Grow Your Own Magazine

Winged one · #**3956** (**permalink**) 15-09-2008, 03:03 PM

Over the weekend, I got to the plot for an hour and a half, which meant a quick harvest and a bit of weeding. Dug a half row of Anyas (about 1.8 rows left) and brought most home (but dropped off 1 dinner's worth to my grandparents en route home). I also managed to get a reasonable handful of french beans, a large tub of brocolli sprouts (including the first sprouts of the winter PSB!!), a missed onion, 6 tiny radishes, 8 tiny carrots (wanted to lift them before the root fly attacked them all - lost about half the tiny row), and the last of the summer lettuces (a good large tub which should last me the week).

I managed to clear the dwarf french bean patch (flowering so should get beans next visit), and the leeks patch. The winter leeks are getting to a usable size already. The brussels sprouts are already ready to eat and the PSB is coming good too (the ones that aren't getting eaten by caterpillars - so a bit of squishing went on as well!!). And I put one more cardboard box over the front portion, so the front bed is completely covered now.

At home, OH planted the snowdrops and 2 giant allium bulbs - but he couldn't plant the anemones (cos he "didn't know what they'd look like" - when I showed him a picture, he thought they were "very GIRLY"!! Grrr). We cleared up the front and back gardens a bit, as the weather was nice on Saturday - mowing, sweeping and that kind of thing. Just as well as it was lashing again yesterday! I put the last of my multipurpose compost into the potato bags (may buy a small bag of MPC to put some more into the larger bag in a couple of weeks). And I managed to plait up 90 onions for the shed - only about the same again to go (hopefully they will dry soon and not rot away on me).

Spent a lot of yesterday in the kitchen - one batch of spaghetti bolognaise (enough for 4 family dinners and 2 toddler dinners - 2 lots of meat, with 4 carrots, 3 sticks celery, a small tub of brocolli shoots and a courgette all chopped finely in the food processor), a plain tomato sauce (2 dinner's worth), tomatoes and onions for OH (he was making chilli later) - and then finished off by baking a batch of chocolate chip cookies with the toddler. Well, we made a whole batch of dough, but only baked half as we were short on time and put the other half in the fridge for later this week. I left 3 cookies behind for OH and he had them with cocoa after a hot shower (he got caught in the rain) which made him feel lovely and wintery. (I did have to go back into the kitchen to make dinner later - the toddler had some plain mussels and prawns while waiting for her mushrooms to fry into the tomato sauce and pasta, and OH and I had a seafood risotto later with our mussels and prawns).

FionaH · #**3957** (**permalink**) 15-09-2008, 08:31 PM

Planted 8 donated psb plants, have already been chewed by cabbage white so will wait and see

Two_Sheds · #**3958** (**permalink**) 15-09-2008, 08:51 PM

I dug out bramble roots (really hard) and bindweed (less hard) from 2 areas, and planted the bare ground up with - you guessed it - limnanthes, as ground cover/green manure.

Also, I planted some daffodils and crocuses in front of my new shed.

sewer rat · #**3959** (**permalink**) 16-09-2008, 09:36 PM

Well, my digger didn't arrive til 3pm yesterday so it was hell for leather today to stay on schedule but I dug the track and laid 245m of pipe today. Tomorrow I will hand dig under the tunnel frame, connect the taps to the two outlets and switch the water on to check all the joints before I back-fill the tracks.
Then, after a wait of 19 months, I will finally be able to use a hose to water my tunnel, use the different irrigation systems already installed in the tunnel, and use my vegetable washing rack properly.
HAPPY

HAPPY

zazen999 · #**3960** (**permalink**) 16-09-2008, 10:11 PM

Planted out the first non-moon garlic on the trial.

Picked 4 toms from the garden.

Burnt loads of roots that have been 'drying' out over the summer, ash to go onto the very large compost heap made of allsorts from the lottie.

Picked more french beans and shelly beans, chopped/shelled and into freezer.

Chatted to neighbour.

FionaH · #**3961** (**permalink**) 20-09-2008, 05:25 PM

Planted shallots in troughs. Dug over a new bed. Not good for tendonitis but hey.

zazen999 · #**3962** (**permalink**) 20-09-2008, 08:21 PM

Dug over the old pea bed, and de weeded [still remnants of couch grass and bindweed].

Repositioned onions that i dropped when sowing onions earlier in the year.

Planted out Garlic Chives, and a few stray onion seedlings from pots in the garage.

