The great, good and not so good bits about growing your own dinner 2017

Great feeling isnt it CAFC girl? :j

My first courgette has appeared and I know from previous experience.........once they start.......they take off massively.

I made rhubarb crumble cupcakes in the week.

Need to have a look at something else to do with rhubarb.

My strawberries have finished rather suddenly but we got loads more than last year. Tomatoes look to be the next glut and my chillies and sweet peppers are getting flowers on them and look really healthy.

sam.4000 wrote: »

Rhubarb jam is lovely.

Ive never made ANY jam before lol so that would be a challenge. Worth thinking about though.

Great to read all the news. Everyone is doing so well. I was down at the plot this morning as it was cooler here and the good news is I have my first tomato - just the one ripe but others will follow shortly. So no tomatoes from the supermarket for months now.


And I have my first handful of runner beans! So exciting - they will be on the menu this evening. Some of the squashes are about 8 inches across - so all good.


I've never grown elephant garlic before and I thought I'd put some in - anyway I'd left some leeks in and thought I'd get them out as I thought they looked a bit odd. And there were the elephant garlic and they are huge! One is 31cm around! Apparently they are best roasted and the pulp spread on some nice bread.


So everything is coming in thick and fast now. Only mushrooms will be bought from the supermarket now. I just hope there are no disasters now - I have to be away for a few days and neighbouring allotmenter is watering the greenhouse for me. Fingers crossed.


I know I talked about it last year - so sorry for repeating but there are newbies on the thread who could benefit. I have a good tip for water cress. If you can get your hands on some fresh (not out of a bag) watercress - take a few pieces and pop them in water for about 3 days. They then develop little roots - pot them up in a loose draining compost. I used a third of perlite in my pots. You will have water cress for the summer. I have 3 pots on the go. Mine were from Ocado (natoora range) but if you have a farm shop near by that would work. The bagged stuff seems to just go soggy. It saves me pounds as I'm a great fan.


Happy growing everyone.

At last, some rain.

Lots of it. Even the windowboxes are feeling heavy, so that's a good sign.

I shall be happy about this and refuse to start thinking about blight for at least two more days.


The Idiot Cat, however, will no doubt disappear into the meadow without a trace in a couple of days, though - nobody ever told me how tall clover could grow if left to its own devices and occasionally rained upon.

Morning Everyone
Lovely rain here all night so everything is well watered. That should really bring things along. I'm sure the allotment will be fine CAFCGirl. But the weeds will love it as well.


Isn't it nice to your own watercress Unrecordings. That's the thing about growing your own - no sprays and bagged food which goes off so quickly - just a quick walk around the garden and you have a lovely fresh salad.


I keep a couple of tall, three, tiered planters in the back garden for salads - four different lettuces then a small raised bed for rocket and basil and the other herbs are just planted in with the flowers. Cress, ginger, turmeric and tomatoes in pots and the rest of the big stuff is down the lotty. I'll pop down and check the greenhouse later - hopefully bring back a few more ripe tomatoes.


Also some courgettes and pumpkins on trellis in the front garden. So there's always something around.


Hope the rain is good for everyone.