Help MBE grow his dinner 2012

mrbadexample

I was on page two again.

Nothing much going on at the moment. I need to find time this weekend to get some onion sets and garlic in.

That's about it really.

Angelfeathers

In response to whoever it was who asked about carrots, I'm still pulling carrots that were sown in April – they're on the balcony away from everything else and like John I kept forgetting to water/feed them so they're tiny, but still fine to eat.

My surprise success this year has been the sweetcorn. After the early seedlings on the window sill kept getting eaten by our new kittens, I thought I'd been too late in planting out the 8 plants I managed to save. But they've grown really well and have *loads* of cobs on them! We've had three already, one of which was the longest cob I've ever seen, and they're so sweet they're almost too sweet for me! My son loves them - the only vegetable he's actually eager to eat - so I'm very pleased. Will probably need to see about trying to freeze some soon though. John Harrison says you can freeze them whole so I'm going to try that, though I doubt they'll be as nice from frozen.

Still getting good salad crops too - radishes and lettuce - and have some beetroot coming up to ready too, which will be made into chocolate beetroot cake, our absolute favourite cake.

I also have blossom on my mini pear tree. It's obviously very confused!

Aria`s_Tail

Hi. Another one with apogogies for deserting thread.
I started a new job in June and have been working away a week at a time. Despite leaving OH with strict instructions to water things on days it didn't rain he kept forgetting. :mad:
Strawberries, had a couple of bowls early on (that survived the slugs) then they flowered again a couple of weeks ago so I have about a dozen green strawbs on the plants?
Runner beans, smaller crop than i used to get in Cumbria (my Mum's were poor to this year though). The dwarf ones in pots died through lack of watering.
Salad, Had about 4 decent little gems that weren't eaten by gastropods, the ones planted from August keeled over at seedling stage, same with radish and spring onions. (early ones ok, later plantings disaster.)
Courgettes, had 2 plants, the sickly looking one overtook the other one, have had about 12 fruits from them both and they are still going.
Toms, Had a couple of bowls of yellow banana in early September and now have loads of green fruit on them and the cherry variety. will prob be doing chutney in a couple of week.
Rasps, my summer fruiting rasps have just really started to fruit well and ripen in the last couple of week, pick a few everyday and add them to box in the freezer.
Chili, another victim to lack of water. :mad:

Sweet peas did well. LOL

Will do a garden tidy in next couple of weeks and maybe put some garlic in.

Pre-war_babe_33

I am another who has been absent for some time. It seems that I have to put in my user name and password if I want to post and I had forgotten my pass-word so the system wouldn`t let me in. Do I really have to enter my user name and pass-word EVERY TIME I want to post? It seems to be a bit of a hassle to me.

As for the garden - everything is coming to an end out there now so I am starting to think about what I shall grow next year. Loads of home-made tomato sauce in the freezer now and enough french beans, gooseberries and blackberries to last me well into next year. It makes up for the rhubarb being a total failure.

mrbadexample

Pre-war_babe_33 wrote: »

I am another who has been absent for some time. It seems that I have to put in my user name and password if I want to post and I had forgotten my pass-word so the system wouldn`t let me in. Do I really have to enter my user name and pass-word EVERY TIME I want to post? It seems to be a bit of a hassle to me.

You shouldn't have to, no. There should be a "remember me" box to tick when you log in. Either that, or write your password down!

I've been helping my mate prune the enormous black poplar tree in his garden today. That mostly involved climbing about 60' up the tree and hacking bits off with a bowsaw. A bit on the scary side, I don't mind admitting.

We shredded a load of the branches, so I've got a nice thick mulch around my pear tree, and a good couple of bagfuls in the compost bin. I blitzed it up with the Mantis to get it incorporated with the rest. I won't put any more in just yet, but I've got a wheely bin full of chippings to add as and when I can.

Does anyone know if black poplar burns well? I can take a good few logs for my wood burner if they're ok?

katholicos

Hey up Mr Bad and all, yesterday i pulled out all the dying courgette, squash and pumpkin plants. Today i sprinkled some green manure seed on that bed and in the plastic-tunnel tried to finish off a bodgit and soddit type of raised bed area. Intend to sow some pak choi and broad beans and salad leaves in their. On tother side there are seedlings of carrots, beetroot and mooli. I still have about 5 or 6 pepper plants continuing to grow fruits and plan to try to overwinter these, or at least a couple of them, just as an experiment really. Wouldn't mind keeping one in there permanently if i can get it to survive the low temps of autumn and winter.

First year with my plastic-tunnel and i made lots of mistakes, hence the building of raised beds instead of containers to be used in there henceforth.

My raspberries are still producing, not lots, but enough for a treat as i peruse my garden. I'm worth the extravagance!

Little_Vics

hoorah!! OH has agreed to rebuild the small retaining wall around my veg patch in the spring. It's only taken 4 years of nagging.

So, anything I plant in the winter will need to be in tubs. I'm guessing that's OK and I'll maintain my really-not-worth-the-effort-success-rate? I'd hate to disappoint anyone by actually managing to grow stuff.

xLV

mrbadexample

Woo hoo!

This is the first cabbage I've ever grown. Mainly because I don't really like cabbage, but I'm sure I'll find something to do with this one:

Little_Vics

yum!! Slice finely, fry off some bacon and garlic in butter, add the cabbage, fry for 2-3 mins, add a tablespoon of white wine vinegar and a tablespoon of water, put the lid on, turn off the heat and leave for 5 mins to cook in the steam. Delicious.

RedLass

That is an excellent looking cabbage - very *tight* !! :silenced:

Little_Vics wrote: »

yum!! Slice finely, fry off some bacon and garlic in butter, add the cabbage, fry for 2-3 mins, add a tablespoon of white wine vinegar and a tablespoon of water, put the lid on, turn off the heat and leave for 5 mins to cook in the steam. Delicious.

And this sounds yummy. I may have to give cabbage another chance.