Space Chick Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 We've had our first cauliflower from the allotment today OH came home with tomatoes, courgettes, crook neck squash, peas, runner beans, broad beans, French beans and the cauliflower I love how my cooking needs to be more creative, I have to see the produce and meal plan from there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eggasperated Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 Just chopped the tops off my Charotte and King Edward potatoes - bad case of blight . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daphne Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 At least you didn't do what I did - unwittingly plant them in ground which was full of nasturtium seeds. I now have the prettiest veg plot and could open my own caper factory with all the seeds However, you literally can't see the potato plants as the foliage has died down/been eaten and I have had to resort to sticking the fork in random places to try to supply our dinners Mostly I have been digging up patches of earth and just occasionally a potato My Charlottes have cropped fine, but I have to say I recently ate some 'National Trust' potatoes (no idea what variety they were) from Asda and they were much tastier than my home grown. I just don't seem to have the knack of producing a really tasty spud Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinnamon Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 Just went & picked 8 beautiful Cucumbers,plus 2 more not-so-beautiful ones that the hens have enjoyed Am making salads,Cucumber & Dill pickle & Cucumber soup on Sunday,plus a LOT of Pimms! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickencam Posted August 5, 2012 Author Share Posted August 5, 2012 My cucumbers are going mad too and one of my tomatoes has grown out though the closed greenhouse window Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lesley Posted August 6, 2012 Share Posted August 6, 2012 I have tomotoes growing out of the polytunnel window as well! - they've gone mad! We're picking lots every day now so it's a case of 'what shall we have with the vegetables' or, more likely, 'what can I make with this selection of veg' - we've had some odd combinations. We're on out third lot of peas which were grown in succession and for the first time ever none of them has had any maggots - we usually have a few. Kestrel potatoes have been superb but Annabelle and Maxine have been slugged but still taste good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickencam Posted August 6, 2012 Author Share Posted August 6, 2012 Annabelle is a lovely potato We eat a lot of vegetable curries and stews at this time of year, often served with potatoes rather than rice, much to my carnivorous, rice loving DS's disgust Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lesley Posted August 6, 2012 Share Posted August 6, 2012 I love curry with potatoes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickencam Posted August 7, 2012 Author Share Posted August 7, 2012 Glad I'm not the only one, off to pick my first large picking of tomatoes now, I may be some time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eggasperated Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 I picked my very first, lonely ripe tomato yesterday - from the 16 plants that I have in my poly tunnel . Hopefully I will actually get some more before the end of 'summer' . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickencam Posted August 7, 2012 Author Share Posted August 7, 2012 I have also been to the allotment this morning and picked loads of very large courgettes, new potatoes, a few French beans but most of the plants have been eaten by slugs, some lovely carrots, a couple of broad beans, a lettuce, raspberries and blackberries. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowy Posted August 8, 2012 Share Posted August 8, 2012 Quite a haul today considering we got off to a bit of a late start this season! A full sack of potatoes (despite having to throw quite a few away!) Loads of peas and broad beans, raspberries and loads of redcurrants and a head of broccoli Most of the broad beans have got quite big so I boiled them then shelled them and added them to some fried garlic, mashed hard boiled egg and cream to make a pasta sauce. Not bad for an invented dish - very tasty! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alis girls Posted August 8, 2012 Share Posted August 8, 2012 Two weeks away and have 7 courgettes/marrows , potatoes, runner beans. Tomatoes have blight and look ill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinnamon Posted August 9, 2012 Share Posted August 9, 2012 Today has been a good day! I pulled up my first Desiree potatoes,thinned the carrots,so I have a lot of those too, Beetroots & Red onions. Roast Veggies & Lamb Chops for supper I also got 3 more courgettes & another Cucumber. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redhotchick Posted August 10, 2012 Share Posted August 10, 2012 I have lots of courgettes (at last!) My Broad beans look ready to pick, I thought they never would! Runner beans have prolific flowers - but only micro pods yet! Lots of salad never had any leaf, but suddenly went to seed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lesley Posted August 10, 2012 Share Posted August 10, 2012 I had a whole sowing of rocket that went straight to seed and some lettuce in the polytunnel which didn't heart up at all and also went to seed - the hens are happy with them though! I've just picked an enormous gherkin which had been hiding - it is bigger than the cucumbers The broad beans which I thought had finished have produced a reasonable crop, runner beans have gone mad as have the French beans and tomatoes. Peas are still going strong, carrots are a good size now and sweetcorn has cobs forming. Onions will be lifted tomorrow. I never thought we'd ever get the decent crops we're harvesting - I thought it would all be drowned! