2023 - the good, the not so good but hopefully not ugly of growing your own!

Glittering_M

Suffolk_lass said: 

Do you make anything with what you grow? I preserve tomatoes by making my own passata (over 50 jars last year) 

Hope you are all feeling better.

Can I please ask how you make and also how you store the passata?

sammy_kaye18

@carinjo
I am hoping to find a rhubarb crown this year after my husband killed my last one off. But my MIL has wild rhubarb growing in her garden that has been there for years upon years and it gives a good harvest when she pulls them so Im thinking I will go down the soft fruit root - like blueberries / strawberries etc and hopefully find a small apple tree so then we can trade off desserts with each other :-) 

i will definitely look into pototos a bit more too. Im thinking a smaller salad potato - an early one will be good for us for the summer salads that we tend to eat and maybe a later harvesting one that provides bigger potatoes for the winter months. I am looking to use a bed for them and some grow bags so I can keep them seperate rather than confusing them. 
Also reading up on onion sets :-) 

Fosterdog

I've had my seed potatoes and onion sets delivered, I've cut down on potato varieties this year and have just one variety of first earlies and two varieties of maincrop, and I will stagger the planting to get a longer harvest period.

I'm at the stage that I'm eager to get started but with more snow forecast in the next few weeks and all signs pointing to later frost dates and another hot summer I'm forcing myself to hold off a little longer. Next dry and non frozen day I have off work I need to clear the winter coverings from the beds and add any amendments needed, I need to do a pot audit because each year more and more seem to disappear. I have an area that so far I've used for containers but I'm thinking of making at least one, maybe two in ground beds in but that means finding somewhere else for my containers and dog proofing the area. I also need to get the winter tree wash done. I only have four types of seeds I need to buy this year after low/no germination from my existing ones last year so a garden centre visit is in order very soon. I also have a load of twigs and small branches built up that I need to run through the chipper ready for mulching and a couple of wild ish areas that need cutting back to expand my growing area.

Suffolk_lass

Glittering_M said:

Suffolk_lass said: 

Do you make anything with what you grow? I preserve tomatoes by making my own passata (over 50 jars last year) 

Hope you are all feeling better.

Can I please ask how you make and also how you store the passata?

@Glittering_M I started off by watching this hilarious but informative YouTube video with Gina - and although she is quite hard to understand until you get used to her accent, her method is excellent. She is in USA and so she grows their field-grown tomatoes but it works with any. The key things for me (based on, but not adhering to her method) -

• I do remove stalks, cut out the core and and skin imperfections
• I sprinkle a little salt as it draws out the tomato water (so you need to boil them less)
• I don't use the machine she does, I boil off some of the liquid they make then I use my liquidiser
• I reheat, as she does, and do reduce so they aren't watery but then I heat my already clean jars (and lids) from cold in an oven for 20 minutes up to 140c
• I don't keep the tomatoes boiling while filling the jars, using a ladle and jam funnel I fill the hot jars (don't always put basil in)
• Turning them upside down is a game changer for pop top jars as I have almost no fail-to-seal jars. The duvet isn't really necessary if your jars are hot, but she used cold ones so preventing cracking is important
• I use the 500ml kilner jars as they are about the same size as a tin of tomatoes (she is using 1 litre Mason jars)

Mine have a real intensity of flavour you just don't get in your average supermarket tomatoes (I have been doing this for maybe 5 years now and I prefer it to winter freezing the tomatoes. I do briefly freeze some when they are coming quicker than I can process them, and that has the advantage that the water comes out as they defrost, but I always use a little salt anyway as it brings out the flavour.

Do have a go - bottling (canning is the Americanism) is a fantastic preserving method and costs the energy to process but then nothing to store except shelf-space. I do loads of fruit too (and "bottle" stewed apple by lightly stewing Bramleys with a tiny bit of sugar then in 250ml jars, like jam making, the lid pops down and the apple stores all winter, but doesn't keep once open - so hence the smaller jars - just enough for a quick dessert with custard or yogurt). Loads of stoned plums here.

TornErse

I am hoping to join you lovely bunch of gardeners this year, I am so jealous of those who are actually able to do anything in their garden at the moment.  Mine is still frozen under the first couple of inches, I have 4 veggie boxes I am itching to get started on but I simply have to wait.  I am hoping to manage to get out over the weekend and start tidying things up a bit though and have been through my seed boxes, think I have enough for this year.

I am going to read back  from the start with a coffee and look forward to learning loads from everyone.

