Mrs Frugal Posted July 13, 2005 Share Posted July 13, 2005 Well, the new potatoes have all gone now. We've been eating them for the last 3 weeks or so and they were delicious. I've dug up the last few for tea tonight and then we've got to wait until the maincrops are ready. Next year, I'm trying a different variety though as they were rather slugged. I've been advised to try Accent as apparently the slugs don't approve of them! The peas didn't do well. Most of the seeds rotted off but we had enough for Ollie to pick and eat raw - how they are best - for a few days. However, there are 2 new rows in the vegetable garden where the new potatoes were so fingers crossed! This week, the first Dwarf French Beans have been ready for picking and they are super. They're good little plants for a small garden as they work hard for their space and produce tasty beans which don't go woody if you leave them on the plant a little too long. The runner beans are flowering well - both the red and the white flowered varieties and the beans are starting to show. Hoping for great things from them and the climbing French beans too!! There are several courgettes which are almost ready for picking which is a miracle because many of the little courgettelettes rotted off after flowering. I've been really neglecting them and they're doing well as a result. Same goes for the Jack Be Little pumpkins which are swelling slowly. The tomatoes are tiny and green but the won't be long. The fruit's done well too. I picked about 3lbs gooseberries which I made into fools - mmmm and there've been several bowls of raspberries too. The strawberries have been really disappointing because they're going mouldy on the plants - a straw mulch next year, I think. Blueberries darkening up nicely so they won't be long and in the greenhouse, all the chillis and sweet peppers are starting to develop flowers. Hope the peppers follow soon. The blackcurrants are way behind and still green but the Tayberries were lovely if a little tart. The blackberries are flowering now so berries due in a few weeks! I've also got cucumbers coming - not very big but they are on their way. Not bad for a little garden but more planning needed next year and a little more TLC for the poor plants which have been rather neglected . How is everyone else's garden growing?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna 1 Posted July 13, 2005 Share Posted July 13, 2005 Ahem - almost too embarrassed to respond! It's sad by comparison with your efforts, Kate! I've been blitzing the garden over the last few days as it's only now I;ve had much time to do anything so things are looking decidely 'thin'. It's our first summer in this house (we only moved in back in March) and there was no veggie patch, and some very overgrown borders with lots of straggly-looking lavender. So mostly I;ve been weeding, tidying up, clipping back and digging out. I did put a few veggies in back in half-term, rather too late I fear, but better late than never. So I have radishes and leaf beet ready to use, a promising show of runner bean flowers, a couple of small capsicums, masses of aubergine flowers (let's wait and see), several small tomatoes and corn which has yet to produce any heads. That's not counting all my herbs which I harvest every evening to add to salads and cooking. With fruit, we have a bumper-looking crop of tiny apples on our very small apple tree (planted in March) and a single splendid pear (!), and like you Kate the strawberries have been rather disappointing this year. I think Milly and Molly have had them all... Gooseberries - again it's their first year so we've only had a few, but they were very sweet and tasty. We have boysenberries rather than blackberries, but there are heaps of berries forming so it should be quite a good crop. Now ask me about the feijoa (hee hee)... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Frugal Posted July 14, 2005 Author Share Posted July 14, 2005 Now ask me about the feijoa (hee hee)... Don't keep me in suspense then Anna ...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louise Posted July 14, 2005 Share Posted July 14, 2005 Gosh Kate what a crop I am ashamed to say I have nothing I have got a couple of chilli plants which are just starting to show little green fruits as I am further North everything is a good month behind you but thats it. I just don't have time to look after veg and stop the rabbits eating them as I have a warren in the wood next door Happy harvesting to all you veggie growers out there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna 1 Posted July 14, 2005 Share Posted July 14, 2005 Feijoa - otherwise known as Acca Sellowiana or Pineapple Guava. We have HEAPS of these in NZ, particularly on the East Coast where it isn't too windy - they don't like wind at all. I'm giving one a trial run here in the hope it will take as I am frankly greedy about feijoa fruits and you can't seem to get them in the supermarkets as no-one has ever heard of them. Believe me, I've asked everywhere I've been, and come to the conclusion that I'll have to grow them myself. I think they only have a shelf life of about a week, and unripe ones picked off the bush never ripen so they're not much good for export. Shame as they're very high in vitamin C. The fruits are a bright green, about the size of a kiwifruit, but smooth-skinned, and the flesh inside is creamy yellow and slightly grainy. They are sweet and aromatic, and apart from being gobbled with a spoon fresh of the bush, can be made into all sorts of yummy things including feijoa fool (I'm now drooling over my keyboard...) If you have a sunny, sheltered garden and are prepared to wrap them up when it's frosty then definitely give them a go. I couldn't find them in any of my local nurseries so ended up getting mine online from Cross Common Nursery - www.crosscommonnursery.co.uk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Frugal Posted July 14, 2005 Author Share Posted July 14, 2005 mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna 1 Posted July 14, 2005 Share Posted July 14, 2005 mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm ! Thought you might approve, Kate! