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Home grown fruit and veg: an autumn update
Harvest fruit... avoid blossom end rot... lift potatoes... Gardener's World's Adam Pasco tells us what we should be doing now to your home grown fruit and veg
Reproduced from September 07 issue of Gardeners' World magazine. This month's issue on sale now. Subscribe now and save 30 per cent.
Sample your plums
Plums are the Pasco family's favourite fruit, eaten straight from the tree, of course. My 'Victoria' plum is a most undemanding tree, requiring little more than summer pruning to maintain its fantrained framework.
Being self-fertile, plums are ideal for small gardens because you only need one tree. They can also be trained to wires between two posts to produce a simple screen.
Pick lush fruits as they ripen, leaving smaller ones to develop further. Discard any damaged or diseased fruit, taking care to avoid feeding wasps, and collect fallen fruit to add to the compost heap.
If you have a glut, remember that plums freeze well. You'll need to cook them directly from frozen, but stewed fruit is delicious in a pie or crumble.
Keep toms topped up
No matter how carefully you water your tomatoes, the symptoms of neglect are all too clear to spot.
Blossom end rot is caused by a shortage of calcium in developing fruits brought on by water shortage. Hot weather puts extra demand for water on mature tomato plants and allowing them to dry out can cause the fruit to split and blossom end rot to form. By the time you see the tell-tale brown spots, the damage has been done.
Some varieties seem less tolerant of varying watering patterns and more likely to develop blossom end rot. If you do get it, see it as a slap on the wrist and make sure every plant gets your daily attention from now on!
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