Harvested loads of tomatoes, hopefully before the blight got them all. Made loads of passata.

Courgettes - 10 yesterday [after I told the OH that the courgettes would be over soon - hmm].

Carrots, Peppers, chillis, onions; all straight into the fridge for cooking this week.

Just harvested the seed from an exploding cucumber - I tied muslin around them to try and save the seeds and it worked...2 salvaged from non-muslin but 11 from the muslin one. Will be offered for swop later in year when they have all exploded.

Snadger · #**3963** (**permalink**) 20-09-2008, 08:22 PM

OH wanted me to fix the car so I had a cursory look, cleaned the crud off the starter motor, wiggled the connections and turned the ignition key! Whoopee it started, so I gave a cock and bull story about "trying it again in the morning when the engine was cold"...........jumped on the bike and zipped off to the allotment to take advantage of the sunny warm weather!

Sorted the chooks, only 6 eggs today which my allotment neighbour asked me for, sorted broody, gave her some water in a small dish where she was sitting and she drank it all so filled up the dish again and left it with her in the nest!
Dismembered a shed that was at the side of the run and rebuilt it in another position where my compost heap had been. The reason for this was twofold, A) to let more light into the run for the chooks and B)to use this as another chook house once I build a run around it.
Sat in the sunlight with a cup of coffee for half an hour watching the chooks sunbathing in there new found sun trap before pedalling the 5 mile or so home feeling knackered!

Newbie · #**3964** (**permalink**) 21-09-2008, 10:37 PM

Emptied 2 compost bins & 2 bags of soil improver onto our new flower bed that is yet to be planted up as the soil is the most shocking heavy clay, plan is to leave it for a couple of months for the worms to do the digging for me! Planted up 2 big pots with evergreen shrubby things & placed them either side of the front door and that was about it!

Flummery · #**3965** (**permalink**) 22-09-2008, 10:02 AM

Yesterday I picked loads of borlotti beans - still got half to shell out! I also collected several dozen achochas - I love these and they have enjoyed the wet summer it seems. I picked the drying beans on the Ruth Bible wigwam to finish drying indoors. Good thing I did - it's raining now. Also picked Birds Egg beans - still need shelling - and 4 'space ships' - patty pan squashes. Good haul altogether.

SarzWix · #**3966** (**permalink**) 22-09-2008, 02:56 PM

Went to lottie on way back from school run. Ran out of gas in the stove, shivered around looking at what needed doing, decided it could all wait, and came home to get warm

Meat & potato pie for tea today, feel the need for stodge

Winged one · #**3967** (**permalink**) 22-09-2008, 04:32 PM

Over a couple of evenings last week, I managed to pull up the mangetout vines in the garden that had died off, a tomato plant that hasn't flowered yet (gives the peas and spring onions near it a better chance), and managed to have a surprise picnic of a fresh ripe red tomato and a fresh full peapod each for OH, the toddler and myself one evening too!!

I also managed to get to the garden shop and buy my garlic bulbs for planting - after this year's distinctly poor crop, I am not taking any chances next year and buyigng fresh seed.

Unfortunately, I ended up helping an uncle move house on Saturday (10 hours non stop!! - oh my muscles are screaming today.....). Not only did I forget to take away a bundle of emptied out cardboard boxes (after stacking tehm neatly for em to bring away and all!!), I also forgot my good kitchen scissors (knew I'd need a blade of some sort and couldn't find my garden knife), and an aunt never sent over 3 of my ice blocks from the old freezer!! I should get some boxes in a couple of weeks though and my scissors back (ice blocks may be gone though).

This week's plan is, given the chances of reasonable weather, to take a day off on wednsday and spend it on the plot. Harvesting, throwing compost dalek contents over old beds and covering with cardboard, and tidying up. I'm not going to sow broadies, peas or plant garlic for another few weeks yet.

zazen999 · #**3968** (**permalink**) 23-09-2008, 07:54 PM

Lovingly looked at the seeds for the next year: how did I accumulate all that???

Dug over another cleaned out bed.

Planted out 150 onions sets, and 50 garlic cloves.

Harvested more beans, courgettes and tomatoes on non-blighted plants.

Moved some pointy cabbage, put 11 in their final place and the rest in a corner until I'm ready for them.

