[LilacSandy]

Hi all,

My Dad is 90 on June 6th next year and I will of course be giving him a party, he has lived in a small village all his life so I will be using the village hall and will need to invite most of the village.

I do not have a lot of money, who does, so I will need to grow as much salad, flowers and veg as I can, also it will be nice to be able to grow most of the food for him.

Can you help me with suggestions on what will be available for me to harvest this early in the year.  I have plenty of room in my greenhouses but they are unheated, I also have my allotment.

[Yorkie]

I think you might be pushing it for non-hardy things like tomatoes or courgettes.

You'll get spuds, of course, and salads.  Peas perhaps, and would dwarf beans get a head start in the greenhouse (they aren't hardy either).

[sunshineband]

If you grow parthenogenic courgettes (ones that need no pollination) you can have these cropping in agreenhouse form May onwards, with no extra heat.

Why donlt you ask everyone to bring somehting to share, for a buffet? Most folk actaully like doing this and you woud end up with a good spread like that.

[sarajane]

Do you have anything on the plot now you could freeze for using in June, say leeks for cheese and leek flans, spinach that you could turn, with spuds and onions into some chilled spanish omelettes.

I agree with Sunshine band though.  Ask everyone to bring an item of food and hey  -  you have a party

[Janeymiddlewife]

Do you have any rhubarb that you could freeze, or beg from fellow plotholders? It freezes well then could be used in fools, meringues or crumbles. Summer pudding is cheap if you have berries frozen from this year, but it's a bit early for fresh. Broad beans, rocket, carrots if you start them early. HTH,
JMW

[LilacSandy]

Thanks Guys,

Great ideas,  I have leeks I can freeze, summer fruits in the freezer, and that's a great idea Sunshine to ask them to bring something. 

I have broad bean well on their way so I will try a few in tubs to see if I can get some for then.  I am going to start a couple of cherry toms off at the beginning of Jan and see if I can grow them in the house, nothing to lose.  I also have a rhubarb plant that I was going to throw as my lot do not like them but rhubarb fool sounds great so I will dig it up and force it.

[Yorkie]

I can tell you now almost for sure that you won't get anywhere with the tomatoes - they will get incredibly leggy and very weak owing to such low light levels.

[willowish]

broad beans are lovely cooked up, pureed with some lemon juice and garlic...as a dip for your home made crisps.
 :blink:

[Janeymiddlewife]

broad beans are lovely cooked up, pureed with some lemon juice and garlic...as a dip for your home made crisps.
 :blink:

You might be able to freeze parsnip & beetroot chips raw, now and then deep fry them to make veggie crisps, as well as the potato crisps

[LilacSandy]

Broad beans are well on the way and sturdy little chaps so I should have a nice dip. 

Has anyone had any luck with overwintering Tomatoes?  I have a nice cherry that I cut down this morning to about 2' in hight with a couple of side shoots and will keep in the house to see what happens.

[Growster...]

For no other reason than to record a coincidence Lilac, Mrs Growster's mum had her 90th birthday on June 6th - two years ago...!

That broad bean tip sounds gorgeous, and we've got some frozen as well, and with a little persuasion...

[Janeymiddlewife]

I've not tried to overwinter toms, but the consensus seems to be that you should use supplemental UV light, otherwise they'll not do very much. Someone on here was given a hydroponic kit last year, i think it was kate and her ducks? not sure how she got on with it though, and they're a bit pricey.