How does your garden grow?

[Spreckly]

I was talking to someone in the village yesterday about the courgettes which someone from the garden club has planted in Ted's old veg patch. I told her that I had been watering them when there was no rain, and she said that she had been told that they don't need much water, or the flowers may rot.

Can any of you keen gardeners confirm this for me, please? No watering needing at the moment, our east coast weather is like an early autumn.

My hanging baskets are definitely going over, so early this year.

[Mo]

It's ages since I grew them, but the RHS says they need plenty of water. But avoid splashing the leaves as they may rot.
So you were both right.
It suggests a sunken flower pot to get water to the roots (but that would be up to the person who planted them).
I remember my Grandad grew marrows on his allotment and when we lived with them I once carried one down the aisle of the church in a Harvest Festival procession. So big I could hardly see over it.

[Spreckly]

Thank you for the courgette information, Mo. We have had rain almost all the pas seven days.

The lady from the Garden Club came yesterday and planted around one hundred onion plants. So my veg plot is looking quit good. I went out after breakfast and did a fair bit of tidying in the old rasp patch. I think I am going to keep the rasps and see what happens next year.

The dwarf runners planted in a tub a couple of weeks ago are up, so very pleased.

My hanging baskets are definitely going over, had to cut the verbena off yesterday.

[Trev62]

I was talking to someone in the village yesterday about the courgettes which someone from the garden club has planted in Ted's old veg patch. I told her that I had been watering them when there was no rain, and she said that she had been told that they don't need much water, or the flowers may rot.

We give ours lots of water, the leaves are that large they protect the flowers. Currently pulling @ 15 a day, some we let get to marrow size. Useful for dehydrating and feeding to the animals.

[lancashire lass]

I was talking to someone in the village yesterday about the courgettes which someone from the garden club has planted in Ted's old veg patch. I told her that I had been watering them when there was no rain, and she said that she had been told that they don't need much water, or the flowers may rot.

We give ours lots of water, the leaves are that large they protect the flowers. Currently pulling @ 15 a day, some we let get to marrow size. Useful for dehydrating and feeding to the animals.

Absolutely agree with Trev - courgettes (like all squash plants & outdoor grown cucumber) need lots of water (they have large leaves so lose water much more quickly especially during hot and sunny weather, roots are not that big and usually more spread out so cannot tap into water deep in the soil, and the fruits contain lots of water - restrict the water and the fruits do not develop properly, often splitting when there is a sudden burst of rain later)

Flowers (and embryonic fruit development) that rot are most likely because of lack of pollination (either not enough male flowers (if you only grow one plant, then even less) for cross pollination, or not enough pollinating insects / or the weather is too cold or wet for pollinators to fly) Another reason for later fruit rot (much like blossom end rot on tomatoes and sweet peppers) is actually due to lack of water and inability to take up calcium from the soil which is essential for flower / fruit production.

Crown rotting on the other can be the result of overwatering - if the soil is heavy and already wet, or the plant is sitting in a well in the earth so water drains towards it, too much water sits near the base of the plant / roots which makes them die off (drown) ... they rarely recover. When planting courgette plants, sit them on a slight mound (but don't bury the base) so excess water flows away from the centre of the plant. And during dry weather (and later in the season when the fruit production is at its highest so need more water), dig a small moat round the plant (about as wide as the plant itself - if watering by hosepipe, water will run off the leaves and off the mound and will pool into the "moat" where it will soak down to where the roots are spread out) Avoid watering the plant itself if you can and better still, fill the little moat up instead (only needs to be 1-2 inches deep - obviously, the depth of the moat, frequency and quantity of water will be dependent on the weather conditions.

[Trev62]

And during dry weather (and later in the season when the fruit production is at its highest so need more water), dig a small moat round the plant (about as wide as the plant itself - if watering by hosepipe, water will run off the leaves and off the mound and will pool into the "moat" where it will soak down to where the roots are spread out) Avoid watering the plant itself if you can and better still, fill the little moat up instead (only needs to be 1-2 inches deep - obviously, the depth of the moat, frequency and quantity of water will be dependent on the weather conditions.

