veg growing Newbies- Feb 2010! lets learn together!

janibrown

:eek::eek::eek:
Oh My God I swear I can see my toms aubergine and peppers growing by the hour they have grown at least 2 inches since lunchtime yesterday it is very windy here today and am fearfull that my greenhouse will blow away
:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:
will not be venturing very far from house today lol no sign of rain yet only time will tell
All my turnips went to seed so have gone to turnip heaven :A

izzwizz_2

elsien wrote: »

My mangetout glut is continuing - wondering whether to try freezing some. Do they freeze ok and do I need to blanch them first, does anyone know? (I'll probably use them up in stir fries.)

I just wash, cut into two or three pieces and freeze (since they only take a minute to cook I'm worried about losing the crunch if blanching). I usually use them as boiled veg (boil for 1 minute).

kimmee - I envy you, we had a lovely tayberry in our last garden, but no fruit planted out here yet (altjough hubby is promising a fruit bush bed and has made a start on one)


Harvested our first two cauliflowers this week too (made cauliflower cheese and very tasty it was too!). Found a large courgette that I'd missed yesterday and had courgette pasta for tea last night. Visited a garden centre and managed not to buy anything!!:shocked: Thought our plants looked better :rotfl:

Went to B&Q and bought one of their cheap buckets. Brought it out to the car and m-i-l was so impressed she sent me back in for 4 for her. Then hubby came out and stared at the pile of buckets, then at me. He was convinced I'd bought them as plant pots after I'd been telling him how some of you used them like this and I thought it was a good idea. The funny thing was, just before he came back I'd asked m-i-l if I could have her old buckets... :rotfl:

wssla00

Jani- Mine too! One tomato thinks it's trying to outgrow a blackcurrant bush! Mental thing! I have so many tomatoes coming now.... all little and green but so exciting!

Loads of raspberries are ripening and are a beautiful pink colour! I can't believe how amazing it is growing things!

Well I'm off to the shops to get some provisions for the cats

Speak to you later!

izzwizz_2

kazire wrote: »

so... i was wondering what things we can plant/sow at the moment!

I'm starting the Winter salad crops off now (need to sow a little earlier than those of you in the South of England apparently). So, Mizuna, raddichio, chard, chinese cabbage, corn salad, Arctic lettuces, spring onions.

Last sowing of french beans & mangetout peas (it might be too late for me, but will keep them in the greenhouse so could be OK - you never know).

Also decided to try some Herbaceous perennials from seed, hopefully to plant out next Spring (suppose I shouldn't really mention the "F" word on here... flowers!)

Totally the wrong time of year, but I've sown some globe artichoke seed and asparagus seed (will keep in the greenhouse over Winter to plant out in Spring if anything survives).

lovelife_3

lovelife wrote: »

I have four lovely proud strong plants all in pots, masses of buds on them too:j Mmm courgette soup, never tried that, sounds good though.

Heres a piture of my first courgettes and my strawberry jam, i was soo proud of this as it was the first jam i have made lol only taken me 47 years!!

heynonnynonny

I read that as courgette and strawberry jam at first! Mmm yum yum strawberry jam...I think courgette soup will be nice if you have a big glut and don't know what to do with them. Found another courge whilst firking so have got 2 now.

Greenbynature

Something has eaten 2 leaves off one of my courgette plants!!:(:( Definitely slugs/snails, so have put some banana skins around the pots to see if that deters them, as it's worked on my clematis!

I'm very jealous of your strawberry jam lovelife and your courgettes, mine are only just starting to flower!

It's very windy here today but no rain yet!

GarnetLady

Hey everyone.

It's blowing a gale here and pouring, checked on all the pots and they seem to be staying upright for now.

Jani, it's amazing how quickly everything shoots up isn't it? Plants have been loving the warm sunny weather.

lovelife - your jam looks fab. I read it as courgette and strawberry too.

My tumbler tom looks okay now, hoping it was just the leaves sitting against the wet glass that was causing the problem.

My moneymaker had a small incident too. One of the branches keeled over. :eek: It was sticking out, so not sure if I caught it or whether it was maybe a cat, or it just went under the weight. I have it propped up against a cane now and it still seems to be getting enough water, so fingers crossed.

I think I might have to pinch out the growing tip on my toms soon, they're almost as tall as me, and I might have to start limiting trusses too... Anyone know how many trusses each should be producing? I'm scared I'll hurt them.

Lovely to hear about what everyone's harvesting.

I managed to go to B&Q, Homebase and Focus yesterday and not buy a single plant!

kazire

Thank you lovelife and izziwizz, this is my first year and i have planted a bit of everything a while ago, i love the process of germanation, just seeing if the seeds going to poke its head thru now im waiting for the fruits/vegtables to begin to grow so i can reap the rewards..

lovelife i made some strawberry jam today! I am so proud of myself! its sooo easy dont know why i never done it before and it tastes sooo good! i know this lot wont last long! some scones with jam jam sarnies jam on toast jam with icecream all lined up!

soullessfire

EAT THE FLOWERS! ha ha, I wasn't convinced at all myself but since mine have a weird thing where the boy and girl flowers are never out at the same time I've had a couple of the baby courgettes with flowers on.

Wash them out thoroughly and I removed all the little stamens inside but I doubt you have to. Teaspoon or 2 of whatever cream chesse you like inside the flower and kindof fold the petals back up to seal it. Then just make a batter using plain flour, water, tiny bit of bicarb and a bit of salt. Dip the courgettes (flowers and all intot he batter and deep fry for 2-3 minutes. I tend to find courgette a bit watery and flavourless so was really surprised how nice these were. The flowers are delicate and don't not tough/rubbery when cooked, and the crispy batter on the outside just makes them yummy