The all new 2019 growing your own thread!

Suffolk_lass

Kantankrus_Mare wrote: »

I have an elderberry tree opposite my plot which is just beginning to get the elderflowers on. Every year I intend making some elderflower fizz and have even got as far as picking some one year. Thats as far as it got. :rotfl: Has anyone made any? Got a recipe?

I make the Mary Berry elderflower cordial recipe here is the link - to convert this to elderflower fizz I suggest you add more water and sugar - another 500g/ml and add a couple of tablespoons of white wine vinegar. Also do not add the campden tablets until you bottle the wine.

Instead of only leaving it overnight, stir it every day for 4-5 days and if it is not showing signs of fermentation (bubbles) by day 3 add a pinch of champagne yeast (a beer-making shop or amazing sell these). If you are doing it for early consumption don't add campden as they will stop the fermentation.

Make sure the bottles are sterile or you might be making vinegar - screw-top wine bottles are good - wash them thoroughly then put in a cold oven and heat it to 90c for ten minutes - more reliable than baby-bottle sterilising stuff.

dancing_star

Courgette chutney:
1.5kg/ 3lb courgettes - skins on & shredded/finely chopped
500g / 1 lb 2 oz onions chopped

1 deseeded, chopped green pepper
1 deeseeded chopped red pepper

5 tbsp salt
625ml / 1 pint cider vinegar
1kg / 2lb golden caster sugar
1tbsp grated nutmeg
1tbsp dry mustard
1tbsp turmeric
1tbsp cornflour (prob need more in my experience)
pinch cayenne pepper


put courgettes & onions in large non metallic bowl, sprinkle with salt, stand overnight. Next day drain & rinse in fine colander, drain again.


Put courgette, onion, pepper, sugar and nearly all vinegar in pan. In bowl mix dry ingredients with remaining vinegar to smooth paste. Add to pan. Bring all to boil, stirring, then reduce heat & simmer, stirring occasionally, until thick consistency, 35-40 mins.



Prepare jars, cover while hot.

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I think mine wouldn't thicken, so towards the end I took out about a ladleful of liquid, mixed it with more cornflour til smooth, and chucked that back in. Eventually it did thicken, honest!

Kantankrus_Mare

Thanks all for recipes!! :beer: Cant wait for things to start producing now. Well my day at allotment didnt materialise. Got called into work for a few hours as two members of staff had called in sick. Never mind......just popped and watered greenhouses and Im sure sunflowers will keep for tomorrow.

Does anyone know how you can save a particular post so you dont have to go trawling all through thread when you need it?

Not sure if you can even do that.?

unrecordings

Kantankrus_Mare wrote: »

Does anyone know how you can save a particular post so you dont have to go trawling all through thread when you need it?

Not sure if you can even do that.?

I think you could go to the user control panel, subscribe to this thread then set up email notifications - but there's probably a more elegant way of doing it

In other news only got one courgette potted up today in a growbag, but on the plus side - noticed some tomatoes starting to develop

Pablosmummy

No gardening done today apart from training my runner beans up the poles again ( wind) and tying my sunflowers upright. I did pick my first strawberry, me and OH had half each and it was amazing. Only one other strawberry looks near ready, the rest are still small so no idea why those two were so ahead of the rest! Makes me want to fast forward a few weeks so I can get more.
Ooh also found some actual raspberry shaped raspberries growing on the stumps of last year's canes, didn't really plan for that but the new canes are growing fine so bonus raspberries for me hurray! Ooh also the patio dwarf raspberry plant I bought which I didn't think would come to much is covered in raspberries and flowers so I'm really impressed with that!
I'm jealous of all this courgette talk, I decided against planting some this year due to space issues but I'm already regretting it sigh

Suffolk_lass

Kantankrus_Mare wrote: »

Does anyone know how you can save a particular post so you dont have to go trawling all through thread when you need it?

Not sure if you can even do that.?

I don't know if there is a better way but I make a note of the post number and the page number except if it is something like a recipe where I just copy and paste the text into another application

Suffolk_lass

I finally completed weeding the world's most densely weedy bed yesterday. I think I will put the sweetcorn in there. The bed I was going to use is not in a state to use it.

In pests and diseases news I found a number of Rosemary beetles in the soil - not happy - they have decimated my Rosemary hedge and I have now found a couple on the Russian Sage. Let us just say they were summarily dealt with, but not with a spray as too many valuable pollinating insects are active at the moment.

Jazee

Kantankrus_Mare wrote: »

Thanks all for recipes!! :beer: Cant wait for things to start producing now. Well my day at allotment didnt materialise. Got called into work for a few hours as two members of staff had called in sick. Never mind......just popped and watered greenhouses and Im sure sunflowers will keep for tomorrow.

Does anyone know how you can save a particular post so you dont have to go trawling all through thread when you need it?

Not sure if you can even do that.?

I go to search this thread at the top and put in a keyword, either the person I know did the post, or the subject matter.

Had my first strawberry today. In other news weeds are still winning.

vintageteainmywardrobe

Morning all,

Are you ok if I join in? Sadly no allotment anymore but I have some containers growing a multitude of items , not as much as I want but enough to keep the must grow everything away. I'm also hoping to forage a wee bit this year

I planted some beetroot seeds yesterday in the hopes of making pickled beetroot for over winter and tied down my peas which a coming up great. It's also the first year my pear tree has fruited (you will not believe how excited I am by that) so any recipes to get the most out of them would be great. I was thinking of doing maybe pear jam and pear chutney.......but I only have 35 fruits :rotfl: that's if they all keep growing.

It's also the last year the one and only pick your own place is staying open so I'm making a million strawberry jams, chutneys, in syrup and sauces. So if anyone has anything they think I should add to the list that would be amazing as sadly I don't think I will be able to get them anymore . They also have raspberries, gooseberry, currents and some other ones but I'll mainly be focusing on the strawberries and gooseberry's as I'll never grow as much as I could eat/preserve due to space.

Anyway I think I've written enough to bore the socks of someone so I'm going to go back to the start of the tread and have a good read

euronorris

The first of the pea flowers have turned into pea pods already! Exciting! We have flowers just emerging on a few of our tomatoes also.


How do I know when carrots are ready to pick? Just by the general size of the tops of the heads? Similar question for beetroot.


Lettuce and swiss chard going mental. Same for all of the herbs. We are picking most days from them, and had a lovely roast chicken yesterday with fresh herbs on them!


I have two plants that I can't remember exactly what they are. Either they are both courgettes, both cucumbers, or one of each! ahaha I lost the labels.


Strawberries seem to have recovered well. Spring onions are plumping up now. Purple brussel sprout plant has taken off!


It's all coming on leaps and bounds at the moment. It's lovely!


Does anyone know how I can post photos in here? I used photobox last time, but it is littered with ads and was a painful process to use!


TIA xx