Plant round-up
21 September 2022 11:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
igenlodeI've uprooted the nasturtiums I had planted in in the trough -- only one of the two actually flowered at all, luckily the one facing inwards rather than the one invisible behind the buddleia, and it made a very poor showing of it. They simply fell victim to blackfly which are now spreading all over everything else, including the chives which currently look more like dead grass and are completely unusable.
The second batch of pak choi that I sowed directly into the trough to replace the first, after they bolted and I harvested them, have almost completely failed to produce anything due to being comprehensively eaten -- both by caterpillars and by snails, I think. Every time I caught a culprit in the act I assumed I had finally put an end to the depredations, but the plants continued to disappear as fast as they put out new leaves :-(
The one pak choi plant of that generation that was kept in a separate pot behind the tomatoes has by comparison grown to full size; it hasn't hearted up, but I have been able to harvest the outer leaves. A second one that was likewise in a (smaller) pot on its own but rather closer to the trough still got eaten, but did better than the pitiful stumps in the larger container. (The ones that I allowed to set seed failed to produce any harvestable pods that I noticed, and are now very belatedly trying to put out a second flush of leaf!)
The only thing that has thrived in the trough this year has been the buddleia, and I possibly ought to sacrifice a large pot for its benefit in order to keep it suppressed :-p I have been pinching out its shoots like mad to stop it getting too big, but of course every time you pinch out one, two more grow in its place (a notable lesson in the merits of pruning, which I tend to avoid in favour of cherishing every little shoot).
Otherwise I have had a fine flowering and harvest of nasturtium seeds (and flax!) and an embarrassment of marigolds and calendula, but nothing from the Swan River daisies yet, although the flowers are going over. I do have spare seed from last year if the worst comes to the worst.
Two of the towel-tomatoes are definitely dying back and really ought to be uprooted and any remaining fruit (only a couple) taken to ripen indoors. The plants which put out fresh flowers have now set fresh pretty much full-sized -- albeit green -- fruit. I have pinched out the tops of the heritage cherry tomatoes to try to encourage them to mature the partial sprays of fruit that they still have on them; they may make it. I'm still getting a few ripe cherry tomatoes from time to time; I took some with me to the state funeral procession on Monday, chiefly because they filled in the spare corners of the lunchbox nicely ;-)
I have also pinched off the top of the rescued Roma tomato, which is now three times the height it was when I got it, and still shooting upwards with embarrassing vigour! There is no point in allowing it to put out any more flowers; it has already done two fresh sprays, at least one of which has actually succeeded in setting an extra fruit, though that is pretty unlikely to get beyond cherry tomato size and exceedingly unlikely to ripen. Still, it proves the poor thing still had potential in it... The fruit it had on arrival has now gone quite red, so I should get some seeds off it for next year to try again. Not sure if this is necessarily a good idea, given the size of the fruit/plant -- cherry tomatoes were a much more sensible attempt! -- but it will be a new experiment to try out.
The Red Demon chillies now have several bright red fruits each, so we should be assured of a next generation there. I doubt more than half the crop will actually ripen, but for eating purposes it doesn't seem to matter that much -- once reasonably developed they are hot anyway. A couple of the catch-up chillies (not, oddly enough, the biggest or oldest of them) have developed black streaks, which from memory means that they are about to change colour; the Red Demon ones seem to do it instead by going orange first.
The second batch of pak choi that I sowed directly into the trough to replace the first, after they bolted and I harvested them, have almost completely failed to produce anything due to being comprehensively eaten -- both by caterpillars and by snails, I think. Every time I caught a culprit in the act I assumed I had finally put an end to the depredations, but the plants continued to disappear as fast as they put out new leaves :-(
The one pak choi plant of that generation that was kept in a separate pot behind the tomatoes has by comparison grown to full size; it hasn't hearted up, but I have been able to harvest the outer leaves. A second one that was likewise in a (smaller) pot on its own but rather closer to the trough still got eaten, but did better than the pitiful stumps in the larger container. (The ones that I allowed to set seed failed to produce any harvestable pods that I noticed, and are now very belatedly trying to put out a second flush of leaf!)
The only thing that has thrived in the trough this year has been the buddleia, and I possibly ought to sacrifice a large pot for its benefit in order to keep it suppressed :-p I have been pinching out its shoots like mad to stop it getting too big, but of course every time you pinch out one, two more grow in its place (a notable lesson in the merits of pruning, which I tend to avoid in favour of cherishing every little shoot).
Otherwise I have had a fine flowering and harvest of nasturtium seeds (and flax!) and an embarrassment of marigolds and calendula, but nothing from the Swan River daisies yet, although the flowers are going over. I do have spare seed from last year if the worst comes to the worst.
Two of the towel-tomatoes are definitely dying back and really ought to be uprooted and any remaining fruit (only a couple) taken to ripen indoors. The plants which put out fresh flowers have now set fresh pretty much full-sized -- albeit green -- fruit. I have pinched out the tops of the heritage cherry tomatoes to try to encourage them to mature the partial sprays of fruit that they still have on them; they may make it. I'm still getting a few ripe cherry tomatoes from time to time; I took some with me to the state funeral procession on Monday, chiefly because they filled in the spare corners of the lunchbox nicely ;-)
I have also pinched off the top of the rescued Roma tomato, which is now three times the height it was when I got it, and still shooting upwards with embarrassing vigour! There is no point in allowing it to put out any more flowers; it has already done two fresh sprays, at least one of which has actually succeeded in setting an extra fruit, though that is pretty unlikely to get beyond cherry tomato size and exceedingly unlikely to ripen. Still, it proves the poor thing still had potential in it... The fruit it had on arrival has now gone quite red, so I should get some seeds off it for next year to try again. Not sure if this is necessarily a good idea, given the size of the fruit/plant -- cherry tomatoes were a much more sensible attempt! -- but it will be a new experiment to try out.
The Red Demon chillies now have several bright red fruits each, so we should be assured of a next generation there. I doubt more than half the crop will actually ripen, but for eating purposes it doesn't seem to matter that much -- once reasonably developed they are hot anyway. A couple of the catch-up chillies (not, oddly enough, the biggest or oldest of them) have developed black streaks, which from memory means that they are about to change colour; the Red Demon ones seem to do it instead by going orange first.