The all new 2019 growing your own thread!

unrecordings

Got my blightwatch email this morning at 6am - looks like they're issued when a full hutton period starts (you'll get the gist if you log in and look at the charts)

euronorris

I've had a fair few emails from the blight watch, though must admit I haven't logged in at all to look at the charts. I did try yesterday, but realised I can't remember my password! lol


So far, my tomato plants are showing no signs of blight (luckily). We've had a lot of wet and humid weather here. We were originally in the weather warning area for sat/sun, then it got pushed back, then our warning was removed altogether and then they even said we'd only get light rain. Well, the heavens opened at about 5.45am! Hasn't stopped raining since. lol Had a quick check on the garden, and all the plants seem fine, so can't have been any hail (luckily).


K Mare - glad everything is growing well for you. Our Courgette plants haven't yet produced any fruit. One is in the process, and the other looks like it's trying, but not much happening with it yet.

CAFCGirl

Everything had just about survived being left up the plot in pots.
Nasturtiums were a bit crispy in parts and yellowing, but I've plunked them in and gave them a jolly good watering.
What I think were three cucumbers have gone in where I pulled out the decimated broad beans from.
Two squashes in amongst the sweetcorn.

Weeded 2 beds, salsify seems to be doing ok in one. The previous broad bean bed has the cucumbers to the side as I have an archway going between two beds, and the other side now has either leeks or spring onions.

Have some of the overgrown nonsense a chop down, so it's not quite head height, and some brambles that were pushing on my fence line.
Lined one pathway too with thick newspaper to suppress the weeds there.
Was plenty of wood chip available but by that point, the muggy weather had won and i went off home.
Picked 8 strawberries and subsequently forgot them LOL

Thank Mother Nature for the rains overnight, still warm here but air feels fresher at least!

euronorris

The homegrown beetroot is cooked, peeled, sliced, canned pickled and 'hot washed'. Now cooling on the side. Just heard the 'pop'! Excited to taste it!

wishuponastar

euronorris - that's good you have flowers on your tomato plants. I did some last year and time to fruit depends on size of tomato I found. Cherry ones came and ripened a lot sooner and the big boy ones / moneymakers seem to take forever but maybe that's because I was waiting. Not sure exact timings but I think maybe 1 month from flower for cherry varieties and maybe 2 for bigger ones. Mine weren't in a greenhouse though. Just remember to tap the stem beside the flowers to fertilise them or get an electric toothbrush on them :-)


I planted some lettuce this year and I've been enjoying those, it was iceberg 659 variety and I've got 4 pots that are full size and I've been cutting from the outside each time and letting more grow. I've been trying to discourage the ball from forming. Then I've got 3 pots that are still young, should be full size in about a month or so.


I was late starting my tomatoes this year so mine are small plants with no signs of flowers yet. Hopefully they'll grow quick as I'm missing home grown tomatoes.

wishuponastar

euronorris wrote: »

The homegrown beetroot is cooked, peeled, sliced, canned pickled and 'hot washed'. Now cooling on the side. Just heard the 'pop'! Excited to taste it!

Sounds tasty, I'd be interested to know how you do the canning, pickling and what is hot washing?


I tried canning some pesto I made and I heated the jars etc in boiling water and the pesto was hot hot and they popped when cooled (such a good noise) but then they unpopped a few weeks later (not such a good noise). I put them in the fridge and they popped back in (weird huh).


How do you do it?

euronorris

wishuponastar wrote: »

Sounds tasty, I'd be interested to know how you do the canning, pickling and what is hot washing?


I tried canning some pesto I made and I heated the jars etc in boiling water and the pesto was hot hot and they popped when cooled (such a good noise) but then they unpopped a few weeks later (not such a good noise). I put them in the fridge and they popped back in (weird huh).


How do you do it?

I just did as you described. I might have used the wrong term. Think its referred to as water bathing. I put can in pan with hot water, lid on pan and boiled for 25 minutes. I used a guide from the US I found, seeing as they can things a LOT more than us brits do and they even get government issued advice on best practice. I'll see if I can find the link to the pdf later. After that, I just lifted out onto a tea towel to cool and the pop happened in minutes.

Not sure why yours unpopped? Maybe it needed to be water bathed for longer? Different things have different recommended times, and it changes depending on altitude also, and the acidity of the food. They recommend that low acidity foods are pressure canned, but finding a cheap pressure canner is not as easy in the UK. I concluded it wasnt worth it for me, and freezing excess vegetables would be a better solution (as I'm unlikely to have huge amounts).

The process before water bathing was just boil the beets for about 30 minutes in water, lift out, cool, peel skins off, top and tail, slice, place into jars, pour pickling vinegar and salt mixture into jar using funnel, screw lid on loosely and 'process' by water bathing.

unrecordings

I'm rubbish at the whole bottling canning thing, I think in the UK we've developed more of a dependence on the freezer - maybe that's down to the post war development of the national grid (and Bejam). When Mrs Un was on holiday once I made some fantastic spicy tomato relish, all homegrown. Although when she returned I had to declare it not quite vegan, due to the Battle Royale that broke out in the kitchen when some wasps managed to get in. Oh yes, then there was the time I made piccalilli (tumeric powder is still banned here)

Suffolk_lass

American canning is the same as bottling in the UK - I have a book on bottling and preserving that I bought when my train was delayed back in the 1980s - it was on a table at the front of WHS (I digress) - it remains my go-to for preserving things. I have been bottling, pickling and making preserves my whole life.

The pressure canning you refer to can be achieved with a domestic pressure cooker which typically achieves 10-15lbs of pressure but it isn't needed for most people as you typically try to use up the produce within 1-2 years. The important principle to remember is that pickling vinegar will over time cause metal to degrade, so when I pickle beets or onions I do so in a jar that had pickle in or one of my Kilner or Mason clip top jars with a rubber seal - I also discard the pickle jar top after one use (the rubber seal on clip tops). The vinegar will preserve these with no additional processing. Fruit does need additional processing to the medium you store it in (normally sugar syrup domestically) - you can do this in an oven or on a rack in a pan of simmering water. It does effectively cook the fruit however, so things like raspberries are better frozen imho

unrecordings

While we're on the subject, it's that time of year to wheel out the following recommendation:

"Home Preservation Of Fruit & Vegetables" by the AFRC Institute Of Food Research - published by the HMSO since 1929 - mine is a 1990's edition