Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: New shoot on January 22, 2022, 16:14
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Cabbage, leeks and some mixed leafy greens. Also a couple of eggs that I can’t take credit for growing, but were a contribution from the chickens :)
Link to old thread covering 2019-2021
https://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=129358.0
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Yesterday I harvested my first of the year psb, not sure I’ve ever picked in January before so not sure if it’s late autumn or early spring psb lol. Today from the tunnel I harvested a variety of salad leaves & then our girls provided me with 3 eggs as they have been doing most days since they cam into lay about 3 weeks after I got them in September/October.
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Harvested a bit of lettuce, spinach, and chard today, just enough for a lunch salad.
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Bag full of purple sprouting broccoli, the warm weather has obviously given the plants a growth spurt.
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Two more bags full of PSB one for daughter yesterday another for tomorrow for us.
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Picked my first lot of unforced rhubarb. Lovely in a crumble with custard!
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Took home some overwintered Lobjoit's cos lettuce, planted in late September as an experiment, considering that our autumns are extending further by the year and our "winters" are hardly severe enough to be worthy of the name any longer. Result! A fine row with only one lost plant and, with this particular bed having had a mulch of sharp sand, barely any slug damage. The main heads of the F1 Atlantis calabrese planted around the same time have all been harvested now, but are throwing out an impressive crop of side shoots.
After all the rain the soil remains a little damp for cultivation, but a newly rebuilt raised bed, covered with lino to keep the weather off, was just about perfect after digging in sand and compost. There'll be a 12ft row of Hurst Greenshaft peas going in there tomorrow, weather permitting. It's all good. :D
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Our first Asparagus harvest on 11th April. Just enough.
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I picked a lunch salad . . . Spinach, iceberg lettuce, radishes, and that orange thingie.
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First year on my plot and I’ve just harvested my first radishes and lettuce from my new polytunnel. I can’t express how excited I am!
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Ishikura Japanese bunching onions sown last autumn and overwintered in the unheated greenhouse. They went outside a few weeks ago when I got fed up of them being in the way.
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First year on my plot and I’ve just harvested my first radishes and lettuce from my new polytunnel. I can’t express how excited I am!
It's quite a rush, isn't it! Best of all, that excitement never seems to diminish. Wait till you start digging spuds up; I swear it's like mining for gold nuggets. :D
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It gets better :D
Asparagus and also a bunch of parsley which I needed for a cook ahead dish for later in the week. The asparagus is not lasting past tonight, but you knew that didn’t you :lol:
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Tadaa the first 5 strawberries :lol: from the poly tunnel but I didn’t get to eat them as our grandson picked them & took them home to share with his siblings :lol: :lol:
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Great harvest yesterday. 15 fat spears of asparagus, ate half last night the rest are destined for supper tonight.
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First bunch of lovely radishes grown in my "patch" at home. For my tea tonight - a sandwich with a few tiny slivers of cheese (fighting high cholesterol), and every single radish sliced up thinly on top of the cheese with a tiny sprinkle of salt. I enjoyed every mouthful!!!
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Punnet of strawberries
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New potatoes from my polytunnel. ‘Swift’ they certainly are!
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More strawberries from the tunnel- they’ve done so well. Asparagus & yesterday another greyhound cabbage that was considerably larger than the first one the other week.
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Picked my first load of Mangetout today.
Scraped out a handful of Duke of York new potatoes.
Been picking rhubarb for weeks and its still producing well.
The early Asparagus crop has now finished, but notice the later croppers are now appearing.
Picked a good wadge of rosemary, oregano and marjoram from the herb garden and basil in greenhouse that is growing nicely under my tomatoes. All went in a Saturday Lasagne.
More rosemary on top of the Roast Lamb today.
Just notice first few strawberries are now ripened. Will pick fresh later today.
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From the tunnel-strawberries & broad beans. Asparagus & a few onions that have “fallen out of the ground” aka blackbirds scratching in my mulched beds :wacko:
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I hadn't planned on harvesting any rhubarb this year, since the plants are so new, but I had to move the containers around, which damaged a few leaves/stems. Figured I might as well harvest them, it came to 4 stems, or 2 cups of diced rhubarb.
Mrs. Sub P mixed them with diced strawberries for a strawberry-rhubarb compote, which we served on vanilla ice cream. "Wows" from everyone!
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Picked Malabar spinach, a slicing cucumber, and a carrot for a salad, and a "Butter Dish" squash.
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More squash!
