Workshop Vegetables

[custard]

I'm not a very experienced gardener, but I'm trying to grow a few things next to the workshop. The idea is while I'm waiting for glue to set or a finish to cure I can pop outside and tend to the veggies!

There's tomatoes to the left and potatoes to the right.

The advice I've been given is that when the potato plants reach about 6" high they need "earthing up". What does this mean? Bury the entire plant (which is what I did last year), half the plant, or what? Incidentally, how many consecutive years can you grow potatoes on the same ground before you run into the risk of soil born pests?

Regarding tomatoes. I've read that I should remove side shoots. I didn't last year because I wasn't sure what a side shoot actually was, the crop was a bit on the small side, more like cherry tomatoes in size. Any advice on how to get a better yield? I filled the pots with tomato grow bag compost, they're regularly watered, and fed every week once the fruit appears.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Do a little googling - determinate or indeterminate tomatoes. If you grow tomatoes such as Gardener's Delight (which are quite small but one of the nicest) you don't need to take sideshoots out, as they are a bush. If you chose a vine type you need to pinch them out and stop the plant by pinching out the growing tip after five trusses. It'll also need more support. The former are probably better suited to your method. You can also get several types that are good in hanging baskets, these tend to be very small but sweet and tasty.

 

[CHJ]

Careful growing Tomatoes and Potatoes in close proximity, watch out for Blight.
Remove any suspect leaves and destroy, don't compost, take care not to handle any new growth until you have washed and dried your hands.

Potatoes need to be grown in fresh ground each year with 3-4 years between re-sowing in same plot to reduce the risk of disease like blackleg or blight becoming endemic in soil.

Climbing Beans (and broad beans) can be grown in same ground each year, they produce their own nitrogen reserves so don't deplete the soil. (Where you currently have your potatoes perhaps.)


My experience earthing up is dependant to some extent on depth of planting, grown deep they will crop well without earthing up. earthing up needs a reasonable spacing to form mound, object being to encourage tubers forming on buried stems. If mound not wide enough there is a risk of tubers breaking through the surface where they will turn green and be poisonous because of the Solanine, just like potatoe fruit.

Downside of growing deep is the increased work needed in digging them up.

Grown in my raised beds I plant deep and don't earth up for the bulk of the crop.

 

[custard]

Climbing Beans (and broad beans) can be grown in same ground each year, they produce their own nitrogen reserves so don't deplete the soil. (Where you currently have your potatoes perhaps.)

Excellent plan, I'll make a note of that.

I planted the potatoes about 5" or 6" deep, so I'll earth up to about half way up the current stems and hope for the best.

Regarding a tomato "truss", is this the tiny bunch of tomatoes, or is is the truss the stem even if it has multiple bunches on it?

 

[CHJ]

This is a truss.

 

[doctor Bob]

I thought this thread was going to be about Jacob :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[custard]

Thank you all, I've learnt a lot there. Still likely to be a hungry year ahead in the Custard household but hey ho, you've got to start somewhere.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Get yourself a couple more pots and do a few sequential sowings of basil to go with your tomatoes.

 

[nabs]

both tomatoes and potatoes will put down more roots from the stem where it has been covered in soil and this means they can take up more water and - in the case of spuds - make additional tubers. This is traditionally done by "earthing up", ie piling soil around the stem when the plants are young (don't bury 'em entirely!) as they grow until they are covered a mound about 12-18'' higher than the normal level of the earth.

it is a good ideal to plant toms deep (up to the first set of leaves) to encourage root growth - you can also gradually "earth them up" if they are in pots to get the same effect.

Although some tomato varieties are naturally bushy, a lot of popular varieties tend to put on strong upright growth. In either case they will tend to put out side shoots from the main stem and you can pinch them off when they are small (you will see them start to grow from the main stem just above a leaf joint - just nip them off). The reason for doing this is that the side stems tend to produce a lot of small fruits - better to allow the plant to focus its energy on a smaller number of fruit trusses growing directly off the main stem.

Both toms and potatoes benefit from feeding - you can get potato feed from the pound shop sometimes - very good value! You need to feed the tomatoes with water based feed at least weekly after they first flower

sorry for the long post!

*edited to add 'pinching out' action shot

 

[Andrewf]

Your tomato plants will need feeding during the season. You can get special tomato feed. Can't remember what it's called but often in a red container.

 

[marcros]

tomatorite I think.

 

[whiskywill]

tomatorite I think.

Tomorite.

 

[whiskywill]

Gardener's Delight is an inderterminate/cordon type which needs to have the side shoots removed but CAN also be grown as a bush. It then grows a bit wild because it doesn't know when to stop.

 

[custard]

Seems to all be coming along nicely.

One question about pinching out the growing tips. Does that mean the one growing tip at the very top of each plant, or the growing tips of every branch carrying a truss?

Thanks

 

[Bm101]

Looking good! Blessed by the weather gods this year! 8)
I always presumed you retard the tips of all the indirect growth so you direct all energy to the fruit. I think of it like plumbing in my simple way. I'd regard pruning trees the same way. Hard and heavy is better within reason.
Sorry I can't be more help but there's far more experienced Gardeners on here who will be able to give you proper advice. I just do beans, spuds and herbs and stuff now. And 3 corn on the cob this year because yes love that 'does' seems like a cost viable option, that's sure to get us through the winter. Wtf. :roll:

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Pinch out the leader before it gets too high as you would to stunt a tree. As above, whether you take out side shoots depends, but I take out any shoots that grow past the trusses and usually thin the leaves to aid ripening.

 

[MusicMan]

Seems to all be coming along nicely.


One question about pinching out the growing tips. Does that mean the one growing tip at the very top of each plant, or the growing tips of every branch carrying a truss?

Thanks

Yes they are ripening nicely.

The growing tips you should pinch out are the ones growing in an angle between the main stem and a leaf. Nabs' picture above shows it perfectly.

You do not ever pinch off the one at the top, and the tips of every branch carrying a truss are not growing points (ie you will get no more trusses from them).

Bush type tomatoes tend to have smaller but tastier fruit, and are much easier to maintain. They do need deeper soil/larger pot. The ones grown as a vine actually take longer to establish and form fruit, but if you keep nipping out the side shoots, you can get larger fruit. I am going to concentrate on bush plants in future, as my "Timber" variety this year is doing much better than the vines.

Keith

 

[Phil Pascoe]

They're normally referred to as side shoots rather than growing tips. The plant will usually only have one growing tip - the leader, the top one - unless it's bifurcated early in which case it will probably be stunted anyway.
You do not ever pinch off the one at the top? Yes, you nearly always do after the fifth truss. Some plants will go to ten, twelve feet or more - they're like vines.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

... the tips of every branch carrying a truss are not growing points (ie you will get no more trusses from them).
Certainly - but you sometimes get a load of unnecessary leaf growth after the trusses, which shields the fruits from the sunshine.

 

[custard]

you sometimes get a load of unnecessary leaf growth after the trusses, which shields the fruits from the sunshine.

Is that a good thing or a bad thing?