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Frugal Posted July 14, 2005 Author Share Posted July 14, 2005 Sounds like the sort of thing I should find room for in the garden! We've got an apple tree and a nectarine in pots so maybe I could squeeze another one in! Thanks for the tip! I'll let you know if we manage to get one! I'm going to post some veggie photos in the garden gallery in a bit - if they turn out OK! Kate's garden album Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicola H Posted July 14, 2005 Share Posted July 14, 2005 Your veg look great Kate ............. I have tried really hard this year and been inspired by others on the site so far we have had first early new potatoes that have now all been eaten I planted these in an old dustbin and had a bumper crop. The pink fir pots. that I got free from GYO mag. are now ready to be eaten, all 3 varieties of courgettes are doing well and growing like mad, Raspberries are ready and Emily picks these and eats them on a daily basis you have to be quick to get any. The Tomatoes are doing very well in the hanging baskets lots of green fruit ready to ripen, the strawberrys are very good and again Emily eats them all, the peas survived the slugs and are looking good, I have one purple flower on the Aubergine plants so am hopeful,and the carrots are just about ready to be eaten.......Not bad considering most of the plants were grown from seeds that I got free from GYO magazine, and Kate swapped some seeds with me for a magazine. Oh and I must not forget at long last after 5 years of waiting the peach tree has finally got about 20 small green fruits ready to ripen I can't wait to taste them that is if I get there before Emily......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Frugal Posted July 14, 2005 Author Share Posted July 14, 2005 Stand guard on those peaches Nicola - you've waited long enough to not be pipped at the post for them ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 14, 2005 Share Posted July 14, 2005 Wow Kate! (Is there an emoticon for 'green with envy'! And your harvest sounds wonderful too Nicola. I'm definitely going to try raspberries next year as I love them too, although I have a feeling that my Oliver will do exactly what your Emily has been doing... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna 1 Posted July 14, 2005 Share Posted July 14, 2005 Sorry, that was me - forgot to log back in... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen1 Posted July 15, 2005 Share Posted July 15, 2005 Your garden looks lovely Kate - I bet it's hard work keeping it that nice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Frugal Posted July 15, 2005 Author Share Posted July 15, 2005 Ummm, you should see it now - (maybe not - ). I found a thistle at the weekend which was waist high hiding in a flower bed. The weeds have taken over the strawberries and everything's flopped! The photos are strategically taken in good looking parts of the garden!! It's been too hot to go out weeding! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel (& Paul) Posted July 15, 2005 Share Posted July 15, 2005 We hope the chickens will do the weeding (not sure whether they can tell the difference between a plant and a weed though (mind you neither can I ) I like to think of our garden as a wildlife reserve - the weeds are there to support the birds/insects/butterflies and wildlife (yeah, right ) We have grown strawberries, chillis, tomatoes, lemons, limes and grapes. We hope to move into more veggies / salads next year. We did think we had some rampant slugs amongst the strawberries, but then caught our whippet cross, Charlie, having a surripstious nibble!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lesley Posted July 15, 2005 Share Posted July 15, 2005 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahJo Posted July 18, 2005 Share Posted July 18, 2005 Today picked the 1st toms, luckily the hen sitter resisted. . Have had loads of lettuce, and the runner beans are just about ready for a good bundle to come off. Aubergines .... err, what aubergines , and the courgettes are still struggling, though pumpkins are romping it. . Sweet peas .. had oodles, and they are just about in every room of hte house . Have posted pics "Fruits of my labour" in allotments. And more Henorobiillia, in Chickens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Frugal Posted July 18, 2005 Author Share Posted July 18, 2005 You're doing better than me with pumpkins then and my tomatoes are still tiny and green . Off to look at the photos! Love the French Hen - tres chic! Great photos Sarah - very envious of the tomatoes!! Hope mine hurry up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahJo Posted July 18, 2005 Share Posted July 18, 2005 You're doing better than me with pumpkins then and my tomatoes are still tiny and green ... learned from not getting toms till sept last year, and planted them really early this year, and not to much luxury in the greenhouse .. so they are really hardy. . Just a bit miffed with the courgettes and Aubergines ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Frugal Posted July 18, 2005 Author Share Posted July 18, 2005 My courgettes started going mouldy shortly after flowering so I got really excited to find 3 large ones on the plants until I discovered that they were slowly going mouldy from the flower end! Typical ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lesley Posted July 18, 2005 Share Posted July 18, 2005 Great photos Sarah! We went away on Saturday leaving pale green tomatoes - came back on Sunday to a pound of red tomatoes! We've tried to delay most of our veg so that it is ready next week when my American relations arrive but it's difficult to beat Nature Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna 1 Posted July 19, 2005 Share Posted July 19, 2005 Ain't that the truth, Lesley! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lesley Posted July 19, 2005 Share Posted July 19, 2005 I just want to show them that food does not come ready wrapped in plastic! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel (& Paul) Posted July 19, 2005 Share Posted July 19, 2005 I just want to show them that food does not come ready wrapped in plastic! Or in polystyrene containers and can be supersized........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lesley Posted July 19, 2005 Share Posted July 19, 2005 Don't! Last time they came over all one of them wanted to do was go to Burger King He's over 60 so a bit difficult telling him off They've heard we've got Krispy Kremes now in UK and sends messages to ask if I've found out where they are yet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