Sowed green manure on one bed, with a strip of Limanthes.

rustylady · #**3969** (**permalink**) 23-09-2008, 08:14 PM

Went over today to do a quick pick. (Off from work, feeling pretty rough). Did quick pick and decided I was strong enough to go back and do some more. So dug Maris Peer Maincrop spuds, weeded last chance broad beans, picked sweetcorn and beans. Cut one more butternut squash (small but perfectly formed).

Maffie · #**3970** (**permalink**) 24-09-2008, 01:01 PM

Ive started digging beds ready for next year. Im progressing from container growing to proper beds for next season. Bit nervous about it all.

Will be positioning new composter later, grass is cut and tomatoes have been picked again!

Wren · #**3971** (**permalink**) 25-09-2008, 09:02 PM

Today from my kitchen garden i pulled a couple o decent size swedes, a large handful of runner beans , and some spinach. I did a half hour of hand weeding round the red cabbages .
We have had no real rain for a couple of weeks, the runner beans are still covered in masses of young beans so i gave them a good water with some liquid feed diluted just to give them a last push. I have been cropping them for two months now an still they keep coming thick an fast, but i figured it wouldn't hurt to give them a drenching and a feed to give them a last push into getting them last beans to a decent picking size before the frosts put a stop to it all.

The thing that is bugging me a bit is my swede's

I have had three half decent size swedes and four plants are left in the ground to grow on, but the swede's on the left plants are still very small!!

I don't understand why they are still small when i am cropping and eating from the same sowing, an they have all been treated the same and grown together , with good spaces between them!

Wren

BrideXIII · #**3972** (**permalink**) 26-09-2008, 12:54 AM

Set a couple of sweet potato's to sprout.
garlics are rooting so transfered to individual pots.
Bought in a load of pickiling onions and had the youngest brat help me peel and salt them ready for tomorrow............mmmmmmmmmmmmmm pickles

sewer rat · #**3973** (**permalink**) 26-09-2008, 01:18 AM

This week, I have started to remodel my polytunnel - am going to remove all the staging bar a 12ft section, install raised beds throughout and sort out and install all the various irrigation systems.
Stripped out the runner beans and dug over that section of the tunnel.
Started to lift my onions and put them on the drying racks.
Lifted all the remaining Lady Christl, King Edward and Charlotte potatoes.
Picked 20kg broad beans, 30kg purple top milans, 20kg mixed kale (red and green) and 40kg courgettes (green and yellow) for my colourful veg boxes.
Hand weeded 4 x 50m rows of PSB.

pigletwillie · #**3974** (**permalink**) 26-09-2008, 08:14 AM

Its all harvesting here. For once we are on top and have bottled 12 litres of pasta sauce 10 litres of passata, jared lots of sun dried tomatoes, made red tomato, plum and a spicy chutney, lots of sweet chilli sauce (brilliant recipe) and frozen stacks of stuff.

The sweet peppers are still coming in big numbers as are the tomatoes, raspberries and everbearer strawberries which leaves little time to get beds cleared and things tidied up somewhat, still, the weekend commeth.

Flummery · #**3975** (**permalink**) 26-09-2008, 11:47 AM

Got the dining table covered in seed pods! Loads of beans. Made damson and apple jam yesterday.

Winged one · #**3976** (**permalink**) 26-09-2008, 04:38 PM

I took advantage of the sunshine at lunchtime, and took off to the plot for about 90 minutes - lovely!!

I got a large bag of brussels sprouts (about 3 of the nets the supermarket sells) that were about to blow - too late for some already (I thought sprouts were a winter veg?!). I also got a couple of more shoots of PSB (again - this was for WINTER!), and a lot more shoots of calabrese (from the plants that are only still growing cos we didn't have time to pull 6 weeks ago!) - enough of that for at least 4 adults for dinner.

I also got the first of my second sowing of broad beans - a nice large handful of pods, as well as a reasonable handfull of baby peas and another of french beans. And I pulled a couple of pods of borlotti beans to cook sliced like runners, and a couple more borlottis that the beans had grown big inside them too - for the beans themselves. I am leaving most of those on the vines yet though, so that I can get lovely beans for drying for winter (well - it is looking like I'll have less and less fresh stuff, so need something to tide me over).

I dug another half row of potatoes (anya) and got a nice big bag of those to feed us for about a fortnight. There's still about 3 or 4 bags left to come, I reckon.

I pulled the 4 largest beetroot - which DH will be delighted with. And a couple of leeks to "see how they are doing!". The last thing I grabbed was a nice large sprig of rosemary, and 3 branches of tarragon to use over the weekend.