Mid Summer Bits and Bobs - 2016.

[Johnboy]

Hi Peter,
I have always, rightly or wrongly, looked upon Technical Data as a heading with regards to metodology of growing rather than what Plum Pudding is advocating which is a heading for varieties that have performed really well which is not Technical Data.
It would consist of a list of plants that to the readership have outstanding performance for them.
This would be very advatageous to those new to growing.
What to grow for a newcomer can become a nightmare.
To be able to gain the knowledge of those more experienced growers could be a distinct advantage.
This will also generate more debating which is sadly lacking on this forum at present.
Sincerely,
JB.

[Westi]

I think it would be a very helpful topic for new & old growers alike, you could align yourself in with someone in your growing zone & note what variety is doing well for them. (Or is there a way to automatically do this into sub titles - south, north & middle UK, Ireland & Europe in latitude maybe)?

I find it very difficult making decisions about variety from the blurb in the seed catalogues & the pictures are so enticing you are a bit overwhelmed, especially with the new & improved. A limitation would be weather conditions each year, but that could be covered in the description in the title.

Westi

[PLUMPUDDING]

I was also thinking of new varieties you had tried and whether they lived up to their description, we're good flavour, productive, and in general worth growing. There are so many new gimmicky introductions which don't seem to stand the test of time. Not so much technical as personal findings and experience.

[Johnboy]

Hi PP & Westi,
You see the debating is starting right already. I think the ideas from you both are splendid.
All we need now is more and more input. For this to be sucessful we need the thoughts from everybody.
This is a serious subject so please no skylarking.
Sincerely,
JB.

[Primrose]

A think a debate about new varieties would be especially interesting. Every growing season we see a plethora of new vegetable varieties appear in the catalogues which drop through our letter boxes yet we often see little technical justification for them having been added to a suppliers range, especially when there are often so many choices already.

I can understand and appreciate the value of new blight resistant strains of tomatoes or potatoes for instance but some suppliers offer so many choices and some of the varieties look pretty identical that I wonder what are the advantages of offering so many. I suspect that without the amateur conducting side by side trials of different varieties under their own personal conditions it's difficult to pick one variety as being superior to another.

For example, one year many years ago in my early tomato growing years I grew Ailsa Craig and Moneymaker tomatoes and found it well nigh impossible to promote the properties of one variety over another . When I picked them I found it pretty difficult to differentiate between them. Do other growers have the same problems or is it a case of critical judgements not being sufficiently attuned or developed?

Some discussion about elements to look out for might be helpful to beginners, ie resistance to disease, flavour, hardiness in poor weather conditions, etc.

[JohnN]

Hi Primrose
These days I grow Alicante, but I can't tell the difference between them and other varieties. I'm of the opinion that the flavour of a tomato depends far more on how ripe it is, rather than it"s variety.

[Shallot Man]

Being a cynic, I believe any seed not selling well, is renamed the following year with glowing promises.

[PLUMPUDDING]

I wouldn't be at all surprised Shallot man.

My father's favourite tomato was Alicante but I've got a few heritage varieties that I grow every year that I think are better flavoured, but as JohnN said they are all improved by a nice sunny summer to ripen them up properly. My favourite this year is Chocolate Cherry which I've not grown before. It has a lovely rich flavour and a huge crop.

I'm in seed saving mode at the moment and have peas drying and have been collecting seeds from various annual flowers to dry today.

[dan3008]

Being a cynic, I believe any seed not selling well, is renamed the following year with glowing promises.

Not cynical at all. I've seen it in flowers, so why not veg too?
I think they just rename it to sell more, even if its just to get rid of stock

[Westi]

Interesting!! Are we being conned by the seed suppliers? Re-name a variety that didn't do well & hype it up! Maybe? But our weather is a bit erratic lately so maybe justified?

Another reason we should have a new topic (or an amendment to what offered already).

Westi

[PLUMPUDDING]

When you think how many thousands of fruit and vegetable varieties there already are, I would be very interested to follow up other people's recommendations of any outstanding ones. I like to try things I've not grown before. This year's favourites for me are Chocolate Cherry tomato and the Swiss Sweetcorn from Real seeds. I took part in an American seed swap of tomatoes quite a few years ago and ended up with over 40 varieties. Of those only about 5 were a really good flavour but it was interesting to compare them and you can appreciate the really good ones. I still save seeds from those.

But I think we could save ourselves a bit of time and money if we could recommend or warn off things we've sampled, whether the varieties are new introductions or just ones we've not tried before. It is easy to stick to the same old favourites and we don't know what we're missing if we don't try them.

[PLUMPUDDING]

It feels very autumnal this morning. It went down to 6° last night, and the local squirrel was heading up the garden for my nut trees when I went to let the hens out. It's being pursued by the cat at the moment so I'll see whether there any nuts left.

[PLUMPUDDING]

I've enjoyed this month's KG mag., well the October edition. The link to loveradish.co.uk has some very useful radish recipes which I'm going to try. I usually just end up slicing them in salads. Pawty should find them useful for her radish glut.

[Westi]

Well Runners down today, quite disappointed overall in both Firestorm & Moonlight this year, Firestorm was worse, but both seemed to be intent on producing big seeds very early in the bean development. What I do have is 2 beds clear with a rich trench dug in under so might have to sow a few more winter salads or something.

Westi

[peter]

Is it time for "Late summer 2016 Bits and Bobs"?

Busy allotment day for once today, yesterday was match two of the rugby season, our 1st XV won, as they did last week. My pitchside bar gained a plastic patio, interlocking foot square stuff, and the awning has been fixed, much beer was sold.

Today I weeded and hoed about five rod, clared the lettuce, planted some lettuce seedlings bought at last weekends show. Planted out my replacement leeks, first tray eaten by slugs while we were away for four days in July. Sprayed the bindweed that has emerged in various places. Finished digging my first 30' row of potatoes, they are very clean and quite dense this year. Dug up a bunch of carrots. Picked a bowl of small tomatoes from the greenhouse.