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Space Chick Posted August 12, 2012 Share Posted August 12, 2012 We've had our first sprouts and peppers Our salad went straight to seed to, the hens were glad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ems Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 Salad leaves this year are in the aeroponic station, so thankfully they didn't bolt this year.. the only time I seem to be able to grow lettuce in the tunnel successfully is in the winter! Harvesting now, a single .. yup SINGLE courgette! Why!? Not sure about that that this year, we've usually had enough of them by now! Toms, are in the tunnel and in the hydroponic solar stations, harvesting lots from both.. now canning. French beans galour atm.. onions I lifted and are drying off, as are the garlics, which I have processed and frozen 3/4 now, a litre of garlic puree will surely smell the freezer out! Tomatiloes are ripening, celery is fattening, lots of pak choi, no cucumber this year, squashes are growing like mad, parsnips, swedes, kohl rabi looking healthy. Pickled lots of beet, and frozen 11kg of rhubarb for wine and jam And a separate patch of marigolds for the petals to make an organic pesticide with Sowing now and some successionally for the hungry gap.. will be making three sowings as not sure what this winter is going to do Beetroot, broad beans, p.s. broc', cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, celeriac, kohl rabi, lettuce, bulb and spring onions, pak choi, peas, pots, radishes, rocket, spinach, strawberries, turnips. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daphne Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 I'm impressed Are we in the presence of a professional grower - I see you are in West Sussex; land of the mega crop So, my questions are: a) what is an aeroponic station? b) are tomatiloes harder to grow than tomatoes? c) do you have any top tips as to which garlic variety is best to grow for flavour and yield and is it best in a tunnel? d) how do you freeze rhubarb - raw or cooked? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickencam Posted August 14, 2012 Author Share Posted August 14, 2012 I have frozen rhubarb both raw, open frozen cut into chunks, then bagged when frozen, and cooked, roasted with a little sugar. We have had successful lettuce this year both in the raised beds at home and on the allotment, cos, little gem and salad bowl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjp Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 picked 9 tomatoes for lunch which sound great until I tell you that they were just a little bit bigger that a pea but very tastie. a variety call Texas Wild Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valkyrie Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 Very bad year in the garden. The winter onions did OK and we are eating them at the moment. Garlic was very poor. Normal onions I had no opportunity to plant out until last month because of the rain. They do not look happy at all. All the outdoor tomatoes have had to be destroyed because of blight - although the ones in the greenhouse are only just turning colour and had one tigerella and a couple of weird little pear shaped things. Peppers are now fruiting in the greenhouse, but they won't be ready till October or thereabouts. Peas and beans were munched by a naught mouse in the greenhouse (now gone to the big cheese in the sky) - it also ate my rudbekias and tagetes. Bah humbug! And the parsnips are sp"Ooops, word censored!"nips - think they got washed away or swam off down the road. Never mind. Next year will be better. Strawberries are making nice little bushes but not fruiting - maybe the snails and slugs scoff them first. Raspberries are going mad, but not flowering either. The few we've had this year have been rather odd looking and very squishy. Never mind - they are making lots of new plantlets and we are replanting them in a bigger spot. Next year is definitely going to be better - or else I just might have a hissy fit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valkyrie Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 Should add that the toms in the greenhouse have had their sideshoots potted up to replenish the stock - I kept one plant of each variety in the greenhouse in case of any problems outside - the majority of greenhouse toms are Sungolds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickencam Posted August 19, 2012 Author Share Posted August 19, 2012 Rescued my celeriac from the weeds today and it looks ok, it would be ironic if in the one of the worst season that I can remember I manage to grow my bogie vegetable, our soil is really too light for them and they bolt, no bolting this year but one did rot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinnamon Posted August 19, 2012 Share Posted August 19, 2012 I picked these today - there are so many of them...I needed 2 hands to carry them all They were getting slugged,so I have decided to pull them now,boil them with some swede,mash with butter & pepper & freeze in portions for the winter........its far too hot for me to think about eating carrots at the moment! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
