How are the veggies coming along?

[openspaceman]

15 minutes ago, sime42 said:

It's a great year for strawberries by all accounts. Those wild ones have a lovely flavour if you can be bothered to pick them. 

 

 

Are they wild or feral?

 

I ate a truly wild one last week and could barely taste any flavour, I thought they were a different species from the ones you grow.

[sime42]

23 minutes ago, openspaceman said:

Are they wild or feral?

 

I ate a truly wild one last week and could barely taste any flavour, I thought they were a different species from the ones you grow.

 

I'm not sure about Squaredy's, but wild ones do exist. 

 

I'm not much versed in botanical classification, but I think you're right, cultivated strawberries are a different species, same genus. 

 

How to Grow Alpine Strawberries | BBC Gardeners World Magazine

WWW.GARDENERSWORLD.COM

---

All you need to know about growing and caring for wild strawberries, in our Grow Guide.

 

I guess the one you tried wasn't ripe enough. I've noticed that there can be a marked difference in flavour between two similar looking fruit. Like they save all their sweetness until the very last minute. 

 

Some interesting botany going on with them. 

 

Strawberry - Wikipedia

EN.M.WIKIPEDIA.ORG

 

[sime42]

What's going on here then? Heat stress? I don't think it's drought as the leaves are like even when the soil is damp, having been watered the previous day. Not that it seems to be bothering the plants unduly, plenty of tomatoes coming. 

 

 

 

 

 

[AHPP]

Some of mine look like that. Total mix of potted/in ground, mulched/not, underwatered/overwatered. 

[sime42]

Yeah, it's weird. I've got indoor and outdoor plants with curly leaves lower down. The only consistency is I think they're all the same type of tomatoes. I've got three different ones this year. 

 

 

[AHPP]

I've got several varieties. No patterns that I can remember though.

[david lawrence]

Mr Rowling the no dig guru suggested leaf curl can be down to cold nights

[sime42]

Thanks. That may well be the answer I think. Until recently we were still having unusuallly low nighttime temperatures.

 

 

[AHPP]

Mine are in a polytunnel but I tend to leave one door open overnight because I can't guarantee opening it early enough the next day that they won't cook. I think this is why people dig those semi subterranean polytunnels/greenhouses so the beds retain heat and the cold wells in the bottom of the footway.

Edited June 27 by AHPP

[AHPP]

I've been trying something I've always been curious to see with my own eyes, the woodchip mulch thing. Also whether the thing about conifer chip being basically poison is true. I used pretty fresh conifer chip on the outside bed and half this polytunnel bed.

 

Outside.

Pros: Does retain moisture, does look neat, I think it keeps slugs from crawling over it to get to plants, is obvious if something's been digging in it (dog, chicken). Cons: You can't see plants/weeds easily, you can't earth up potatoes without incorporating it, you can't hoe as easily. Can't say whether it's botanically good or bad becasue I let weeds get away from me so everything's a bit anaemic. Still have edible lettuce and peas, onions and potatoes are alive but small.

 

Inside:

Pros: As above. Cons: I still have to water pots and I think the acid or nitrogen stealing freshness of the chip really shows on the tomatoes.

 

Look in the foreground here. No chip on the bed. A little bit in a couple of pots. Generally healthy.

 

Now look in the foreground here. Chipped beds (cow manure well mixed with soil underneath). Everything's just a bit shit. Tomato wise anyway. There are a few other oddments in the bed. 

 

I think the roots coming out of the bottom of the pots are finding the chip and not liking it. So yeah. Not very scientific but I'm not loving the chip topping here. I'd rather water. Watering's easy. Maybe it'll be better with hardwood chip and/or rotted chip. Maybe I'll try that one day.

Edited June 27 by AHPP