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

Hello all, I have a lot of catching up to do!

Thanks to Gnome for the PM - have remembered to come back to the thread! Busy time of year at the mo, although not that a lot is being done...

Off to read back and cook another bloody courgette ...

Hi all you lovely people! Long-time lurker here. Gutted about sweet corn. Returned from holiday yesterday to find 18 plants flattened and munched. Guess the wind/rain weakened them and animals took advantage? Anyway, cleared plot, v despondent, and found 7 cobs untouched so going to have a grand opening then freezing in a bit.

At least buttternuts looking good and they can spread a bit now that the sweetcorn isn't there. Trying to look on the bright side...

Just back from the plot. One wigwam of beans blown down, but I think I have managed to save majority and upright it again. Lots of tomatoes so the pasta sauce vat will be on shortly and more cucumber soup. Dd is setting up a stall outside the house to sell cucumbers and courgettes to raise money for the scout jamboree.

I don't get red/pink wee no matter how much beetroot I eat :-(

I've made something similar to lazy chilli before with chillis, a bit worrying when it ate though the rubber seal on the jar though!

Afternoon!
Welcome RomanMum - thats a real annoyance. Do you have a veg patch or allotment ( I'm guessing allotment as 18 sweetcorn plants?) . And whereabouts are you? :) .
The wind in the past has blown down my climbing beans elephant - they usually survive !
it has been alternatively glorious sunshine/monsoon/very windy today. No plot as busy cooking/baking.
Gin - nice to see you - have you been hiding under a courgette mountain?
We don't eat a lot of chillies, but I do open freeze them - works well.

Hi everyone.

I love reading all about what you are harvesting. It's giving me lots of ideas for what to grow in the years to come!

You went to check on my plot this afternoon. I'm really pleased to report that since I pulled the shed down on Monday it doesn't look like anyone has been bedding down there or using drugs. I cleared away all the rubbish on Monday and there is no more in its place. I also left all the personal belongings (clothes, sleeping bag etc) that belonged to the person sleeping in the shed out on the grass and that has all been taken away.

And the best news! Our radishes have popped up so DS will be made up when I tell him later.

Under a courgette and runner bean mountain, yes! We were house sitting for PIL's for a fortnight and MIL gave me strict instructions to eat anything that was ready in her veg patch while we were there. Double the amount of courgettes and runners.... great!

I'm now not letting visitors leave without a courgette and a bag of runners

We also have a tomato mountain, but I don't mind that. I like to snack on tomatoes and DP will have them with his lunch, so we're eating them in time! I'm also paranoid about blight due to the layout of our garden, so I'm frantically gobbling them just incase we lose them

yay to radishes Hound - sounds like they may have moved on , fingers crossed.
Gin - once my tomatoes ripen , all tomato sauces for pasta include courgettes, small chopped runner beans, , french beans , the beans out of runner and french beans - you get the gist :)

Definitely at the glut stage now. I may have slightly over estimated our french bean requirement!

First early potatoes have done really well this year. Sill got a couple of plants to use then we move on to the second earlies. Courgettes still coming on strong.

Had our first butternut squash tonight roasted. It was delicious.

Dd's veg box. She didn't do very well today so we have added to it.

Those vegetables are beautiful. I'd buy them.

Gnome how do you know when butternut squash is ready, do all varieties go yellow?
Grouchy no you wouldn't, you've got enough of your own.

how do I knoe the pumpkin is setting fruit? it's table tennis ball size now and lost the flower.

Gnome - butternut squash already ? which variety did you grow - I am still searching for set fruit - mine always seem to appear late. The crown prince on the other hand - loads of the things!
elephant - the stalk going into the top goes very hard and 'corky' , no softness . Lovely veg box- the red onions and tomatoes particularly beautiful :)
I have found all the beans, broad beans , french and runner open freeze really well , so I don't bother anymore with blanching and drying off now .

bookbook I think it was just something standard from Wilkinsons. They are growing on a hot bed through plastic so get plenty of heat and food which pushes them on.

elephant what a good idea as a fundraiser. That red onion looks great. I am envious, all my red onions bolted.

