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

Send them to me, Frouby. Mine are still reluctant to grow fruit.

Ate my first tomato (DD1 stole the actual first one, the minx). So delicious.

Made some blackcurrant concentrate today. Looks nice with the two little jars of jam I have left. Need to make a larder for these things!

Is that Yeabridge Green on the right Grouchy? - impressive amount of blackcurrant!

Heh, no, 'tis Dulux's Celtic Moors 2. I think.

I forgot the word "plum" in my previous post, which is what the jam is.

Morning!
Busy again today , but there again, we had the most amazing thunderstorm and heavy rain last night, so probably a bit wet anyway.
I did manage to squeeze a few minutes to prick out my spring cabbage seedlings yesterday morning , and that is it.
Need to get to the plot tomorrow - I am a bit fearing what has happened while my back has ben turned !
Hoping I have something to pick that looks half way tidy for our fruit and veg show on Saturday .
Frouby - great picture!
Grouchy - You need to run quick to get to the tomatoes first ! And a pantry is a lovely thing ,filled with home made things.

Two things that are growing in abundance in my garden: purple beans and sweet peas.

Beautiful sweet peas grouchy! Ours have gone mad as well!

Our purple beans are probably another 1/2 weeks from being pickable, similar story for the runner beans, but I'm happy they'll be pickable at all. Earlier in the season it felt like the beans were never going to get going but they've now reached up and over the apex of their climbing arch (which is over 2m tall).

Our tomatoes are DELICIOUS this year so far. Last year they were good but a wee bit dry. I can't believe how juicy and sweet they are this year. Very pleased. I think I'm going to grow Craigella for ever as they never let us down. The san marzanos and gardener's delight haven't set as many fruits this year as in previous years but they taste great. We also planted a freeby packet called 'orange queen' the fruits of which are still green but absolute mutants (like the size of an orange mutant!).

Afternoon!
Grouchy - they are lovely , and purple beans are my favourite ( they freeze well too)
clara - same here with tomatoes - just a tweak later on ripening, but the St Pierre I am growing are a much better flavour this year for some reason - its hardly been a good summer either!
Still very busy, but zoomed to the plot this morning to pick everything I could. Haven't been since Sunday. Its our fruit and veg show tomorrow, so I want to try and find something to take and show. I had high hopes of calabrese, but they have blown ( okay for eating though) - I have one small and one ginormous courgette ,lots of french beans, all curly ... you get the gist. But I do have a nice cauliflower at least, some lovely sweetcorn , and some straight runner beans . Luckily , one of the categories is one of each of four different veg on a tray - so hopefully I can do that, ( I have some nice shallots too ) along with my cauliflower.

Afternoon all

I want to do a veg show too! We have the local town show at the beginning of September, might have a look.

It's got to be easier than bathing filthy white ponies!

Been plotmenting this morning. Got the dcs picking runner and french beans. I didnt realise there were so many. Filled an m and s bag for life with them. And left some smaller ones on. Also got about 10 tomatoes, 2 courgettes, about 1lb of blackberries, 12 chillis and a couple of cucumbers. Oh and 2 bottles of wine from plotment neighbour for looking after his chickens while he was away.

Have spent the afternoon processing the beans and have about 15 packs of french beans and 10 packs of runner beans blanched and frozen. Definitely need to invest in one of those gizmos to do your runner beans.

Tomorrow I need to do some weeding and try and tie the tomatoes and beans back up where they are a bit fliopy about.

Well not really garden news but today we got 3 chickens! I am completely out of my depth , my kids are beyond excited ( first pets) and now at least someone appreciates my bolted spinach.

Still at war with the slugs and thinking of investing in some nematodes. I'm doing a nightly slug patrol with a flashlight at the moment and it's a bit gruesome. Otherwise in a bit of a lull at the moment, things that have done well are now past it but the things I planted a bit later aren't quite there yet. I definitely need to plan my succession sowing a bit better next year.

Also starting to plan the layout of the extra raised beds I'm going to construct in the autumn and my lean to greenhouse. If you've built raised beds before, is there anything you'd definitely do again/do differently?

The ones we built previously on a budget are as pictured and l don't know whether to just do the same again (originals had to be moved for shed construction) or spend a bit more now we're in a position to do so. This is all in the garden not on an allotment so it's about aesthetics as well as practicality.

Not really veg patch related, but gladioli I planted 5 years ago have flowered for the first time ever this year which I'm really happy about.

