The highs and lows of growing your own dinner 2015

Happygreen

zafiro1984 wrote: »

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

the last few days here in Central Scotland have not been bad :cool:.

I found tiny 4 Kiwis on the 3-year-old plant plant in the tunnel, lol . I'm not sure if they are going to grow a decent size, we will see!

Other than that, all is late - except the weeds!

zafiro1984

Almost the end of the month, soon be Autumn.
Note to myself, as I am just taking a break from a load of business admin.
Waiting for the sweetcorn to ripen.
The wind yesterday blew over all my runner and french beans. I've tried to stand them up again but to no avail.
I must bring in the rest of the onions and finish planting the last bed of leeks.
The main crop potatoes are taking over, really big and no blight.
Peas are a disaster, I shall pull them up and put out some kale in their place.
Finished pricking out all the cauliflowers, sp broccoli, chinese cabbage, kohl rabi, winter lettuce, kale, and cabbage - all for the 'hungry gap'
Tomatoes are not doing well and the cucumbers seem to have also stopped.
Peppers are doing well - shame as we don't eat many of them, I think I'll put them at the gate along with the eggs.
Talking of eggs, just had a new delivery of hens (150) Made my usual enclosure outside their house to give them some security and homing instinct before they are allowed to free range with the others. I needn't have bothered they can fly really well. The downside is getting them out of the trees at roosting time, what is usually a ten minute job to put them to bed has turned into a good hour per night.
Weeds are doing remarkably well on the paths - they look very healthy with all this rain.
Must pick some blackberries making sure I pick above fox and dog height.
Crab apples look almost ready - going to make crab apple and clove jelly and crab apple and cucumber relish.

Now back to the admin

unrecordings

Hmm admin - I've two sets of company accounts I need to get to the accountant soon...

Tomatoes coming thick and fast now. Ailsa Craig is my variety of choice. Christmas Grape doing well. Some San Marzano are coming through okay, but most of these plants have really small fruit generally with blossom end rot. Nimbus (DT Brown trial pack) just coming through. Black Russian (couple of years out of date now) nowhere to be seen. Got a couple of outdoor tomatoes just about to ripen. I'm picking blackberries most days now, we have two relatively tame areas of brambles in the garden. Picked a bag full of white mustard a couple of weeks ago, and now most of the pods have split. I can't think of a more convoluted way of obtaining mustard, but the plants are there so I'm going to try it. Apples slowly disappearing one by one, mainly to squirrels, but I'm hoping we'll get some this year. Cucumbers did seem to tail off a few weeks ago, but one plant has bounced back and there look to be three or four fruits growing. Courgettes have not been good this year considering the number of plants I had in Spring. Quite a few have just rotted on the stem, both indoors and outdoors. I finally pulled my January carrots last week, with the added bonus that the strange weeds growing in between were indeed greek oregano (clearly from seeds from kitchen cuttings thrown on the compost) - i've potted most of these up and i'm looking to establish another oregano bed. That's me. Owls going berzerk outside

Jazee

Still getting lots of courgettes and tomatoes here. Spring onions finished because I didn't do the planting some every few weeks thing. Cucumbers and peppers beginning to show signs of life.

I picked from the sweetcorn earlier, but too early so will leave the other plants. Kale now dug up, we'd eaten some of the earlier leaves but the creepy crawlies had all the others.

I am gradually working my way round the plot checking what's what and am sat here eating some baby carrots - delicious.

Ken68

Winding down here, last of the courgettes, remainder of the runners will go for seed and storing /eating for the winter.
Terrific size outdoor toms, will try to post a picture.
Marrows to check and store soon. Then it will be tater lifting time.
Apples are being dried in the dehydrator. Wish I could grow carrots and onions are usually a disappointment.

tootallulah

In the usual end of the year race here for hundreds of green outdoor toms to ripen before the frosts..........has anyone put their ourdoor tomatoes in the greenhouse for the last few weeks? I was thinkng it might help. My best variety this year is Floridity, not a bumper year but good enough. My runner beans are all so late I am considering pulling them up I have had a few but nowhere near the usual amount. However my flowers have been brilliant this year. And I am already planning what I will grow next year -deep joy.

peaceandfreedom

Just thought I'd join in with my own crops. Not been a fantastic year due to the rain / cold but not bad, considering.

• Have had loads of lovely tomatoes in the greenhouse and more still ripening. The plants themselves are looking a bit ropey and have had a few toms with blossom end rot but most are good. Have Craigella, Rainbow mixed and Matkotska, pleased with them all.
• Courgettes have been prolific, especially the yellow ones. Still producing though the rain lately has rotted a few.
• Runner beans doing beautifully and still cropping. Peas were good but long since ripped up and composted.
• Cucumbers in the greenhouse also doing well. Have harvested lots and they are still fruiting. Have three different types but don't know what they are as I was given them.
• Chilli pepper (just the one bought for 50p in B&Q) is doing its best but I'll be lucky to get half a dozen chillies off it.
• Chucked the aubergines on the compost heap the other day, any flowers they had just rotted.
• Salad crops like spring onions, rocket all doing well.
• Beetroot did well, didn't plant enough of it.
• Raspberries doing OK, not great. Strawberries and rhubarb were good.
• Weeds everywhere are having a field day.
• Sunflowers are the tallest I've ever grown, absolutely sky-high.

I'm in SW England by the way but quite high up so we get a lot of rain and wind. Feel we haven't had a summer at all really .

moneyistooshorttomention

No tomatoes yet for me...keeping my fingers crossed about getting any this year!

There are some green tomatoes on my plants - not that many of which are "respectable" size and some flowers that are yet to turn into tomatoes.

Being in wet and windy West Wales = now not at all sure I will get the fruits of my labours this year..

You know the weather aint wot-you-are-used to when someone says "I've seen the weather forecast and its going to be fine" and you check that same weather forecast and think "16C and cloudy is their definition of fine??????". LOL. I thought that forecast would be 20 something C or more and clear skies after their description...

Jazee

Morning all, just spent half an hour in the greenhouse with the rain lashing down around me, planting some herbs to go on the kitchen windowsill during the winter. All other plans gone due to terrible weather.

Scottish_Mike

I lifted my second and final potimarron squash yesterday. One plant died after producing a tennis-ball sized fruit and the other plant has spread out loads but only produced a single decent sized fruit. I did get 2 more but they were golf-ball sized. When the weather improves I'll get rid of the plant as all the other female flowers are just rotting away.

Got climbing munchkin pumpkins growing up an arch. About 6 have set over 3 plants. Hoping for more, but the way 'summer' is progressing I'm not sure. I think it's more frustrating cuz I've grown all my squashes in 30l tubs to a 100l bin - that's a LOT of compost for a very small return.

My tomatoes and peppers all got scorched earlier in the year, and as a result the tomatoes are only just starting to grow now. Hopefully, hopefully they'll ripen! Peppers are finally starting to develop, but everything's so late.

Herbs have gone alright, but about half my basil has been annihilated by caterpillars! However, keeping the pots off the ground seems to have helped, so should get some nice pesto in a month.

So, it's been... interesting and frustrating this year, mostly due to the amount of things I have grown in pots failing, and feeling that I haven't really saved that much having spent loads on bags of compost. Next year I'm going to keep a proper spreadsheet and tally how much I spend on everything.