Morning. The sun is shining here but it is still breezy.

This is a bit late, but NeedMoreTea , yes that picture is like the caterpillars I've spotted. In fact I looked at the ragworts that are growing on the plot and they have quite a few crawling over them in addition to the ones I spotted the other day.

Like bookbook I don't bother to blanch beans before freezing. I just chop them up and freeze them raw. They are OK once cooked.

Last Sunday we harvested all our second early potatoes (Charlottes) which have done well, plus a few main crop which we'd forgotten we'd planted in the same bed (must make better notes next year!). The main crop (Sarpo Mira) were a good size too so, weather permitting, I think we'll try harvesting the rest this weekend to get them up before we go on holiday. Otherwise we'll leave them to it.

We've eaten the first fennel bulbs that I've managed to grow. So really chuffed about that. We've got a glut of blackberries and beans, and I'm running out of space in the freezer.

Welcome to the new people. Hound exciting to see the first crop up and good news that the people seem to have moved on.

RomanMum my sweetcorn have been nibbled by mice the last couple of years which is very annoying because they don't even wait until they are ripe.

Gnome I'm impressed that you have squashes that are nearly ripe already. Mine seem to be a mixed back this year - one or two are quite advanced while others are slacking and need to pull their socks up

I have a question about my perennial cauliflowers - I meant to net them but with the chaos of house sitting/harvest/life I completely forgot, and they have now been completely destroyed by cabbage whites. I have picked off all the caterpillars I could see, but I'm wondering what's best to do now. Should I spray them with something? Should I admit defeat and buy some more plants (that I will net!), or just leave them in the ground and hope they come back to life?

If I net them now, will I just risk trapping the caterpillars that are already there? Help!

Harvest is back on for now so a bit busy. My poor garden is desperate to be weeded. Veg is desperate to be picked. Sigh.

Hi all,

Been a busy week and so I haven't really been out to the kitchen garden. had a look this morning and the sweetcorn all needs staking which is annoying since it was doing really well. the wind has given it a real battering. I have two monster courgette plants but they're not producing much. The others are much smaller but producing more. Very strange.

I think we might dig up a load of potatoes this weekend. we took up two plants a fortnight ago and got a good haul. The plants keep flowering though. Am I supposed to wait until they've stopped completely?

Morning!
bright, but blowing a gale here .
Not sure if I can get up to the plot for anything more than a quick pick of beans and such.
Gnome - hot bed of course - mine are on a lot of manure, but no plastic. I must be patient :)
Gin - I would do your upmost to get rid of all the caterpillars and eggs. ( they are pretty obvious, usually clumps of yellow eggs, and lots of little white ones here and there) Then net them, Brassicas are incredibly resilient, so I suspect will re grow if given the chance .
Newt - I have always waited until the flowers have wilted, but not sure its necessary -

thanks Book. The flowers all disappeared but they're now back.

I'll get the DC to dig up another lot at lunchtime and see what they're doing.

My potatoes looked to have finished flowering and started to collapse before seeming to start growing again. I ended up harvesting some though last weekend and they were more than ready

Just a quick zip to harvest today - I have sweetcorn! oh , and courgettes
......

After saying our blackberries were miles away from being ready it seems everything has ripened up loads over the week despite the weekend.

Picked a tub full, plenty more still to pick and lots more to ripen too. If only all fruit was as easy to grow

Are you going to do anything special with the sweetcorn bookbook

Is it much effort to grow?

They have been eaten tiz .( It is best cooked as soon as possible after picking.) . Very easy to grow , apart from the fact that I seem to have trouble germinating it - but managed enough this year . I hear it freezes well, but suspect none of mine will get anywhere near the freezer -
I am envious of the blackberries - DH won't allow me to grow them , so I have to see if anyone has spare