Just outside the greenhouse this pepper plant also threw down its leaves overnight. Plants in pots next to it growing in exactly the same compost are doing fine.
And several of my Kestrel potatoes in bags are showing this weird yellow tipping on some of the leaves, although the rest of the foliage seems to be very glossy and healthy. Oh what a multitude of stress!
Dave Thornton reckons I should stick to growing radishes (at which I excel I might add), so with this in mind I have this fine row of 'Jolly' alongside my leeks just through in time hopefully for the 'any other veg' class at a show on 9th July. Sadly, there is no class for radish at the National but if there was I'd be a contender, no doubt about it.
This weekend I will sow one last row of Pablo beetroot with Westminster Show in mind, although in reality I've found that a set of three can come from rows sowed several weeks apart. Pablo does seem to be an easier beet to match up than Red Ace but it can produce all manner of sizes from marble to mangold all in one row. Having sown a row every weekend from mid-May I should now be well covered for all my shows but last season my best looking roots came from this old water tank filled with sieved compost from my own compost heap. I find you can grow them about 4" apart quite happily although leaf miners can decimate a bed if you're not vigilant. I've been spraying with Decis this season and haven't noticed any damage so far. I was hoping to time these for Llangollen for the Millenium class but as I won't have any tomatoes to go with them it looks like my local show the weekend after will benefit.
Beetroot needs a lot of nitrogen at first and once established I will also water in nitrate of soda and a dash of salt which is supposed to improve the colour. Growing in this tank with fine compost also means I can force my hand down the side of the root at harvest time and get as much of the tap root up as possible. Three globe beet just under tennis ball size, with long thin tap roots 8" long are what you are hoping for. And an appeal to some of those cheating bastards who coat their beet with some substance that means they still look wet after 2 days.....don't! Certainly at Malvern the schedule says something along the lines that any foreign substances will result in disqualification and hopefully other shows will follow suit, and not before time!
7 comments:
you got red card at derby for your radish last year,i think you should try again.dont bother with wales.
Just tonight I noticed a couple of my Kelsae onions going double necked for the first time in history for me,my tomatoes have got more pestillence and unknown problems that i've ever experienced and I have also got exactly the same odd wierd yellow spots on my spud leaves.
I give up !!
Have you got a Penny black for sale ?
I grow my radishes on my allotment rather than in containers, and whilst they taste good, every year the leaves are peppered with holes as if something has been eating them. Combined with this a fair proportion of the actual roots have some kind of insect eating into them, so if I cut those radishes in half they have brown patches and/or lines running through them. Any ideas on how to solve both of these problems Simon?
Thanks
Flea beetles cause the holes. Unsightly rather than harmful.
If you grow in the ground then you're more likely to get various root rots especially if it's heavy as I believe yours is.
Grown in raised beds/large pots/boxes you'll get better looking roots with no damage if any.
What would you do to avoid the flea beetle damage if you were showing the radishes Simon (assuming I grew them in containers instead for this purpose at least)?
Well i'm using Decis but you will struggle to get that on the Channel islands no doubt.
Try covering over with fleece or enviromesh instead. Sow 4 weeks before your show and keep well watered.
Thanks Simon, I have fleece, so I will give that a try :)
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