What I Did Today Archive 2009

[COMPOST CORNER]

Yesterday turned the compost heap.

Bought 4 sticks of Lemongrass to try to grow.

[gojiberry]

Raining today so not much chance of getting out on the lottie. Have been in the greenhouse and sown greyhound cabbage, Bella F1 spinach, early purple sprouting broccoli, winter density lettuce and some oriental salad leaves. This sort of weather just doesn't help with the tomatoes ripening.

Ian

[gojiberry]

Looks as if it is going to be raining all day today so not much chance of getting on the lottie. Have been in the greenhouse this morning sowing a few seeds. Have sown greyhound cabbage, Bella F1 spinach, early purple sprouting, winter density lettuce and some oriental salad leaves. Bit late with some of them but worth a try.

Ian

[falkon]

I sowed some pak choi and some more fenugreeks...

[COMPOST CORNER]

Dragged out my patty pan plant as we have decided we aren't that keen, and it was taking over the leeks I planted out in July.

[Snadger]

Harvested some carrots, parsnip,swede,onions and after a bit of ground preperation planted in ther place PSB,Spring Cabbage,Walking stick kale (for the chooks) and leeks.

Also took home the some spray chrysanthemums and the last picking of rhubarb plus about a dozen Purple Jalaeno's. Chopped the rhubarb up and open foze it until I decide what i'm going to make with it!
Need to blanch and freeze lots of Frenchies today!

[Two_Sheds]

- dug out a 10 foot stretch next to the path, pulled out next door's couch (again)
- planted half a dozen comfrey plants next to the path to keep the couch at bay
- dug up my Charlottes ... I'd forgotten where they were as all the foliage died back
- transplanted some pink-flowered alpine strawbs
- cut off some foliage around my pumpkins to ripen them up a bit
- pulled up Canadian Wonder ... got 2 bags of red kidney beans out of them
- pulled up the Zorboda courgettes, getting a bit ropey they were
- sowed 3 rows of Jap. Onions (Hi-Keeper & Senshyu)
- sowed 2 rows of Winter Lisbon spring onion
- dug out the beetroot bed (to make wine) &
- sowed winter lettuce (Rusty)
- sowed kale, 4" apart for cut-and-come-again (in between chillies, which will come out soon)
- sowed Larkspur & Foxgloves
- planted out baby lavenders, daffodils and irises
- got another bagfull of sweetcorn (Conqueror). This is my best year ever: full pollination

[rustylady]

Made chilli jelly from the River Cottage handbook, also another batch of pasta sauce using homegrown red tomatoes, homegrown onions and garlic.

[Newbie]

love the sound of Chilli Jelly Rustylady, can you please post recipe?

[rustylady]

750g red bell peppers
100g chillies
50g fresh root ginger (peeled)
350ml cider vinegar
1kg jam sugar (with added pectin)
50ml lime juice
1 tsp salt

Slice and deseed the peppers and chillies. Finely chop these with root ginger (or blitz in food processor, which is what I did). Place in a large pan, add the vinegar and slowly bring to simmer. Add sugar, lime juice and salt, stir till sugar dissolved and bring to boil

Boil for 4 - 6 minutes, remove from heat, allow to cool and then pot. Use within 12 months.

I found that it is more of a relish than a jelly, and hasn't set like a jelly, but the taste and smell are yummy. Hope it will improve even more with keeping (book says will keep for up to 12 months) Book also says good with cream cheese, smoked mackerel, rice dishes, but I'm thinking good with cold meat, and could be added to almost any recipe to spice things up a bit.

[shirlthegirl43]

Picked my first marrow and photographed it for the virtual show.

[gojiberry]

Pricked out the Durham early spring cabbage, only kept 30 and will give the others away. The flower of spring and spring hero need a bit more growth before i prick them out. Also planted out 200 onion sets, only 300 more to go. Had to resort to a bit of spray for the cabbage white caterpillars as there was just to many of them to pick off. You only have to leave things for a week and they can get out of hand.

Ian

[spiderpig]

went to the local allotment association annual show.as this is my first year plot,i didn't enter anything but was intrigued to see the standards achieved by neighbours.One truly immense cabbage(like a medicine ball)won the heaviest cabbage category and made me soooooo glad that i kept my scrawny slug eaten efforts under wraps this year!!
will definately enter something next year now i've seen what is expected.

[solway cropper]

Quite a busy weekend. Harvested the remnants of my disastrous onion crop...eleven golf ball sized specimens. I suppose I could pickle them. As a consolation my leeks, chives and spring onions have done fantastic. Planted out some winter density lettuce. Did lots of general tidying up, mowed the back lawn and sawed some logs. Mashed up apples and got 3 gallons of cider under way. Pureed and froze loads of tomatoes, made a big pan of leek and potato soup, picked brambles when I was out with the dog, etc. etc. Now I'm tired.

[Demeter]

Snipped the grass around the front of my plot - to make it look as though someone is taking care of the place. :-)

Cleared the last of the potatoes and tidied up the bed ready for onions to be planted there in the next week or so.

Harvested two or three buckets of dandelions from my spring bulbs bed and mulched that to keep it tidy until the last gasp of the growing season is done.

Planted some comfrey (kindly donated by TwoSheds ages ago and ticking over in a bucket until I could clear the onions from the patch where I'd decided to plant them, only to change my mind at the last minute and plant them somewhere else anyway! oh dear )