Wednesday 13 June 2012

Potatoes, Peas and Tomatoes

The third (final) part of my Mid-June veg report...

A number of my veggies are approaching maturity now. The potato plants have flowers on them, which is usually agreed to be a sign that the tubers down below ground will be swelling. I normally leave mine until the flowers have died off, just so that I can maximise the yield. If you dig up the potatoes too soon the tubers may be tasty, but they will be very small.


The potato haulm (foliage) has become very luxuriant due to all the recent rain.


The peas, likewise, are not far off being ready. Lots of pods have formed, and (in the right light conditions) you can see little peas inside them.


The Purple-podded Desiree ones are very much more vigorous than the other two varieties (Boogie and Premium).  The bi-colour flowers are really pretty, and I'm sure the pods will be as well.


The Desiree peas are at the ends of my 2.4 metre row. You can see that the foliage is a lot shorter and sparser in the centre where the other two types are growing.


Fortunately there are so far no signs of the mildew which so often afflicts peas in my garden.


Meanwhile, the first tiny fruits are visible on the tomatoes. This is "Sungold".


Most of the plants though are still at the flower stage, like these.
  





I wish I could honestly say that my squash plants are doing well, but unfortunately that is not the case. They urgently need some warm sunny weather to bring them along. I don't have high hopes of a good harvest this year. This one is "Autumn Crown". It looks as if there is a flower forming there, but it will probably get washed away in the torrential rain we are experiencing.


We need Summer....!

15 comments:

  1. Great quality pictures! You are well ahead of me with the peas, ours were pigeonised!

    Martin

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  2. Beautiful tomato flower photos.

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  3. We do need summer, Mark, me more than you by the looks of things. Your peas look great, mine are going to be pulled up the next time I go to the allotment as they've just failed miserably. My tomatoes are on a go slow, not a sign of a flower yet, and my squash are still in their pots in the greenhouse. Where's the sunshine when you need it?

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  4. wow Mark, my veg are about a month and a half behind yours!... you've got the magic touch!

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  5. Mark, your veggies look so healthy! You are quite a gardener!

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  6. My peas are a disaster too and I’m about to arrange a requiem mass for them...

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  7. I was just reading over your May veg update posts. You've some great plants and so well on. Your aubergines are probably 3x's the size of mine. Hopefully you'll find a recipe you like as eggplant has superb flavour. Your rocket looks really good too. Mine has bolted. I'm having trouble with bolting plants!

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  8. Those peas look great. I need a better place to grow peas...maybe next year. I love snow peas and one year I grew a purple podded one and a yellow podded one. I have seeds saved somewhere though they would be several years old by now.
    Don't you just love the first little tomatoes but it seems to take so LONG for them to mature and turn color but once sungold starts it is off and running and you will have tomatoes every day (I need to go pick from my hanging baskets now) if only my other tomatoes could be so fast. One taxi tomato and we are still waiting for anything else to ripen.
    Your squash still looks pretty good to me. I am having to pollinate mine by hand. I really need some bees as the wild ones aren't real plentiful here.

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  9. Everything is looking nice, just need some sun. The peas certainly haven't minded the weather. Some of my cherry tomatoes are also staring to flower. I plant cherries every year so I don't have to wait until August to get my first taste of tomato.

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  10. So much happening in your garden. It is great to see your garden maturing. All the flowers look so beautiful. Enjoy the harvest season!

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  11. Ah well if nothing else at least you'll have potatoes and peas and a few tomatoes - perfect for curry. When I worked in Hounslow there was a curry house mext door and they made a mean Aloo Muttar - great combination and perfect for your garden - I'm sure you can also provide the chillies.

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  12. Everything is looking really lush in your garden - hopefully it won't be too long before you are harvesting bits and bobs - everything does seem to be taking an age to develop - so far it's been a bad year for everything really.

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  13. Lovely Pea pods, and hanging flowers waiting to be pollinated... Heavenly garden, in progress.

    Keep posting.

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  14. Wow but you guys have had some serious rain over the past few weeks! If I could parcel up some sunshine I would definitely send some over! BTW, I've nominated your blog for the Sunshine Award so please pop over for the rules. xxx

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  15. I'll glady exchange some summer for rain. We've had .01" of rain since May 9th. Forecast calls for 90F+ for the next 7 days. Ugh! The water butts mean nothing if they don't fill! Everything looks great, especially the peas. Mine were paltry.

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