This is how we operate with many of our vegetables, then as you say water the moat so keeping the plant dry. This works extremely well with tomatoes and peppers it also helps avoid blight and various other diseases. Our weather is more extreme/different to the UK so different techniques are required.

[Trev62]

Started harvesting the first batch of potatoes today, pleasantly surprised, five wheelbarrow loads brought in and only half way through the bed. I hope the next half proves to be as productive then on to the three large beds. Lots of canning, freezing and dehydrating ahead!

[Trev62]

First plums picked today, guess who is making jam tomorrow

[Mo]

My Czar plums were all picked a week or so ago. Had to pick them under-ripe as the wasps were feasting. Now starting on the Victoria. And the few greengages. The greengages tend to split before they are ripe, then rot.

My greengage tree fell over a few years back, I pruned out the trailing branches but was amazed that it survived at all.

[Trev62]

Had to pick them under-ripe as the wasps were feasting.

A lot of ours were unripe as well, picked not due to wasps but due to Gypsies. The trees overhang our fence and they had been surveying them for their rakia which they make and sell.

Inside the field though we cut our first melon today and it tastes lovely, quite a few to come yet as well. The courgettes have slowed down to @ 5/6 a day but we have preserved all we need so all this surplus goes to the animals.

[Mo]

I took a picking of runner beans to dance club and came back with a courgette.

[Spreckly]

My greenhouse tomatoes, Gardener`s Delight are very small, and only just beginning to ripen. I picked a more advanced one, and ate it. It was disappointingly sour. Next year I shall go back to Moneymaker.

The dwarf runner beans are growing slowly, in a plant pot, and I am hoping they yield some fruit.

The annuals in tubs are rapidly going over, and my hanging baskets are almost over. I have cardboard boxes at the ready to overwinter my geraniums in.

[Mo]

I have been busy picking Victoria plums. As usual didn't thin them enough so many are small. The ones that ripen first tend to have something inside them, either a grub or the frass that they leave. Or some sort of gum. Don't know what causes the gum but it spoils the taste of a plum if you find gritty bits on your tongue.

A messy job cutting out the bits you don't want then cooking the rest for jam or freezing. But I've frozen 10kg in half kg packs. Weighed so that I know how much I've got if I want to make more jam, though I don't use as much now it's just me. Some in the freezer from previous years too - so I could have a pound of plums / week for a year. Lots of crumbles. But I like to stock up, some years the trees don't crop.

The small plums went out onto a stall on the verge with a charity honest box for donations. A few runner beans and windfall Bramleys too, though most of those are too small or too rotten to bother.

I've picked most of my James Grieve apples, nice stewed but I prefer them after they have ripened in store as eaters, sharp now sweeter but still with a refreshing sharpness later. More of them than I'll eat. I'll take some to my daughter on Friday.

[Spreckly]

My weeds are growing well, despite having been given two applications of white vinegar! Most annoying. I shall resort to pulling them up in places, and using weed killer.

Yesterday I picked four tomatoes, which were delicious, but very small. There are more to ripen, some very green still.

[Trev62]

Here even with the scorching weather we have had a pretty good year so far. We over did it with the potatoes and have box loads to preserve (probably two years worth!) luckily there is no rush to do them. The remaining onions are still being cured and bagged, we have also collected all the heads in for next years seeds. Tomatoes, we have them everywhere waiting to be processed, dehydrating, canning, turning into mixes and paste along with drying for seeds. Peppers, again we have harvested a good crop but we also find that by leaving the plants in, as the weather cools next month we normally get a second crop so the plants are still in situ. Courgettes are winding up, the ones coming off now are only fit for the animals but the beetroot has been productive and we still have many more to pickle. Raspberries are harvested twice a day in a constant battle with the Golden Orioles, todays harvest will be dehydrated tomorrow, first attempt so we will see how it works out. Melons are still being picked and enjoyed for breakfast and the butternut squash they are grown amongst are developing nicely. All the other things are progressing well but do require a constant supply of water to keep them going.