Poorly chicken

[redhotchick]

On 7/14/2023 at 6:38 PM, Cat tails said:

Any of you lot know what kind of blackberry this is?

I keep cycling past it every year and OBS Identify tells me it is a Rubus of some kind, but I can’t find any photos like it on the internet.

I was wondering if this is Deutzia Pink Pom Pom? I did a Google search and it looks similar. Please let us know what sort of seed head or fruit transpires. 🙂

[redhotchick]

My vegetable plot is not very consistent at all this year. I built a brassica cage, but crammed it with plants. The purple sprouting bolted when I was away for 10 days in June. The sprouts have blown (probably too crowded)

The savoy look decent and I've a couple of cauliflowers looking ok 🤞

The tenderstem that I loosely covered has been decimated slugs or maybe caterpillars.

My climbing French Beans are full of flowers but no pods yet. The broad beans have lots of flowers but not many pods. Courgettes are just starting to flower (male flowers). I've had a few pickings of mangetout from a first sowing but I think the pigeons have eaten the next sowing. Only one plant survived! 

I am hopeful of harvests to come. I need to sow some salad and some more brassicas. 

It's quite mild with lots of lovely rain at the moment 😅

[Daphne]

Cat Tails - Are those pink pom pom flowers actually on the blackberry?  If so, I have no idea what it could be, I have never seen that flower form before, as it looks like the flower starts off quite 'normal'.  I wonder if it could be a cross in the wild, or maybe you have discovered a whole new variety!  Or is it, as RHC wonders, a different plant entirely?

Bad luck with the onions BT, hopefully you will be able to lift and dry relatively normally, but maybe this year they won't store brilliantly.  I'm not sure what neighbours do regarding watering onions at the moment, I ought to be a bit more observant.

RHC - your veggie plot sounds like a microcosm of ambitious, yet thwarted, growers the world over!  Hopefully you will get some summer sun to ripen off your beans, and your brassicas sound very good, I bet they'll be delish.  By contrast, as I am probably 1000 miles south of you my broad beans were all gone by the end of April, and we are constantly being given marrows as the courgettes are all out of control!  You could plant some fruit bushes in your cage, if its big enough and you like currants or berries.

[Cat tails]

On 7/18/2023 at 3:04 PM, Daphne said:

Cat Tails - Are those pink pom pom flowers actually on the blackberry?  If so, I have no idea what it could be, I have never seen that flower form before, as it looks like the flower starts off quite 'normal'.  I wonder if it could be a cross in the wild, or maybe you have discovered a whole new variety!  Or is it, as RHC wonders, a different plant entirely?

The flowers are on the blackberry. But can’t find a type online with similar flowers. Flowers aren’t very big and they keep reminding me of a rambling rose. But they are in the middle of a “nature” area and quite widespread too.

[Alison W]

Re the bramble, see this:

https://www.bluebellnursery.com/Rubus/8734107-Rubus-ulmifolius-Bellidiflorus.html.

very pretty

[Cat tails]

On 7/20/2023 at 9:10 PM, Alison W said:

Re the bramble, see this:

https://www.bluebellnursery.com/Rubus/8734107-Rubus-ulmifolius-Bellidiflorus.html.

very pretty

Yes! That looks very much like the bramble growing along the bike path! Thank you @Alison W!

[Daphne]

You live and learn, thank you both!

[Valkyrie]

Beannie, if you have a good freezer, slice or dice and freeze them (double bagged because of the smell) because that will keep them going.  We are doing that with ours.  Lifted them from the soil but monsoons back again so we put them on an old radiator to sort of dry - but with all the rain, they most definitely are wet!  A big box ready to process in the kitchen, while the others wait their turn.  We have a dehydrator and a freeze dryer so we will likely be using the freeze dryer because it doesn't heat them up and retain more nutrients and much nicer than the dehydrator.  Ours are winter onions so won't store anyway, so we were prepared for the extra processing, although we thought it might actually be dry for a while - hahahaha!  No such blooming luck.  I think we have about a dozen maincrop onions - the rest have been munched and that was a lot of onions planted - and wasted time and money.  HRH said there were a lot of wireworms in the potatoes - and I was under the impression that cultivated soil puts them off.  Then he won't wear his specs while chopping potatoes - I fished out loads of worm and slug damage in the cooked ones.  I've never found actual beasties in them, just the old blackened holes where they had burrowed.  He was not happy when I kept picking them out before I served them up.  Sometimes it pays to do it yourself which saves a lot of aggro!

Catty - that is one beautiful plant!  Maybe you have a new variety?  People will love pretties with fruit.  Interesting to see how the fruit looks and tastes.

[Cat tails]

On 7/24/2023 at 10:06 AM, Valkyrie said:

Catty - that is one beautiful plant!  Maybe you have a new variety?  People will love pretties with fruit.  Interesting to see how the fruit looks and tastes.

