Is it because of the lack of rain, but very little has come from seed, and
as I am on a water meter, I have not watered as much as I used to.

Alan

On 28/07/2010 20:59, alan.holmes wrote:
Is it because of the lack of rain, but very little has come from seed, and
as I am on a water meter, I have not watered as much as I used to.

Alan


Carrots have been very poor but broad beans OK and french beans
prolific. ( and a great year for Morello Cherries. )


--
CTC Right to Ride Rep. for Richmond upon Thames

On Wed, 28 Jul 2010 20:59:16 +0100, "alan.holmes"
wrote:


Is it because of the lack of rain, but very little has come from seed, and
as I am on a water meter, I have not watered as much as I used to.

Alan

Yes Alan, it is lack of rain. If you'd had to rely solely on the rain
this summer (unless you've been luckier than I have) you'd be
suffering too!


Pam in Bristol

alan.holmes wrote:
Is it because of the lack of rain, but very little has come from seed, and
as I am on a water meter, I have not watered as much as I used to.

I have to say, my courgettes seem to be doing particularly well this year.
And I know they're not vegetables, but my redcurrants and blackcurrants are
stunning.

In article , wrote:
alan.holmes wrote:
Is it because of the lack of rain, but very little has come from seed, and
as I am on a water meter, I have not watered as much as I used to.

I have to say, my courgettes seem to be doing particularly well this year.
And I know they're not vegetables, but my redcurrants and blackcurrants are
stunning.

Well, they definitely aren't animals or minerals :-)

My courgette is a disaster, YET AGAIN. I have avoided mosaic virus,
but it has something that causes blossom end rot before it is big
enough to make even a nibble. I think that I shall give up, as
with potatoes :-(


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On 28 July, 20:59, "alan.holmes" wrote:
Is it because of the lack of rain, but very little has come from seed, and
as I am on a water meter, I have not watered as much as I used to.

Alan

No probs here in Hereford. We had a couple of timely thunderstorms
though and the soil is water retentive.
My problem is blasted moles.

Nick wrote
wrote:
alan.holmes wrote:
Is it because of the lack of rain, but very little has come from seed,
and
as I am on a water meter, I have not watered as much as I used to.

I have to say, my courgettes seem to be doing particularly well this year.
And I know they're not vegetables, but my redcurrants and blackcurrants
are
stunning.

Well, they definitely aren't animals or minerals :-)

My courgette is a disaster, YET AGAIN. I have avoided mosaic virus,
but it has something that causes blossom end rot before it is big
enough to make even a nibble. I think that I shall give up, as
with potatoes :-(

Sounds like lack of pollination.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
W.of London. UK

In article ,
Bob Hobden wrote:

My courgette is a disaster, YET AGAIN. I have avoided mosaic virus,
but it has something that causes blossom end rot before it is big
enough to make even a nibble. I think that I shall give up, as
with potatoes :-(

Sounds like lack of pollination.

Does that cause blossom end rot?


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

It causes them to start rotting from the blossom end before they've grown much. If yours get big before rotting, then it won't be lack of pollination.

I usually hand pollinate - if there's enough male flowers to go around, I stuff one in each female flower. Otherwise I just transfer pollen with fingertip. means I can't eat the male flowers in salads, though :-(

For me, it's been a really bad year for broad beans - no pollination.
OK for French and Runner, and sugar snap peas.

Brilliant year for strawberries, raspberries and tayberries - taking me a good hour every couple of days to keep up with the picking.

But then I'm in Yorkshi on clay soil, and the garden has been flooded twice in the last two weeks.

wrote:
My courgette is a disaster, YET AGAIN. I have avoided mosaic virus,
but it has something that causes blossom end rot before it is big
enough to make even a nibble. I think that I shall give up, as
with potatoes :-(

Aww, that's a shame. Courgettes and potatoes seem to be the only things we
can't get wrong. (We always do too many potatoes, with a few of several
types rather than a lot of one - just dug up the firsts, as they were a bit
small the first time - probably due to late frost. All looking good so far,
but the red ones seem more slug-prone than the others. Will have to work
out what variety they are once I find The Book)

In article , wrote:
wrote:
My courgette is a disaster, YET AGAIN. I have avoided mosaic virus,
but it has something that causes blossom end rot before it is big
enough to make even a nibble. I think that I shall give up, as
with potatoes :-(

Aww, that's a shame. Courgettes and potatoes seem to be the only things we
can't get wrong. (We always do too many potatoes, with a few of several
types rather than a lot of one - just dug up the firsts, as they were a bit
small the first time - probably due to late frost. All looking good so far,
but the red ones seem more slug-prone than the others. Will have to work
out what variety they are once I find The Book)

The ridiculous thing is that I can grow squashes - including Little
Gem, which is a Cucurbita pepo, just like courgettes. But every
time I grow courgettes outside, I get 2-3 and they they get mosaic
virus so badly they have to be destroyed. This was an attempt to
grow them inside, to avoid that.

