The ups and downs and ins and outs of growing your own, 2018

Short bursts of it. Not really enough to do much on the parched soil. In the vegetable plots I've been watering it'll help for sure. But not enough to soak down. We're due more tomorrow, and if it's cool enough I might pre-water some things. But much too hot - anything over 25 degrees make my head hurt, add a thunderstorm and I'm picking up Radio 4 via the titanium plate in my skull...

Erm in other news - picked our jostaberries last night and popped them into the freezer this morning

I'm hoping to manage a couple of courgette farcies - I have three hopefuls ripening

https://www.cuisineaz.com/recettes/courgettes-farcies-aux-lardons-jambon-et-fromage-76270.aspx

I prefer the cheesy ones (sorry it's in French but you get the idea) but I believe it's a farcie whatever the filling

We've just been away for the last 4 days, needless to say the rain came tumbling down plus the winds.
Got back last night but couldn't get the horsebox up the drive as a tree was down, so DH was chain sawing at 10pm last night.

Had a look at the plot this AM,
The barrier around my newly planted leeks was down and the rabbits had demolished them.

Courgettes, cucumbers, beans, gherkins and weeds a plenty. I need inspiration on how best to use the surplus (not the weeds )
Sweetcorn looks promising and a found the first melon developing on one of the plants.

Does anyone have hazels and if so how do you keep the squirrels off?
I need to go and have a look at the blackberries but I have seen a load of rose hips and I'm wondering what to do with them. I've found a recipe for rosehip marmalade - sounds interesting.

I'm going to spend the next few days weeding and sorting out what to sow to take us to the end of the year and into next year.
I got to this stage last year and then failed to sow anything in the late Summer for this this year. I really resented having to buy so much from the supermarkets this Spring. After listening to the news today it looks like fruit and veg prices will horrendous over the winter but fortunately its not too late to do some sowing.

I've been harvesting cherry tomatoes for DH, although one of the tomato plants got blown over multiple times during the wet and windy weather last weekend and it's lost a few arms as a result The other one has grown wide rather than tall so it was fine. The corn plants also got knocked over repeatedly and in the end I had to leave them lying down for two days until the winds had died down. They still look okay though.

Cucumbers are still growing and are getting quite large. I'm worried I might have left them a bit too long though so I'm going to harvest one tonight for DH to try. Peppers are still growing and are still green. Strawberry plant is growing a second lot of strawberries, and I need to plant some more radish seeds for a second cropping.

One thing I have learned is that next year tomatoes and corn are going to be grown in grow bags rather than pots. Our garden is a bit uneven, including the concrete path and patio, and they're just not stable enough for pots once plants get a few feet high! At some point me and DH will do a little remodel of the garden, which will include space for a veg bed, but we don't have the money for that at the moment. Too many things to sort out indoors.

tootallulah wrote: »

Tomatoes are going very well I am picking about 1lb a day and I look to have enough to see me through for quite a few weeks. I am roasting most and freezing them, even I can't eat as many as I grow. I have made 5 litres of tomato soup and 5 litres of tomato pasta sauce. I am now completely out of freezer space. So my next effort will be dried tomatoes stored in olive oil.

I'm impressed with the tomato sauce and soup. My tomatoes have not started to turn red yet but I was very late in starting them.
Something has attacked the climbing beans, I suspect rabbits as the stems have been bitten through. I'm left with about 6 climbing french and 4 runner beans. Hopefully there will be enough for the two of us but none to freeze.

I'm just about holding my own with what is ready to harvest. I can pick enough for tea but the only things I've managed to freeze are cucumbers, gherkins and cucumbers. They'll all get turned into soup later. I've managed to store away enough onions, garlic and shallots to last until next year, plus I'm working my way through early potatoes and waiting for the main crop to start.

Waiting in the sideline but not yet ready to pick are sweetcorn, leeks, carrots, aubergines, cannelloni beans, baby turnips, squash, melons, peppers, mangetout, sugarsnap, basil and various salad leaves but I must now concentrate on the winter stuff otherwise I'll be visiting the supermarkets over the winter and I expect prices will go up a great deal after this drought.

Birthday next month and I'm going to ask my DH for fruit bushes/trees as I'm spending an awful lot at the moment on fruit in this hot weather. We have the space to grow enough to be self sufficient in fruit so it seems stupid not to try. I've already got a few bits and pieces but not enough of any one sort except blackcurrants (20+ bushes) My fault as I got carried away with propagating my single bush one year - and I don't care much for blackcurrants they're too tart.