Episode 671- A Tough Week on the Plot – Pests, Harvests and Potatoes

Welcome to this week’s episode of the Veg Grower Podcast. This week we’re taking a look at what’s happening both down on the allotment and in the kitchen garden, with plenty of harvesting, a few pest problems and some thoughts on storing our home-grown potatoes. Allotment We start the episode down on the allotment on a beautifully cool morning after another spell of very warm weather. There’s plenty to talk about, including some damage to one of my sweetcorn cobs. Something has managed to pull the cob down and has been helping itself to the corn, so I’m trying to work out what might have caused the damage and what I can do to protect the remaining crop. I’m also finding cabbage white butterfly eggs on my brassicas again. After dealing with a previous wave of caterpillars, it looks like we have another lot of eggs to contend with. Luckily, I spotted them early and have been removing them before they have a chance to hatch. Despite the problems, there are some good harvests coming from the allotment, with courgettes and runner beans doing particularly well. Kitchen Garden Back in the kitchen garden, the tomatoes are continuing to produce, although the heat is having an effect. The tomatoes in the greenhouse at home aren't producing particularly well, while the greenhouse tomatoes down on the allotment and the outdoor plants are doing much better. I’m also noticing tougher skins on some of the tomatoes, which I suspect is down to the lack of moisture. I’m keeping a close eye on the apples and pears too, with the pears looking very close to being ready and the apples not far behind. I’ve also been making use of our local community orchard and picking some apples, which is a great way of making the most of what is available locally. Recipe of the Week This week’s recipe of the week takes our home-grown produce and turns it into another tasty meal. [Recipe details to be added from the remainder of the transcript.] From the Podding Shed And finally, we head into the Podding Shed, where this week we’re talking about potatoes. I’ve been harvesting more of my potatoes and looking at how we can store some of that home-grown harvest so we can keep enjoying our potatoes rather than having to use them all at once. It’s all about making that harvest go a little bit further and getting the most from the food we’ve grown ourselves.