The highs and lows of growing your own dinner 2015

Dizzy_Ditzy

Sorry about your chook HappyGreen

My girls are still freeloading but hoping for eggs from them soon

Started picking rhubarb yesterday and had the loveliest rhubarb crumble for dinner last night Picked the last of the PSB and prepped that bed for peas. Planted some radishes at both plots. Got a big blue plastic half barrel ready for sowing carrots in.

Not sure how much we will get done today as it's not particularly warm

mamaninie

WantanOrange - congrats!!!! get a sling and pop baby on your back - I've done plenty of digging and general allotmenting with a baby on my back. I found them to be an absolute lifesaver both in and outside of the house!

Plenty of action on my windowsill, lots needs potting on, but I don't really have the room - :eek: Today I've been clearing more of the dreaded bramblewoods that have engulfed the lower part of the garden. They mostly come over from the wilderness that is next door and have given me a couple of years of fantastic blackberries and plenty of jam, but now the mass of dead spiky bits is preventing me from reaching the berries, so out they go very satisfying work, but since I've filled the wheely bin now I'll have to pause for a fortnight. :cool:

zafiro1984

Sorry about your hen HappyGreen

Has anyone had any experience of making wine with their produce? I have some demijohns and thought I'd give it a go. All help and advice gratefully accepted.

Dizzy_Ditzy

zafiro1984 wrote: »

Sorry about your hen HappyGreen

Has anyone had any experience of making wine with their produce? I have some demijohns and thought I'd give it a go. All help and advice gratefully accepted.

I made wine last year from plums and then another lot from blackberries. My thornless blackberries produced way more than I could cope with amd they weren't that nice to eat so it seemed the right way to go :beer:

I went to my local brewing shop and got some yeast, Camden tablets, a brewing bucket and lid and the airlock thingy. There are tons of videos on YouTube that I watched through to give me some idea and away I went :beer::beer:

I've got 12 bottles each doing their thing. They take a while to get to where they need to be but its worth it. I tested it in my family at christmas and they all said that both were really nice

Narc0lepsy

At last the broad beans are sprouting! And the peas. And various beans. The greenhouse is now pretty full; it's a real performance moving stuff out in the morning to get acclimatised then bring it in later.
My cheap Ald1 tomatoes, peppers, petunias and gazenias are doing very well. Not sure about all the raspberry canes, but of course the goji berry bushes are getting bigger..........

unrecordings

It's all going berzerk out there ! Lovage is coming along nicely, French Tarragon and Bergamot has returned, and my last sowing of Pak Choi is coming through. No peas as yet, but i have two kinds of beans in pots waiting to be replanted. Hardneck garlic is looking amazing, onions are looking not so. Sowed Oca tubers in small pots. Pulled out the stalks from the kale bed and composted them - just as I chopped the last one up it occurred to me that peeled and steamed they might be quite edible - maybe next year...

Dizzy_Ditzy

I planted out the first lot of peas yesterday :j Putting up the trellis frames for them to climb up and the fencing around them was the most difficult bit :eek: We used old blackberry canes to make the frames and they look quite good I think One more lot to go in today then the next sowing isn't due to go in for a few weeks yet

Dizzy_Ditzy

A warning for you all about parsnips!

An allotment neighbour yesterday very kindly gave me some parsnips. I brought them home, cut the leaves off and took them down into the compost bin. I then stayed in the garden for about ten minutes.

I came back into the house and washed my hands, and noticed that my right hand was red and irritated.

Turns out that the sap from parsnip leaves is actually quite toxic and reacts with sunlight :eek: :eek:

If I didn't know about this, then there will be others who didn't too, so consider this my public service duty for the day!

Wear gloves when handling parsnip stems :eek: :eek:

Happygreen

queen_of_cheap wrote: »

A warning for you all about parsnips!

An allotment neighbour yesterday very kindly gave me some parsnips. I brought them home, cut the leaves off and took them down into the compost bin. I then stayed in the garden for about ten minutes.

I came back into the house and washed my hands, and noticed that my right hand was red and irritated.

Turns out that the sap from parsnip leaves is actually quite toxic and reacts with sunlight :eek: :eek:

If I didn't know about this, then there will be others who didn't too, so consider this my public service duty for the day!

Wear gloves when handling parsnip stems :eek: :eek:

Thanks for posting this. That's why you are not supposed to eat sprouting seeds from parsnips either, pretty toxic!

WantAnOrange

mamaninie wrote: »

WantanOrange - congrats!!!! get a sling and pop baby on your back - I've done plenty of digging and general allotmenting with a baby on my back. I found them to be an absolute lifesaver both in and outside of the house! :cool:

I am a bit mad for slings! DD1 spent lots of time on my back in an Ergo and atm I am using a wrap sling for DD2. She is very happy in it but cries if I stop walking or bend down so gardening is a bit challenging. It will be nice when she is big enough for the Ergo although I am enjoying the newborn cuddles in the wrap. Fortunately DS is old enough for me to sit in the garden with and give instructions too so he has been a great help.