How do you put water and food in the omlet cube overnight?

[Alis girls]

Suspect it will be the size of a tennis ball knowing my luck

[sjp]

spent the last couple of days lifting and washing spuds for my display next weekend. and considering the weather we've had this year I pleasantly surprised with most of the varieties and well pleased with 5 or 6 of the ones that normally don't crop well on a 'good year'

all the first and second earlies are up and I've only lifted the mains that I needed as most are still green which is a first for a long time at this time of year. also the first year in a while with no failures either ones that didn't grow or produced tubers that weren't worth keeping I regard as a failure

[sjp]

looks like I've got a good onion crop this year pulled a selection today and I'm very surprised by the size considering I've not watered then and how dry the ground is this year. some good sized beetroot as well pulled 3 tennis ball sized Chioggia only meant to pull one but the roots were all intertwined the only one of the 4 varieties that hasn't done well is Golden but that did all right last year when the other struggled

[Mrs Webmuppet]

It's not a good year here. The tomatoes are still green, the onions are tiny and the butternut squash have only just started growing, despite all the TLC. The wasps attacked the peaches and I have about two pears on the pear tree.

 

The chooks also stopped laying for a while and the honey harvest from our bees was much less than expected.

[Alis girls]

Ditto here, cougettes look sick - 2 pumpkins went to mush and the only thing growing is bloomin apples - we have them with everything. going to be chutneying this week. Cue for kids to moan re smell of vinegar pervading house what the heck.

[chickencam]

We have amazing beetroot this year, we planted mixed seeds early on then sowed some in trays which were transplanted which I thought wouldn't work, but they have taken and grown well too. We cooked one yesterday which was the size of a small child's football, it took neatly an hour and a half to boil, but was lovely and tender when it finally did. Butternut squash and pumpkins have also done well, only just starting to get a decent crop of courgettes now though.

 

Sweet corn is looking good now too, worried that slugs are going yo decimate the spuds though.

[Valkyrie]

Yes, beetroot has been brilliant for hubby this year. The winter onions are now down to half a dozen left, seeing as we can't store them I think that's perfect timing. I've loosened the main crop but it's probably been bedded back down again with all the rain!!! Hubby has made "marmalade" with the onions - and I have no idea why it's called marmalade - it's chutney by any other name! And yes the house reeked of vinegar yesterday - just as well it was dry because I opened all the windows!

[Daphne]

Well I haven't been on here for a while, other things have intervened in my life, meaning I haven't spent much time in the veg patch either

 

I can now say that my toms are not as good as previous years. There is no more blossom end rot, and the fruit is perfectly good and the right size - there just aren't enough of them! The lettuces held on for much longer than usual without going bitter, as did the courgettes, and I do have green peppers the size you might find in a shop, and there are plenty of them, they will keep going into October I think, so they have been great. However, I have them in 2 beds and one lot are doing much better. This bed has a bit of organic matter every year, just from bougainvillea bracts, plus its a bit shadier so retains the moisture better.

 

Overall, we have had drought this summer, which isn't normal - its because the winter was not as wet as usual apparently. I do not have access to a 'water mine' (ie a well) or to the large bore hoses that all the old boys use, so I think I've probably underwatered. Certainly my dahlias have suffered terribly from mildew, and even the cosmos/sunflowers are not as prolific as normal. I have also made a discovery in the last week. It seems to be the time of year that everyone empties their goat/sheep houses and spreads the muck and bedding directly. So, its only taken me 3 years to discover that most people do fertilise! You still don't see compost heaps though.

