Allotment/Veg Patch Thread 12! Plotmenters hoping for better weather

[bookbook]

Well, previous thread is nearly full, and I am busy the next couple of days, so thought I had better get this up and ready.
Thanks for the plot title Una
Everyone welcome to join in and share their experiences, tips, the woes and joys of growing their own .
Summer and harvests here we come ( and we''ll do our best to beat the pests)
Previous thread HERE

same here tiz with soft fruit. I think the cost is all in the picking in truth!

Evening!
well I managed a good stint at the plot this morning. Perfect weather , a bit cloudy with a bit of breeze, not too hot. Managed to dig out some old leaf celery plants that had gone to seed - its been too dry before now. That bit will be ready to plant up winter cauliflowers and cabbages . Then dug up more sad potatoes - a small haul. At least the weeds are coming out easily . All the rain we had has gone . I have done years of mulching on the plot, so it managed to be not bone dry , but back to watering again .
I cut sweet peas , which are trying to give up , dahlias and cosmos .
Picked the green and purple beans . I finally have a few runners set .
I went and checked in my brassica cage , as I had noticed a couple of my sprout plants were looking a bit odd. Full of blackfly for goodness sake , so sprayed every plant in there really well with dilute washing up liquid. I picked the bits of calabrese which had sprouted after cutting the main head off.
I gave away my courgettes ( ) and in return got 3 cabbages ( they were starting to split due to the rain a few days ago ) and a bag of tomatoes , so tomorrow is making tomato pasta sauce :)
Victoria plums are small, but starting to ripen quickly

evening
no plot today as was out. Feel guilty as I should at least have gone and watered, it was hot today, due to be hotter tomorrow

So instead, a greenhouse haul .
Tomato and veg sauce for pasta made tonight with the peppers ( small, odd shapes , but lovely flavour) and aubergines , an ahem large courgette and chopped up green beans , along with the tomatoes I was given yesterday . My San Marzano are finally starting to ripen, at long last

As always I'm really enjoying seeing all the lovely harvest pictures. We're away this week so I have no idea how much rain there was at the weekend at home but I'm hoping there was plenty!

When I left I had flowers on my squash but no fruits - I think they were all male flowers. Is it just pot luck whether I get male and female together and actually get a squash?? No flowers on the purple climbing beans (though the plants have now grown right to the top of their supports), lots of tomatoes on one plant but all still stubbornly green and a few flowers on the other tomato plants. I've got some beetroot in as well - probably a daft question, but how will I know when they're ready to harvest?

So at the moment it feels like there's lots of potential but nothing coming to fruition yet. I'm actually looking forward to getting home to see how it's all doing 🤞🏻

I need to put some things in to overwinter when I get home, though I think I'm a bit late...

As always I'm really enjoying seeing all the lovely harvest pictures. We're away this week so I have no idea how much rain there was at the weekend at home but I'm hoping there was plenty!

When I left I had flowers on my squash but no fruits - I think they were all male flowers. Is it just pot luck whether I get male and female together and actually get a squash?? No flowers on the purple climbing beans (though the plants have now grown right to the top of their supports), lots of tomatoes on one plant but all still stubbornly green and a few flowers on the other tomato plants. I've got some beetroot in as well - probably a daft question, but how will I know when they're ready to harvest?

So at the moment it feels like there's lots of potential but nothing coming to fruition yet. I'm actually looking forward to getting home to see how it's all doing 🤞🏻

I need to put some things in to overwinter when I get home, though I think I'm a bit late...

Sorry for the double post - internet connection is a bit dodgy

Beetroot - you can harvest at any size from about golf ball onwards. You can see the size of it where the stalk meets the ground. You can always gently push a bit of soil away to get a closer look and put it back again without bothering the plant.

Squash - I think there are lots of male flowers first and then the female ones. So it helps to have several plants so that there is more chance of fertilising. I'm sure someone with more expert knowledge can tell you more!

We had actual rain last Sunday and again overnight on Monday/Tuesday. The ground was actually still looking damp yesterday when I visited. Lots of blackberries at the moment which I am freezing. Beans have definitely found it too hot, crop has not been that good. My broccoli is finally starting to form the heads which I quite exciting as I've not grown it before. I've also harvested more lettuce - this has done well this year - and spinach and chard. They went straight in the freezer to be put in stews, etc in the autumn when I can face cooking again!

It's hot here again but I am planning to go and do some weeding this afternoon and have a tidy up. We're off on holiday next week so things will have to take their chances once we're away.

Another half kilo of blackberries and 3 more patty pan squash, that's 20 in total now. Loads more on the plant too.

