The ups and downs of growing your own dinner 2016...

Fruittea

Morning Everyone
Overcast here but no rain yet. Hi Determined - I like my courgettes quite small. I don't usually grow the round ones. But it's good to try all sorts. Courgettes are better smaller as the flesh is quite firm then and they are good to eat raw in salads - I've been spiralizing them in salads and pasta. And if you pick them more will grow. Best to pick them when they are just a bit smaller than a tennis ball. Sounds as though you're doing well!
Shame about the slugs Zafiro but at least you know exactly what it is now. Is Nemaslug a monthly treatment? You need to break the circle - they lay eggs every two weeks. So if you need to treat again eventually you'll get rid of them. Down at the lotty I only ever get them on the edge of the plot now. So persistence works.
Good to hear how Queen is doing - sounds as though she's caught up quickly.
I'm thinking of selling my early gooseberries at the gate as I still have some from last year and as I pruned well last year it looks like a bumper crop. Any ideas on the price? My £1 for rhubarb works really well and I sold a rhubarb plant for £3 last week. £7 income so far. Not bad - I like to keep a record (I know I'm a bit obsessive!)

moneyistooshorttomention

Quick google later re gooseberries - and it came up with Sainsb*rys is £2 for 400 grammes.

So = personally my own view would be to charge that amount and figure that people were getting a "bit of a bargain" as mine would be organic/etc/etc and Sainsburys ones wont be.

I think I'd probably go with charging the same for my (organic) produce as a standard supermarket charges for its (non-organic) produce. Then - part of my reasoning is converting everyone possible to being organic and I would want them eating my produce thinking "Oh yes....the organic is so much tastier, etc, etc = therefore I must make it higher priority to buy organic rather than 'chemical' in future".

But then - I've not got to that sort of stage where I'm wondering yet. I've given away the odd few packets of seeds of conventional varieties (as I'm only buying "real" seeds now and not yer hybrid/etc ones unless its something "exotic" that isnt coming in a "real" version yet). I've also given away a few spare plants I've had. So I'm probably going to go down the "give it away" line personally for surplus produce.

Finally got some suitable stones/etc for helping me "even things out" a bit on the style of raised beds I've bought. I've only been waiting for about a fortnight (one way or another - starting with inefficient firm I ordered them from) in order to have those "beds" up and running. Fingers crossed - all will be sorted at last by the end of this week and "production" can start.:)

Been harvesting a decent amount of strawberries and rhubarb - so starting to fill up the fruit drawer in my freezer with some surplus:). Made myself some strawberry chia raw jam:). As well as various strawberries eaten "as is".

Some salad stuff now harvestable at last:).

All part of my "Blow that measly little 5 a Day that used to be the thing - I'm going for 10 a Day". All part of why I think my health and looks are showing signs of "getting back to normal" at last:). My hair is nearer normal thickness again at last and I think I'm even regaining a bit of my lost height (my jeans are looking too short to me). Way-hey - maybe I can start letting down trousers and jeans that I took up as I "shrank":).

Downside is Blimmin' Cat (ie neighbours cat) is 110% defo cr*pping on my garden if it gets the chance:mad:. I spotted more signs of displaced earth yesterday and...lo and behold....there was a little "reminder" of its presence buried just underneath the surface. :mad: and I lobbed it back in the direction it had come from iyswim :cool: and then got onto the Amazon website and threw away around £100 of my darn money:mad::mad::mad: on something I neither "need nor want" myself and I've got one of those "scarecrow" type things that are motion-sensitive and spray water at "intruders" en route to me as we speak.

I've seen scattered earth in several different sections of my garden and I'm not going to be able to "cover" all of it with the "scarecrow" - but I'm hoping that I can leave it in situ in one location for a couple of weeks or so and Blimmin' Cat learns not to go there. Followed by moving it to another location and Blimmin' Cat learns not to go there either and, at some point, I will have covered all bases and Blimmin' Cat has learnt not to come onto my garden. I swear that cat knows to the inch where the boundaries are - as it takes off in a very "fast walk" away from me the second it gets to within millimetres of the boundary if it spots me. It literally walks confidently up to one of my boundaries and then gives me A Look when it gets to about 2" away from one and takes off in a Fast Walk away in the other direction.

zafiro1984

moneyistooshorttomention:- water works very well in deterring cats. we once lived in a house close to the road where the traffic was infrequent but fast. There were no roads anywhere near the back of the house but the cats always wanted to investigate the front. I remember sitting on the front garden wall one day with a washing up liquid bottle filled with water just waiting for one of them to appear. A good squirt soon had them running back. it usually took about three goes per cat because they don't believe you the first time. Better a wet cat than a car squashed cat!!

moneyistooshorttomention

Three goes per cat - I'll remember that one.:T

I've got a suspicion that Blimmin' Cat comes walking across my back garden nightly - judging by just how often my back door security light comes on and I cant see any sign of "activity" outside. So maybe - one week per "location" for the "scarecrow" will do the trick??