 

Aside from my disasters, I was able to harvest wild blackberries since the end of July, and they are still going strong. They are not as juicy as English ones, but very sweet and perfumed. I have also munched on peaches, plums and figs whilst out walking from the house. It is a good fig year (they don't need much water), and the plums are good as well. The grapes are super sweet, although far fewer in number than normal, and we have to hope for no rain before Oct. The 2 apples trees have been very productive again, the best ones are not yet ripe, so I can't pronounce on them yet. I am saving the best till last though. We have 2 peach trees. One produced an exceptional crop of eaters in June, the other is only good for jam, but the tree is so laden it has actually split in 2 places. I have never seen so many peaches in my life, so there will be a jam and chutney fest very soon The only remaining challenge will be to hope the olives are OK, without any damage from mites and rain. So far, they are looking plump and healthy.

[Valkyrie]

Lovely to hear how your harvests are going. Peachfest sounds wonderful.

 

Hubby has been busy making preserves. We went blackberrying the other day and he made bramble jelly - it made oooh let me seeeee almost half a jar!!! We thought we'd picked more than that! Never mind, still early days yet. But a lot of the berries have been ruined by the wet weather and some beauties are now wearing nasty furry brown coats. Bleh!!!

[Christian]

#Peachenvy

 

I've picked around 6 pounds of blackberries so far and there lots more nearly ready

 

Sick to death of patty pan squashes - had around 40 form one plant and the other two plants are starting to produce now. The Tondo courgettes is still producing fruit, but not as many. Beetroot has been perfect, think the heavy soil at the lottie suits it. Pulled my onions and tied them to sticks, sop they are anging up in the shed, cold frame and everywhere. Huge onions.

 

My brussels have been attacked by cabbage whites, (despite netting) so no brussel tops for my neighbour, but the sprouts are firming up nicely. Planted black and curly kale this week (I cheated and bought plants as I forgot to sow seed ) and they have been netted carefully. Hopefully by the time they reach the top of the netting, the butterflies will be gone. Also planted turnips, as Monty did it last week on Gardener's world, so I thought I'd give them a go.

 

Runner beans are mental and Borlotto beans are firming up nicely. The big news is my sweetcorn. 20 plants all with two decent cobs on them. They are ready and I picked a couple this week, dashed home and cooked them straight away. So sweet!

 

Only have one tomato plant, a beef steak from my neighbour, huge fruit, but still green. I'm chuffed with the allotment, and seeing as it's my first year, impressed with what I've grown, despite the lack of water there.

 

Failed with growing flowers this year, the plan was for a cutting garden, but just not organised enough. The dahlias are still going strong, but my sweet peas are the worst I've ever grown - at home too. The calendula are still being picked and the domino lime nicotiana (sp?) looked great as foliage in a vase. Dwarf sunflowers (Little Dorrit) were great, but only the ones I sowed direct in the soil. Huge heads, so the hens are enjoying the seeds. The side shoot flowers were perfect for small vases.

 

Went a bit mad at the garden centre, as all seed packets were reduced to 50p.......

[sjp]

my sweet peas are poor this year to I've only got one calendula plant this year it's the only self set seedling that came to anything this year had loads germinate

sweetcorn is looking good but I think it'll need another week or so but at least I've got 6foot high plants for the first time in a few years

picked 3 good sized marrows last week end and a nice sized Pumpkin plus 3 that weren't going to get any bigger

onions are looking good as are the carrots and beetroot defiantly going to start beetroot of in pot or cell next year and use the same feed mix for the onions

and I'm very impressed with the spuds considering they came out of bone dry rock hard clay

[Valkyrie]

Sounds like a super year for you Christian. Not bad going either Sjp.

[sjp]

jury's still out on my season I think I'm looking at most at a 75% good season at worst a 45% good season

the grape vine didn't fruit this year, the yellow gage and one of the plums failed to flower again this year the very nice early plums and the cherries got taken by the dam grey squirrels and to top it all the Cats Head apple tree died in the summer

on a good note through there's another marrow filled out since last week plus 3 of the pumpkins have stated to fill out as well

[chickencam]

We have grown a huge pumpkin this year and loads of football sized ones. The chard is looking great and the sweet corn is now cropping well. We are on potato lifting tomorrow, the ones that we have taken so far seem pretty good for a year that was dry at a critical time, I expect a fair amount of slug damage though.