I doubt it will actually produce fruit! Never seen any berries, when biking past. And with such stuffed flowers, bees will have a hard time getting in. But pretty they are!

[Beantree]

You may well be right @Cat tails, because the tightly packed flowers bear some resemblance to our beef tomato flowers and they don't germinate either; 5 plants 4 fruit so far, but none ripe yet.

We've started preserving some of the onions @Valkyrie by slicing them and vacuum packing (sous vide) for the freezer. Bought the machine from Lidl, together with the bagging rolls and excellent value they were. Really a 'must have' for anyone freezing their produce. Having said that, we only bought it last year. Before that we used re-useable ziplock bags and sucked the air out using a straw. That was probably the most eco-friendly option.

[Valkyrie]

Well done Beannie.  We have done the vacuum packing, but in recent years found the bags/rolls not as strong as previous years.  Now switched to Mylar bags with oxygen absorbers and we seal with hair straighteners!  LOL!  But it does work better.  Otherwise ziplock bags for the freezer.  We did seal dried things in the Kilner jars, but are finding a lot of the lids are not working when vacuum sealed.  Not the clip lid with the rubber, the screw cap with the metal lid.  Have to keep testing the storage jars regularly to see if they've popped up.  Then we just use them and replace when we can.

Catty - I did find this:

https://www.seasonalgardening.co.uk/shrubs/rubus.asp

 

 

[Beantree]

Just lifted half a row of Sputa and 'disappointed' is an understatement. After all the rain we had and the lovely green abudent top growth possibly 5 kg, so 5 rows will give us 50Kg which is a third of expected. We spent €21 on the seed and so much time! Agreed we will leave the beds covered next year and spend all the time saved on work around the house. Perhaps in a couple of years we'll try again?

[Valkyrie]

It is so annoying and frustrating when hard work just goes kaput.  We had a nice day yesterday - rain again today - I'm on the verge of losing my marbles! 

[Beantree]

On the bright side @Valkyrie they are a good shape for chips, being quite long and narrow. The second half of the row was perhaps 4Kg. Of course I will have to dig them all out before it gets even worse and the slugs get to them.

We do have some good carrots, but only half a row. The one end was sown with old seeds and the new seeds that germinated alongside them resulted in carrots that are tiny. No idea why because the compost was evenly spread over the whole row? So the one end is really lush and fertile and the other end is a dessert?

All our beds are lettered on a plan, so I've made a note of the fertility of them and the specific areas like the aforementioned. When they are used again I know how much of our compost to give them.

[Valkyrie]

Sounds like you have got a fair bit of harvest.  Very strange that one end is good!  But at least you have some good things happening.  

So much warm rain here and I think blight might be on the cards soon.  Or maybe they need magnesium?  I'd water with epsom salts but I think they've had enough water!  LOL!  On the plus side I know there was snow in Hampshire in June (or possibly July) during the civil war in Hampshire.  The siege at Old Basing was very miserable with things like trench foot.  When I think of that, I know it could be worse and must just keep sowing - never give up, never surrender!

We were out at the pub with our next door neighbours this evening (for eats - food is sooo good there) and they are delighted that their little veg patch is being quite productive.  Never grown veg before and they were a bit embarrassed and said beginners luck.  I said no, you should be delighted - when you get something growing especially as newbies, it is so encouraging to have a good first cropping year.  I was thrilled to see them so happy about their magic beans that grow so fast!  LOL!

 

[mullethunter]

Hello all. Long time no see…

Been a mixed year for me so far (as usual I guess!).

My carrots grew better than ever and didn’t get eaten by slugs for he first time ever - but it was all an illusion! When I pulled them there was pretty much nothing there. Onions are hopeless - I think I just couldn’t give them enough water during the hot, dry June we had. Leeks are looking very small and don’t know about the parsnips yet. Brassica’s are pretty good so far. Kavalo Nero and summer cabbages are good, sprouting broccoli is growing well and Brussels look a little small but hopefully OK. Dwarf French beans are OK despite very small plants. Runner beans have been so productive I haven’t been able to keep up and have ended up composting some, but they’ve stopped flowering already so may be a bit short lived (everyone else’s still seem to be flowering so maybe I didn’t pick enough or I should’ve fed them more). Sweetcorn plants are short (again I think they needed more water when they first went in) but they look to have a decent crop (haven’t actually harvested any yet). New potatoes were good (Jazzy, second earlies but dug very small) but would’ve been better if I’d earthed them up properly and stopped the chickens constantly digging them up before I needed them!

In the greenhouse the tomatoes are average but are definitely less blighty than usual. Cucumber is great and peppers are looking OK just really late as always.

Plums are really big but swollen so much by the July rain that about two thirds of them have split and so gone mouldy or been wasped. Apples and pears (also lots split) look average.
 

[Valkyrie]

Hiya Mullet - I go awol sometimes - it has to be done otherwise I'd be on the laptop 24/7!  Life happens.

