Help MBE grow his dinner 2012

Leif

Pre-war_babe_33 wrote: »

News from my garden today is that I have lots more flower buds forming on my only surviving sweet pepper so I am not giving up hope just yet. It seems strange that the seeds were sown on the same day as my tomatoes, 8th March, yet the tomatoes have finished producing before the peppers have even begun.

Quite normal. Tomatoes are much faster than peppers. You will be lucky to get ripe pods unless you can bring the plants inside before the frosts. If they are in the ground, you could always transfer to 10" pots and bring in. They shouldn't need too much light, mainly warmth.

RedLass

morwenna wrote: »

Our best (round) one is 1530g, tasted great and the smaller ones (picked when you are supposed to ) are lovely stuffed and baked - let me know if you want the recipe.

Oh that would be lovely, if only so I can stash it for next time. All routes that get more vegetables into our diet are very welcome indeed. And somehow, the word "baked" always sounds perfectly comforting to me and my hungry tummy

RedLass

Some of the beetroot appears to be of good size, as far as I can tell anyway, so I ought to pull them soon. I don't really know if I like beetroot to be honest, certainly I can't stand the pickled kind but that's unfair on the beet I think and I've never tried it any other way. I have spotted a couple of recipes in River Cottage Veg book that use it in different ways, so I may try those.

Little_Vics

hello! I'm back! Did anyone notice I'd been away?

I've come back to find 2 ripe tomatoes (hoorah - although one had been munched), and lots of green ones. Is it worth leaving them out for a while longer, or shall I admit defeat and make green tom chutney now?

Also....my aubergine appears to have come back to life! Hoorah again! It's teeeny tiny though (about size of hand with 5 leaves) and currently outside in a pot under a cloche. What shall I do with it?? I have no greenhouse.

xLV

mrbadexample

Little_Vics wrote: »

shall I admit defeat and make green tom chutney now?

I'm sure we had this last year.

I was picking tomatoes until November last year. Hang on a bit longer, eh?

kitcat80

Hello
I've been lurking for some time and thought I'd pop up to say hi..and also see if I can pick your collective brains.

I got my own garden for the first time last year and tried to do a bit of growing which seemed ok. I tried again this year but have had very mixed results. Last year I planted potatoes but didn't do the bit about putting mud over the shoots, but even so got a pretty good crop. This year I followed the instructions but only got about 5 or 6 potatoes from each plant and they didn't go very far down. Any ideas? It was a different plot to last year too, so that's not the problem.

And now I have an empty plot where my spuds were. Is there anything I can put in or should I give it a rest?

Thank you!

Little_Vics

mrbadexample wrote: »

I'm sure we had this last year.

I was picking tomatoes until November last year. Hang on a bit longer, eh?

Come on - you know I find this whole thing really traumatic and stressful, and just can't do it!

Leif

Little_Vics wrote: »

hello! I'm back! Did anyone notice I'd been away?

The forum was on the verge of collapsing, but now that you are back, we can relax.

Little_Vics wrote: »

I've come back to find 2 ripe tomatoes (hoorah - although one had been munched), and lots of green ones. Is it worth leaving them out for a while longer, or shall I admit defeat and make green tom chutney now?

Also....my aubergine appears to have come back to life!

Is that a euphemism?

Little_Vics wrote: »

Hoorah again! It's teeeny tiny though (about size of hand with 5 leaves) and currently outside in a pot under a cloche. What shall I do with it?? I have no greenhouse.

xLV

Far too late to do anything. I've never grown aubergine but I would not be surprised if you couldn't overwinter it.

Leif

kitcat80 wrote: »

This year I followed the instructions but only got about 5 or 6 potatoes from each plant and they didn't go very far down. Any ideas? It was a different plot to last year too, so that's not the problem.

I take it you are in the UK? And you noticed the gales, months and months of rain, gloomy skies, almost no sun? Most of my plants were either destroyed or severely damaged.

Leif

Little_Vics wrote: »

Come on - you know I find this whole thing really traumatic and stressful, and just can't do it!

Ooooh, course you can. Gardening is relaxing, if something fails, find out why, do better next time. I've had failures this years, oh well, that's life. But keep your eyes open, watch what the plants do and learn from them. They want to grow.