Help MBE grow his dinner 2012

aliasojo

annie123 wrote: »

Are you sure? they're not that common.
http://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/problems/lawns/new-zealand-flatworms/408.html
taken from above link:
Should you discover a possible flatworm in your garden, please take a digital photograph and email it to mike.lole@adas.co.uk. When taking photos, place an object such as a pencil, or a key, alongside the creature to provide scale.

Verified for free so you know if you need to take action or not.

Great looking toad and newt by the way.

Absolutely positive. Also had the shiny black eggs.

They are rife in certain areas of Scotland. We're in one of those areas.

Mr Toad and Newty were taken across the road and left on a warm embankment by the stream. I'm sure they will be happier there rather than a back yard car park.

mrbadexample

Off to Amsterdam for the weekend for my mate's wedding. Should be fun. _party_

Annie......would you be so kind please? :kisses3:

annie123

Remember how bad your body felt after the stag do, so do try and control yourself for the wedding please.

I like Amsterdam, except for the push bikes, couldn't get on with back peddling for brakes and almost slide into the water on several occasions so I gave up.

Little_Vics

sad news!

My toms have taken a battering in the strong winds we've had in the past couple of nights. A lot have fallen off the plant, so I'm off out today to pick the rest to try to salvage enough for chutney.

So, anyone got a good recipe for green tomato chutney!?

RedLass

Been having a tidy up today. Last thing I did was move a few herb pots around - they sit on the bark chippings around the patio...

Found a pile like this underneath:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fresh_Slug_Eggs_Anyone%3F.jpg

Gross _pale_

RedLass

Little_Vics wrote: »

sad news!

My toms have taken a battering in the strong winds we've had in the past couple of nights. A lot have fallen off the plant, so I'm off out today to pick the rest to try to salvage enough for chutney.

So, anyone got a good recipe for green tomato chutney!?

Hmm not me I'm afraid, though I still have a good few handfuls of green ones on the plants so may be in need if the weather takes a turn! We have been lucky, it's been a beautiful day here. Sorry all yours got shaken off by the wind

I picked a bowl of red ones yesterday and intend to roast them to make sauce tomorrow a la Hugh:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2007/aug/18/recipes.foodanddrink

Although, I definitely don't have "at least 2kg" or a mix of different varieties, so I'll be scaling down

Archiebear

I've been lurking for a while now (always think that sounds a little dodgy!) and you have all inspired me to have a bash at growing my own

My garden has been somewhat of a nightmare and it has taken me the best part of a year and a half trying to get it sorted. I took the route of splitting the garden into 'thirds' so it wouldn't be too daunting . One very sore back later, I'm onto the final third Hurrah!

This bit of the garden would get the most sun if it wasn't for this beast ...



After saving for ages, I'm now getting the beast felled however, the soil, where I want my raised beds to go, is awful as that's where all the conifer needles have fallen and nothing grows except the horsetail
My question is: will the needles have made the soil too acidic? If I improve it with manure/ compost would it be ok to grow veggies in or do I need to look at higher raised beds with new soil?

Sorry, just realised that's more than one question!

annie123

Archie, what ever the PH the soil is going to be poor quality for growing.
If I were in your shoes I'd concentrate on getting the horse tail sorted first. No amount of manure, compost or raised beds will stop it from growing and your crops will vanish as it over takes them.

There are threads on here with info on horsetail and of course google. Until thats sorted I'd grow in pots only or another area of the garden if it's horsetail free.
Plenty of summer crops are fine or even prefer some shade, for example lettuce/leaf salad there are loads of others.
If you're planning on being in the home a while it's worth doing it properly in the long run.

RedLass

So my not 2kg of tomatoes was in fact quite a long way short!

750g of toms:



Turned into 200ml of roasted tomato sauce:



Now safely in the freezer. Not exactly bucket loads, but it does taste good. I was pleasantly surprised, I thought it would be really runny, but it's got a good, fairly thick "saucy" consistency

Little_Vics

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2865/green-tomato-chutney.jsp - going to be making this with my green toms and some apples my neighbour gave me. Yum!