Allotment?Veg Patch Thread 10 - Plotmenters busy into summer ! and loving James Wong

[bookbook]

Last thread has filled up so quickly! Thought I had better get one up and running before I get off to the plot.
Busy, busy people, just waiting for the harvests to start, fighting the bugs, slugs and weather :)
Last thread here
THREAD 9

do pumpkin/courgette cross fertilise?

have collected seeds from a 'real seed' pumpkin last year.
the resulting plant is rambling along nicely and we are hoping for another large pumpkin suitable for halloween.

oh, and I thinned out the caulis by just plonking the spare ones in the flowerbed. they do look a bit droopy tonight, I hope some rain tonight will help them along.

I have Brussels in my borders Yellow

Yellow Squash are very promiscuous! from the real seed site. My green grocer agrees. Last year I bought a big blue pumpkin and told him I would save the seed. He reminded me of the wanton ways of the squash family. It may not be big and blue, but it will be delicious because all his pumpkins are. Yep he grows his own veg. Hopefully yours is similar to last years.
I keep the runts also, sometimes they do brilliantly.

Yellow - all curcubits should fertilise each other as far as I am aware .
I still have half a dozen runt brassica seedlings at home just in case

so I had a big orange pumpkin an large yellow courgettes last year. could be interesting to see the result :)

I can't do away with runts. I planted a cucumber today that germinated late. If we have an 'Indian summer' it will provide us with some later fruit. Even my cat was the runt of the litter.

Tiz - I've got rotting courgettes too, I am finding them when they are about the size of a cocktail sausage. Got some that are growing properly too on the same plants so hoping they will be ok. I've got straw round mine, partly so I can see the plants easily when small and not tread on them, partly to keep the courgettes off the ground.

Thank you for rhubarb permission! I will make crumble next week when guests are here.

I keep pulling all my rhubarb in the hope it will stop growing in inconvenient places but it doesn't work!

I'm using my rhubarb in the first year. I have a Victoria plant which is enormous and doing far better than my other two varieties. Interestingly all three are far happier since I moved them to one of the raised beds. The one I left in the ground is looking very sad in comparison and I definitely wouldn't want to take from it this year.

My peas have been attacked by something . My coriander has also bolted. Will I need to replace it or can I cut it back and hope it sorts itself out?

We've been to a big family picnic today, and took lots of homegrown food. Was very satisfying!

We took chocolate courgette cakes, quiche made with eggs from the farm chickens, broad bean falafels, potato salad with our first potato harvest, and lots of lettuce/mange tout/tomatoes. Yum!

Some first year rhubarb and other veg about to become dinner! Newt I've never managed to stop coriander bolting, maybe hack back but sow more for backup?

I love all the pictures of harvested fruit and vegetables. It is very satisfying to see and read about the results of everybody's labours.

Evening!
Cath
Gin - doesn't it make you feel proud :) And loving that the chocolate courgette cake is gaining fans !
Una - is that Cavolo Nero leaves I see there? I din't sow any this year - last year was a disappointment, and they bolted , now I'm regretting it!
Well had a full on family afternoon, so didn't get to post earlier.
I managed a good couple of hours at the plot this morning though- no more signs of rabbit damage thank goodness. Forecast is for rain all day Tuesday, so decided to dig up the overwintered shallots , and get that bed weeded and prepped for the winter cauliflowers. Still need to put manure on yet though. Still digging up a few volunteer potatoes too!
Had family and visitors for tea, so pulled the first of the little chiogga beetroot, stripped every broad bean I had ready, and a load of perpetual spinach, along with a few courgettes .

book that's a lot of shallots! like you, we have been fans of chocolate courgette cake for a long time now - MIL has made it (although calling it chocolate zucchini cake - can you tell she's not British ) for years. In fact, when I first starting living with DP, it was on his list of things i had to learn to recreate. No pressure!!?
And bizarrely, I've discovered GinCat goes wild for it. He's been climbing up shelves, ripping off cling film and eating the paper wrapper at every opportunity to get a taste of it

DP likes it with butter (bleurgh) and I like it with chocolate buttercream

Morning!
we do grow a reasonable amount of shallots , we use a lot. They will hopefully last into the new year . I tend to use them when I am limited in time -( DH has trouble with onions if they are not very well cooked first).
Ah, so its not my recipe - but good to know it has been around a while ( butter - erm no thank you!)
Busy for the next couple of days - away at DD's tonight , not back until tomorrow night, so fretting a bit about the greenhouse - luckily its supposed to be raining tomorrow. Hopefully will get down to the plot this morning to get some more currants picked .

Book, well spotted! I think the packet said Black Magic but it's the same stuff and doing very nicely.

I too love the photos of harvest. I find them very inspiring.

Have just had a little wander around my garden and everything is looking a little sad. I think the changeable weather - hot and dry to hot and humid to SUPER RAIN - has confused the poor plants. I wonder if there are things that cope better with changeable conditions. Maybe they'll be the plants of the future.

Hi everyone. hope you're all well!

Newt our coriander always bolts but it tastes fine in stews/soups etc. Try cutting it back hard rather than replanting it.

Book that is an impressive haul in that photo! I was reading carol klein 'grown your own veg' for guidance on when/how to harvest my red onions (first year growing them) and she noted shallots are quite easy to grow. Given that shallots are more expensive than onions in the shops I think I might try them next year instead/as well as onions. Are there any particular varieties you would recommend?

I never get to take harvest pics because I just pick stuff as I want it, so I thought I'd post a pic of my homegrown dinner instead! Annoyingly, there were only enough ripe tomatoes for one of us, so DP's got them in his lunch tomorrow since he's started foraging and probably needs the goodness more than I!

Looks lovely Gin but I bet you sixpence you didn't grow those Granny Smiths . What is your DP foraging? If he comes to my plot he could make stinging nettle soup.

Ha! No, nor did I grow the pastry

He's foraging grass (I think?) - by foraging I mean agriculturally, rather than foraging in the fields for his dinner because I didn't bother to go food shopping

Gosh Gin that has taken me back! I have cousins who were/sort of still are farmers. Lots of 'foraging' went on but I never really understood what that meant. They spoke in deep Bristolian/Glous accents and I was sat in the kitchen with scrumpy and orange squash. I never really understood why I always had a headache.

We definitely don't have West Country accents!

A forager is similar to a combine harvester, but a forager takes all parts of the crop to be used for slurry. DP is apparently foraging barley, not grass. (It's hard to stay interested keep up!)