TopVeg – growing veg,fruit&herbs

July 31, 2010

Vegetable Garden in August

Filed under: calendar — Tags: — TopVeg @ 7:52 am

The Vegetable Garden in August is full of veg in their prime.

Pick off unhealthy leaves
The vegetable garden should be inspected regularly for pests and disease. Any badly infected or diseased leaves should be removed. Do not put them on the compost heap, remove them completely from the vegetable garden so that the pest or disease does not spread.

Stake vegetables

Beans, tomatoes, peppers, and chili’s can be staked to keep the fruit off the ground and prevent fruit rot. When the vegetable plants are standing up the air can circulate around them, preventing the muggy conditions that allow fungal diseases to develop.

Water vegetables when necessary

  • Make sure vegetables in the garden have enough water
  • Water vegetables at soil level, rather than wetting the leaves which can encourage leaf disease.

Sow vegetable seed

  • Parsley
  • Perpetual spinach
  • beet
  • radicchio
  • cabbages
  • lettuce
  • Salad Leaves
  • Chard
  • Onion Hi Keeper
  • Onion White Lisbon Winter Hardy Spring Onions

Buy Hessian sacks for potato storage

August is a busy tim in the vegetable garden

How to Pick Raspberries

Filed under: fruit — Tags: , , , — TopVeg @ 4:40 am

Raspberries are picked by pulling them gently off the stalk so that the white hull is left behind, attached to the stalk.  The raspberries will come off easily when ripe.  If they do not leave the stalk easily they are not ready to be picked.

glen ample

glen ample

Method of Picking Raspberries:

  • gently hold the raspberry between finger and thumb
  • pull gently away from the stem
  • the raspberry should come off the stem, leaving the centre hull behind
  • place the raspberry gently into a container

The following two photos show before & after picking.  ‘Before’ has the raspberry on the stem; ‘after’ shows the whitish hull left on the stalk, after the raspberry has been picked.

rasp-before-picking

rasp-before-picking

raspberry-hull

raspberry-hull

It is important to handle the raspberries very gently, so that they remain fresh and nutritious after picking.

 

July 30, 2010

How to Pick Strawberries

Filed under: fruit — Tags: , , , — TopVeg @ 6:50 pm

Picking strawberries is an art, if the strawberries are to remain bright and unbruised.

ElsantaStrawberry

ElsantaStrawberry

The aim is to :

  • break the strawberry stalk without actually touching the berry
  • end up with a stalk about 1 cm long attached to the strawberry
  • not squeeze the strawberry at all
strawberry-60dayElsanta

strawberry-60dayElsanta

The method of picking strawberries:

  • surround the strawberry with your hand, and with the fore-finger & thumb nail pinch the stalk about 1cm from where it is attached to the strawberry
  • twist the stalk so that it breaks off
  • let the strawberry roll into the cup of your hand so it rests gently in the palm
  • carefully place the strawberry in a bowl
  • do not overfill the container or the berries at the bottom will get squashed
PickedStrawberry

PickedStrawberry

Strawberries are very tender & bruise  easily.  Once bruised they will start to deteriorate and rot .  Bruised strawberries loose their bright appearance and the colour darkens.

The strawberry must not be held in the fingers and pulled off the strawberry bush, because the pressure of the fingers on the berry will bruise it.  It is important to pick strawberries with the hull intact by breaking the stalk!

Trap crops

Filed under: pests&diseases — Tags: , , — TopVeg @ 8:22 am

A trap crop is a plant that attracts  pests, usually insects, away from the fruit or vegetables which are growing nearby.  Trap cropping is a type of companion planting and another form of organic or biological control.

Examples of trap crops

  • Sweet alyssum is a good trap crop for the European tarnished plant bug that attacks strawberries. 
red-flower-nasturtion

red-flower-nasturtion

  • Nasturtiums trap aphids (blackfly, greenfly, whitefly) when planted between rows of cabbages.
5inch-slug

5inch-slug

  • Chervil protects all vegetables from slugs when planted in amongst them.
  • French Marigold protect vegetables from nematodes.
shot-hole-flea-beetle

shot-hole-flea-beetle

  • Radish can be used as a sacrificial crop to attract flea beetle and root fly away from cabbages.

The trap crop is planted either:

  • around the circumference of the fruit & vegetables to be protected
  • or interspersed among the fruit & veg

Trap crop is generally destroyed before the pests’ lifecycle finishes so that it does not spread onto the main crop.  When the trap crop is destroyed, the pest will go with it.  If you do not want to destroy the trap crop, the pest can be vacuumed up using a mini-vac like the ones used to valet cars.

Trap crops are an interesting way to control bugs in the vegetable garden and a way of protecting the environment, because they do not kill the pests’ predators.

Strawberry Walls

Filed under: fruit — Tags: , , — TopVeg @ 7:55 am

Strawberry walls are superseding table top strawberries as a growing technique.

ripening-strawberries

ripening-strawberries

Agrovista exhibited their vertical strawberry wall at Fruit Focus last week.  The big advantages of a vertical strawberry wall are:

  • save space
  • produce more strawberries per metre than table tops
  • uses 4 times less water than table tops growing strawberries in peat bags

A Strawberry wall would look great on a balcony & strawberry walls  are definitely the way forward for gardeners who are short of space.

July 28, 2010

TopVeg Hessian sacks have arrived!

