First tour of summer ~ it’s been challenging
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- čas přidán 11. 06. 2024
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Hi Steve, I'm waiting for the nights here to stay in double digits. The weather has been a pain for sure. We've had lots of winds battering things around. The Slug and snails have had a good year so far with the rain we've had here in Hampshire. But the still slightly chilly nights are the main issue here. All the best, John
I just don’t have the space to wait John, my sowing timeline assume that I will have the summer crops in the ground by the end of May and so I have follow on seedlings needing the greenhouse space. I’m not complaining, harvests of the tender fruits and legumes: summer squash, tomatoes, cucumbers, French beans are strong, peppers will be ready soon. All of the hardy crops are loving the cooler weather and the rain so I’m swamped with harvests : all the best - Steve
@SteveRichards same here Steve, my undercover spaces are full of seedlings, some stuff just had to go out. Luckily, I've got some spares as my courgettes outside don't look happy. Some stuff got fleece (not yhe courgettes) on to help outside, with cold wind and night temps. All the best.
All looking lovely, well I suppose apart from the beans, my beans were brilliant the first year I grew them and have been the same as yours ever since, I've never gotten to the bottom of ie either. Anyway great video as always!
Fortunately the greenhouse beans are fab : all the best - Steve
Great tour!
Thanks for the tour, Steve. I always learn and am amazed by all you do!
I had the same- all my onion sets went to seed. Took your advice and also planted Toughball from seed- which are doing great. Thanks for the advice!
onions from sets are very unreliable over winter, so I'm pleased you sowed Toughball! Shallots are meant to be better, but not for me! : All the best - Steve
My toughball all got battered this winter. Only managed to save a few of them, so will have to try and protect them more this winter
I have had 22 kg of tunnel strawberries so far, but outside are so close now. I need to get rid of lots. Over 110 m square, so it's too many. Thinning out once fruits are done ✔️
I don't think I could get through that many!
Great tour, Steve and everything is looking so abundant! Last week a video showed up on my feed where a guy was removing the flowers off his potatoes and saying they would reduce the tuber yield if left to grow. Would like to know your perspective on that. Thanks.
Hi Sandra, there are so many over-optimisers in gardening, if I did that it would take me an hour, I value my time at £40/hour so it would probably cost me in time, more than the value of the whole potato harvest. Any flowers will reduce yield on any root crop, but it usually makes only a very small difference, so for an 80/20 gardener like me, I concentrate on the 20% of activities that have 80% of the effect on harvest size and ignore the other 80%, plus I like looking at the flowers, so I leave them on : All the best - Steve
@@SteveRichardsThanks, Steve. I also like looking at the flowers. 😊
I love your snacking bar Steve. I did a little stacker system on the patio table. It houses tiny snacking tomatoes and salad leaves. Id love a special space for more.
You just need a clotted cream bush now Steve 😅
I wish!
This weather is some what a challenge and it seems the same for you as well - good update
it's a challenge for sure, but at least it's not affecting current harvests : All the best - Steve
Cant believe how many tomatoes you have ready. Out Tumbling Toms and Yellow Cherry have little green fruit now...in the polytunnel. The outdoor ones are flowering though it is still so cold
yeah, my growing system has worked well again this year, we've had lots of tomatoes for 3 weeks now : All the best - Steve
On the other side of the Pennines my squash and beans have just given up! Too cold ! Overnight temps have been 6 degrees. Bonkers!
yeah, dying or sulking, hard to know for a couple of weeks : All the best - Steve
you have lots of great looking veg Steve. The purple cabbage and cauli. Size of the beetroot. Maybe the beans don't like being in the polytunnel. Only growing dwarf bush types this year and growing them in hanging baskets.
The French beans in the greenhouse love it though, it’s a mystery
I actually have a tiny sweet dumpling fruit Steve. I thought they would all ßtop growing but they are close to a fence and quite protected.
So do I, but the plants are too small, so I've snipped them off
Carrots are looking lush Steve.
I don't know why but this year my carrot sowings have been very successful. I didnt do anything different to last yesr...used compost in tubs and started in the polytunnel. I started another 4 last week and all looking good. My guess is having bought fresh seed for the purpose.
So many bean sowings and so many slugs taking them down each time 😢
I lost a whole tray of dwarf French beans, I put them up on the top of the brick wall in the garden and snails ate the lot. I learnt that lesson!
I'm relieved that it's not just my tomato plants looking straggly. We dropped down to 6 last night brrrrrr. When will summer arrive
The tomatoes will be fine though, they always pull through
Can you share info on the blue “wells” surrounding your plants. I’m a new subscriber and already love your channel!
