Morning Light: The Fetchland Gardening Wire

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Rosehip Oct 2020 7:59pm, 22 Oct 2020 18,265 posts	0 Rosehip and many people I know have said they've never had such a bad yr for courgettes - mine haven't been anything like normal either. Something v odd about courgettes this yr.
Fragile Do Not Bend Oct 2020 8:36pm, 22 Oct 2020 7,052 posts	0 Fragile Do Not Bend Yes, last year my courgettes went rampant and I was giving them away. This year they started ok but they stopped growing when the hot dry weather hit despite me watering them lots. Same goes for my runner beans.
Dvorak Oct 2020 8:45pm, 22 Oct 2020 21,115 posts	0 Dvorak I am safe from dodgy courgettes this year due to not a single fruit setting.
Flatlander Oct 2020 9:06pm, 22 Oct 2020 1,803 posts	0 Flatlander Yes, those people got ill because cucurbitacin was the chemical present in high amounts in those courgettes.
Garfield Oct 2020 9:08pm, 22 Oct 2020 14,336 posts	0 Garfield Interesting to know this...fortunately I don't usually save many seeds from food I eat.
Hanneke Oct 2020 9:59pm, 22 Oct 2020 70,633 posts	0 Hanneke With the cucurbits, the test is cutting a slice off/pumpkin open and lick the cut. If it is disgustingly bitter, chuck it! I cleared the tomatoes yesterday. They were still going strong, so I cut off all the good green trusses and draped them over my cucumber wire. They will ripen. I need the space in the greenhouse to start moving my tender stuff in there. Things tbhat don't mind the cold but hate the wet go in the cold frames. It isn't forecast to get that cold yet, but it is always a big job that takes days rather than hours and up here we have had a couple of frosty nights already.
Hanneke Oct 2020 10:03pm, 22 Oct 2020 70,634 posts	0 Hanneke I have had a difficult courgette year too. It started with seeds not germinating, then the plants not fruiting very well. A lot of blossom end rot. I had however HUGE success with my tromboncino squashes! I have five HUGE ones drying in the drying shed and loads of smaller, younger ones still growing that can be eaten like courgettes. My butternu squashes have only just started setting fruit and I had 4 Uchiki Kuri from 4 plants. Small, because it has been dry and I didn't water them, a mistake on hindsight and I read thet one the fruit forms, you cut the growing stem off beyond the fruit. The plant then makes a new stem with a new fruit and repeat.
Columba Oct 2020 10:22pm, 22 Oct 2020 20,411 posts	0 Columba Younger Daughter had one of those dodgy courgettes, grown from seed she'd bought at Wilko. She tasted it while cooking (stir-fry) and immediatgely threw the whole dish out. She said she'd never tasted anything so bitter in her life.
Turtlemama Oct 2020 11:22pm, 22 Oct 2020 1,187 posts	0 Turtlemama Hi all, any advice for what I can sow now? I'm a spring/summer gardener usually, but fancy keeping going through the winter this yr. So far I've had literally hundreds (probably over a thousand) tomatoes, rampant runner beans as usual, good carrots and potatoes and failed courgettes. Good herb crops, far too many blackcurrants and dismal red peppers. Caulis grew but had some fungal issue so got binned. I still have carrots and celeriac going in one of the raised beds. Space wise I have some space in a raised bed, and my greenhouse is currently empty. Any ideas?
rf_fozzy Oct 2020 11:29pm, 22 Oct 2020 11,957 posts	0 rf_fozzy I was going to do some lettuce over the winter in the greenhouse. To prepare the probable shortages in fresh food due to Brexit in Jan.