Tag Archives: zucchini

Blossom End Rot What Is It and What To Do About It

Many gardeners are affected by blossom end rot, and it’s heart breaking to see your tomatoes inedible due to this damage. Don’t despair, it’s not all doom and gloom, and in most cases it’s an easy fix. So read on to find out how to identify it and how to deal with it. What Is The Blossom End? The blossom end is the end of the fruit furthest away from where the stalk joins the plant. It is literally the end the blossom was attached to, and that’s where we get blossom end rot. What Is Blossom End Rot? Blossom… → Read More

zucchini Turning Yellow And Rotting

Sadly this is a common problem and you’d be a very fortunate gardener if you never suffered this at some time. Don’t despair, things will improve and once you understand the problem you can start to solve it. So read on to see what you can do about zucchini (courgettes) turning yellow and rotting. Why Are My Zucchini Turning Yellow? There are a few answers to this question, some are more serious than others and some have easy cures. So the easiest and obvious one is there are yellow varieties of zucchini and if this is the case you don’t… → Read More

What To Plant In A Planting Box

My son recently set me up with a vegtrug to make growing vegetables and watering easier for me. After he put it all together I planted it up and now he’s made me a planting box. So what to plant in a planting box. What To Plant In A Planting Box My post entitled vegtrug planting guide gives all the information about what I’ve planted in there. This new one is like a large raised bed, it stands about 3 foot(90 cms) high and is roughly 3 foot x 6 foot (0.9 metre x 1.8 metres) and a depth of… → Read More

Companion Planting Catnip – The Benefits

Catnip (Nepeta cataria) also known as catnep, catswort, or catmint is a member of the mint family. Like all mints if planted with the correct plants catnip can be a very beneficial plant. Read on to find out the benefits of companion planting catnip. Companion Planting Catnip The Benefits Catnip has a strange, but not unpleasant smell and deters flea beetles, ants, aphids, weevils, cabbage white butterflies, and mice. It’s flowers attract many bees, hoverflies, and other pollinators. It also attracts parasitic wasps making catnip a very useful plant for the organic gardener. Companion Planting Catnip Just by looking at… → Read More

Vegtrug Planting Guide

If you’ve been following my posts for a while you’ll probably be aware that I had a brain bleed a few years ago. What I haven’t told you is last year I had a quintuple heart by-pass and it’s left me very weak. I can’t manage my allotment so my son set me up a vegtrug and here’s my vegtrug planting guide. We went for the medium vegtrug which is actually the largest one they do? It’s 1.8 metres (6 foot) long, 76 cms (30 inches) wide and 80 cms (31.5 inches) high. That’s an area roughly 6 foot by… → Read More

Watermelon Companion Plants

I live in the UK and I have dabbled at growing melons in my unheated greenhouse a few times over the years, with mixed results. This year however, I have found a UK based seed company that offers watermelon seeds for the UK climate. So I’m looking at watermelon companion plants and I’ll share them with you here. What Are Watermelons? Watermelons are members of the curcubit family which includes pumpkins, squash, melons, cucumbers, and gourds. They are sweet flavoured and as the name suggests, very juicy. Watermelons develop differently to other members of the same family. They have less… → Read More

Winter Squash Companion Plants

All plants benefit from growing in companion with others, and winter squash are no exception. Below are the best winter squash companion plants I have found to increase yield, health and vigour of your plants. Although they are called winter squash, this relates to their storage ability and not to when they should be grown. Winter squash are grown at the same time as summer squash ( zucchini, patty pans, courgettes etc…) but can be saved to consume during the winter. Whereas summer squash will not store because their skin does not harden enough to keep the inside fresh. So… → Read More

Zucchini Companion Plants (Courgettes)

Whether you call them zucchini or courgettes, this summer favourite is easy to grow. As long as they are picked regularly summer squashes including zucchini, marrows, and patty pans will continue producing until the first frosts. There are many zucchini companion plants and all will benefit your plants. The key to healthy plants is as always, soil preparation. Add plenty of compost or well rotted manure to the soil to give these hungry plants a boost. Once they flower feed weekly with comfrey plant food or a good tomato fertiliser. Zucchini Companion Plants Good companion plants for zucchini (courgettes) are… → Read More