What I did today 2012-2014

[joyceybabe]

I also set the dehydrator up to make sweet potato and beetroot crisps. Today, I finally took the sweet potato and beetroot out of the dehydrator...I'm a bit disappointed with my first attempt. Too hard and thick and I put too much oil on them. But put a batch of brassica and kale leaves in for crisps.

Sounds interesting. I have a dehydrator which I have never used yet. I got it off freecycle as I was hoping to dry tomatoes and make kale crisps. How do you make them?

[Bex]

I chopped down all the dead wood from my new raspberry patch. Took ages as there are loads of raspberry canes. I'd like to move them as they are smack bang in the middle of the plot. I only removed the wood that would snap off as assumed this was dead. Trouble with inheriting fruit you never know the variety.

Watered cabbages and broccoli and put more slug pellets down. I'm sure my slugs are immune and eating the pellets.

Cooked the three cobs of sweet corn I harvested and had mine with butter. Best thing I've tasted in a while.

I've now got a pot or courgette soup bubbling from the courgettes I harvested yesterday.


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[Dorothy rouse]

Just made 4 jars of 'cherry tomato' passata,made with all the toms that had split. So easy to do.

[veggiechicken]

Cut out the powdery mildewed leaves on the rambling squash bed.
Pruned out some of the dead wood on the raspberries and tied in the new canes.
Did more weeding of buttercups, docks and nettles.
Talked to Robin while he sang to me within arm's reach - such a friendly little fellow.
Still dry and warm - a perfect September day

[mothhawk]

Cut off the 4 sunflower heads that made it beyond 3ft tall and shook out all the seeds. They filled 2 bird feeders. Hung them up and the greenfinches found them almost as soon as I shut the door. One is now half empty

[Noosner]

Made yet more jam and chutney... it is getting ridiculous! But I absolutely love doing it - the most relaxing thing in the world. So far this year I have made: red and blackcurrant jam, lemon curd, red grapefruit marmalade, rhubarb jelly, bramble jelly, bramble jam, bramble and elderberry jelly, mixed tomato chutney, apple and green tomato chutney, classic apple chutney and hot plum chutney. Want to make some plum jam tomorrow... but then I will have to stop as one cupboard is already totally full!

[hamamelis]

Went down the lottie for a bit- I've not been going down there as much lately, as, well, this should be harvest time, but there's very little to pick. It's a bit depressing.

I'd planted loads of squash, 3 courgettes, lots of runner beans, and I'm getting nothing off them.

This time last year I was sick of runner beans, this year the one plant from the early planting that survived the slugs produced about 10 pods then gave up. The emergency late sowing hasn't started producing yet, and I'm not holding my breath for a good crop from them before the weather turns.

The one courgette plant out of the 3 that's even trying has loads of female flowers on, but not a single fruit has got to a decent size. The squash plants have produced three somewhat laughable tiny squash between them, and the one that was halfway decent has a big hole pecked in it. It should be edible enough if I cut that bit out, but I had to harvest it today even though it wasn't really ripe enough because the slugs are getting in the hole. I can fit both of the other two in one hand.

The toms got blight again, just as they were ripening. I give up with them at the allotment- I got two fruit off one plant before they went, and that's the first time I've had any from there. My neighbours get loads.

The carrots that looked great turned out to be a tiny stump rooted variety that's about a third of the length I was expecting. The tops are nice and wide, but the silly things are only about 2" long.

I have had some successes, but they've all been minor crops- dwarf beans, achocha, grapes, the stuff that should be a nice little extra- but what should have been the main harvest has been a complete flop.

I did clear a path and do a bit of weeding, but I'm a bit low on motivation right now

[Nannysally99]

Ate our last home grown potatoes last night, 3 months bar two days since we bought any from the shops. Would love to have enough to last through the winter, but will have to do a lot of jiggling in our back garden to fit more containers next year

[Two_Sheds]

back to square one with the weeding *sigh*. All the rain & warmth has made everything grow like mad. The actual weeds aren't too bad, but all the green manures are thigh high again, so:

- sheared all the path edgings & green manures
- weeded the brassica beds, found several massive slugs & snails
- sprinkled the organic slug pellets all over the plot
- started defoliating the raspberries, cos that's where the snails are hiding
- picked a bucket full of dried beans, which are now drying out thoroughly on windowsills
- pulled up lots of bean canes, got them off the ground to dry out over winter
- hung more bunches of French beans in the shed to dry out
- pulled up the lotty tomatoes which have mould, left them on soil as a mulch
- deadheaded all the sunflowers, they're giving a brilliant show still

[skeggijon]

Started off with a trip to B & Q to get a bargain cordless drill - 18.4V Ryobi drill-driver for £19, reduced from £59.98, then off to lotty to build more raised beds for the 20ft poly. Got the drill out and found enough charge in it to do necessary drilling and screwdriving, so job done in half the time!

Turned the compost heaps, which were lovely and warm, then harvest 2 carrier bags of French Beans, 4 rather large courgettes (not quite marrows), enough beetroots for a pickling spree tomorrow and a good sized bunch of carrots. Found one of the pepper trees in the 10ft poly had a broken branch due to the sheer weight of all the peppers on, so tidied it up and rescued the still green peppers.

Was pleased to find some peppers turning red on one of the other pepper trees though.

Cut some calabrese and was going to pick some of the still young borlotti beans, but decided against it due to the glut of frenchies at the moment.

Came back home to OH who was disgusted at the thought of yet more courgettes and beans, so thinking it may be time to find a chutney recipe for them!

[Rob the Radish]

Went down today to check my allotment, first time since march as working away ruined my growing year, before I left I piled manure on about 5 inches deep and left it, think we used around 12 ton !

I was pleasantly surprised the weeds were not as bad as expected, a few areas they were 3 foot high, so all cleared, and out with the spade and dug a third of the total plot, for no reason other than I like digging and i like the look of a dug plot.

Did find a few rogue tomato plants that must have self seeded so that was a nice suprise, along with some very nice raspberries.

All in all, a good day, now I need a plan on getting some winter stuff planted to at least get some use this year.

[solanaceae]

Another bountiful tomato harvest today. Starting to get a bit too much now...



At about 1200+ toms per plant at the moment, I Think it's fair to say it's been an ok year for tomtato plants (if the blight doesn't strike 'em!)

[Dorothy rouse]

Made more jars of Passata, unfortunately one of the jars cracked as I filled it, and I didn't notice straight away, bit of a mess!

Made 4 large jars of squash and tomato chutney, this had got a bit of a kick, due to addition of fresh chilli, and ginger.

Now cooking dinner, also includes lots of tomatoes.

[Martin H]

Dug up a large quantity of slug-infested potatoes. Later in the week we'll need to have a marathon session of making and freezing mashed potato. I hope our freezer is big enough...

[Florence Fennel]

Snap Dotty (lots of passata and thought of you) Middle Golden Girl was here at the time and snaffled a jar straight away so eldest GG can cook pasta for them both