veg growing Newbies- Feb 2010! lets learn together!

Jo.G

Help with Pumpkins
I planted some pumkin seeds saved from last years Halloween pumpkins.
They grew really well on my windowsill so I transfered them outside into a pot. I have had plenty of flowers and a couple of pumpkins are growing. But the parts of the plant where the pumpkins are growing are now out of the pot and on a flagged area. I noticed this morning that the first pumpkin has started to rot and when I looked under the other one there was a tiny slug underneath it.
So my question is, what can I do to stop them rotting / being attacked whilst they are on the hard floor? I did try balancing the original pumpkin on the rim of the adjoining strawberry pot but it looked like this had bruised it and now its rotting away.
TIA

Minnie26

Well from my 3 tom plants I have been over run with toms so last night I harvested the plants and made a soup with them and froze a few portions of it. Very happy Minnie!!!

Ummm the pepper plants is doing b**ger all, I guess like someone said it's not be pollinated as it's indoor so the flowers keep dropping off

Basil is going crazy and is in deperate need of repotting as the roots have grown out the bottom of the pot!!!

Lettuce is starting to come through, thats being grown on my window sill. Carrots have shoots come up, I'm growing these in pots as an experiment as I dont have a garden, I'm sure my 3 house bunnies will have a field day if they are big enough for us, so at least they wont go to waste.

My friend would like some basil, is there anyway she can have some of mine if i take a cutting from it or will that not work? I really do have no idea lol!!

satnav10

You have to get the old paint brush out to pollinate pepper plants if you are keeping them indoors - thats what i have done, and i have about 15 or so growing. There were a few which i didnt get to, and they dropped off too, but still got pleant on my plant. a few weeks and i imagine i will be harvesting the larger ones!

zarazara

[QUOTE= When I moved my strawberries after they had finished fruiting I cut back the leaves. Well thus seems to have spurred them on and they all now have more flowers on! Seems I might get another harvest out of them!
QUOTE]

Me too! The Cambridge favourite have lovely big green fruits and large flowers. Thet seem better than the first time round a few weeks ago. Wierd.

loucroft

So with the peppers, is it too late to put them outside or pollinate?

Should I be pollinating my scotch bonnets when the start flowering too?

Thanks all, and the strawbs sound lovely I left mine to grow and root on their own (helped them with the locations at which to root!) but seem to be okay, some quite large but fingers crossed you have a second harvest, a fab bit of advice!

heynonnynonny

Did a courgette soup last night from the cook uk website. It was actually horrible and I am gutted! Will stick to baking and boiling in future or try a courgette cake. The courgettes just keep on coming, 4 plants is more than enough!! Had first lot of french beans the other day and they were absolutely delicious!!

shandypants5

I have been slicing and pickling my courgettes, they are delish cold pickled and crunchy, and will keep for ages.:j

katholicos

heynonnynonny wrote: »

Did a courgette soup last night from the cook uk website. It was actually horrible and I am gutted! Will stick to baking and boiling in future or try a courgette cake. The courgettes just keep on coming, 4 plants is more than enough!! Had first lot of french beans the other day and they were absolutely delicious!!

Sorry the soup didn't turn out so well. You can slice courgettes thinly and airdry them or put them in your oven with the door open, at a very low temp and they will dry and can be stored. I use a dehydrator but the oven method looks like the end result is the same. Here's a link

Alternatively, you can dry them outdoors in the sun between two pieces of netting or some kind of screening fabric.Here's a link.

You can rehydrate dried veg really easy using them in soups an stews and casseroles etc :-)

wssla00

Evening all have been planting more things! Transplanted my rainbow chard to their final growing places, planted more beetroot, more onions, more flowers and just had a potter about today.

Had a beautiful fancy salad from the garden for dinner and it was lovely. Including rocket, loads of fancy leaves and some spring onions woohoo!

Beans coming along well. My runners didn't set but my french ones are pretty good so will stick to them next year!

GarnetLady

Hey everyone!

Thanks katholicos and heynonnynonny for the holiday wishes, had a good time away.

Had one or two problems with my veg...



Something has been at one of my cucs. I took it off and threw it away, but very strange, looks like the worm casts you see at the beach!

And something attacked my chives, which I was really surprised about, thought the smell would deter things -



Toms are coming on though -





And some gratuitous flower shots.




Fuchsia giants from T&M. Excuse the podgy looking hand!





My front garden. Most of the plants seemed to double in size while I was away. Except for the tub that got munched by slugs.