweet pea production line, Julieannr. I'm running out of suitable vases and ended up using a pot plant container.

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  2. That is really some major difference in your potato harvest...I only ever sow one bed of potatoes, I think I may have just been lucky over the years...I've yet to dig up this years yet!!

    I am so envious of your nectarines...is this grown in or outdoors?? If outside i may invest in one as I do love them!
    I'mm glad your loch ness are producing well...I have picked a huge amount this year....I'm not sure what I'm gong to make with them yet though!

    i have many dropped apples but still plenty for harvesting and been picking my pears for a couple of weeks too...i always think this time of year really makes all the hard work worth while!

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    1. The nectarine is grown in the greenhouse, Tanya. When it was outside in succumbed to peach leaf curl. It can survive outside but would need some protection against peach leaf curl.
      Yes your recommendation for Loch Ness was a good one.
      You are right this is the pay off for all the hard work.

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  3. Winston truly is ugly. But everything else looks so fabulous.

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    1. I think Winston has had it's chance, Michelle we have grown it for a couple of years or so and each year it has suffered more slug damage than the other varieties so it was given a chance to prove it's worth. It has failed.

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  4. Your approach is very similar to mine (except in terms of scale) - grow lots of different varieties, because some will succeed and others won't! Poor old Winston: I have heard it criticised for blandness, but it usually scores well in terms of appearance. Re the overloaded fruit trees - I suppose it is really a good thing to thin the fruit to a modest number, but in my case I only have a couple of small trees, so every fruit seems precious and I'm reluctant to thin.

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    1. I don't think the windy conditions whilst in full leaf and fruiting helped, Mark

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  5. The problem of slug and wire worm is here as well Sue. My carrots have the same problem, many of them have been eaten by wire worm. I love your red tomatoes for sandwich, so tasty they are.
    The mildew is another problem too, my cucumbers are infected by mildew, what to do? I do not want to use chemical treatment.

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    1. I just watched a TV gardening programme where it was suggested that spraying with alcohol combatted mildew, Nadezda. The suggestion was to use mouthwash with an alcohol content!

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  6. Oh my, if I had homegrown nectarines they would be the highlight for me too. I had trees at my old place but the brown rot is so bad here I don't even try growing them. And I totally agree with you on the homegrown cucumbers. We get spoiled by ours, and buying one in the off season is usually a disappointment. I hope you enjoy the potato tasting!

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    1. It's peach leaf curl that is a problem here, Dave which is why we grow the peach and nectarine under cover.

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  7. It's surprising how slugs take a liking to a particular variety of potato, isn't it? We grew rolet squash one year and got a good crop but it was the only time we grew it as it was so hard to prepare, the skin was rock hard and just too difficult to get into.

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    1. I did wonder about cooking the squash whole, Jo and scooping out the flesh after cooking. It's strange how slugs know which potatoes they like without nibbling them as some are left completely. I wonder whether some chemical is released that attracts or deters.

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  8. Another Winston critic here. I grew some in a sack and some at the plot. The sack yielded 1kg per tuber and were smooth skinned. The plot potatoes were larger than your average early but a bit scabby. All that is irrelevant really because they failed to impress on the texture and flavour front so are off the list!

    Sorry to hear about Joan J taking the huff. Last year they were the gift that kept giving late into the season, and this year they have been larger than ever, but rather difficult to pick without damaging. They wouldn't be any use as a commercial crop. Some of our raspberries are showing distinct signs of iron/magnesium deficiency so if the tonic doesn't work next year I may have to revamp my soft fruit on a new patch

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    1. Our Joan J may be given another year to prove their worth, Mal If not we will replace them probably with a new lot of Joan J as they have been really good on the past.

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  9. I am with you on the Winston front too.. now we grow Lady Christl and Maris Peer for earlies and both actually taste of potato. Apple harvesting time is great isn't it? We've just been to the supermarket to pick up some cardboard trays to store them in. Love those Egrement Russets!

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    1. We used to be able to pick up trays in our supermarket, Kathy but a new manager decided that they looked untidy stacked by the window. Now we have to track down someone from the fruit and veg department and ask if they have some. That is before they are squashed for recycling.

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  10. Shame about the potatoes, at least they weren't all affected. What a harvest Sue, loved the nectarines and plums. My fig tree snapped this week, the branches were far to heavy for the trunk. Glad you explained the eggs...I was thinking hens!xxx

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    1. The eggs made a great omelette, Dina. It was much yellower than when made with shop. bought eggs. The fruit made for the Winston potatoes and we did dig up plenty of really good potatoes.

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