I think I shall get a couple of "spray" bottles set up with water in and stashed in my garden ready to "blast" if need be after your comment.:T

Unrelated question - my other plum and apple trees have young fruit on and I should, hopefully, get some okay. But I have one plum tree that has absolutely no fruit on it at all - its a Victoria plum tree. Is this normal? Last year was a year in which I expected the odd few fruits from my trees (courtesy of them being fairly recently planted at that point). I seem to remember a few plums from that tree.

This year is my first "real year" - and I'm duly expecting a reasonable crop from all my fruit trees. Hence - wondering why this Victoria plum tree has absolutely not one single fruit on it. Thoughts?

Kantankrus_Mare

My parents have a plum tree in their garden and some years they have an abundance of plums but this year nothing. They gave it a good pruning so dont know if thats got anything to do with it.

Just been to my allotment to water and lifted one of the garlic. Nothing there.....looks like root is rotting away. Not quite sure what has happened there. Ah well. You win some you lose some.

determined_new_ms

My neighbours have a plum tree. We have been in our house for nearly 4 years now and I have noticed it seems to fruit alternate years

Fruittea

Morning Everyone
Thanks for gooseberry pricing advice Money I looked when I was in the shops but couldn't see any.
Sorry to hear about the on going cat problems. It's all about territory with them. And if it's an 'entire cat' they are even worse. Did the Victoria have any blossom? If may be that's it's just too young. If it's older then it may be that the blossoms froze before they opened give it some bonemeal feed and hope it does better next year.
Shame about the garlic Kantankrus - have they all rotted? If so maybe think about planting it somewhere else next time as you might have a patch that carries rot. You need to plant something different there and destroy all the plants - don't compost them as the bacteria stays in the soil.
Well I should be gardening for someone else this morning - usually I would be enthusiastic but a got a few strings whilst out walking the dogs yesterday and my right arm is so swollen and sore - inspect bites are such a pain.
Have a good day everyone.

zafiro1984

Fruittea wrote: »

Morning Everyone

Well I should be gardening for someone else this morning - usually I would be enthusiastic but a got a few strings whilst out walking the dogs yesterday and my right arm is so swollen and sore - inspect bites are such a pain.
Have a good day everyone.

Fruittea:- Try rubbing the stings with dock leaves, it works best if you can do it quite quickly after being stung, it completely gets rid of the stinging sensation.

Really pleased as this is the first day I've managed to harvest enough vegs for tea. We are having new potatoes, baby carrots, dwarf french beans and baby courgettes - along with the meat. followed by strawberries, I've made some scones, so its HM strawberry jam, made that last week and have already used one complete jar, cream and fresh strawberries. DH is not as enthusiastic, he just like his food to be edible and is not a vegetable fan, I aim to change his mind this year, but it will be hard going.

moneyistooshorttomention

Yep...the tree did have blossom. But I guess there is always the possibility that blossom on some trees is more "tenacious" about staying put on the tree than on others (ie with this being such a windy area).

Will try giving it another darn good "feed".

Apart from that - nowt much to report. "Blimmin' cat" is steadily making more of a nuisance of itself and I'm impatiently awaiting my "scarecrow" deterrent. Just wish I could catch it hanging around in my garden when I've got my hosepipe out....:cool:

Fruittea

Morning Everyone
What a morning! Just listening to all the Brexit stuff - really frightening!
Be prepared to grow more veg - that's all I'll say.
Thanks for the advice about the bite Money but I can be quite allergic about bites - so my whole arm is up. Just have to let it take its toll.
Shopping this week is minimalist only fine beans, mushrooms, avocado and tomatoes so around £8 spend for me. On the saving side of things it's a whopping £20.57 - broadbeans (can't believe how much they are in the shops), potatoes, artichokes, cut salad and an iceburg lettuce, radish, herbs, rhubarb and strawberries. Bringing my total save up to £72.07.
Things that will come on line soon are peas and beans, spinach, cucumber, peppers and chillis and tomatoes and aubergines. That's without the fruit. Looks like a bumper season ahead! How's yours doing Zafiro?