The highs and lows of growing your own dinner 2015

unrecordings

My purple sprouting broccoli is finally sprouting hurray! Sowed spring onions, radishes, and filled the cold frame with sowings of turnips, kale and leeks.

GYOD Moments - last pickled gherkins with a burger yesterday, kale tops today with toad in the hole

Narc0lepsy

Lots of things sprouting today.
Still the freezer seems to be a bottomless pit of last year's fruit - mustn't complain, but 2 freezers desperately need defrosting before any harvest this year. This eve we had whitecurrants with chocolate sponge, yum.

zafiro1984

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 the advice much appreciated, I want to grow quite a lot this year - I understand they make good wine.

lisa110rry

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.

Zafiro, it's much easier and more reliable to use the fruit to flavour gin or vodka. Each year I make plum vodka, apple schnapps, sloe gin and vanilla schnapps (aka vanilla essence).

Dizzy_Ditzy

I got my first egg today :j :j

Happygreen

queen_of_cheap wrote: »

I got my first egg today :j :j

Congratulations are in order! :T:T

zafiro1984

queen of cheap:- congrats are in order but this can become addictive, I know, I have the addiction big time.

Lovely day spent a couple of hours on the plot this afternoon.
Planted out the garlic that was in modules, sowed some rondo peas, and I've only just sown the tomato and pepper seeds, I just hope they catch up, the leeks and shallots are just showing. Also, I'm trying to sort out the strawberry bed, I know I'm late but it's such a mess and I hadn't the heart to tackle it earlier.

Apparently, it's going to be even warmer tomorrow. I may get up extra early as I love the early mornings in the summer just when it starts to warm up for the day.

Happygreen

No heatwave here...I managed to get the first potato bed planted and a bit of weeding done today! First courgette is peeking out - I hope it will not encounter one of the killer slugs...

tootallulah

Hardening off the peas, beans, sweet peas, cornflowers and some other things I can't remember. Hopefully I can get them all in the last wee4ek in April, chancy but doable. Everything is so dry it hasn't rained for about ten days, I am getting out there early today whilst the weather is warm.

Dizzy_Ditzy

Tis a busy old time at the allotments at the mo! Maincroppers have gone in at chickenville and are due sometime soon to go in at the other one.

Had an egg every day this week from my layer :j biggest has been 37g, which was today. Three of the others are due to start laying in the next week or so too :j

And what a gorgeous week we've had weather wise