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Florence fennel, kohl rabi, beetroots, broccoli, lots of mange tout
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The only things I'm picking are the last few mangetout and the start of the Sugar Anne snap peas :)
But, on the other hand I LURVE peas :lol:
The Alderman are making a very slow attempt at climbing up their mesh, so think they'll be a while yet..
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Yep, I picked a couple of kohlrabi as well. Blitzed them up with beetroot and horseradish from a jar into a slaw. Oh and spring onions from the back yard.
Plot partner and I both sowed sweetheart cabbage in pots at the same time. A glut then, so quarter of a cabbage went in slaw as well.
But really missing picking some fruit. Both new rhubarb plants have died off; 3 goosegogs are too young but do have loganberry and autumn rasps to look forward t
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Swiss chard to go with dinner, and the very last of the peas (mangetout).
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Harvested salad veggies/greens.
Cucumber, carrot, Swiss chard. The heart-shaped leaves are Malabar spinach.
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If there is a nicer job at the allotment than wandering around picking fruit, I’m not sure what it is :lol:
Boysenberries, tayberries and gooseberries all picked this morning :D
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Strawberries,gooseberries-all 12 of them :mad:,a few cherries,even less red currants :( & some of the ripe black currants. Lettuce leaves,kohl rabi & the daily 3 eggs. I also brought home all the winter onions & garlic to dry as they were getting too warm in the tunnel.
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dissapointing small amount of vivaldi potatoes. the last of the blackfly ridden broad beans. 1 solitary courgette and some salad....i think its going to be 'one of those years' ::)
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Whoopee: 6 runner beans and 2 courgettes. First ones and all small but lots more to come.
Had loads of redcurrants but a bit meagre on blackcurrants, maybe birds got em.
Had a few loganberries but a bit disappointed; they're at the end of the row so probably didn't get as many square meals and mulch as the rasps further inboard. Would bending one of the new canes down to start another plant, further into the bed, work?
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Would bending one of the new canes down to start another plant, further into the bed, work?
Yes, bend it and peg it down, then in the Spring, you can lift it, cut through the old stem and move it, if it's a bit too near the old one. Did it with my both my Loganberries and Tayberries. Free plants :D
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Carrots, cucumbers ("English" and what we call slicing), and wax beans (yellow French beans).
Deer have pruned most of the leaves off of the okra and peppers, I've repaired and reinforced the fence, but harvest of those will be delayed.
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S P Deer have pruned most of the leaves off of the okra and peppers
Oh dear!!
Hope the fence repairs work, deer are pretty to look at but must be a real PITA for the garden ::)
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Green & yellow french beans are doing fantastic & I’m harvesting bags full every few days but yesterday , well
Let me show you....
I’ve only ever harvested 2 in any one year & even then they were small, but yesterday I got these 4 in one go & there’s loads more on the tree. The new planter has really come good.
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A few from the spectrum of varieties. We have:
Red Dragon
Darby
Shirley
Scotland Yellow
Cherry Baby
Black Cherry
Stonors
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The runners are not really flourishing after all. The OB next door but two says his haven't even started. And the dwarf French have only a few on and they're all shrivelled.
I guess shortage of water despite hosepipe ( no longer ) and cans
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I just picked a handful of allotment runners today, all the new flowers are just falling off :( So unless we get some rain soon, I don't think there will be any more - and they're my favourite veg.
I'll just have to rely on the tee pee I planted a bit later in the garden, cos I can water them from the can ::) My arms might end up longer though :nowink:
Picked 2 Trombas and 2 cobs of corn :)
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Picked a bunch of green and wax French beans today. The greens are really starting to produce a bumper crop.
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Tomato parade.
Reif Red Heart, Black Sea Man, plus Crimson Crush and assorted cherry toms for scale :)
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2 & 1/2 lbs of green & yellow french beans & 4 tomatoes.
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I picked a punnet of mixed berries (Tayberries, Loganberries and Oregon thornless blackberries) that's the end of them, now.
Cut another small Tromba and a couple of sweetcorn cobs, plus a handful of runner beans. The flowers are now falling off without fertilization, because of the heat.
The other squash are setting fruit now, although 3 out of 4 that should be Uchiki Kuri aren't orange, they're yellow striped instead, so who knows? That's so annoying :mad:
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The usual cucumbers and courgettes from the plot and …. Corn! Can’t wait for teatime now :tongue2:
Peppers and tomatoes from home and some plot chard :)
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Mostly Kentucky Wonder pole beans today, and a small tomato.
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Good collection of beetroot straight into the pressure cooker ready for lunch .
