The highs and lows of growing your own dinner 2015

unrecordings

Been a quiet week for me, concentrating on my other hobby (electronics) while I wait for things to ripen. Dug up around an eighth of my Red Duke of York potatoes and protected that nice soft inviting barren patch with canes. Coming to the end of the raspberries, there have been plenty to share with the squirrels. Tomatoes not there yet and still struggling with courgettes. I'm watching the cherry plum tree out at the front of the house - they're days away from being ready. GYOD moment today (apart from eating raspberries off the cane) is attempting to recreate my 'famous' lemon chicken with lemon verbena & bergamot instead of lemon (and pork loin instead of chicken) - not sure how it's going to go yet, but noticing the other thread on fennel i'm tempted to really go off piste...

Dizzy_Ditzy

I went back to work this week so haven't had so much time for allotmenting

Everything is doing well except some cabbages which we left for too long, but the chickens deal with those for me :cool:

All my Sunday dinner veg at the mo is homegrown sitting down to the fresh taste that you just can't get in the shops is something else entirely

Already planning for next year :J

zafiro1984

The cabbage white butterfly have managed to find a way into the tunnel, loads of yellow eggs and caterpillars on the kohl rabi, looks like I may loose them.
Apart from that yellow and green courgettes are doing well as are cucumbers toms and chillies, plus a really good crop of red onions that just need a bit more drying before I can rope them, garlic cropped.
Beans, beetroot, carrots, sweetcorn, peas, sweet peppers just starting to come online.
Parsnips, main pots, celeriac, brussels, oca, swede, leeks, looking good.
Lettuces reaching for the sky and as Queen of Cheep says - the chickens will take care of them - plus some currant prunings, chickens are just like 'mini dustbins'
Need to sow more winter stuff (mainly brassicas and fennel) for the tunnel but must be more vigilant about the caterpillars, but it was too hot today so showered 3 rather large horses instead and watched the foals playing.:)

Jazee

Hello all. Hope your growing your own is going well. I'm hoping to get out in the garden today to cut the grass and plant some more seeds, but I have a few days off the paid stuff so can do it later in the week if necessary.

Courgettes are at an in between stage now, have eaten loads but just waiting for some to get a little bigger. I have more tomatoes, cherry and ailsa craig, than I can eat and the cucumbers and peppers are finally starting to do something.

I need to add the chard and kale to soup to use it up. Oh and the sweetcorn appears to be doing something too, has 'hairy' bits.

Ken68

You're Ok for manure then Zaf, chickens and horses.
Pickled all my beetroot, used the slow cooker, easier to clean. Freezing and bottling early plums as they ripen, Pumpkins and marrows and courgettes doing well. Planted too many early taters, hoping they will keep. Runner beans will be a record. Done well this year with netting though bit fiddly, need to organize fixings. It's all go.

unrecordings

My first tomato has officially turned dark orange, another day and i'm eating it. Dug up a third of my remaining Red Duke of York potatoes, replaced them with some celery. My supermarket peas are almost ready for picking

zafiro1984

Ken68 wrote: »

You're Ok for manure then Zaf, chickens and horses.

manure - bain of my life as I have to jump in quick to get some before it is spread back on the land.

Unrecording:- Are those the 'dried' supermarket peas I can remember someone planting, how have they turned out?

This evening sowed, more lettuce, cauliflowers, sp broccoli, cabbage, kale, beetroot, kohl rabi. Determined to keep those white butterflies away this time.
I've come across some plain green caterpillars on the kohl rabi (as well as the cabbage white ones) they are fatter and larger and quite hard to spot - any ideas what butterfly lays them?

Zaf

unrecordings

Yup - dried 'supermarket' peas was me. They turned out great, they're just coming to maturity this week. Low growing, say 18-24", vigorous with short pods. I'm definitely trying this again next year en masse I used Leo's peas (rather than Batchelor's), and makes a nice contrast to the Blauwschokers I usually grow

In other news, got two runner beans and one french bean (they all went in a risotto with peas, courgette, lovage etc) . Picked three tomatoes, the one I was watching wasn't quite ready but still gorgeous, and...

...first two blackberries today !

Happygreen

As I was late with almost everything the round courgettes are coming up quite forcefully only now. Can't wait for the first harvest! Today I picked my first little tomatoes - and ate them there and then, lol- so nice!

Those living salads from Lidl kept going forever - planted in October! - the last one is only now about to bolt! I'll definitely do that again this coming winter.
Broad bean jungle is looking good - I'll pick one soon to see if they are ready to be turned into the loveliest Hummus.

The first bed of potatoes has been harvested just in time for the blight to move down. Leeks planted in the vacant bed.

zafiro1984

I thought it was supposed to be Summer - blue skies and sunshine, not rain, muggy and soggy with the weeds outgrowing the veggies:(