It's been a ***** year here.  Just waiting for chances to get outside then it is either mucking out the birds or mowing the grass.  I heard someone say there's going to be a shortage of hay this year - I don't think so!  The farmers have been busy mowing every spare moment.  They must be overflowing by now!  Then maybe it means a long cold winter.  Well at least it will hopefully be a dry one!

My dwarf beans are needing to go out in the ground - some have decided not to be dwarf.  I'm now taking great delight in chucking snails into the duck pens every time I see them in the greenhouse.  Slugs in the spuds are also collected and dumped in the duck pen too.  They are really enjoying the tasty treats but stand out of the way as they shake their heads to get rid of slime - ugh!  I did try to get some into the veg patch, but they wouldn't have it and dived in the long grass instead.  No hay making this year for us.  We still have plenty though - more than we need, but hoping to get a tractor instead of having to buy bales - especially with the unknown treatments that they may have undergone.  Don't want herbicides in my compost!  I get bales for the ducks to sit on, otherwise the hay is our own.  Haven't even broken into last year's bags yet.  It will be much easier than doing little bits with the scythe - and timing with good weather had a small window and then it was too hot to work in!

Not sure if my plum trees will survive - all the leaves were stripped by slugs when the wind blew the pots over - in one night!  The one damson is ripening!  We had one ripening cherry but some pesky bird nicked it before it even got to red!  All the fruit struggled.  But hey ho, polytunnel is gradually coming together - again need good weather and no wind to get that bit done.

Our deluge seems to be easing off now - so much rain that I've been working on my UFO quilts - one top just needs the last border to go on and it will be in the ready to quilt pile.  Then I'll quilt my ready to go one before starting another.  One of the cats is sitting on top of a pile of ready to bind quilts - he has a bag on top so he doesn't make them fluffy.  It's like the princess and the pea!  The other one sits on the office chair with a practice quilt pad.  Sanctuary from the building work.

[Beantree]

We had carrots with lovely tops a few years back @mullethunter and when lifted there was nothing there. Field voles!

Managed to grow some good baby leeks from seed for the first year ever here. Result of all that soil conditioner du in I think? Problem is when it's +30C and sunshine how do you stop them burning up when transplanted. No matter how carefully they are watered out, some roots get broken off. Tried digging a small hole, putting compost in, parting it with a trowel and placing the leek roots in. The idea was the water retention would keep what root was left wet. Well it worked! Put 54 in and haven't lost any. The outer leaves have died and they are not growing because it is now far too hot, but they all have their centre leaves upright. Might have a good crop around Christmas? The real test will be at the weekend when it might reach 38C (chickens coming inside temperatures).

[Beantree]

Leeks are still doing fine and growing. No need to water at the moment as it's only 25C. Made a big mistake with adding the compost to the beds. Dug out the potatoes leaving big lumps of clay from the bottom on the top deliberately, so they could be broken up when more compost was added. I then spread the required amount of compost, based on my assessment of the bed fertility, on top of the lumps. It rained and the compost absorbed all the water leaving the clay lumps still too dry to break up. We have three beds that we can't do anything with now unless we have some serious rain. 

[Daphne]

I've been in the UK for a week or so and experienced lovely warm weather and torrential downpours.  All my friends say their tomatoes have been fantastic this year but other stuff has suffered as everyone has struggled with drought, cold, wet and heat but not in a helpful order!  I can vouch for a super harvest of blackberries/rasp as well.

I only grew a few toms, which were average, but now I am back its time to prep the beds for autumn sowings.  I can see it has rained here quite a lot as grass/annual weeds and flowers are making a second appearance (its now high 20s/30 degrees again).  I will get some overwintering broad beans in, plus parsley and other soft herbs, and various cabbage/kales.  I will also put in any end of packet seeds I find, because my growing season is a bit longer/warmer/lighter than the UK.

Be interesting to hear about everybody else's plans.

 

[Beantree]

Potatoes are so expensive here (as are so many things) having risen 46% this year that we really haven't any choice but to grow them again, especially as our soil is now good and fertile. We didn't grow enough French beans last year and soon ate them all, so we will double the amount. No tomatoes, so the space will be used for more carrots and beetroot as well. Courgettes on the compost heap again, but now that we have proper bays there is only enough room for two.

It was very wet here for a while @Daphne and now it's the warmest September ever with 4C above seasonal average. As a result the pasture grass is growing and I may have to cut it all to avoid it becoming too thick to cut later. 

Few years ago we bought a scaffold tower from a couple moving to Spain. They said then that France was becoming very expensive. I have no idea what the tax money is being spent on, but petrol is 20 cents a litre more than Spain, tobacco is double, bottled beer is 90 cents a 25cL bottle and 50 cents in Spain. Our official inflation figure is 6%, but that's political rubbish because everything we want to buy is up about 20% (electricity 27% and fuel oil 25%). So we will have to grow as much as possible and if water becomes an issue we'll have to be sneaky and water at night.