Search found 8062 matches

by Primrose
Wed Sep 06, 2006 1:39 pm
Forum: Birds, Animals and Livestock
Topic: You must watch this - cute vid
Replies: 10
Views: 5480

Cute Video

Lovely video. I wanted to share it with a couple of animal loving friends but when I clicked on the link again it didn't show up and a box at the top of the website said "This video has been withdrawn due to violations of use" or some such wording. Pity !
by Primrose
Wed Sep 06, 2006 12:23 pm
Forum: Best practices
Topic: Colour of leaves, Recurrants, Blackcurrants
Replies: 4
Views: 2208

Blackcurrant & Redcurrant bush leaves

I planted them all with homemade compost dug in around the roots and in Spring they had a helping of garden-centre bagged composted stable manure forked in the earth about them, plus a light scattering of Rooster Booster poultry pellets. I had a generous yield of fruit from both varieties of bush. I...
by Primrose
Wed Sep 06, 2006 12:16 pm
Forum: Harvesting Q&A
Topic: Making herbed tomatoes
Replies: 2
Views: 2709

Making herbed tomatoes

Many thanks for this Sprout. I have lots of tomatoes piling up so will give it a try. Last time I used a very low temperature slow oven. I see this recipe uses 225 degrees so possibly hot and quick works better than long and slow. Worth another attempt anyway as the freezer is fast filling with bags...
by Primrose
Tue Sep 05, 2006 4:27 pm
Forum: Best practices
Topic: Colour of leaves, Recurrants, Blackcurrants
Replies: 4
Views: 2208

Colour of leaves, Recurrants, Blackcurrants

I have two redcurrant bushes, and one blackcurrant bush. The leaves on the two redcurrant bushes have been a pale light green/yellow for two years whereas the blackcurrant bush leaves are consistently dark green. Is this normal or are my redcurrant bushes lacking in something which is making the col...
by Primrose
Tue Sep 05, 2006 1:21 pm
Forum: General chatter
Topic: Oh no, deceased frog!!!!!
Replies: 5
Views: 2274

Oh no, deceased frogs

Anybody with a pond should beware of mowing their lawns after the end of June when the baby froglets are migrating from the ponds. I now always do a brief visual sweep of the lawn before mowing and mow very slowly indeed ,so that the little creatures can jump out of the way and I don't churn them up...
by Primrose
Tue Sep 05, 2006 12:58 pm
Forum: Readers Recipes
Topic: Plum Jam
Replies: 22
Views: 21081

Plum jam

Delighted you've snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. It was very brave of you to go for the double whammy, but it obviously worked. I suspect part of your problem may have been not boiling for long enough the first time, and secondly, using over-ripe fruit which has lost some of its natural pe...
by Primrose
Tue Sep 05, 2006 12:47 pm
Forum: Readers Recipes
Topic: Blackberry overload
Replies: 9
Views: 5310

Blackberry overload

Have you tried blackberry syrup? Great with ice cream, in porridge or making Hot Blackberry with lemon drink in winter. Need: Campden tablets (for sterlising,) from Chemists,Winemaking shops or Health Food shops. Blackberries, Sugar, Glass screw top bottles Qtr pint water to each pound of fruit 8 - ...
by Primrose
Tue Sep 05, 2006 12:34 pm
Forum: Harvesting Q&A
Topic: Making herbed tomatoes
Replies: 2
Views: 2709

Making herbed tomatoes

Can anybody please tell me how to make those delicious semi-preserved herbed tomatoes which are sometimes sold in delicatessens for a vast price? They arn't simply oven roasted & stored in oil. There's some other process involved and my only attempt at trying to reproduce them last year ended in...
by Primrose
Mon Sep 04, 2006 5:13 pm
Forum: Harvesting Q&A
Topic: Chilies
Replies: 11
Views: 7622

Chillies

Last autumn after my Hungarian Wax chillies had fruited I brought them indoors and pruned them back. They soon started to flower again and even bore a few tiny chillies but at that point they were killed off by whitefly, which also seems to attack my basil plants if I keep them indoors for any lengt...
by Primrose
Mon Sep 04, 2006 5:08 pm
Forum: Harvesting Q&A
Topic: food dryers
Replies: 9
Views: 6133

Oven dried tomatoes

Last year I tried doing some oven dried tomatoes but wasn't exactly sure how far they had to be dried, i.e. whether they should have a little moisture left in them or whether they should be as dry as leather. I dried them for 3 or 4 hours and then covered them in a sterlisied jar with olive oil. How...
by Primrose
Mon Sep 04, 2006 4:55 pm
Forum: Harvesting Q&A
Topic: Sweet Dumpling and Rolet Squashes
Replies: 9
Views: 5394

Harvesting Sweet Dumpling

I think you will certainly enjoy your Sweet Dumpling. When roasted the flesh tasted very similar to baked chestnuts. I've always left my Sweet Dumplings on the vines until virtually all the leaves have withered and as they get riper the green stripes start to appear. By this time the skins should be...
by Primrose
Fri Sep 01, 2006 8:57 am
Forum: Readers Recipes
Topic: Plum Jam
Replies: 22
Views: 21081

Plum jam not setting

How disappointing for you!. In my early married life we once made 25 lbs of marmalade which didn't set so I tried every trick in the book to try rectify my mistake ! How long did you boil it for, and did you use the traditional method boiling on a hob or in a microwave? Do you have a microwave? If s...
by Primrose
Wed Aug 30, 2006 9:00 pm
Forum: General chatter
Topic: Hedgehogs.
Replies: 11
Views: 4195

hedgehogs

Last week spotted the first hedgehog in our garden that we've seen for several years. Have put out lots of meaty catfood to try and encourage it to become a regular, but all the foxes seem to have arrived first and gobbled it up.
by Primrose
Wed Aug 30, 2006 8:52 pm
Forum: General chatter
Topic: Purple carrots
Replies: 2
Views: 1663

Purple carrots

Yes, I got a freebie packet too. Germination was very poor due to the freak weather conditions, but have now cropped a few and the flavour is certainly mind blowing. Did carrots always originally taste like this or have we become so used to eating tastless supermarkets carrots that we've forgotten w...
by Primrose
Wed Aug 30, 2006 8:47 pm
Forum: General chatter
Topic: Hello - another new person
Replies: 28
Views: 7811

Great site

Have just discovered Kitchen Garden Magazine,(courtesy of Daily Telegraph) and this this forum. Now I can sneak away and enjoy hours of pleasureable websurfing during winter evenings while my husband watches football on TV !! Nice to feel I'll be in the company of unknown friends who share my veggie...