Ask Gerry

This is more than likely caused by potato blight, various plants are at various stages of withering due to varying levels of disease attack. Potatoes being lifted and already rotting is a sign of attack by blight spores that were washed down the stems a few weeks ago.

Despite spraying, the weather was washing sprays off as soon as they were put on.

The best bet is to now cut away all remaining foliage and hope for the best. Rotting can spread underground as potatoes touch and secondary rots set in after blight damage in damp soil conditions. If this is happening, you will need to consider lifting the ptoatoes early. 'Rooster' is a maincrop storage variety and not normally lifted until late September or October. 

It is best to move potatoes in a rotation to new ground as there is a danger of a build up of potato eelworm which results in stunted plants and few small potatoes.

This pest overwinters in the soil and builds up in numbers over the years.

'Nicola' is resistant to the yellow eelworm which is the most common but not to the white form. 'Sante' is resitant to both.

A lot of produce can be had from an area as small as 5 metres by five metres, or even just two by two. The main thing is not to take on too much initially.

It is best to concentrate on the quick-growing crops such as radish, lettuce and rocket to start with and gain some early success. Try carrots, peas, broad beans, french beans, onion sets, courgette and garlic first. Then you might decide that you have space for bulky cabbage family crops and potatoes.

Sweet corn can be tried and pumpkins but need a good deal of space.

Do not worry too much about quantity of vegetables needed. Concentrate at first on small areas and small amounts of produce, sowing just a few seeds at a time and repeating if needed, just getting to know how the various vegetables behave and their needs.

Never let weeds get taller that your thumb ... using a light hoe on a windy sunny day ideally.

As expertise grows, you can work out how much of each crop you are likely to use, how many onions in a winter, for instance.

Potoatoes can be grown in the same ground but there is a risk of disease and pest buildup, notably blackleg disease, especially if seed potatoes are saved, and the biggest threat comes from a build-up of potato eelworm, which greatly reduce yield.

If a patch of plants across a few rows shows signs of poor weak growth, eelworm is to be suspected, and the tiny round eelworm cysts can be seen on the potato plants roots and underground stems.

'Record' should have yellow flesh. It may be that some other variety has been mixed in. There no disease or pest that causes this. Perhaps a mineral imbalance. These potatoes should be edible but without determining the exact cause, this is difficult to say.

Soil does nto get tired, as such, but it does build up pests and diseases and it sounds very much like a poato eelworm problem.

These are tiny worms that feed on potato roots and stems underground and cause early wilting and small tubers in a bad attack. The eelworm stays in the soil and attacks each year. 

There is no control except to use eelworm resistant varieties such as 'Santé' and 'Valor'.

Tomatoes in grow bags are vulnerable to drought and many tomatoes have performed badly due to a dull, cool summer.