What are you growing this year ?

[Herbidacious]

jolly good. Do you never get them?

[suffolk]

We came here in 2011 and the garden had been neglected for quite a few years before that, so no one had used any sprays and therefore we have plenty of natural predators ... lacewings, ladybirds, hoverflies and blue tits etc and we never seem to get more than they can cope with. We've never used any pesticides, not even a squirt of washing up liquid, in this garden.

Occasionally there may seem to be rather a lot of greenfly early in the season, but I just brush most of them off with my fingers or a jet of water from the hosepipe, leaving a few for the predators and balance is restored

[Herbidacious]

I've never used pestitcides either and been here since 2009. But we have neighbours, of course.

There don't seem to be (m)any predators of the flyng variety around at the moment.

[suffolk]

If the washing up liquid doesn't work just fire a jet of water from the hose at them .... or brush them off with a soft paint brush.

[TeresaFoodie]

A question about my chilli plant please.

It has been living in my shower room for a while now, getting a couple of sprays with soapy water daily to get rid of bugs. I think they have all gone! It's now time to move it. I won't be putting it back on the kitchen windowsill until I have repotted it. It also needs cutting back I think as the branches are now stupidly leggy and the whole plant is just too huge. Any tips for when/how this should be done? Before or after repotting? Where will it be happiest over the winter?

Ta!

[scullion]

this may give you all the advice you need - read down through the q and a section about overwintering and pruning.

[Zosherooney]

I bought a chilli plant from the Chilli Festival the summer before last. She said it would over winter if looked after it. It did and I had loads of chillis this summer, so I plan to do the same again this winter. I brought it in from the GH and sat it on a plate in my lounge. All the leaves dropped off and in April this year it went back in the GH and is now twice the size it was last year. As soon as it went into the GH new shoots appeared and it was very happy, just fed it tomato food when I watered the tomatoes.

Tezza PM me your address and I'll send you some of this years chillis for you to try.

[scullion]

the important thing, tezza, is to restrict the watering - only do it when you see the leaves start to wilt, don't overpot it, and give it good light.

[TeresaFoodie]

Thanks both. The info you have provided here tells me all I need to know. And thanks Zosh, my address is on a PM.

[TeresaFoodie]

I just thought I'd update while I think of it...

My chilli (Harold) is now in the living room in a fairly dark corner, still with a few bugs, being sprayed daily, only being watered when it looks like it needs it. I am still to prune and re-pot. But interestingly, I notice that my old friend the spider which did live in my bedroom for a bit, hung from a web in the doorway then scurried across my face in the night, then made a little home under the kitchen windowsill where Harold used to live, has made the long journey from kitchen across hallway and across living room to be reunited with Harold. He's built a web across the front of the plant. I'll bet he's having a field day chomping on the remaining bugs.

How harmonious that we are all getting on?

[scullion]

not sure i'd put it in a dark corner, it'll still be photosynthesising through the stem even if it has no leaves. if it liked your kitchen window i'd be inclined to put it back there.

[TeresaFoodie]

not sure i'd put it in a dark corner, it'll still be photosynthesising through the stem even if it has no leaves. if it liked your kitchen window i'd be inclined to put it back there.

The thing is too big to put it back yet, plus still has some bugs which kept carping all over my draining board and worktops. I could do with a sunnier spot that isn't in the kitchen, but I ain't. I'm really wondering whether to stick it on Freecycle to see if a local can make better use of it. Weighing the whole thing up, including the costs (very minimal, but a cost is a cost) and the yield, and lack of space, it doesn't seem worth me keeping hold of it.

[karadekoolaid]

Chile plants need sun. If you haven´t got any, then they need light and heat. Take it out of the darkness and place it in the light, otherwise, you will have Harold RIP.
Don´t water it very often. They like tropical conditions: humidity and sunlight. The bugs will go away if the plant is in the sunlight. If you over-spray it with bug spray, it will also kick the bucket!

[TeresaFoodie]

I've tried it in the only light space that I have (shower room) but it's not warm in there. I've put Harold on Freecycle....

[TeresaFoodie]

RIP Harold. When I got up this morning, most of the leaves had fallen off. So, as I had dried lots of chillies and therefore have some seeds, he went in the bin. Poor chap.

[suffolk]

A dead plant is an opportunity to grow another one

[TeresaFoodie]

Yes! That will be a first for me, growing chilli from seed. I'll have to really scrub the pot.

As I disposed of the plant I apologised to my resident spider for removing his main food source!

[Zosherooney]

The leaves always drop off mine but they come back next Spring......