Thanks for the feedback Mary! See this video czcams.com/video/1J_NlIKFI_I/video.htmlsi=e4yyhCXq7aP1WTYr : all the best - Steve
Thanks for replying. Those are so neat. I found them on Amazon here in USA
Great to see your yacon.
some of it at least, a few plants got eaten by snails, although I'm sure they will recover. I'm also trying yacon in pots at home
@@SteveRichards Am having 7 different varieties of Yacon here in Germany, growing some in soil and others in big buckets.
@katipohl2431 that’s incredible, I like it but I couldn’t get through that much. Are you eating it fresh or processing it into syrup?
@@SteveRichards Am eating it fresh and giving some to friends and family.
Will try to ferment some in November.
Your allotment is absolutely stunning! How many hours a week would you say you spend to keep it that tidy?
Good show, cheers Steve. Are you still heating the home GH? 5c last night here, been terrible temps for June. I'd get a parfin heater if I could find somewhere nearby that sells parafin.
I’ve started heating again this week, as it’s been too cold for cucumbers and beans to grow, a few days of heat and harvests are back on track
Great tour, Steve. Last year, I did what your planning to do with your polytunnel strawberries. They've done well, I'm surprised how well really because I was worried that they'd suffer from being in the same compost.
Should I be pinching the flowers off my squash? I've still not put them out. I potted them on and they're still under the grow lights, they look pretty good really but have loads of flowers coming. The weather here has been down to 7 degrees some nights. Its looking up from tomorrow though so planning to plant out this weekend. All the best - Alison
That's good to know Alison, yes I'd take the flowers off, until the plants are big enough to support growing fruits. I've been taking mine off because the plants are stressed and panicking they are producing flowers too early. It looks like I have to wait another week at least before temperatures get above 13c and the plants will be happy : All the best - Steve
@@SteveRichardsMy Strawberry 'experiment' was down to laziness more than anything else. I always intended to shake the roots bare when the plants were dormant and renew the compost, but didn't get round to it. I then decided I might sprinkle some vitax grow organic concentrated manure on, but didn't even do that and they've still done well! I've fed them with tomato feed though, but only every 2 weeks as per instructions on the bottle.
Ah that makes sense about the squash panicking. There's me thinking mine were doing well with all their flowers, when actually they're probably stressed. It's going to be next weekend before it's 13 degrees at night here, but they're going out today! Can't hold off any longer.
I harvested my first ripe tumblers from the polytunnel baskets on tuesday. Sown on the 9th march. No sign of red profusions ripening, sown on the same day. The plants are humongous like yours were though, tons of flowers! All the best - Alison
@@AliW-xu4lv that's how we often learn, by mistakes or laziness, especially me with my 80/20 approach. I often walk around my allotment site looking for things that did well through neglect (there's a lot of neglected plots) . Good news about the tomatoes, my polytunnel Tumblers are ripe now too, I think sown same time as yours, but my Red Profusion in the greenhouse are absolutely loaded with ripe fruits this week, so we've had just enough for a month, but now we have abundance, not bad for mid June. There comes a time when you just have to plant and if you can fleece them (don't let the fleece touch the leaves) they will be happy : All the best - Steve
@@SteveRichards I didnt know about not letting the fleece touch the leaves. Makes sense, expecially if it's wet. Thanks for the tip! All the best - Alison.
@AliW-xu4lv actually it’s in case of sunshine, the leaves will burn
How do U get summer carrots? Your potatoes looking good. The cauliflower looked amazing. With strawberries what variety are those, my one this year taste vile. So looking to buy fresh once
Summer carrots are sown in March and April. For a good mid season strawberry to eat in summer I like Elsanta, but for a longer harvest try Mara De Bois : all the best - Steve
@@SteveRichards thanks for the information will give those strawberries a try for next year
Great video thank you. What size is your polytunnel? Thinking of getting a 18ftx30ft but wondering if too big 🤔
mine is 20' by 10' I have a chapter in my ebook that goes through how I think about choosing and designing a tunnel steverichards.notion.site/Polytunnel-Design-and-Growing-Guide-e260fa0b71bd4dea9a9003c74bdb9ce7?pvs=4
What are the blotches on the potato leaves? Some of mine have the same.
Natural dieback, the plants are dying now that they tubers are ready for harvest
@@SteveRichards Thanks for the reply Steve. I planted 2 earlies in each tub. But in one tub the blotches are only appearing on the one plant and not the other. The other plant is nice and green and showing vigorous growth.
That often happens, one tuber might have started to grow a week or so earlier than the other
Too many bugs this year Crop in destiny.