Grow your own dinner 2014

zafiro1984

queen_of_cheap wrote: »

Ive got raspberries and redcurrants in pots in the garden waiting to go in. I've also got a single blackcurrants plant but want a few more. I'm about to order a cranberry to go in a basket too :j

Queen of Cheap:- Blackcurrants can be very easily propagated, wait until the leaves have dropped off (Nov) then use the wood that you would have pruned from the bush and make new plants. Just push them in the ground about 20cms apart, and wait until Spring, most will have rooted.
I did that one year - got a bit carried away - I've now got over 30 bushes, hasten to add not in the fruitcage. By the way you can do the same with redcurrants.

Dizzy_Ditzy

zafiro1984 wrote: »

Queen of Cheap:- Blackcurrants can be very easily propagated, wait until the leaves have dropped off (Nov) then use the wood that you would have pruned from the bush and make new plants. Just push them in the ground about 20cms apart, and wait until Spring, most will have rooted.
I did that one year - got a bit carried away - I've now got over 30 bushes, hasten to add not in the fruitcage. By the way you can do the same with redcurrants.

Ooooooooh cheers!

sparrer

zafiro1984 wrote: »

Queen of Cheap:- Blackcurrants can be very easily propagated, wait until the leaves have dropped off (Nov) then use the wood that you would have pruned from the bush and make new plants. Just push them in the ground about 20cms apart, and wait until Spring, most will have rooted.
I did that one year - got a bit carried away - I've now got over 30 bushes, hasten to add not in the fruitcage. By the way you can do the same with redcurrants.

I did something similar, thought my gooseberry bush had died so dug it up and used some of the stems as supports for other plants. Six months later I had eight new gooseberry bushes in leaf

Dizzy_Ditzy

*bump*

Between my garden and allotment, I've had a bumper (for me anyway) harvest - my first allotment potatoes and sweetcorn, rhubarb, blackberries, beetroot, cucumbers, tomatoes, mint, scotch bonnets, cayenne peppers, sweet peppers, blueberries, beans, cabbage and lettuce :j :j :j

Kantankrus_Mare

Happygreen wrote: »

last lettuce harvested today but more (cheating) living salads to plant out tomorrow.

I meant to ask you all, do you also suffer from a summer dip? I always find it hard from July onwards - school holidays and weeds galore - to keep up with things and I get rather overwhelmed, let things slip...a bit depressing sometimes . But my plot is VERY big and I'm mostly doing it on my own (and everything else in the house, preserving stuff, cooking, blablabla)....:(

You are not on your own.

Every year I aim to make the most of my allotment and try to keep on top of the weeding etc but life always seems to get in the way.

Have had a really busy few weeks at work, having to cover for the manager while she is on hols and as its a physical job, I just dont have the energy to do anything at the plot. Been away ourselves for a few days so dread to think what will greet me but I WILL NOT be giving up my plot as my husband thinks I should.

I must get down there tomorrow to pick more brambles and elderberries ready for my winemaking.

Got some time off towards end of Sep so will be making a real effort to get it all tidied up. Really should pot up my strawberry runners tomorrow as well. So much to do...so little time. :cool:

Happygreen

Thanks, Mare, your post made me feel better.
I picked most of the tomatoes in the greenhouse, only the cherries turned out well, the larger varieties all had some mould (don't think it's blight but still ugly and inedible). In the future I won't bother with large varieties. 2 out of 3 pepper plants and the aubergines suffered the same fate and the sweetcorn did better in the tunnel last year....so time to tidy up in there in a few weeks and fumigate in the spring . Still, I love the cherry tomatoes

zafiro1984

queen_of_cheap wrote: »

*bump*
Between my garden and allotment, I've had a bumper (for me anyway) harvest - my first allotment potatoes and sweetcorn, rhubarb, blackberries, beetroot, cucumbers, tomatoes, mint, scotch bonnets, cayenne peppers, sweet peppers, blueberries, beans, cabbage and lettuce :j :j :j

Just one word comes to mind 'congrats'

All I've managed to harvest are beans, carrots and a very few tomatoes.
The rest of the stuff I've gathered has been on this place for ages and has had no care or attention this year. blackcurrants, white and red currants, rose hips, blackberries, rhubarb.
I'm looking forward to the crabapples, apples, hazel nuts (if I can get there before the squirrels) and sweet chestnuts.
Left on the plot are more carrots, beans, kale, sprouting broccoli, cabbage, leeks, and a few sweetcorn not yet in flower - hopefully things will be better next year.

Happygreen

zafiro1984, what are you doing with your crabapples? I also have loads but they are the tiny red variety and I'm never sure if they are any good for anything.

zafiro1984

Happygreen:- You can do loads of things with them. Put in recipes with crabapples as a search.
I do crabapple and clove jelly, crabapple by itself is a bit boring. Try chutney - you'll have to leave it for about 3 months before eating. Pickled in vinegar is also good. If I haven't time to process them as they become ripe I freeze them, they don't seem to suffer. No need to peel but sometimes I split them in half and de seed. I have the red John Dowie and also the yellow one, the red one is best and I leave the yellow one for the birds.
Give them a go, seems a shame not to make some jelly as all you need would be sugar and cloves. I use the jelly in the winter over icecream or under sponge puddings

Happygreen

zafiro1984 wrote: »

Happygreen:- You can do loads of things with them. Put in recipes with crabapples as a search.
I do crabapple and clove jelly, crabapple by itself is a bit boring. Try chutney - you'll have to leave it for about 3 months before eating. Pickled in vinegar is also good. If I haven't time to process them as they become ripe I freeze them, they don't seem to suffer. No need to peel but sometimes I split them in half and de seed. I have the red John Dowie and also the yellow one, the red one is best and I leave the yellow one for the birds.
Give them a go, seems a shame not to make some jelly as all you need would be sugar and cloves. I use the jelly in the winter over icecream or under sponge puddings

Thanks - I'm not sure as my variety is really rock hard (tiny red balls, not sure of the variety as I had bought a mislabelled eating apple tree!)) and I don't have a pressure cooker to soften. But I will try something this year . A friend made apple and chilli jelly but she used Bramleys :cool:.