[GrannieAnnie]

Hi everyone.  Well, got back from Kent Sunday evening.  Had a successful week, helping Nici, decorate the girls bedroom before the baby arrives.  Took a lot of paint, as it had belonged to a boy before, and was painted blue and black!!!!

And My Nici, even had a go and put in 2 new double electrical sockets and fixed the spotlight, and put in a new switch, but for some reason it didn't work, so she put the old one back.  Saved her poor old Mum from doing it anywayz!!

But the reason I put this in GYO is that when I got home, OH said my onions were rotting in the ground, so Monday dug them all up, including the shallots, but actually, only one or two were a bit soft, otherwise a good crop, and I got 8 bit jars of pickled onions from the shallots, so am very pleased.

OH dug up some of the spuds that I'd left in the ground after cutting down the haulms.  Some of them are blighted, but most seem okay.  But my pumpkin rotted while I was away!!  I've been through the greenhouses and polytunnel today cutting away all the blighted bits of leaves and fruit, and because I'm probably going to lose a lot of toms, I've taken out the tops of each plant and some of the top flowers to try to give the growing fruit a bit of a hand.

My peas in the polytunnel are dying, but that could be because a certain someone just gets a peapod and yanks it off.  I found some of the plants actually not in the ground, so  they wuoldn't grow anymore would they??

And he forgot to look at my courgettes too, so I found 4 VERY large ones.  2 of the normal long type and 2 of the round Italian ones.  Gave 2 to my friend, and we had one stuffed with mince and onions tonight!!!

He had a lot of rain up here last week, and my leeks were submerged, but they don't look too bad, and the carrots in the bath are doing really well.  The parsnips are still looking good, but are still very small.  Mind you, it is a bit early for them.

Cabbages are looking brilliant, and the rhubarb tea seems to keep the cabbage whites off a bit. But the cauliflowers are very small again, even though I tried to do everything right this year.  Runners are doing well as is the beetroot!

[jennyb]

Cabbages are looking brilliant, and the rhubarb tea seems to keep the cabbage whites off a bit.

rhubarb tea?  can i have the recipe?  i'm losing my red cabbages,  they are starting to resemble fish net tights!

[digital_biscuit]

Rhubard tea is basically just brewing rhubarb leaves in water. They decay/ferment and the water is then used on the brassicas to deter cabbage whites and on carrots to deter carrot fly.

I have just thrown the leaves into my water butt, but you can put them into some netting/tights and place that in the water and then you can take out the rotted leaves easier.

[GrannieAnnie]

I put my rhubarb leaves in an old plastic dustbin and filled it up with water, then a couple of weeks later, as I ladled the water out, I strained it through a piece of muslin clipped onto my sieve and strained it into a bucket.  Then I pour it into a spray bottle I got from Wilko, they are only 99p.  It still gets bits in the spray occasionally, but just wash it out and start again.

I actually found some caterpillars today on a couple of cabbages, but squashed them and sprayed again.  They didn't get sprayed last week while I was away.  And my back up is my old badmington racquet which I keep in my greenhouse handy!!!!  

[jennyb]

which would you recommend?  rhubarb or salt water?

i've just started the salt water..  possibly too late for my red cabbages - they haven't really started forming yet - so have i still got a chance?

[GrannieAnnie]

I've never tried salt water Jenny, but let us know if it works!