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , — TopVeg @ 6:06 pm

TopVeg Hessian sacks have arrived! The sacks, which are used for potato storage are:

  • 50 x 80cm – not too heavy to lift

hessian-potato-sack

hessian-potato-sack

  • ideal for storing potatoes, onions and garlic – allowing them to breathe and they do not sweat

  • easy for the air to circulate through them

  • each sack will hold approximately 28lb.
  • introductory price for 5 sacks £5.45 plus postage & packing (UKonly).

    new season introductory price for 10 sacks £10.75 plus postage and packing (UKonly)


Sorry – this offer is for UK only

Click this link to view more pictures of potato sacks

To use TopVeg Hessian sacks:

  • fill them with dry potatoes – leave the potatoes out, spread thinly, to dry naturally before putting in the sacks

  • do not wash the soil off the potatoes because washed potatoes will not store well, just let the soil dry before putting the potatoes into sacks

  • only store healthy potatoes, any damaged, bruised or diseased potatoes will not keep

  • once filled, store the sacks in a cool, dark place

  • check the potatoes regularly to make sure there is no wetness or smell. If there is remove the offending potatoes.

  • keep inspecting the store for signs of rats and mice
  • TopVeg Hessian potato sacks are suitable for storing onions and garlic.

    The Hessian sacks cost £5.45 for 5, plus postage & packing of £4.41 (UK only).


    £10.75 for 10 Hessian potato sacks plus pp £7.20 (UK only).


Greenfly Explosion

Filed under: pests&diseases — Tags: , , — TopVeg @ 5:53 pm

 The warm, dry weather this summer has led to a population explosion of greenfly and thunderbugs (also known as thrips). We have had clouds of greenfly in the last few weeks.

Greenfly are a real problem to vegetable gardeners, sucking the sap of plants which causes them to wilt. The greenfly also spread disease from one plant to another.

Luckily we have just had a heavy, cold rain and the greenfly and blackfly seem to have disappeared, for the time being at least.

ladybird

ladybird

There is a notable lack of lady birds this year, although we have seen a few more in the vegetable garden this week. The ladybird grubs eat aphids.  Lets hope they will put a stop to the greenfly explosion.

July 27, 2010

Blackfly on Runner Beans

Filed under: pests&diseases — Tags: , , — TopVeg @ 8:59 am

We have never suffered blackfly on runner beans before. Our vegetable garden is in the north of the UK where we normally have cool, damp summers. This year we have had hot, dry weather which blackfly love. All aphids thrive in hot, dry conditions!

BlackflyAttackRunnerBeans

BlackflyAttackRunnerBeans

Blackfly are attacking the runner bean flowers in quite large numbers.

BlackflyOnBeanFlower

BlackflyOnBeanFlower

Something has to be done as they are sucking the bean flowers and causing significant damage.

BlackfyRunnerBeanPetals

BlackfyRunnerBeanPetals

The problem is how to proceed.

blackfly

blackfly

There are two options:

  • wash the blackfly off the beans with soapy water – normal dilution of washing-up liquid will do
  • spray with a chemical aphicide from the garden centre

Option 1 will take some time to knock the blackfly off, and treatment will have to be continued little and often for several days, as the blackfly will keep appearing from within the bean flowers, & also keep hatching out.

Option 2 will have more of a sledge hammer effect – instantly getting rid of the blackfly & immediatley relieving the beans of their problem.  But other insects will suffer, too.

ladybird

ladybird

Ladybirds eat blackfly, and now there is a decent pool of blackfly to feed the ladybirds, the ladybirds will start to multiply.  So the quandry is can we afford the time delay whilst the ladybirds build up their numbers, during which time the blackfly do more damage to the runner beans.

ladybird2rescue

ladybird2rescue

We will try option one for a day, see what happens to the blackfly, and watch the ladybird numbers. 

ladybird-on-bean-stake

ladybird-on-bean-stake

We saw the first ladybird this morning!  Watch out all those blackfly on the runner beans!

July 26, 2010

Black Butte blackberry

Filed under: fruit — Tags: , — TopVeg @ 8:20 pm

Black Butte is a  new blackberry variety from America which is famous for its very large berries.

Black-Butte-blackberry

Black-Butte-blackberry

Black Butte berries are:

  • uniformly shaped
  • elongated
  • huge – a berry can be up to 12 grams
  • sweet
  • juicy
  • delicious flavour
  • ripen early July to mid August

Black Butte blackberry plants are :

  • winter hardy
  • with thorny canes
  • requiring 1.8 (6ft) of wallspace.

Black Butte is an early season variety of blackberry which is highly recommended.

July 25, 2010

Cooking Vales Emerald Potatoes

Filed under: potato — Tags: , — TopVeg @ 12:56 pm

Cooking Vales Emerald potatoes by boiling has become disappointing.

The Vales Emerald grown in the garden cooked well when they were small and new.  They remained firm and bright when boiled. 

Vales Emerald are a cross between Maris Peer and Charlotte.  Charlotte scores 4 on the waxy / floury scale, staying  firm when cooked, making it an excellent salad potato.  Charlotte  can also be very successfully sauted and even roasted in its skin for a firm ‘roast’ potato.  So it seems that Vales Emerald inherits the cooking qualites of Charlotte when young.

However, as the Vales Emerald grow older & bigger, these cooking qualities seem to disappear, and the potatoes break up when boiled, almost getting lost in the cooking water.

Has anyone else had problems cooking Vales Emerald potatoes?

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