Think I might pull the rest of the potatoes tomorrow and get some carrots in and free up some space for spring cabbage.

And finally! I've been waiting so long for these to ripen I feel like I need to have some sort of ceremony when we eat them!

Oooh @tizwozliz they look delicious! Mine are all still green, but I've given the leaves a major trim in the hope the sun will get to the tomatoes and move things along a bit!

Beetroot, lettuce and basil from the garden for tea last night - first harvest of the year and it was delicious

Trying to post a photo of my stripey beetroot but the app won't let me for some reason

@Cedar03 thank you for the beetroot tips my squash plant is now covered in buds (if you call them that on a squash?!) so I have my fingers crossed for at least one fruit 🤞🏻

Going to make marrow chutney today. Does anyone have any particular recipes they'd recommend?

Some lovely harvest photos/posts.

I have not given enough time to watering sadly so potato harvest is smaller, though with less slug damage. Beans are reduced too. Pumpkins however - well I will be giving them away and they are orange now. Butternut squash have done poorly.

Something/one ( last year lots of thefts at the plots) has had all the red and green gooseberries from the fruit cage and ditto with half of the strawberries. But lots of tiny blueberries and blackcurrants to pick at least.

My courgettes keep growing to marrow size - I blink and miss them. No idea what to do with them.

Yesterday's harvest. I'd also picked some dahlias and cosmos from the "cutting" bed earlier in the day.

The broad beans seem to have stopped flowering after only a small harvest - and lots of growth above the last beans I've tried nipping off the tops to see if that stimulates anything.

None of my tomatoes are reddening (or yellowing in the case of the Peardrop hanging basket) yet - although yesterday the tomatoes on one of the plants looked slightly less bright green

Morning!
I have had a busy few days, so mainly running in , watering and harvesting .
tiz - I have a good marrow chutney recipe ( it won 1st in my local show , so must be okay ) Its in a book though, so will dig it out and post later. Those patty pans are just going forever!
Yesterday I went , and the top of my little plum tree had broken off - whether due to the fruit, or I haven't watered it enough, or the wind snapped it, I don't know. I have picked all the plums - mostly unripe, but will try to sort something out with them .
I have lots of soup/sauce and chutney to make in the next couple of days. I have picked one cauliflower, but I have another 3 ready to pick .
last 3 days harvests ( including a sunflower which had blown over ) but tomatoes are going red at last

One of the branches of my prolific and very old Victoria plum tree snapped a few years ago, we think under the weight of the plums.

The tree is still fine

I'm going to be making loads of plum jam, plum chutney, plum gin and preserved plums

Thanks pretty - thought it would be okay, just a shame on a young tree , and I had thinned the plums too!
tiz - after scratching of head, I realised I used a Hugh F-W recipe its called courgette glutney
HERE

I've made his Glutney using green tomatoes and plums. It's very tasty! Iirc (I now use a different recipe), it takes quite a whole to reduce - but that might have been cos I was using a different combination of ingredients.

I am a big fan of Marguerite Pattern - I have her jams/pickles and chutneys recipe book. It covers everything and its nice and adaptive.
I made her fruit and veg pickle the other week. Though you are supposed to leave it to mature, I kept the tag end in a bowl to see what it was like - well, its all gone ......

Thanks bookbook - I've decided it's too hot for chutney making today though or much else so i'm just going to sit and crochet and admire my pumpkin from afar

First potatoes are up and set aside to harden.

All your harvests are looking great! I haven't posted for a few weeks as have been so busy... but, have enjoyed catching up with the thread.
It is absolutely baking here - our thermometer read 39.5 degrees yesterday afternoon, and it has been about the same today! We've also had no rain for ages. My peppers, chillies, tomatoes, figs, aubergines etc... are absolutely loving it. But my sweetcorn and beans are pretty much a write-off - it has just been too hot for them and there is a limit to how much water I can realistically give them. I have been putting the sprinkler on them a couple of times a week, but it hasn't been enough for them. I have been harvesting dozens of super hot chillies though! And the figs have been such a treat!

Lovely harvest pictures. We had lots of lettuce in the salad yesterday. I think they will start bolting soon - the Webs ones anyway.

Picked more blackberries and trying to squeeze them into the freezer.

Heat has definitely affected the beans. Nowhere near the crop we normally get from them. It is supposed to cool down so we might get a second chance in a few weeks, if we're lucky.

I was thinking of making fruit leather with some of the blackberries but will probably freeze for now as I can't be bothered to stand in kitchen cooking!

French/fine beans last night for supper. The plants have never really grown though, so I don't think I'll be getting many more off them.