[Herbidacious]

Earlier this afternoon I looked up to see a squirrel ripping off an inca berry and nibling it, paper 'lantern' and all. Did someone say thet the husk is posionous? Hopefully not for squirrels (annoying as they are.) Anyway I nipped outside in my pjs and slippers and harvested a bowl full of them. There are still a lot of green ones left on the plants. I wish I had room to bring the plants inside. I suppose I could manage one, but they are very big.

Will definitely grow these again. They are nicer than (v expensive fruit) I have bought in the shops. I wonder, if I grew them from seed and started them off earlier, they would fruit earlier. I bought them as plants and kept some indoors, some out (I must be missing some plants...) and they both seemed quite slow to develop.
I noticed one plant even had a few flowers on it still.

[Herbidacious]

I know it's a bit early, but I like to start thinking about it in the sometimes quite grim winter months (although not to cold yet...)

These look interesting, but possibly slug fest inducing.

https://www.rocketgardens.co.uk/product/plants/celtuce/

I have a 20% off code just for today. I had a tomato selection pack from Rocket last year. They did well.

Still contemplating a small poly tunnel...

I mustn't over order... (as a general thing.)

Still not planted garlic. may just wait until March now.

[scullion]

they look interesting. i may look for seeds.
the garlic i planted three weeks ago is coming up quite strongly. i would still plant it now rather than waiting, if i were you.
i have some sweet potato slips to pot up but i think they may prefer a new bag of compost rather than the dregs of last year's.
one of the cuttings i took from the lovely cherry tomato last autumn is still alive on the living room window sill. the other damped off in the kitchen.
i'm beginning to think about seed sowing in the next three or four weeks.

[Herbidacious]

ok Scullion. Thanks. Maybe this weekend then. I am probably over thinking it. Last year's late-planted elephant garlic was a bit pusillanimous. We \are talking (large) 3-love bulbs!

Are sweet potatoes tastier when home grown, or are you doing it mainly for the fun of it? (Or a new experiment...?)

[scullion]

mainly for the fun of it - and they have nice flowers - but they're meant to be quite prolific given the right conditions and i do like knowing where my veg comes from.
the sweet potatoes that i'm taking the slips from were put in the propagator last year. one, that had sat there in a jar of water and had done nothing since last spring - until i turned it the other way up in the autumn and it started sprouting slips and producing roots (durr), the other, a new one from lidl, went in to the propagator when the other started sprouting.
if you're thinking of having a go at it i'd start them off soon. they need a quite a long growing season and, i think, a little protection in this country.

[Herbidacious]

It's tempting. I have some in my fruit bowl (!) Although I may beed organic ones...?

So just cut in half and put the cut side in water?

[scullion]

i bought organic ones from waitrose but they didn't want to know - the ordinary ones i got from lidl worked a treat.
i used the whole sweet potato as i didn't want to risk an infection getting in the cut part. the important thing is to get them the right way up - the attachment end goes in the water - have fun working which way that is!

[Herbidacious]

Ha! Thanks. I have already watched two videos

This chap seems useful:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC76ZG8 ... c6ebVcPkVw

[Herbidacious]

So is anyone else thinking about what to grow this year yet?! (apart from sweet potatoes.)

[Badger's mate]

I've had a bit of a clear out, will take stuff to a seed swap next month. Some things worked well and will be kept, some produced but didn't really get used. We're not that bothered about kohl rabi or Batavian lettuce for example. Also self-blanching celery. Okra came to nought, but as it was an exceptional summer we'll give it another go this year. Tried some pointy red cabbages but will revert to ballhead ones this year. Will try again with the big white drying beans. Toms did so well, particularly 'Red Alert' on the plot. I grew them under a biodegradable plastic mulch, which kept the fruit much cleaner than usual. I feared significant mollusc damage, might have got away with it last summer. Will try melons 'Emir' as a friend did well with them but maybe it was a good melon year. Will cut down on chillies (too many visits to Wahaca, clearly) but brought some sweet pepper seed back from Hungary to try. Will grow tomatillos as ever. I realise I forgot to order cardoon seed when I put an order in the other day.

I'm reasonably settled with varieties that do well in my soil, three different spuds for example, but will always try a few of a fourth variety. This year I'm giving King Edwards a go; the plot suffers from common scab against which it's a reasonably resistant variety, besides being a good cooker of course.

I'll probably give up on peas. I've got some 'Champion of England' seed I saved from last year (I won three plants in a raffle). They will get sown and I will crop them, but it's a lot of bother and every chance we'll be away when they're perfect. That said I expect I'll do mangetout again.

Last year I bought a Chilean Guava and a Sichuan Pepper. Hoping for great things...