With potatoes, it is spraing and both types of eelworm :-(


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

wrote:
The ridiculous thing is that I can grow squashes - including Little
Gem, which is a Cucurbita pepo, just like courgettes. But every
time I grow courgettes outside, I get 2-3 and they they get mosaic
virus so badly they have to be destroyed. This was an attempt to
grow them inside, to avoid that.

I don't think I've ever ha mosaic virus. I've heard of it, but I'm not even
sure I'd recognise it if I saw it.

What courgettes are you growing? My success has always come from green bush
type, although this year I have loads coming on the 'one ball' (yellow
spherical-ish fruit), and I have one organic Dundoo that is doing well,
although germination on everything but the bush and oneball was ... well,
mostly miss-and-miss, it seems.
I think I've now /finally/ got rid of all of my old courgette seed, so can
invest in a new packet of fresh ones for next year.

With potatoes, it is spraing and both types of eelworm :-(

Ah, now you can do something about that by going for the more resistant
ones! We have been goig to the Hampshire potato day for the last few years
(an awful long trip, but it's a nice day out) and doing some research (and
also some on-the-spot extra purchases! - my scarlet-flowered broad beans
came from there), we end up with a whole host of different types, with
different levels of resistance to various things.

Couple of years ago they had some 'new, please trial them for us' potatoes,
where one plant was totally riddled with eelworm when we dug it up! But our
most common problems on the allotment are blight and slugs.

In article , wrote:

The ridiculous thing is that I can grow squashes - including Little
Gem, which is a Cucurbita pepo, just like courgettes. But every
time I grow courgettes outside, I get 2-3 and they they get mosaic
virus so badly they have to be destroyed. This was an attempt to
grow them inside, to avoid that.

I don't think I've ever ha mosaic virus. I've heard of it, but I'm not even
sure I'd recognise it if I saw it.

Patches of yellow all over the (distorted and small) new leaves,
and the fruit distorted and small, later not developing or rotting.
You can't miss it, when it gets out of hand.

What courgettes are you growing? My success has always come from green bush
type, although this year I have loads coming on the 'one ball' (yellow
spherical-ish fruit), and I have one organic Dundoo that is doing well,
although germination on everything but the bush and oneball was ... well,
mostly miss-and-miss, it seems.

Lots of different varieties, pretty well all green bush type, but
some claiming to be CMV-resistant. Well, I didn't notice ....

With potatoes, it is spraing and both types of eelworm :-(

Ah, now you can do something about that by going for the more resistant
ones! ...

Against all three of those? But, even for earlies, where spraing is
not really an issue, I am interested only in growing ones which are
better-flavoured than those we can buy. And none of those are
resistant ....


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On 28/07/2010 23:57, wrote:
In ,usenet@c omps.org wrote:
wrote:
Is it because of the lack of rain, but very little has come from seed, and
as I am on a water meter, I have not watered as much as I used to.

Rainwater butt on the downpipes makes a useful addition.

I have to say, my courgettes seem to be doing particularly well this year.
And I know they're not vegetables, but my redcurrants and blackcurrants are
stunning.

Well, they definitely aren't animals or minerals :-)

My courgette is a disaster, YET AGAIN. I have avoided mosaic virus,
but it has something that causes blossom end rot before it is big
enough to make even a nibble.

Possible magnesium deficiency. Sprayign with Epsom salts and/or a
general fertiliser might help.

Mine are just about ready now and will soon become give away/swap glut
of courgettes that grow to truncheon size overnight when you are not
looking. Never had any trouble growing them outdoors even in N Yorks -
they are just slower to come into crop.

I think that I shall give up, as
with potatoes :-(

I have heavy clay soil and they grow like a pernicious weed. But for the
fact that the tubers are edible and tasty it would be a weed in the same
class as ground elder in my neck of the woods.

Regards,
Martin Brown

In article ,
Martin Brown wrote:

My courgette is a disaster, YET AGAIN. I have avoided mosaic virus,
but it has something that causes blossom end rot before it is big
enough to make even a nibble.

Possible magnesium deficiency. Sprayign with Epsom salts and/or a
general fertiliser might help.

They aren't chlorotic, and I have done the latter, anyway :-(
A failure to fertilise could be right, so I shall plant out next
to my Little Gem, and see how long it is before it succumbs to
CMV ...


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.