The all new 2019 growing your own thread!

PipneyJane

Primrose wrote: »

If I grow mangetout we obviously eat the pods as well but when I've grown normal peas I save the pods and cook them down with a little butter and chicken stock to make soup. Somehow they seem too good to waste on the compost heap.

Excellent idea. Did you puree the soup?

The simplest soup I know involves a bag of frozen peas and a litre of good chicken stock. Heat the stock, add the peas and cook for 5 minutes then puree. Almost instant dinner.

- Pip

zafiro1984

Primrose:- great idea about the pea pods. I usually only grow mangetout but I have a packet of Terrain peas which I may try.

This year for the first time I've grown purple mangetout and purple dwarf beans. They're so easy to see against the green leaves and the flavour is quite good as well.

Something is eating my kohl rabi. I have a suspicion it is mice/squirrels/rats. It's interesting what gets left alone. Nothing eats my fennel, celery beetroot, lettuce, carrots, or dwarf beans. In fact there are loads of things that are left alone so I don't know why I get so annoyed at the few things that don't make it to the kitchen.

Just watered and watered and watered today.

unrecordings

Interesting news item on the (harmless) spittlebug aka cuckoo spit:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-48762200?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/england&link_location=live-reporting-story

In other news, watering here too - hoping to stake my greenhouse courgettes this morning before the sun takes over - still a day away from something useable I think, which is handy because Friday night is fish & chips night.

euronorris

Watered here also this morning. Will do again in the evening as predicting highs of 28 today!


Thanks for the info on the pressure canning! Good to know


Peas should be ready to pick on Saturday (at least some of them). Our solitary strawberry mostly ripened yesterday, so I'll pick that tonight lol


I picked up a small basil plant for 48p in Lidl yesterday and am going to put in my herb planter. I'm going to whip the parsley out as it grows like mad, but actually, we don't eat it very much. But we do use basil a LOT in cooking, so making a switcharoo.


Still no fruit to see on the tomato plants, but no flower drop either, so I guess I'm just being impatient. I don't know. At the very least, a few of the suckers I pruned at the weekend, and transplanted have taken and MUST have rooted as they are looking perky again, and there is new growth on them. So will take the healthiest looking specimen to MIL tomorrow so she can hopefully benefit from it.


And, don't know about anyone else, but I am very much suffering with the pollen and hayfever at the moment. A tablet a day is usually enough for me, but I have had to get a nasal spray and eye drops also as I an itchy, sneezy mess!

unrecordings

Very high pollen count apparently at the moment, I've been on Cetirizine for the last three years as part of my chemo regime - which has pretty much made me immune to the pollen, but even that didn't prevent a few spiky/stingy sniffles last weekend.

euronorris

Yes, definitely very high. I walked to and from the office yesterday so that DH could have the car to take DD to build a bear (we got a ticket in the pay your age sweepstakes). Those walks have made it 10 times worse. Back to the car today, so hopefully that will help lessen my exposure a little.

Pablosmummy

Morning everyone, pollen is high here, my husband's been saying he's got a cold for the last few days but I'm pretty sure it's hayfever.
Not much to do today, ended up sowing the next round of Pak choi and lettuce yesterday (I will get this successional planting thing one day!) Need to check the tomatoes for side shoots and actually it's quite windy here so I'll check everything it's tied up. Tomorrow I need to go and get some of the long bamboo canes for my blauhildes (which all germinated super quickly hurrah!) And my sunflowers.
Ooh also just noticed my Corno di torro Rossi (I think that's right..) having teeny peppers on them! The plants have been too small before now and the few flowers that did open just fell off but it's looking like the plants are big enough now woooo.
Also the pumpkins which I thought were dead are now growing rapidly so I need to build some kind of trellis for them but that might have to wait until I've bought some more poles, I'll see what I can find, it might not be pretty but in a few weeks it will.just be pumpkin leaves anyway so what does it.matter.
Essay over, I should start my jobs.

euronorris

Haha, sounds like my dad pablosmummy! He has a summer long 'cold' every year. Refuses to listen to any suggestion that it's actually hayfever. hahaha


I read up more on growing courgettes. The first flower that opened earlier this week was a female one. Sadly, no male ones were open to pollinate it. Still no make ones open, and another female one opened today! Arghh!! Not much I can do though, just gotta wait it out. No flowers at all have opened on the 2nd courgette plant yet, so couldn't even intervene. Oh well.

Suffolk_lass

unrecordings wrote: »

I've probably still got some Suttons Monards seeds if you're interested - maybe out of date, but PM if you want to give them a try and I'll go delve in the tin and check the details - I can pop a handful in the post (as a gift)

Thank you - that is really kind of you. I will try 2 more places before I say yes. To be honest I need to look at really digging out some of the pesky weeds when we dig out some of the perennials to divide them this autumn (gargantuan task for October I think) -

DH thinks we should dig out whole beds :eek: and he is probably right but that is massive-smassive . I prefer to keep stuffing in new plants to out-compete but I win some lose some. I think he is looking to finally get some control whereas I accept there is no final destination on this particular journey.

I spent yesterday in the worst bed for cleavers and there were lots on the ground when I was done (before the job was complete)

baggins11

Morning All,

Bad news from me I have discovered blight in the corner of my plastic greenhouse. I think its the combination of really bad ventilation in there and me putting too many plants in. I can see one plant that has it all over and a few that look like they are in the early signs of damage. Last night I took a few plants out at the other end of the greenhouse and dotted them around outside in the hope that some will be saved. I don't know if that was the right thing to do.

All the others in the greenhouse I was going to sacrifice as they are close to the infected plant. What is the best way to go about it? I don't know if I should bag them up now and potentially get blight spores circulating around the place or just keep the greenhouse closed and let them die off in there and only go and sort it out at the end of summer. What would you all advise?

I am hoping my glass greenhouse will be spared as it is a distance away and well ventilated. The only thing is i do tend to go to one from the other so I hope I haven't passed it on.

In other news yesterday I nearly killed myself on my tractor! We have a low hanging oak branch that hits the roller bar on the tractor and when I cut the grass under the tractor the branch sways. I have done this loads of times without any problem.

I obviously yesterday hit the branch at the wrong angle and it fell off on top of the tractor! I have a big bump at the back of my head and a few cuts and bruises but its a miracle I walked away. I had to literally climb out of the branch and then saw the branch into smaller pieces as it was far too heavy to move.

It was a branch that I was intending to put a rope swing on so I will have to go back to the drawing board with regards to the rope swing.

I hope everyone keeps cool today and happy (and safe) gardening.