Late Summer Bit and Bobs.

[Primrose]

Too hot to be outside this afternoon so Mr Primrose has been busying himself sorting out out kitchen utensil drawer which was in a big jumble.

. He found 6 Victorinox potato peelers (one for -every decade of our marriage - 57 years tomorrow !! ). No doubt some were replaced after their predecessors spent lengthy disappearances in a compost heap after being accidentally dumped in our kitchen compost crock at various times.

We also had several good surplus sharp kitchen knives acquired over the years which we have no idea how to safely dispose of. Obviously they can't go to a charity shop and we know of no police knife amnesty in our area! Perhaps we should bury them at the bottom of our next new compost heap. At least they'd be safely out of harm's way for a while!

[Westi]

Way to hot to have gone down today really but with the current temps & already missing a day I thought I should check & water the tunnel & needy plants. Hose queue was way long so I was grateful I filled the butts, but found it quicker to dip the little trugs into my big trugs I filled with water, ready for the heatwave! Finally able to empty some of them so they can be tucked away for next year.

This wee bit of heat has really upset the legumes, the runners, peas, broad beans & french beans are getting big seeds quickly, broccoli trying to flower & not setting full compact heads, a couple of soft lettuce have all but expired but hoping will revive. Tunnel crops are fine but they are well used to high temps. I was literally dripping sweat, much to the dogs annoyance! She was tucked under the trees today in the shade & had the ice brick thing in her water bowl to keep it cold & the cool blanket & for once stayed there & didn't follow me around.

[Primrose]

Interesting you mentioned the heat affecting seed development. Westi
In the past few days all the French beans we,re picking seem to ha ne developed beans in them so large they,re unpleasant to try and eat. At least there will be no shortage of beans for seed next year if we,re still able to grow stuff but I wonder what will happen to the bean pods from tomorrow if the temperature suddenly drops rapidly again

[Stravaig]

I am a knife freak! And some husbands buy their wife jewellery, mine buys me knives. But there are some I no longer use. Yeah, charity shops won't take them. I thought I'd take the ones I no longer want to our local fishmonger shop. They might want some of 'em or perhaps take them home. Whatever, I don't mind but I feel sure they'll find a good home for them.

We're not originally from this area and we've spent as much time away as 'home' here so we don't know many people. There's a block of students' accommodation across the road. When I was a student I was always skint and I'd have been glad of good kitchen kit. But knives are classed as potential weapons these days so one needs to be careful about them. Might as well put a gun into unauthorised hands.

[Westi]

Primrose, I was thinking the same, so after a check of the forthcoming temps I am going to pick off all the beans I can feel are too seedy. I still have a few flowers & bunches of tiny ones so hopefully with the cooler temp they might continue development. Just the runners & French beans, the broad beans are huge but I can use them as double podded you can just boil them a little longer or blitz them.

I don't expect too much as the day length has really shortened but I have had a pretty good harvest to date & enough in the freezer for a while. Rained most of the day today, (not forecast), so they should be happier getting a good gentle water & temp holding for the next couple of weeks around 18C.

[Primrose]

Westi. I've posted in Ask the Team if dried beans from French bean pods can be used for soup. I,ve googled but got mixed results. One response was that they CAN'T be used but no explanation why. . But the dried beans (seeds) look similar to haricot beans which you definitely CAN use for soups so hoping to get a definitive answer.

[robo]

Primrose, donate your sharpe kitchen knives to a local sea angling club

[Primrose]

Keeping tomsto blight at bay.
I,ve been reading what a bad year for blight it,a been for outdoor tomatoes this summer. We still have a lot of unripened fruit on our plants and was wondering whether completely covering them in garden fleece would protect tem. I,d rather leave fruit to ripen on the plants if possible rather pick the remainder now.

Realise blight spores are microscopic in size and fleece might not be an adequate barrier. Any thoughts anybody?

Nobody else round here in the immediate vicinity seems to grow tomatoes. Wonder if that helps?

[Westi]

Hi Primrose, before I had the tunnel & all were grown outside I recycled some perplex sheets I was offered. I used these on 3 sides with the front opened but secured them with longish bamboo stakes to raise the temp a bit & protect from the wind. If blight was expected I covered the lot with collected plastic, bubblewrap & stuff; but long lengths that I just taped together. These were draped over the whole structure & secured about 1 1/2ft away from the edges, so basically waterproofed the structure so spores could not get in falling or running off. Watering was a pain but worked pretty well.

Fleece will get drenched & spores will drop through. Maybe you could get a plastic hoop tunnel but most aren't tall enough for toms. It so close to end of season I'd mooch around for something, maybe a tarp cover??

[Primrose]

Thanks Westi. The tomato poles are up against a south facing fence, and yes, on thinking about it I realise fleece would get drenched a sag onto the tomato leaves, so not really a solution.

I think we'll probably just have to go with the flow, pick what's starting to ripen and finish them off indoors. To be fair, there's arnt many totally green ones left now and we'v had a really good crop so may just have to take the hit!

[oldherbaceous]

I have just noticed, the ticks to show a new post, are pulsating….is this a new thing, or have I just been very unobservant?

[Westi]

I've not noticed OH, maybe new or maybe I'm not paying attention.

[Westi]

I'm critter'd out today! Neighbour put up a scare crow up for the kids, dog walked passed it loads of times before she noted it; (it's not big in her defence), but I wasn't impressed with her hiding behind me while I was trying to do things but I came out unscathed.

I've got leek moth in my summer leeks which were covered in mesh, all pulled now & some were salvageable. I haven't looked too closely at the winter ones which are the opposite end of the plot & also fully covered but isn't boding well if the gits found a way in to the summer ones. At least I have some I suppose & a quick glance shows the winter ones standing & not all turned to mush.... yet!

[Primrose]

Not really veggie related, but here's an odd query received from a contact of mine this morning. Does anybody have any ideas how the egg might have appeared?

"A funny thing has happened recently, I keep finding whole chicken eggs on the trampoline in my garden! They have a serial number on them, but I can’t seem to trace it on the internet. The trampoline is impenetrable and has high netted sides, so a bird would have to fly in to keep the eggs whole! I’m sure they would break if dropped! I thought I’d mention it to you in case you have any ideas what it might be!"

[Stravaig]

Primrose, it sounds to me as though someone is playing a trick. I don't know.