What I Did Today Archive - 2010

[Angelmouse]

I turned two of my new beds

Harvested a lot of stones and builders clay

Edged the smallest bed with boards and emptied 80lt of compost into it.

It's not full but at least there's somewhere to grow a few Lambs Lettuces now.

[susieq100]

Harvested the last of the gherkins from the garden - the plants have given up the ghost now - but they were planted in very unpromising postions and have done really well. I have had 4-5lbs of gherkins off 3 of them, so that has got to be good. Went to the plot to deliver plum chutney to the guys who donated the plums ... got a bag full of cooking apples and random pears (could be eaters, could be cookers) in return! I love swapsies

Picked half a carrier bag of beans, 2 more gherkins from allotment plants. They are still quite green and lively with flowers - my policy of benevolent neglect is obviously working. Removed blighted tomato plants and disposed of them on a plot neighbour's bonfire. Came home and dragged OH off to pick more blackberries from the patch by the canal. We picked 3 litres in short order, got bitten by an insect near my right eye (AGAIN ). Put gherkins and sliced onion in salt ready for pickling. Roasted tomatoes and courgettes to whizz up for soup base and put in freezer.

[salilah]

Got home this weekend to find that 3 tomato plants in the greenhouse were now on the ground - broken their strings / pushed over by over-enthusiastic armpits I hadn't managed to catch!
Pulled out 2 large armfuls of stems and leaves, and tied tomato stems up again with double thickness string - fingers crossed - and brought bowlful of green tomatoes to see if they will ripen (costoluto fiorentino mainly)
Still can't identify yellow tomato - good size (2" across) and very yellow, didn't think I'd planted any!
S

[wellie]

Don't know about you, but at this time of year, I find myself going into the garden for a million and one reasons, only to see something that needs doing, and returning promptly to look up in a prized cookbook how best to cook or preserve it, with a combination of 'this recipe' amalgamated with elements of 'that recipe', getting a brilliant idea, and then putting my pinny on to put it to the test.

And maybe that's why I don't post up on 'What I Mostly Harvested Today'... or indeed, 'What I did today' very often, because I find myself doing so many multitudes of little things, for a bigger picture, than achieving a few substantial things to talk coherently about, which is more the pity.

Although I can actually hold my hand up proudly today in the classroom, and tell you that I harvested every single one of the rest of my potatoes (Belle de Fontenay, Kestrel, International Kidney and Rooseval), so I'm feeling a bit chuffed. And they've been drying off a tad now till I put them in their Hessians tomorrow, and we'll use them from now until they run out.

What was even more special about it all, was that with the worms and soil bugs exposed, me and the Robin Redbreast are now on first-name terms....

[Two_Sheds]

- finally repotted my white camellia
- sorted greenhouse a bit & planted out lots of leftovers (the odd hollyhock, aquilegia, lavender etc)
- pulled out lots of sycamore suckers
- took & planted half a dozen rose cuttings
- saved seeds from various grasses that MiL would like to have
- trimmed the ivy on fence & tied in the bramble over the ivy
- deadheaded lots of my neighbour's flowering weeds
- sowed oodles of overwintering onions (Red Baron, Senshyu, Hi Keeper)
- sowed Rusty winter lettuce
- fed toms & chillies, told them to get a shift on
- picked 2kg blackberries & bullaces
- weeded 4 buckets of chickweed, groundsel & nettles
- made another 5 bottles of blackberry/blackcurrant whisky/vodka
- took another dozen Delta Sarah fuchsia cuttings (they aren't rooting well this year)

[Gemmalaveen]

I made a batch of delicious lavender cupcakes from the lavender I harvested in July and some plum, chilli & apple chutney... delicious

I have also been admiring my beetroot that is almost ready to lift but I think I should leave it just a few weeks more... so tempting though.

I picked a few more courgettes and trimmed off the last leaves on my tomato plants.

