Page 21 - Simply Vegetables Autumn 2023

up and are absolutely laden with fruit. The photo shows the first one we harvested a couple of weeks ago along with an array of different shapes, colours and sizes of cherry tomatoes.
These are liquid fed with a high potash feed a couple of times a week and watered once or twice a day in the meantime. We have also given a small number of liquid feeds of calcium nitrate to try and prevent blossom end rot (fingers crossed it’s worked so far!)
Butterbush butternut squash
Like the aubergines, this variety advertised that it could be grown in a container. The plant was very slow to grow when we
first planted it out, but it got itself sorted eventually and started growing rapidly.
However, it only produced male flowers for ages and ages, so no fruit. It then set two fruits in quick succession, but only one has swelled into anything to write home about. Unfortunately, the other, and any other fruit that have developed since have ended up dying off. It may be that we need to feed it more, or perhaps a 30 litre container isn’t sufficient, but at the moment all our hopes are placed on our one butternut squash ripening so that we can see how they taste!
This plant is treated exactly the same as our courgette plants from a watering/feed perspective.
Southern Belle ‘Happy Wedding Day’
fuchsias
Although totally outside of my comfort zone of tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers
and courgettes, my aunt and uncle kindly gifted us some fuchsia plug plants back in April. They’d seen them in the local garden centre and couldn’t resist getting us some based on their name – and aren’t they gorgeous?! Although I thought the flowers wouldn’t be too keen on the rainy weather we’ve been having, the way they seem to grow, the blooms are often protected by the green foliage as they hang downwards which means the lovely flowers are preserved for longer. I’ve decided I’ll try and take some cuttings so I can grow them again next year – although I have no clue how to go about this at this point in time
– I think I’ll have to try them in hanging baskets though so the blooms are at eye level rather than hanging down close to the patio.
Simply Vegetables 21