Most
of southern Britain has been hit hard by the rain during the past
week or two. It's starting to feel more like Spring or Autumn than
Summer! The good news here in Cornwall that the rain has been
interspersed with periods of warm sunshine; perfect veggie growing
conditions!
 |
| Tomatoes are taking over! |
My
tomato plants are getting almost big enough to flower. I have
sixteen plants, which are currently taking up my entire windowsill. I
am trying to harden them off, but it takes a good 10-15 minutes
getting them all arranged for a day in the garden because I can only
carry two at a time!
Top
tips for tomatoes:
- Make sure you tie your tomatoes firmly to a stake at several places along the main stem, leaving just enough room so you don't damage the plant (about half a centimetre).
- Regular watering is essential, especially when fruiting. If you allow the soil/compost to completely dry out, the tomatoes will split when they next receive water.
- Apply fertiliser weekly once the fruits begin to develop.
 |
| Basil |
I
planted some basil at the same time as the tomatoes. Can you
believe the difference in size of the two plants?? The basils are
about 1.5 inches high, the tomatoes are about three feet tall!
I
also sprinkled some out-of-date carrot seeds in a tub of
compost in the hope that I might get some germination. Usually we
have very little success with carrots but lots of them have come up
(far too close together, so they will have to be thinned later on).
They're starting to get their true leaves now too! :)
 |
| Tiny carrot seedlings |
Top
tips for carrots:
- Carrots require a sandy soil, so if you have a clay-type soil like mine, your best bet is to grow them in a deep container.
- Try not to damage/crush the leaves because the smell will attract carrot fly (top tip from my Dad!).
- Keep plants well watered to avoid woody carrots.
 | |
| Pea |
I
have three tiny pea plants too. The seeds were again old ones
from a couple of years ago and did not germinate very well. I need to
stake the plants now because they have started putting out
tendrils looking for support.
A
month ago I had a few cooking potatoes left in the bottom of a
bag that had started to sprout. This is “chitting” and means that
if planted they should develop into new plants. We planted them and
the resulting plants are coming up nicely.
 |
| Potato plants |
Top
tips for potatoes:
- Potatoes should be watered during the growing season if there isn't regular rain.
- Apparently you should cut the green, above-ground part of the plant off two weeks before you lift the crop. This enables the tubers to develop a thicker skin less prone to damage from digging up and storing.
Sharing
the vegetable patch with the potatoes are some onions (growing nicely
from sets), some lettuces, swiss chard, swedes and some cabbage
plants. (The leeks did not fare
well against marauding pigeons!)
These little guys are coming along well, although none of them are
without a few slug-chomp-marks.
 | |
| Cabbage |
Tips
for growing cabbages:
- Grow cabbages in a different spot every year, to reduce build up of the many diseases they are prone to contracting.
- Watch out for butterfly eggs (small oblong-shape) on the underside of leaves. Caterpillars can devastate your crop almost overnight!
Over to you, Mary, Mary, quite contrary. How does your garden grow?
3 comments:
These are great tips. I had no idea about carrot fly.
We've had a great deal of rain the past week, here in the pacific northwest of the US. It's brought out every slug around. Do you do anything in particular to control for slugs?
I wish I had some greens in my balcony (since I have no garden...)
There is a gift for you in my blog:)
Kiss
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