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harvested tomatoes,cucumbers,runner beans.now have 11lbs of runners in the freezer plenty for the winter months.
processed last chickens biggest yet one was 17lbs 4oz, the other was 9lbs 6oz,so now have a few in the freezer to last till next year, i know what they have eaten from day 1,no rubbish just good healthy food, will make a great Christmas dinner no turkey for us this year.Lillileaf
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After not visiting for 6 days due to illness, look what was ready to cut today in the tunnel :) hubby has watered for me though, hence the smaller 2 stems were going mouldy even though I’ve told him numerous times to now only water smaller amounts in a morning&no don’t open the tap on the barrel to flood areas
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Kentucky Wonder beans continue to produce well. We are also getting the occasional Gardener's Delight cherry tomato.
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I picked what may be the last of the Malabar spinach for the year, and one not-yet-ripe tomato that was in hiding.
Lows last night and into Wednesday morning are expected to be just above freezing, then on Thursday, Friday and Saturday morning, -3 C to -2 C. Warming again after that though.
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Rather pleased with this beast, got a bit of canker but it’ll peel off.
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Freshly picked fennel, kohlrabi, sprouts to be roasted. Also got some carrots for steaming
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Lovely crop there Snow
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Picked a few more ripe tomatoes inside the big greenhouse, they're slowing up now, though.
I might have to pick the last few to ripen indoors, as there's precious little sun in the forecast for the coming week, although it doesn't look that cold either ::)
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Picked a few more ripe tomatoes inside the big greenhouse, they're slowing up now, though.
I might have to pick the last few to ripen indoors, as there's precious little sun in the forecast for the coming week, although it doesn't look that cold either ::)
I popped down the end of the garden today and spotted my outdoor tomatoes still have a couple of ripening fruit on them. Odd year.
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I picked the last of the tomatoes from the tunnel this morning, quite a haul, lots of green, but a fair few colouring up, but the plants are giving up & it was 0.8 deg last night, it’s also very damp & mould was setting in on some plants.
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Always satisfying when you can pull out a monster parsnip cleanly
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Braved the chill, damp and general gloom for a brief plot visit to get veg for tomorrow. Then a much more pleasant trip to the shed for spuds and shallots.
The plot yielded cabbage, leeks, turnips and Black Magic kale. The swedes were getting munched a few weeks back with all the wet weather we had at the time, so I picked them, made carrot and swede mash and froze a load of that. Mental note while I think of it. I must remember to get it out of the freezer :lol:
Anyway, all set for every bit of veg for dinner tomorrow to have been home grown :D
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Well done Newshoot, that’s a great achievement. I’m just providing 1 parsnip to daughter for our Christmas lunch, that I pulled yesterday, sadly it snapped off but there’s enough up lol there are various salad leaves in the fridge.
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Well done Newshoot, that’s a great achievement. I’m just providing 1 parsnip to daughter for our Christmas lunch, that I pulled yesterday, sadly it snapped off but there’s enough up lol there are various salad leaves in the fridge.
Snowdrops I had no idea your feet were so tiny! :lol: (kidding... kidding... :) )
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Not strictly harvested but finally got round to de-fleshing my loofahs
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Well done Newshoot, that’s a great achievement. I’m just providing 1 parsnip to daughter for our Christmas lunch, that I pulled yesterday, sadly it snapped off but there’s enough up lol there are various salad leaves in the fridge
Snowdrops I had no idea your feet were so tiny! :lol: (kidding... kidding... :) )
:D :D Another wit & you’d be half a wit
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Not strictly harvested but finally got round to de-fkeshing my loofahs
I’m interested in this, what did you have to do please as I’ve now bought a 2nd packet of seeds having mislaid the 1st so didn’t grow any this year!! My intention is to grow my own pan scrubbers that can be composted when done with
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Not strictly harvested but finally got round to de-fkeshing my loofahs
I’m interested in this, what did you have to do please as I’ve now bought a 2nd packet of seeds having mislaid the 1st so didn’t grow any this year!! My intention is to grow my own pan scrubbers that can be composted when done with
I basically follow these instructions
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/discover/gardening-tips/grow-your-own-loofah-kitchen-sponges (https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/discover/gardening-tips/grow-your-own-loofah-kitchen-sponges)
I find that I only get 1 or 2 fruits per plant and they definitely like warmth and as long a growing time as possible
Edit: just re-read those instructions and would add:
1. I don't chop the ends off, just peel. The flower end is naturally wide enough to squeeze the flesh and seeds out
2. It takes a bit more effort than implied to get the seeds and flesh loose and out of the 'sponge' - plenty of squeezing and squashing
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Mrs D has had Covid last week so Christmas (dinner) was postponed to this weekend
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Thanks Mr Dog