[rustylady]

Marrow and ginger jam started off. Interrupted by my friend's 2 dogs needing a hose down after jumping into the local pond. Will be finished off tomorrow.

[wellie]

Wanted to finally get around to stringing all the Shallot/Onion/Garlic Bulbs today, but sadly didn't, on account of the fact that I....

Had to early harvest the potential Red Peppers that are still green though on account of pest-damage too bad to ignore, and then, the baby aubergines were looking so gorgeous and black'n'shiny, that I didn't want them to 'go over' and so harvested those as well, and the long red peppers, the purple peppers...
A whole trug of smugness, that will have to wait until Sunday, as Saturday was the turn of decanting the Strawberry Rum, which I had no intention of doing.

I took my time decanting it, twice filtering it with unbleached coffee filters and then diluting with equal parts of a medium sugar syrup.
Proud owner of three wine bottles of the stuff now.

Shook the Creme de Cassis.
Shook the Creme de Framboise.

Pondered why the Pickled Walnuts are spewing a bit of stuff out of the jar out the top, and not knowing anyone else that's currently experiencing the same problem, feeling a little bit on my tod here, a ickle bit stupid, but determined to try it 'for the crack', even if I have to bin it eventually.

Then, I spent my whole evening making some bizarre Popina Nibbles for Trousers to take to his Metal Detecting Rally, as a surprise, getting them ready for him to take at the crack of sparrow fart tomorrow, only to taste one just now, thinking to myself: that recipe's got way too much salt in it for me....
Even if he was aware that I'd spent all evening making them for him, it'd still have too much salt in it, or something, but I had a fabulous time with Michael Buble in my kitchen again, and He is hard to beat these days, dribble, dribble...!

[spiderpig]

I entered the allotment show for the first time.only entered heaviest courgette/marrow,heaviest potato and 5 alive plate(different varieties) I didn't have high hopes for two categories but my desiree spud harvest this year has been tremendous and i had one that i weighed at 1lb 8oz so i felt i may have a chance.I ended up getting third place and am very pleased with myself!!
went to show with three lovely ladies for moral support and had lovely tea and cake in celebration.......a lovely day all in all.

[frogdoctor]

Went down allotment...picked cart loads of runner beans, and a few carrots....came home....got the mower out, mowed the grass of my neighbour, their neighbour, and their neighbour and then finally mowed mine

[vicky]

That's a lot of mowing FD!

Made 8kg of tomatoes into pasta sauce to freeze
Turned massive compost heap (hot feet!)
Planted more christmas spuds (charlotte and kestrel I had that had turned green and started to chit)
Sowed pak choi
Weeding...

[Two_Sheds]

- had a meeting with Headteacher & got go ahead for autumn Garden Club, and a budget of £150
- went shopping! (500 spring bulbs)
- took some rose cuttings
- planted some violas
- pinched out the successful pink cuttings, & lavender seedlings
- bought another 2 fish for my water butts
- picked 2kg elder & blackberries
- weeded: 3 bendy buckets of chickweed, groundsel & nettles
- shook all my fruit vodkas/whiskies (8 bottles)

[crazii_c]

made some hedgerow cordial with the blackberries, elderberries and apples i foraged. also got some blackberry vodka on the go.

[rustylady]

Used some of the Victoria plums to make roasted plum sorbet - delicious.

[susieq100]

Yesterday - weeded the late peas and leek beds. Forked over the plot where the onions and shallots had been and added a load of well-rotted FYM. Picked a bag of runner beans, a few frenchies, more gherkins () - I thought that they were done, but the sun and rain have encouraged them to keep producing, 4 courgettes and a bunch of radish. I dragged OH down there with me for 30 minutes to help me pick damsons - we got about 7-8lb, haven't weighed them yet. Jam in a bit I think. And my first ever proper cauliflower - the first one that has not 'bolted' as soon as it got to the size of a ping pong ball. This one is almost grapefruit size, so I cut it and we're going to have it for supper tonight!