The great, good and not so good bits about growing your own dinner 2017

CAFCGirl

I finally have a tomato thats turning red!

Noticed a couple of chillies have turned too

unrecordings

Any day now for my tomatoes. The first ones tend to have blossom end rot, then the proper tomatoes rip. I've got some interesting shapes developing too

zafiro1984

Bought 3 pots of leek seedlings from the garden centre. I had a quick look and thought there would be about 50 in a pot. The first pot had 84 seedlings and I haven't finished planting that one out yet. I should have enough for this winter providing it is a warm autumn and they grow on well.

Tomatoes have got a bit out of hand and are sprawling all over the place. In fact the whole plot looks a mess. I'm not quite sure what has happened to my fennel seedlings, one minute they were there, the next minute gone - I suspect slugs.

If I've time tomorrow I need to dig up the onions, I'm not sure how many decent ones there will be as quite a few have bolted, hopefully there will be enough to take me through the winter.
The cucumbers have slowed down, but I had one for lunch - diced and a couple of spoonfuls of mint jelly added. It felt very summery, clean and fresh, just a pity the weather wasn't as good.

I need to take stock and get a planting plan for the autumn so I have things growing over the winter. There are only two of us most days so it should be possible to be practically self sufficient. .

My other aim although it's not really part of this thread is to be self sufficient in fuel for the woodburner so I'm busy collecting wood and putting it under cover to dry out. We've just taken out about a KM of post and rail fencing that was falling down so I've plenty to go at. My DH is even letting me use his radial arm saw to cut it into smaller lengths. It probably is in his interest to let me use it because he would have to saw it if not, although he did draw a line at me borrowing his chain-saw.

Fruittea

Morning Everyone
I had a good time down at the allotment yesterday. Brought back plenty of produce. I'll be pickling gherkins later as I seem to have a bit of a glut but not too much of a problem.

Veggie lasange, roast potatoes, purple sprouting broccoli and french beans for dinner last. Toms on toast this morning. All from the plot. Tonnes of raspberries still coming and the fruit fridge is just about rammed now. And it's apple juice time as there are loads of sweet apples.

Brought home all the potatoes - I don't think the crop was as big as I usually get but it's now all a bit blighty to leave them in.

Zafiro -I tidied up the greenhouse floor and checked the melons which I also have sprawling rather than tied up and there are five all fairly large and on the second plant lots of new ones coming. Shame about your fennel - I didn't do any this year and I miss them.

So pretty much self sufficient here- it's a great feeling.I probably won't make it right through the winter but that's the aim. I also have £52 in the money box from sold produce! Plenty to fund next years stock.

Happy growing Everyone.

unrecordings

Nothing to report here apart from it was about time to separate my evil tomato from its brethren



Does anyone else have tomatoes that do this - these are Ailsa Craig ?
I usually get a couple of really strange ones, a bit of blossom end rot then my plants tend to settle down to producing proper edible tomatoes (the first pick of those is possibly tomorrow).

Fruittea

Hi Everyone
Still munching on produce here in Gloucestershire.
Unrecordiings your tomatoes are suffering manly because of the weather. Here's why:

The cooler weather interferes with pollination and causes the blossom to stick to developing fruit. ... Too much water after a dry spell can cause the skin to split (known as cracking), also leaving you with deformed tomato fruit. Eat any split tomatoes right away so they don't rot or get infested with insects.

That said I think it's quite nice to get the odd shapes once in a while.

I've started to harvest some of the squashes as they seem to be ripe and I don't want them to get too big. They're looking bright and cheery and I'll be doing my second lot of tomato sauce this pm and the crop is quite productive. The chillis are also doing very well this year - I'm drying them on strings at the mo and I already have enough for me. So I'll give a couple of plants away to neighbours. Jobs for me include sowing some more salad and things are getting a bit tired in the salad bar and also potting up some of the strawberry runners for new plants next year.

Happy growing.

unrecordings

Fruittea wrote: »

The cooler weather interferes with pollination and causes the blossom to stick to developing fruit. ...

Ah now that makes sense. So in theory I could mitigate this by gently brushing the blossom from developing fruit... ...if I wanted to get that involved

CAFCGirl

Any advice/how to on saving seeds from chillies? Best way to dry them out/store them?
The two plants I had have been prolific and I wouldn't mind a repeat of the same next year

Fruittea

Good morning
A nice bright day here in Gloucestershire.
Not sure about the brushing Unrecordings but watch the watering and don't over water.
Did you know you can over winter chilli plants CAFC they look a bit ugly as you have to cut them right back and keep them on the window sill but you'll get a flush of chillis really early. I dry my seeds on a saucer -just leave them there until they are completely dry. Then put them in an envelope and in a tin. They always seem to work for me. Sow them in February with some heat.
I grew Gusto this year and can recommend them -very prolific I started with six plants and have given 2 away and still have plenty.They are purple and quite hot.

Need to do a bit of home gardening today and just pop to the greenhouse allotment to water and check the melons. Might try to take a photo.
All the best.

Fruittea

Sorry me trying to upload photo