[sjp]

slug damage was very low when I dug up the ones I needed for the display the end of August which is what I expected for a dry year it's normally wet years when slug damage is high

I have had a bit of tuber blight though but next to no foliage blight have had it try a few times but the wind picked up and stopped it on the lottie plot but I don't know why it didn't take hold at home as the potted up ones are in a sheltered corner glad it didn't though as their my heritage and conservation ones

[chickencam]

Our potatoes were a decent average size and a surprising lack of slug damage considering it has been quite a wet week.

[sjp]

Our potatoes were a decent average size and a surprising lack of slug damage considering it has been quite a wet week.

the ground will still be to dry for keel slugs which are the blighters that attack the tubers the eggs wont have hatched or the lugs will be deeper down were it'll still relatively damp/wet

[mullethunter]

As we'd only just moved I planted new potatoes (Jazzy and Charlotte) and main crop (Maris Piper) in the first week of June.

 

The news did really well, but the tops of the main crops died off quite early so although they produced good numbers of potatoes they're all small.

 

Just proved what I suspected - June is way too late to plant main crops. Oh well - it was worth a try.

[chooksRCute]

Sorry to say I don't have the space for veg or fruit trees but I have managed to grow 2 tomato plants & some strawberries.

I had a fair crop of strawberries but only got to eat a few on the move as the chooks found them & scoffed the lot. As for the tomatoes, well they started off well but this last few weeks they just won't turn. I complained to my mother about huge green, useless tomatoes and she said, slice em up & fry them - bloody gorgeous!

[sjp]

As we'd only just moved I planted new potatoes (Jazzy and Charlotte) and main crop (Maris Piper) in the first week of June.

 

The news did really well, but the tops of the main crops died off quite early so although they produced good numbers of potatoes they're all small.

 

Just proved what I suspected - June is way too late to plant main crops. Oh well - it was worth a try.

 

first week of June should have been OK for main crop spuds down your end of the country it's just you picked a god awful variety personally I'd have gone for Cara it's a late main crop but it'll grow until it gets frosted. or possibly Jelly but it's the first year I've grown it but I got a good crop of it in mid August and it was long finished by then

[mullethunter]

Thanks SJP - I'll try Cara next year - my grandad always used to grow those

[chickencam]

It helps with tomatoes if you remove most of the leaves in late August early September. We did this before we went away on 6th and a week later a lot had ripened. I usually remove the leaves in stages as they start to look tired from the bottom up. Then I cut the tops off the plants and just leave the top leaves in place.

[Daphne]

I need some advice please. On the first day of autumn it is 80 degrees here, and set to continue warm and bright for a week at least. Typically October is mostly fine and bright, although at some point it is also grey and wet. We have had a couple of days of cool and wet so plants have had a good drink. I have a few toms which are still green, so I'll just see what happens with them, and will chutney any which are too stubborn. But I also have a dozen pepper plants with fruits ranging from large and red, to small and green. I even have a few flowers and a few fruitlets ready to develop. In previous years, the plants have carried on fruiting till the end of October. Is there any point in me still feeding a liquid fertilizer, or should I stop?

[sjp]

I'd carry on feeding them as if you don't get any frosts they should carry on growing I now off a friend of a friend that lives on one of the Greek islands that grows his tomatoes and peppers through their winter for a spring crop as it's to hot and dry for them in the summer. he can some times keep them going for 2 years

[sjp]

lifted my onions today good crop of medium sized onions and only one pickling sized one looks like I'll have to pickle either sliced onions or onion chunks this year

also picked the apples ( Breaburn I think ) from the tree on the lottie filled 2 and a bit mushroom flats most a good sized apple throw 6 or 7 in the compost that the rats both plain tailed and fluffy tailed types had been at

I'll clear the pumpkins and courgettes later in the week hopefully the beans will dry out enough to pick the week after