Vegetable Growing 2025

Seeing photos of Tomatillo reminded me of a few years back . my parents were in the village gardening club . My parents were avid members , one years gardening show I gave mum some Purple Tomatillos to show in the unusual veg/ fruit section.

And guess what,?
They were disqualified as none of the members had not heard of them , never mind seeing them , so if Id entered Scarlet Emperor runner beans I might have got a first prize as they were green podded
and not scarlet !!!!!

some minds really do boggle at times

after that i entered Zilch and refered the village show as The old None Understanding veg and fruit show

 

Harvested half my corn as I ran out of room in the washing up bowl. The mile walk home from the allotment seems longer what carrying them but I bet prepping them for the freezer will seem longer



I grew the same variety elsewhere with plenty of competition from neighbouring plants (I tried to give them away but there were no takers so just bunged them in) and they didn't form heads but rather just a few giant sized kernels that rotten away. Does anyone know much about why this happens?

 

I hope you dont mind me saying @victorian, but they look over ripe to me, the kernels have started to dry out and shrivell judging by the indentation in them.

Regarding prepping for the freezer, what exactly do you do, I just freeze as they are, always come out good a fresh when thawing.

I've not come across the growing problems you mention but my earlier plants out performed my later ones, purely down to them probably more water at an early stage before the ground dried out.

 

Some of mine are like this its because i havent watered enough. they can take loads of water

 

I picked the last of mine about 2weeks ago, and a lot 3 weeks ago.
I admit timing it right is difficult.

I never watered mine all summer.

 

I think its a pollination problem, exacerbated by hot dry conditions and (possibly ) lack of wind. Its recommended that corn /maize be planted in blocks (squares), so that it maximises the probability of wind carrying pollen on to another corn/maize plant to do the business. Minor incomplete pollination allows the plants energy to go to just a few grains, 'blowing their minds' !

 

@pete feel free to point anything out, always happy to learn. In this case it's the joys of sharing an allotment with your dad. I grow all the plants and he likes to look after them and harvest. To be fair to him I think the photo doesn't help but they are mostly plump, there are a few cobs that are maybe a little late but it was a block of 50 so they weren't all checked before harvest, the better ones had already been frozen. They still exude milky looking liquid rather than clear, so I don't think they were to far off. You can rehydrate them before cooking with a quick 30 minute soak anyway.

For freezing I remove the kernals and then just freeze. It is how I've always done it and it saves a lot of space. I've never eaten corn straight off the cob and mostly use it in recipes loose.

I'll add a picture below to show the weird corn but I think Infradig has nailed the reasoning. These were in a bed with lots of competition and our allotment neighbour had the same problem where his were not competing with other things but he only used 6 plants. You can see how much bigger they are than a normal kernal.

 

That is weird, never seen anything like that.
I have noticed that you are not really supposed to allow some other types of sweet corn to cross pollinate.
Reading up a bit on it it suggests the taste is the biggest change, but it does also suggests the cobs may not form correctly.

 

That looks like Corn Smut, a fungus that infects corn that is eaten in mexico as a delicacy. I would be more careful to identify it than just my suggestion though!

 

Drying off the Zebrune onions, not bad for half a packet of seed.


Not really shallots, are they.

 

The first year I grew these I let one grow and it got to 4 feet long and weighed 8 kilos so watch out! I started the plant in the greenhouse and trained it out of the roof vent and across to the wires alongside my garage wall. I grow them every year now, planting them outside but just eat them small like courgettes. They are so vigorous and pest free, never seem to get mildew like my other squashes. The only year they didn't do well was last year, I think it was too cold and wet but I still got a couple of fruit. The flowers are attractive too.

 

I have picked that one now, shorter at 39 cm but much thicker and heavier. The vine dropped down and it was touching the ground so it had to be harvested. It's going in a soup this weekend.

Mine did badly last year too; I don't think they'd even set a fruit by the end of August. I ended up with 1 small one and another that rotted on the vine. This is the third year I've grown them and definitely the best; I've got 3 fruits maturing at the moment and lots more female flowers appearing. I agree both the flowers and the leaves are very attractive.

 

Incidentally, the flowers of Crown Prince squash have a lovely scent. That one has done really badly for me this year though it is usually the most reliable for me. My south african neighbour gave me some Gem squash plants and they have done the best. Crossing fingers that they ripen OK now the weather is changing. Mildew has been my main problem in the garden. But every year is different, you never get bored with gardening!

 

Interesting thanks. It's gone in the bin but I don't think I've had tried it anyway. Hot and humid conditions seems to be the trigger.

 

I grew autumn crown this year instead of crown prince and the fruits are smaller than my uchu kuri ones. Can't be more than 500g each, I was expecting them to be bigger. Maybe they'll put on growth in September

Today's harvest, plus lots more beans