Hi, First year ever have I have been successful with cucumbers - even giving them away! With still 12 in the fridge, loads on the plant and I side salad every night (yes even with the roast) are there any more ideas? I'd quite like to pickle some but previous attempt have been rubbish - I never mana...

Hi Colin,

Yes they look healthy - you often see this darkening on the stem. Here's a piccy of one of mine.

Pawty

Hi,

Only one word to describe mid summer...... courgettes!

That's it! Thank you. Sorry, I missed the comment before. Jeff, you're not alone with these little pests!

Sounds like you spray the flowers just in case then? Is it very common? My pods showed no damage.

Thanks again.

Pawty

Hi,

Wedding was last weekend - We used Monica's recipe, and everyone loved it! It was mixed with sparkling water and ice and was served at the same time as the English fizz. A great success - and so many people asked where they could buy it!

Thanks again.

Pawty

Hi, So, I've started harvesting the peas. Sweet and delicious ...... here comes the BUT. In quite a few of the pods are small caterpillars munching on the peas (look more like caterpillars than grubs). Does anyone else have this and can I stop them? No obvious sign of damage to the pods so not sure ...

Hi,

Mr Pawty and I had a bit of a debate ........ once chillies have turned red on a plant, do they continue to get hotter?

Mine are turning red, so do I harvest to encourage more growth, or leave them on the plant to get hotter?

Thanks

Pawty

Hi, Thought I'd share what I did with the manure heap as an experiment as I don't have much space. Half has been spread. The other half has been covered with plastic. I've planted squash plants around the base, which I'm hoping with cover the heap. I'm hoping for a pretty successful crop! Will post ...

We've had rain for the last couple days. Today's problem..... what to do with 18 courgettes......

Pawty

Hi, We've been harvesting charlottes for a few weeks now - excellent as a new, and continues to be good as they grow. A have a pretty good diet now - am a definite meat eater. We travel all over the place, which can be tricky if you don't. Two of our travel friends are vegetarians (who eat fish now)...

Hi, Thank you. I'll give it a try. This particular chilli is in a large pot - all are watered from the base so I can keep an eye on it. It's interesting, I have four chilli plants in the kitchen - the other three which are different varieties all have lots of fruit. We harvested our first red chilli...

Hi, I've grown lots of chilli plants this year - mostly successful. Plants inside and out have loads of fruit. However, I have one 'ghost chilli' plant in the kitchen window which is flowering but is then not fruiting (I.e flowers falling off). It's a heathy plant - pinched out, yet still 3 foot tal...

Hi,

Great pic - but agree, it's not a coal tit - it's a great tit.

Coal tits don't have as much colour and have a white patch on the back of their necks which is surrounded by black (Mr Pawty is a want to be twitcher so it's always a lesson in our house!)

Pawty

Hi, I grew them one year in a large pot outside. I would say they grew larger than a chilli plant - more like a bushy tomato plant. Tasted good but fruit were a lot smaller than those you get at the greengrocer. But , very pretty, so a good addition to the garden if you have space. I have a habit of...

Hi, Here's a couple of my chilli 'chanzo'. These are kept in the windowsill - same conditions. The one on the left is pinched, the one on the right isn't. The one that's pinched is much bushier, but the one which isn't has more fruit earlier. Will be interesting to see what the final weigh in is! Pa...