Chickens are fab, Cathpot.

I have tomato blight

Feeling glum.

We have been using [[https://www.universalpallets.com/product/euro-pallet-collar/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIl_6JjYTj1QIVxrDtCh1vbgEYEAQYAiABEgIoafD_BwE
pallet collars]] as raised bed. Cheap and cheerful, come in a variety of sizes.

Really busy, but had to pop on - I won 2nd prize for my cauli in the show this morning! -

Well done book

Well done book.

I'm curious though, what exactly do judges look for in a prize winning cauliflower. I obviously haven't got the eye for it as all cauliflowers look pretty much the same to me!

Yay! That is very cheering book - in times of bad news there is something very reassuring about the fact people find time to judge cauliflowers. It looks very nice indeed.

tiz your beds are so neat. I cant post a picture of mine after that- psb like a lace hanky and everything else bolting . Did no gardening and instead sat in the garden with kids watching chickens pootle about.

I hope you are going to frame that certificate Book and hang it on the downstairs loo wall. Well done! I am pickling cucumbers tonight and another vat of pasta sauce on the go.

That's when they were first done cathpot, not nearly so neat now.

Evening!
Right, able to go back and read posts now :)
Frouby - how many beans! fabulous haul of stuff
Cath - a little bit of normality helps. Chickens? - I keep on thinking of chickens, but as we go away for 3 weeks in Jan/Feb every year it seems a bit unfair to foist the upkeep on someone else.
tiz - lovely gladioli - no advice on raised beds though, as I don't have any.
I have no idea on judging caulis . I nearly didn't take it , as it had grown a lot since I first spotted it , and it was a bit lumpy, with a tinge of pink starting. The one that came first was a bit smoother , and very white.( I think I should have covered the curd with broken leaves to protect it) Mine was very big though, (weighed well over 4lb) so maybe that helped!
Imbroglio - oh no - any chance of rescuing the fruit?

Hello all, posted before but only sporadically.

I'm drowning in courgettes and tomatoes. Maybe I should make relish or chutney?

Ps. Made chocolate courgette muffins - delicious!

Congratulations on your beautiful caulis, books!

Crikey Book, that cauli is ace!

I have beans coming like billy o now, and cannot find the OH's bean slicer, since we redid the kitchen so need to go out tomorrow and get another one.

Still only 1 courgette, a Trombe d'Albenga if you please, and a mere 4 inches long. I took it off as taking the first fruit often spurs the plant into making more. Might start to actually feed it now, as I started so late this year and I am missing courgette mayhem.

If you have tomato blight, please take all the toms and wash them, they can still be used in cooking and a fair few will still ripen.

One of my favourite recipes that uses up beans is a spiced runner bean chutney; you can use Delia's recipe www.deliaonline.com/recipes/type-of-dish/spicy-recipes/spiced-pickled-runner-beans if you don't already have one.

Hi pameladoove I am making vats of slow cooker pasta sauce. Onion, garlic, courgette, tomato puree, season with sugar, salt and pepper, any herbs to hand and tomatoes. Leave it cook and then blitz it and freeze in polythene bags. During the winter I will add mince for spag bog or lasagne, anchovies and capers for tart's spaghetti, boil it to concentrate if for pizza topping or use it for a soup base. We had it tonight cooked over white fish and prawns with added chilli. Unfortunately many of my tomatoes were blighted but still lots to make sauce. Last year I ended up just freezing the cherry tomatoes whole. A friend suggested roasting them to use for soup. It was very good. If I had more cherry tomatoes this year I would try oven drying them and storing under oil. Ds wanted to try and make tomato ketchup, I was reminded of a Doris Day movie! Maybe next year.

Evening all

Massive well done Book. You need a frame for it. Bet you were chuffed to bits. I know I would be.

Are the bean slicers good? Think I will get one for next year.

Bought a spiralizer this week. I quite like spiralized courgette on a salad. Very fresh.

Am absolutely bloody knackered. We finally got the last of the inherited hill leveled off today. The hill was a massive pile of what we thought was topsoil but was in actual fact a 5ft by about 8ft round pile of broken glass, bits of wood and various other types of crap. We sifted through it by hand, seperated the glass and binned it up, topped the burning pile up and raked the soil over. Absolutely backbreaking but everything looks so much better. The council have also started to move the rubbish we have piled up at the top of the plot so the end is in sight on the clearing mission.