Kitchen Garden Forum

It seems we have been fortunate compared to many, despite the hot weather and the personal issues resulting in late planting earlier in the year we are getting a reasonable harvest

The first First Early potatoes lifted were Sharpes Express, 6.5 pound planted gave a yield of 39lb


Next first earlies were Charlotte, again 6.5lb planted which gave a yield of 36lb but with slightly smaller potatoes than usual



We are halfway through lifting Estima which we have not tried before but the first lot went down well roasted.

Very little sign of any slug damage

The apparent runner bean problems being experienced by many have not manifested themselves upon us so far.
so far we have been getting just under 2lb per pick.

One distinct failure this year has been peas, al varieties have failed to produce a decent crop, all we've managed is 'tasters'. Virtually all succumbed to being nothing more than burnt stems & leaves


Our tomatoes are outdoors and like others we have had to wait patiently for them to show signs of ripening. Checked earlier today and
Golden Sunrise are still Green

Another new trial for us is Crimson Crush tomatoes. These have also been slow to ripen but in the last couple of days have started to do so. We actually got 1 ripe fruit off to try the other day and were well pleased with the result. Even I could taste it.

A marvelous update, Pa Snip, thank you for sharing it with us....

Thanks OH

Fabulous picture PaSnip, and well done with the potatoes, we didn't bother this year!

Whst heavy trusses of tomatoes ! Superb. Fingers crossed you avoid blight. I can't grow toms outdoors here, always get blighted.

Wow! Very fine harvest Pa - I am well jealous tbh! Brilliant crop on your tomatoes. I only grew Crimson Crush once & actually did like the flavour of the few I got, but I didn't grow them again as they got blight. A bit later than the others I admit but they were the last to ripen so lost so many.

Lovely photos and a great crop Pa. Fingers, toes and eyes crossed that the blight stays away. I have a similar crop outdoors and was a little surprised that given the excessive heat and sunshine of the past few weeks that the ripening process seems to have been so slow, especially when it was obvious the size of the first truss of tomatoes was unlikely to increase any further

I did grow Crimson Crush one year but only got a maximum of about three tomatoes on each truss so decided with this low yield I wouldn't grow them in future years. Perhaps I was unlucky and should give them another try as you seem to have a bountiful crop of them.

Any one else having a bumper year in the tomatoes mine are similar to pa snips but I'm growing around seven different varieties , a mate of mine asked for a pound of tomatoes i had to refuse i won't cut one in half for anyone

My wife is bottling more jars of tomato soup base as I type.

If I could shake off my slightly wine infused birthday after-effects I would be doing the same Geoff but maybe tomorrow will result in a more reliable product !

I suspect the current change In the weather to lower temperatures and less sun will slow up the ripening process. It,s a mystery to me why my apparently mature bottom truss tomatoes didn't ripen more quickly with all the heat and sun but perhaps there,s a biological,process which requires a certain number of day days to pass before a tomato reaches its maximum size and the red ripening process starts to kick in. I wonder if there has ever been a special study on the process.

There are web sites that state how many days individual varieties take to ripen so there's plenty of info. It's interesting to compare the difference between large and small varieties and isn't always what you would think.

Good crop Pa. It's a good year for them and the flavours are superb.

Hi Pa
Well done. You are more conscientious that I, who never weighs my crops.
I'm astonished that your tomatoes have yet to ripen, I have had a lot from my cherry toms, which I grow in hanging baskets. The major issue is keeping them watered.

We may have tempted fate, I shall find out later today. Yesterday I received the dreaded 'Hutton' report blight warning.

Could be a 'take it with a pinch of salt' job but we have succumbed in recent years.

Is that a new cure for blight?