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#1
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Marrows & potatoes
Good morning,
I bought a marrow plant last week, that I was going to plant this weekend. Being relatively new to this gardening lark I assumed that a marrow would grow in the same manner as a cucumber or tomato plant - I've since found out that this is not the case and that a plant can easy cover a large area of ground with its leaves - I was originally going to grow the marrow in a pot on the patio! I planted some potatoes in March and they have already grown to roughly the same height as those grown last year. I was thinking of digging up a small section of these and planting the marrow in their place. Does anyone have any idea how large the potatoes are likely to be at the moment - if there is a good chance of them being the size of 'new potatoes I'll happily dig them up and eat them! - if not I would rather wait a couple of weeks to give them a chance of growing a bit and putting the marrow in a pot temporarily. Cheers, Andrew |
#2
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Marrows & potatoes
In article , ajr
writes Good morning, I bought a marrow plant last week, that I was going to plant this weekend. Being relatively new to this gardening lark I assumed that a marrow would grow in the same manner as a cucumber or tomato plant - I've since found out that this is not the case and that a plant can easy cover a large area of ground with its leaves - I was originally going to grow the marrow in a pot on the patio! I planted some potatoes in March and they have already grown to roughly the same height as those grown last year. I was thinking of digging up a small section of these and planting the marrow in their place. Does anyone have any idea how large the potatoes are likely to be at the moment - if there is a good chance of them being the size of 'new potatoes I'll happily dig them up and eat them! - if not I would rather wait a couple of weeks to give them a chance of growing a bit and putting the marrow in a pot temporarily. You should find some small tubers under your potato plants which you could use as 'new' potatoes, though obviously they would grow larger if they were left in. Depending on where you are, you could still have a last frost or near frost, so if you can keep the marrow plant going for a couple more weeks, it will be safer to wait until then to put it out. That will also give the potatoes time to grow on a bit. Marrow or courgette plants need quite a bit of space, we give ours 5ft. clearance all round. If you only want one or two marrows though rather than courgette production, you could restrict the plant's growth to one or two fruiting stems, and the stems to one marrow each. Or you could plant the marrow in the space left by say, two lifted potatoes, then take potatoes out as the marrow needs the space. It's a sort of Hobson's choice, but have a try anyway. -- Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs. |
#3
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Marrows & potatoes
"Alan Gould" wrote in message ... In article , ajr writes Good morning, I bought a marrow plant last week, that I was going to plant this weekend. Being relatively new to this gardening lark I assumed that a marrow would grow in the same manner as a cucumber or tomato plant - I've since found out that this is not the case and that a plant can easy cover a large area of ground with its leaves - I was originally going to grow the marrow in a pot on the patio! I planted some potatoes in March and they have already grown to roughly the same height as those grown last year. I was thinking of digging up a small section of these and planting the marrow in their place. Does anyone have any idea how large the potatoes are likely to be at the moment - if there is a good chance of them being the size of 'new potatoes I'll happily dig them up and eat them! - if not I would rather wait a couple of weeks to give them a chance of growing a bit and putting the marrow in a pot temporarily. You should find some small tubers under your potato plants which you could use as 'new' potatoes, though obviously they would grow larger if they were left in. Depending on where you are, you could still have a last frost or near frost, so if you can keep the marrow plant going for a couple more weeks, it will be safer to wait until then to put it out. That will also give the potatoes time to grow on a bit. Marrow or courgette plants need quite a bit of space, we give ours 5ft. clearance all round. If you only want one or two marrows though rather than courgette production, you could restrict the plant's growth to one or two fruiting stems, and the stems to one marrow each. Or you could plant the marrow in the space left by say, two lifted potatoes, then take potatoes out as the marrow needs the space. It's a sort of Hobson's choice, but have a try anyway. -- Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs. ------------------------ Thanks for that Alan. The usual thing, I forgot to think of the bleeding obvious!! One row, and the couple of potato plants either side, look as though they have grown enough to yield a few new spuds - I dig them up tomorrow and replace them with the marrow. |
#4
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Marrows & potatoes
"Alan Gould" wrote in message ... In article , ajr writes Good morning, I bought a marrow plant last week, that I was going to plant this weekend. Being relatively new to this gardening lark I assumed that a marrow would grow in the same manner as a cucumber or tomato plant - I've since found out that this is not the case and that a plant can easy cover a large area of ground with its leaves - I was originally going to grow the marrow in a pot on the patio! I planted some potatoes in March and they have already grown to roughly the same height as those grown last year. I was thinking of digging up a small section of these and planting the marrow in their place. Does anyone have any idea how large the potatoes are likely to be at the moment - if there is a good chance of them being the size of 'new potatoes I'll happily dig them up and eat them! - if not I would rather wait a couple of weeks to give them a chance of growing a bit and putting the marrow in a pot temporarily. You should find some small tubers under your potato plants which you could use as 'new' potatoes, though obviously they would grow larger if they were left in. Depending on where you are, you could still have a last frost or near frost, so if you can keep the marrow plant going for a couple more weeks, it will be safer to wait until then to put it out. That will also give the potatoes time to grow on a bit. Marrow or courgette plants need quite a bit of space, we give ours 5ft. clearance all round. If you only want one or two marrows though rather than courgette production, you could restrict the plant's growth to one or two fruiting stems, and the stems to one marrow each. Or you could plant the marrow in the space left by say, two lifted potatoes, then take potatoes out as the marrow needs the space. It's a sort of Hobson's choice, but have a try anyway. -- Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs. ------------------------ Thanks for that Alan. The usual thing, I forgot to think of the bleeding obvious!! One row, and the couple of potato plants either side, look as though they have grown enough to yield a few new spuds - I dig them up tomorrow and replace them with the marrow. |
#5
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Marrows & potatoes
"Alan Gould" wrote in message ... In article , ajr writes snip Depending on where you are, you could still have a last frost or near frost, so if you can keep the marrow plant going for a couple more weeks, it will be safer to wait until then to put it out. That will also give the potatoes time to grow on a bit. Marrow or courgette plants need quite a bit of space, we give ours 5ft. clearance all round. snip Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs. Ooops! I have three courgette plants (two yellow, one green) and I was planning to grow them in patio tubs. 5' all round is a little more than I expected. Now trying to decide if I should reserve a corner for the jungle or keep them pinched back. Do they hang down? [Not a personal question :-) ] Just considering if the pot was raised several (4?) feet off the ground if the courgette plant would then hang down all round ( a bit like a low level hanging basket). This would give 4' spread in a vertical direction by the time the shoots touched the ground. Hmmm...- plastic planter on top of an upturned plastic planter would get the plant at least 3' off the ground.... A more whacky alternative would be to grow one on the balcony and let it trail over the edge - this assumes that the plant is strong enough to support trailing shoots with courgettes on. Just had a further vision of a small wooden platform across the ridge of the garden shed, and courgettes trailing down over the (solar heated) felt roof. And this vision is without the aid of alchohol or a safety net. Logic (!) further constrains me to ask - if you grow climbing plants up a wall from a pot at the base, can you suspend a pot 6' (or more) up a wall to grow trailing plants down it? Thinking mega window box/hanging basket here. Then again I recall a Garfield cartoon: Garfield: "If cats can run up trees, then why can't cats run down trees?" ZONK! "Garfield, you are very very stupid!" Still like the raised pot on the patio idea though. Cheers Dave R |
#6
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Marrows & potatoes
In article , David W.E. Roberts
writes Garfield: "If cats can run up trees, then why can't cats run down trees?" ZONK! It is said that cats can talk, but up to now they have never heard anything worth replying to. -- Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs. |
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