Trowel and Error

[Mountain Goat]

That's a good idea!

[Disco]

Yeah I love walking around my little town in the summer as so many people have veg to help yourself to. Some is free, others have an honesty box.

[Mountain Goat]

I have three or four ready to be picked in the next couple of days so I will probably do this. Though can I give away the one that got too big that I'm still working my way through and keep the nice little ones? :lol:

Question: my nasturtiums are doing their sacrificial job championly, but are absolutely covered in caterpillars to the point that there won't be much nasturtium left soon (I have 7 or 8 plants). Also today I noticed some black blobs, probably black fly, on them too. This is what they're for. But is there a point where I have to do...something? They are not really interested in other plants, except for the odd one on my stocks, which haven't done very well anyway and were a substitute rather than something I chose (I pick them off and put them on the nasturtiums when I find them). Am I supporting the circle of life or heading for plant armagheddon?

[Cerise]

Goat, when we got back from holiday, a couple of cucumbers had grown big and tough so I just chopped them up and put them in the compost so they still have a purpose in life!

[baargain]

My nasturtiums are purely sacrificial, so I just leave them to get decimated. There's no point in trying to save them, the caterpillars will just attack something else.

I made soup out of a giant courgette, I would definitely prioritise eating the nice ones, and compost/give away the bigger ones. They're not as tasty, so meh.

[Mountain Goat]

My nasturtiums are also sacrificial (although I also like them to look at early in the season) so not trying to save them, just wondering if by giving a loving home to ten billion caterpillars I am setting myself up for an imbalance, like when I took over the care of tadpoles that aren't supposed to all survive and ended up with 250-odd frogs in my garden. :lol:

Yes, maybe I should just compost the half courgette in my fridge and eat the nice little ones.

[baargain]

Oh, I see :)) just don't grow 50000 plants, and hopefully they'll all get eaten and then any stragglers will starve and die? :lol:

[Mountain Goat]

A few days ago I was all "look, I am nurturing pollinators while sparing my best plants!" and now I'm "oh god, I am living through a caterpillar apocalypse" :lol:

[absley]

Goat! :lol:

[baargain]

The numbers have suddenly spiked, it's quite intense out there!

[absley]

Four of my corn plants have cobs peeking out, which is exciting. I didn't realise you often only get one per plant - that's not the abundance I was expecting! :lol:

Plus I have a few tomatillos in their paper cases and my borlottis are getting bigger (and being munched by snails - I hope I get to eat some,!), I just need to work out when they can be picked. Courgette production seems to have ceased so I gave them a water/ feed at the weekend in the hope that might help.

[baargain]

I found a mutant gherkin :lol: whoops.

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I dragged home 21kg of Maris pipers, and more than a dozen ears of corn, and now I have hit 100kg in veg yield this year!

Yeah, corn takes up a lot of room, and only gives you max two ears per plant. Bastard. Plus, the allotment rats like to scale mine and chew the ends.

[baargain]

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Ahhhhh :eek:

[Derek Nimmo]

Yikes! You need an actual colony of hedgehogs.

(I like your gherkin )

[baargain]

I have a hopeful hedgehog house, but no one is moving in :(

[Disco]

100kg of veg! Amazing.

I've picked my first red tomato of the season.

My tulips arrived so I've spent a lot of time planting 40 bulbs today and yesterday.

[baargain]

116kg now! I have had 14kg of courgettes this year. They love the allotment :lol:

[absley]

That's amazing, Baa. The caterpillars less so.

Congrats Disco, I don't think any of my tomato flowers have set to fruit. I noticed my potato plants are doing it though (and developing black spots on the leaves, which I need to look up). :ella:

[Mountain Goat]

I cannot picture how much 116kg of veg is but my god, it is a LOT. What are you doing with it all?! Accosting passers by using your mother's technique? :)) I know you have lots of freezer space.

My caterpillars are just like this but a) only on nasturtiums and stocks so no veg damage and b) multiply by three million. :lol: I can't imagine a hedgehog could find its way into new build Fort Knox, I need to make holes... Moo was playing with one (caterpillar not hedgehog...) on the kitchen floor (I must have brought it in on me) and I rescued it by putting it out the window on some kitchen paper, at which point the wind picked up the paper like a parachute and dropped it in a bowl of water, and I just managed to get outside and get it out in time. That was quite a Pixar day for a small caterpillar. The nasturtiums are pretty much just stalks now so I wonder where the chrysalis will live? They may have been a victim of their own success.

That gherkin. :lol:

I've now had three (3) tomatoes and there are another 3 or so ready to be picked, and maybe another five a few days off. Still the majority are determinedly green. My new rocket, lettuce and radish are all through.

Borlottis I hope the snails leave you some. I wonder what is going on with your courgettes?

[baargain]

I had some people up to stay at the weekend, so each couple went home with three courgettes :lol: I am freezing, jamming, pickling, and attempting to dry store (potatoes and onions and garlic). I have a regular freezer, a chest freezer, and a tall upright freezer :))