2022 harvests

Harvesting and preserving your fruit & veg

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oldherbaceous
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Oh Primrose, that made me chuckle to myself…. :)
Kind Regards, Old Herbaceous.

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Primrose
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Just one ladybird spotted on our row of blackfly infested beans. With the best will in the world she,s not going to solve the problem and has probably gone on strike after deciding she doesn,t like Fairy liquid tasting insects, so maybe that wasn't an ideal solution. Not sure where all the "good" insects have gone this summer. Very few ladybirds spotted here. Do you remember that summer when thousands of them arrived from the continent? . Seems once plants have a certain level of infestation it becomes a losing battle to overwhelm them as we prefer to garden organically.

Our beans need a two hour soak in cold water to kill all the blackfly before we can cook or freeze them.

At least the slugs are hating this hot dry weather but the latest sowing of lettuces have refused to germinate in the heat.
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oldherbaceous
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I find going over the plants with a stiffish paint brush, works wonders…..and i’m not joking, you can get about 90% of them quite easily….
Kind Regards, Old Herbaceous.

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Primrose
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Thanks OH. i,ll tell the newly promoted Head Gardener that and see how he gets on. Our next door neighbour will no doubt wonder what he,s doing out in the garden at 6 am in his pyjamas with a paintbrush painting the beans !
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The french beans are suddenly there.
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The yellow (monte gusto) were first a day or two ahead of the green (cobra) but maybe I just noticed them first! Purple (purple cascade) are a little behind.
And on the plate, nearly as promised. Steamed the purple do keep some colour.
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Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool.
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Primrose
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They look lovely. You just can,t buy these easily in commercial outlets can you?.
And they freeze beautifully for ages , especially if frozen loose so you can just grab a handful as needed.
tigerburnie
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They do look nice, I grew heaps last year and as my wife dosn't eat them I sort of over dosed on them, not grown any this year, just Broad Beans for a change.
Been gardening for over 65 years and still learning.
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Primrose
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Picked first two ripe tomatoes, one red, one yellow, from my tumbling plants whichalways mature ewrlier.

Reminded me of the first time i grew yellow ones years ago asa novelty then. . Offered one to our then window cleaner who thought i was trying to poison him because yellow tomato's didn't exist and "they were probably a variety of deadly nightshade,". Even when I showed him the plant growing in the tomato area and he could compare the foliage with all the other red varieties he was still too mistrustful to pop one into his mouth.

We still laugh about that when eating our "poisonous" tomatoes but it does illustrate how our range of popular foods has widened over the years. When I was a child tomatoes were only red and eaten when in season. Now they're red, yellow, black, striped and available all year round!
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We have had about a dozen of Gardeners Delight tomatoes off our three plants (in the greenhouse) and, hopefully, lots more to come. The sweet pepper plants have also revelled in the heat but are still all green.
Westi
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Weirdly one of my big toms have given me 3 toms already with about 6 baby yellow pear. Not sure of it's name without checking but I thought it looked pretty & it's a beefsteak which I prefer on my salad sarnies as they don't make the bread soggy. Peppers doing OK but a way to go.
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Westi
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Primrose
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That's a rather bizarre colour combination Westi. Would be interested to know whether it's a disfigured "one off" or whether all the other fruits on the plant have the same colouring.
Westi
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Hi Primrose,

They are meant to look like that. Inside they are pinkish flesh very few seeds. I'll check the name tag when down tomorrow.
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Lifted my second early tatties, I'd like to tell you what they are but I can't remember, they taste nice though, what ever they are. :)
Been gardening for over 65 years and still learning.
Westi
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Hi Primrose,

The name tag didn't help as it wasn't in English & 1/2 smudged but started with Gio however I did a little search & in English it is Mr Stripey. I will grow again just due to the fact it is so early & nice taste as I like mine to have a touch of acidity. I also noted today 2 of the other beefsteaks have ripening fruit as well. Even though I was very strict with myself with my selections, as usual I received wee plants as gifts & trades - the usual. And my cherry toms that self sow each year are also fruiting outside - oops so much for good intentions.

Along this theme but not tomatoes, the 2 older couples in the close I give veg to bought me some broccoli plants. From an offer in the Sunday paper they get, both bought 1 offer each which was 12 plants of 4 varieties. Well that's 24 + the 8 I had to resow from the rat attack which are doing nicely & then I did a later direct sow a couple of weeks ago which is another 8 which are up. I'm not sure how many I will get as I have club root on the plot & the 'offer' ones were not labeled but to date they are looking OK. I kind of suspect expect broccoli is their favourite which is good considering the number I have growing!
Westi
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Geoff
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Dug 68kgs of Charlotte today from 32 seed potatoes, always happy at over 2kgs per root.
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