Allotment/Veg Patch Thread 16 Weather weirdness prevails !

[bookbook]

Hello to everyone !
pull up a garden chair and join in with the trials and tribulations of growing your own , against the odds of weather , pests and diseases.
Previous thread is HERE

I like that recipe Easily I might try it in the week. I have got my cucumbers brining and made runner bean chutney last week.

I occasionally take chunks of cucumber and mix with greek yogurt, chopped mint and black pepper - looks like I could serve variations on that more widely, rather than just with spicy (hot) stuff. Probably won't pickle, as it's only me that would eat it.

There's a recipe on the BBC site for fried stuffed cucumbers that might be worth trying.

I wonder what cucumber sorbet is like?

And you can "grill"" them too - anything that makes it less obvious that I'm serving cucumber for both lunch and tea!

Evening!
we had a tiny splash of rain at long last - not enough , but better than nothing .
So , I was able to do a bit of weeding , and prepping up one of the small areas ready for spring greens . I picked french beans and a couple of courgettes , a cabbage , and even found a few peas on the row I sowed a few weeks ago as a 'well why not ' - DGS enjoyed podding and eating them raw when he came today .
This afternoon , I pricked out cauliflower and spring greens seedlings . I have over sown a bit - I have lots and lots of spring greens ....

I've done cucumber sorbet a couple of years ago. It's kind of like something imo you would use as a 'palette cleanser' between courses. I guess it could be used as bulker for other fruit sorbets.

It's kind of like something imo you would use as a 'palette cleanser' between courses. That makes it sound like toothpaste

Though I think that was the original function of sorbets.

Lots of rain here yesterday so water butts full to the brim again.

Picking tomatoes, blackberries and mange tout every day

My tomatoes are in a sulk because of the cold weather earlier on - they simply stopped producing. They now have small tomatoes coming, but nowhere near the size for ripening yet.

I'm also having tomato disappointment @MereDintofPandiculation. Have got some that have been full size for days/weeks and they just aren't ripening! Have managed to pick two cherry toms, and one big one, both from self seeded plants rather than the ones we grew! My squash and sweetcorn are doing well though so makes up for some lack of tomato.

The slugs have a taken a likening to my big tomatoes but at least we've had some good downpours in the last few days.

My tomatoes are ripening now pretty well - in fact the San Marzano are ripening at the same time as the Roma ones , and they are normally last to , along with the salad St Pierre . I have a bit of damage from the heat - even though I watered regularly , some of the San Marzano have end rot , but I have found they seem to be more prone than others . The poor scorched leaves though from the very hot spell- I am cutting those back , and thinning the leaves out around the fruit to help get some air around them . Bowl I picked before taking the pics on the bushes - more tomorrow :)

Looks like it's going to be a good year for tomatoes for me too. Everything ripening nicely now it's got started. Tidied up some of the tattier looking leaves today.

Onions are the big disappointment this year, picked a few today as all trying to bolt. No idea what happened to the red onions I planted as I sowed a mix but have had no red onions at all.

More blackberries picked today, destined for the freezer. Plenty more still to ripen too.

I was going to tidy up and get rid of some of the peas that are past it , but they're too entwined with the mystery squash I've encouraged up the A Frame so that's on hold.

More tomato woes here. Mine are ripening nicely but all the rain is causing them to split. I had beautifully ripening tomatoes.. now all I'm left with are to-martyrs.

Any tips to help? I've been picking them green to ripen indoors. As soon as they're almost red they split again.

@Rookiegardener that is annoying! I'm having that with some of my cherry toms but the large varieties seem ok. Although a massive branch of my Aunt Ginny's purple snapped off during the storm. Has about 4 toms on but all are at the stage when they would have gone on to ripen so brought them indoors in the hopes they will still go red (well technically pinky red with purple stripes!)

@RestorationInsanity hopefully they'll ripen. Banana can always be a last resort I guess. Do you have any pictures of this variety? Sounds interesting.