Suffolk_lass

TornErse said:

I am hoping to join you lovely bunch of gardeners this year, I am so jealous of those who are actually able to do anything in their garden at the moment.  Mine is still frozen under the first couple of inches, I have 4 veggie boxes I am itching to get started on but I simply have to wait.  I am hoping to manage to get out over the weekend and start tidying things up a bit though and have been through my seed boxes, think I have enough for this year.

I am going to read back  from the start with a coffee and look forward to learning loads from everyone.

Welcome @TornErse, join in and have fun with all the garden talk. I'm very tempted to change a few things this year. I love the idea of kugel culture but I need to check how this works with persistent weeds like oxalis corniculata (creeping woodsorrel) that seems to have strangled some perennials where it has spread here

I have several bags of compost to collect today (75l bags of very good Humax multi-purpose compost from Ernest Doe at £7 a bag). I will need to take DH and the trailer as I ordered 16 of them... The 50 litre bags are £12.99 each from the local nursery

Glittering_M

Suffolk_lass said:

Glittering_M said:

Suffolk_lass said: 

Do you make anything with what you grow? I preserve tomatoes by making my own passata (over 50 jars last year) 

Hope you are all feeling better.

Can I please ask how you make and also how you store the passata?

@Glittering_M I started off by watching this hilarious but informative YouTube video with Gina - and although she is quite hard to understand until you get used to her accent, her method is excellent. She is in USA and so she grows their field-grown tomatoes but it works with any. The key things for me (based on, but not adhering to her method) -

• I do remove stalks, cut out the core and and skin imperfections
• I sprinkle a little salt as it draws out the tomato water (so you need to boil them less)
• I don't use the machine she does, I boil off some of the liquid they make then I use my liquidiser
• I reheat, as she does, and do reduce so they aren't watery but then I heat my already clean jars (and lids) from cold in an oven for 20 minutes up to 140c
• I don't keep the tomatoes boiling while filling the jars, using a ladle and jam funnel I fill the hot jars (don't always put basil in)
• Turning them upside down is a game changer for pop top jars as I have almost no fail-to-seal jars. The duvet isn't really necessary if your jars are hot, but she used cold ones so preventing cracking is important
• I use the 500ml kilner jars as they are about the same size as a tin of tomatoes (she is using 1 litre Mason jars)

Mine have a real intensity of flavour you just don't get in your average supermarket tomatoes (I have been doing this for maybe 5 years now and I prefer it to winter freezing the tomatoes. I do briefly freeze some when they are coming quicker than I can process them, and that has the advantage that the water comes out as they defrost, but I always use a little salt anyway as it brings out the flavour.

Do have a go - bottling (canning is the Americanism) is a fantastic preserving method and costs the energy to process but then nothing to store except shelf-space. I do loads of fruit too (and "bottle" stewed apple by lightly stewing Bramleys with a tiny bit of sugar then in 250ml jars, like jam making, the lid pops down and the apple stores all winter, but doesn't keep once open - so hence the smaller jars - just enough for a quick dessert with custard or yogurt). Loads of stoned plums here.

Thank you, I'll give that a go. I was worried about how long it would keep for it so that is really helpful to know more about it as it sounds a really good idea. Thanks for explaining that canning and bottling are the same thing too as I wasn't sure!

carinjo

I am finally in a position to make an asparagus bed. I've read about how to prepare the ground and plant the asparagus. I am a bit confused about how wide the bed should be. Could the paths next to the bed be part of the area needed for the roots to grow? Or is it best to have a dedicated width for the crown and roots in the bed?
On our way to cover and mulch a couple of beds including the blackcurrent. If the soil soft enough, will dig up the rhubarb and see how much crown rot dealing with *fingers crossed*

TornErse

Can I ask SuffolkLass do you use the ordinary kilner jars with the clip lids and rubber seals or special 'canning' ones ?  I pop my chutneys and jams into kilner jars so have those already.  Also, you liquidise the cooked tomato with the skins on ?  That video was so funny, Gina is a star 🌟 

jokono

Wilko have all seeds on 3 for 2.

I got some and made an inventory and a plan. I'll start the tomatoes, peppers and aubergines in the next few days, then for March I have spinach, kale x 2, broccoli x 2, cauli x 2, courgette and 3 type of lettuce. Then in April continue with more kale, broc, cauli and lettuce and add chard and borlotti beans. I would like other kind of beans as well, I need to look into it.

I still need seed potatoes, or maybe use some old ones that started sprouting, I see that some of you had success with that.

We finally have raspberry canes, summer and autumn ♥️

Our allotment is still mostly overgrown, we need to get our bums into gear