The highs and lows of growing your own dinner 2015

Jazee

Morning all. Very wet here today so indoor jobs I think. Got most of the weeding done last week, thankfully cut the grass last night. I didn't plant any potatoes this year but some came up that I'd obviously missed last year. I left them and last week harvested loads. They're actually better than last year and I was feeling really smug when I sent DD home with potatoes, courgettes, chard, tomatoes - well you get the idea.

Cucumbers still rubbish, peppers too I don't think will come to anything.

Last night for tea we had seabass with braised courgettes, and the courgettes, garlic and basil were all from the garden.

zafiro1984

Ramblings

I'm going to forget about the summer crops this year as they were either low yield or non existent and plan ahead. The seed catalogues are starting to arrive

My main aim is not to grow too much of anything but to grow loads of different things and to be able to go and pick vegetables for tea on a daily basis.

I have just deleted my 'What I am doing at the moment' ramblings as it was unbelievably boring. Just one thing - has anybody heard of 'Yucon' or know where to get the tubers. it is supposed to give a fantastic crop with no disease problems and good for dieters. I fancy trying it.

My last aim is to stay within my £250 budget - so far £10 spent on 20 x 50p reduced end of season seed packets, I checked the dates to make sure all were ok.

Jazee

Just reporting in to say the cucumber plants are dead, but we'll be eating more tomatoes tonight. Oh and I have some tiny peppers growing, finally.

Kantankrus_Mare

My year at the allotment hasnt been brilliant. Had the usual glut of strawberries and a really god crop of onions
Tomatoes just ripening and a few peppers coming along.

Things are about to change though. About 6 weeks ago I found a cat and four kittens residing in my shed and my sister in law has taken to going down regularly to feed them. Think seeing my plot has given her an interest in growing stuff and she said she would like to help me. My dad who has recently retired and had an allotment hisself in the seventies has also decided he would like to get involved but he said we should move plots as mine is quite a long way from the entrance and getting stuff there in the car is impossible.

We have picked a plot which we can start work on, on the 1st Oct.
It is nearer to the entrance of allotment and will be much easier to access.

I have mixed feelings as I have been on my plot for 7/8 years and spent many happy hours there on my own. I do think the new plot will be better though and husband and dad and brother say we will move anything that is usable from my old allotment to the new one which is at the moment totally overgrown with a huge apple tree in the corner.

I realise it was nigh on impossible to do everything on my own and the help will be very welcome so a little excited about new beginnings.

Will try and post pics as things take shape.

Have just come back from Corfu and we had some delicious courgette fritters so guess what Ill be making next year?

moneyistooshorttomention

Envy at the thought of those courgettes. I planted 3 courgette plants from a friend this year and what have I got from them? Precisely one courgette between the lot of them:(. Blowed if I know how that happened...

On another tack - and more proof "We wuz right" re doing things naturally. Bit of a long article - but useful read:

http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2985458/monsanto_knew_all_along_search_studies_reveal_the_truth_of_roundup_toxicity.html

Ken68

Have too many green toms , have moved some to greenhouse, they took well. Those that fell off are in a drawer with a banana.
Celeriac not big, tops might be useful.

peaceandfreedom

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Envy at the thought of those courgettes. I planted 3 courgette plants from a friend this year and what have I got from them? Precisely one courgette between the lot of them:(. Blowed if I know how that happened...

It's a strange thing this year - some people reporting a bad courgette crop, others having a prolific crop - luckily for me, I am in the latter category. Even at this late stage, the courgettes are still producing, though not growing so big now.

Tomatoes are still doing well in the greenhouse, hardly any green ones, debating whether to bother trying to do a green-tomato chutney this year.

Kantankrus_Mare

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Envy at the thought of those courgettes. I planted 3 courgette plants from a friend this year and what have I got from them? Precisely one courgette between the lot of them:(. Blowed if I know how that happened...

On another tack - and more proof "We wuz right" re doing things naturally. Bit of a long article - but useful read:

http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2985458/monsanto_knew_all_along_search_studies_reveal_the_truth_of_roundup_toxicity.html

Think it has generally been a bad year for courgettes. I usually have no problem with them and have more than I can handle but this year zilch!! Only two of my plants survived from my seedlings and not one courgette grew. Never mind. Always next year.

gsdloopy

zafiro1984 wrote: »

... Just one thing - has anybody heard of 'Yucon' or know where to get the tubers. it is supposed to give a fantastic crop with no disease problems and good for dieters. I fancy trying it.

...

I think you mean Yacon? If so, I've planted it for the first time this year. The plant hasn't gotten very big but I haven't had a good year this year with most things; partly due to the weather and partly due to me. I haven't dug up the yacon yet so can't say what the crop is like though I can't wait to see.

I bought it from real seeds. It wasn't cheap but can't remember how much I paid for it now. They have a list they put you and will contact you when it's available.

Happygreen

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Envy at the thought of those courgettes. I planted 3 courgette plants from a friend this year and what have I got from them? Precisely one courgette between the lot of them:(. Blowed if I know how that happened...

On another tack - and more proof "We wuz right" re doing things naturally. Bit of a long article - but useful read:

http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2985458/monsanto_knew_all_along_search_studies_reveal_the_truth_of_roundup_toxicity.html

Poor weather is what happened here to my courgettes and cucumbers even in the polytunnel! Too cold, too cloudy. Waste of time and space....The tomatoes were good, due to better ventilation I had no rot . Ken68, I made green tomato mincemeat one year and it was lovely. Had a better texture than apples!
Potatoes were surprisingly good, I managed to dig up 7 kilos before the blight got to the tubers. I did not expect that :rotfl:. Lettuces kept me going all the way through except one batch of seedlings didn't germinate. It's time soon to buy the living salads tray for spring harvest, that did surprisingly well last time. We had a nice crop of fruit - there's always something that does well, it's never all bad! Apples and pears are still waiting to be picked, nothing better than apples straight from the tree