My friend just showed me her tomatoes which have 'all suffered sunburn and are damaged from too much heat'... they've turned purple . I had to tell her that's the variety she was gifted and in fact they look almost ready to pick .

I will take some pics of the green ones tomorrow and here's a link to where I bought them. I thought I'd try them as they're a German variety and reliable outside even if the weather isn't so favourable (didn't realise how much hot weather we'd have this year!) www.victoriananursery.co.uk/

@Rookiegardener I love the idea of sunburned tomatoes!

Evening
well, usually splitting tomatoes is when they have had too much watering , but don't know if that applies to these?
tiz - fab pics!
The bigger tomatoes have done better for me than the cherry ones this year , for some reason - probably as the cherry ones are a bit earlier , so got held back by the cold weather .
I have had trips to the allotment yesterday ( weeding and picking ) and today clearing up a bed ready for the overwintering cauliflowers and spring greens- happened to come across a camouflage courgette , as you do .
Had plenty of rain overnight too , which saved a fair bit of watering. :)

I might actually have a surplus of tomatoes soon, never thought I'd see that day. And they've all been outside from May/June this year.

I've had a few cherry tomatoes split but generally when they're ripe and I've dealt with them by putting them straight in my mouth :-)

Just wanted to say thank you to everyone for the encouragement... I'm still not feeling great, have been asked to take a Covid test (although I don't think it's that), the garden is a tip and it's as much as I can do to keep my herbs indoors alive! If I'm not feeling better by Monday then I'll contact the GP and see if I can at least get a triage appointment, tricky when the DC aren't back at school but I'll have to manage somehow. Hopefully I will be back gardening soon but in the meantime, it's lovely to read everyone's updates!

Sorry to hear that, Ruby. Hope you're better soon. Meanwhile, keep spending time in the garden, even if it is a tip (or as I like to think of it, wildlife refuge) - I've just read something to the effect that research has shown that hospital patient who can look out on to greenery recover more quickly and need less pain relief than those who look out on to a brick wall.

First sweetcorn of the season, it's boiling on the stove now. Hurrah!

I've been dodging rain showers today, hacking back blackberries, weeding and sowing spring onions randomly where I've had bare soil. Also had to tie up some of the tomatoes, the wind did some damage yesterday but nothing unrecoverable I think.

Picked up a Loganberry from the bargain basement section of the local garden centre but still need to decide where it's going to go.

Still picking tomatoes and blackberries and the odd mange tout. A few raspberries too, for some reason my raspberries come at a rate of about 5 a week from June until September, never many at any one time. Also found a few missed potatoes when digging over one bed.

Congrats @elephantoverthehill. Lovely harvest as always @tizwozliz

My biggest tomato yielder snapped in half today. Came off clean (so much for staking it). Lost (yes, I counted) 120 cherry tomatoes . Feel gutted. I've got it in a vase of water and am hoping the bigger tomatoes ripen. Some are totally raw and unready and others are fresh tiny buds which won't amount to anything now. Such a shame. I'm still so gutted.

Rookie Fingers crossed, you might get lucky and get roots.

Afternoon!
oh no Rookie , definitely worth putting somewhere sunny to see what will ripen .
Ruby -sorry to hear things are not improving health wise , and hope you get some answers. Do not let fretting about gardening stop you from recovering . it really will wait for you to be ready .
tiz - so jealous of the blackberries .My autumn raspberries are statring to ripen , so will have some to pick soon.
Well, we have had some stupendous rain showers here the last few days , so no need to water at least.
Today I did a lot of weeding , picked a cauliflower, french beans and a courgette . Some of the leeks are going to flower , so dug those up too - I still use them , they just need the hard flower stalk taking out of the middle. I dug up another courgette plant too - it had definitely succumbed to virus but Defender still seems to be managing nicely . I will grow that again next year . I put tiles under the set squashes - the ground is now soggy, so wanted to stand them off the soil .