Kitchen Garden Forum

Good One Robo!

They were tiny parsnips! I roasted them & some carrots & that turnip tonight. I have never roasted turnips before, but they were the stars. The parsnips were indeed too skinny and went too hard! That Mooli is going into a Chinese chicken noodle broth to give some crunch. Made the stock today, soup tomorrow. Also got a beef stew started & in the fridge, when I finish it will throw some in there as well with the rest of the turnip & some sweet potato & stuff. What mooli is left will be grated into my salads for work with the baby courgettes.

Westi

Pa Snip wrote:

Westi wrote:
PS: The indigo rose tomatoes are from the back garden not lottie, thought it was too cute a truss to risk leaving it outside.

Nice days harvest, a question came immediately to mind, when the toms are in early stages of ripening do they not look like they might have got the dreaded blight

Yes Pa I've grown some of these Black Russian type tomatoes and they do tend to give you a bit of a heart attack when they start to ripen as the blackish streaks can indeed look like early signs of blight. You have the check the rest of the plant's stems and foliage before blood pressure returns to normal levels !

Westi I grated some on our salad that we have just had , the mooli seems to have more bite when it's pulled in mid summer it's probably been to long in the soil

Today's harvest was but a quick one; leeks (Musselburgh), runner beans (Aintree), Kestrel potatoes and the last of the Gigantes (giant beans). Followed by a bit of a clear-up of brassica leaves. Winter digging will have to wait until the bad back improves!

Hi Robo!

I think it is more the size that gives the heat, then when harvested - had some small ones I pulled last winter that had more bite but I've had radishes with even more bite than those, but I like the Mooli's versatility! I'm sure there is lots more you could do with it and as I've got several more I think a bit of research!

Hey Fred! What have you done to your back? Hope it's better soon. Still harvesting runner beans??? Wow!

Westi

Yes I'm surprised runner beans are still being harvested anywhere. Are they in a poly tunnel? . Normally I find they hate the cold nights and the last small developing beans just shrivel up.. Mine are long finshed and their haulms are now, I hope starting to rot down in the trench where next year's ones will be grown.

Westi: Thanks for the concern. I think the back can be classed as old age and having twisted slightly awkwardly when weeding about 8 weeks ago. It just seems reluctant to get back to normal this time, but slowly getting there.

Primrose: The beans are just on the open plot on the lottie, growing up a 2m long by 2m high X-shaped frame. In early September they were pretty much stripped bare (with my blessing) by my son-in-law who was harvesting everything whilst we were on holiday. There appeared to be no beans remaining whatsoever when we returned, but the plants were still good and green, so I left them in rather than consigning them to the compost heap. They are still a luxuriant green with no signs of dying back, and a week ago I noticed that they had produced a fairly copious crop. This goes for both my Aintree and Czar varieties. The plot can be subject to quite strong winds because of its location, and the wind has been strong enough to totally flatten the wigwam of Gigantes. The other runners have thrived and there are still plenty of beans left on the plants. How they will fare now that we are starting to get frosts remains to be seen.

Flippen freezing down lottie today, but got lots done despite's the dogs constant ball throwing game. The dahlias have been put to bed with a nice duvet of muck very kindly turned by the farmer & his tractor and the roses have had their annual hair cut, with more of the wonderful muck on their bed as well.

Surprised with the sharp decline in the whitefly, as only 2 frosts but very happy as will stop the sooty muck on the higher growth. At least the frilly sprouts were untouched and I got a good large lunch bag full, which I will freeze as have a little bit of room in the freezer again now as made loads of soup with the summer produce I had frozen. Took some kale, put extra layers on the mixed salad that is looking fine, manure on the Rhubarb as well. Chillies succumbed to the frost before I could pot them up but that's OK and I found some lovely fresh sorrel in the herb bed that was protected in the corner. Took some beetroot and turnips and have been scribbling away with my to do list & next years planting plan.

So much to do, I want to make lots of changes & fix the convenient placements I made when I took lottie on to appropriate & correct placements - starting with the herb bed! Should be quite fit by Spring methinks!

Westi

I've been picking my new sweetcorn for the past two weeks. It is keeping it's sweetness and the cobs are nearly all well filled and a good size.

Still picking a few last brave French beans but will leave some to bulk up for seed.
The Swiss chard is doing well and thankfully none of the leeks have suffered this year from the mush infection which almost totally wrecked them last year.
Doing my best to ripen all the picked green tomatoes now indoors

The small Prima Bella tomatoes which somebody on here recommended to me a few years ago continue to be a revelation for flavour. Unfortunately I lost the empty seed packets so not sure if they're F1 hybrids and don,t reproduce accurately. - can anybody advise please as I can,t track down where I bought them from. - but have just saved some of their seeds anyway for next year.

None of the listings I've found mention F1. Seeds just over 8p each on eBay (bit of a long link might not work).

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Primabella-r ... fMQAvD_BwE

I’m not harvesting much thanks to our rat problem the poison is working as I’m getting told of nasty smells on different plots the one next door is the worst and he found two dead rats earlier this week I’ve very little sence of smell so no problem for me ,my sweet corn has been decimated by ratty they had all my grapes in the pollytunnel and a few tomatoes they have left the beans alone which I’m taking every day I’ve also got a black sweet pepper it’s a new one for me my two Kentish cob bushes have been kind to me like the apples I don’t know how I’m going to get through them plenty pears ,I pulled two lovely turnips when I tried the carrots I was very disappointed very few spuds this year thanks to blight not a good year

Welcome leyvid!

Quite re-assuring you posted on this & getting the opportunity to read my old posts. This year no mushy dahlias so got to be a better year! (Didn't feel like it at times). Sweetcorn harvested & in the freezer already (lots eaten) - not totally full cobs but like robo have a rat problem so super vigilant & take when I can beat them to it! My overwintering brassica's are way too forward in their growth with this tiny window of warmer weather so could get caught out, but saying that the summer ones are also still in & forming heads - I need more freezer space!

It's not been a good year for some things with the blight, & today I found huge blight on my tunnel toms. Fortunately most fruit was taken but way, way late in the year for blight. But at least I noted it & need their space anyway.

Well done everyone.

Clearing the plot and winding down for Winter.Squashes to pick,part row of carrots,beetroot and a full row of parsnips waiting for the frosts to sweeten them before pulling.Overwintering spring greens and the majority of the plot bare earth to be turned over and
covered.Not a bad year for potatoes and all the beans,mediocre results for everything else.Rubbish weather? There is always next year and planning under way.