Kitchen Garden Forum

OH - you certainly do everything on a grand scale!
Peter - these events are always influenced by the weather, aren't they, and this is something you can't really plan for. People can provisionally earmark all kinds of crops for display and then the weather intervenes and nothing is quite ready on the day, or has keeled over and is past its best.

And then there are people like me who occasionally grow a few vegetables I would actually be proud enough to enter in a show but alas, there is no such event happening anywhere within a reasonable distance.

I do Primrose but, the trouble with that is, you get grand successes but, also grand failures.....not that i'm admitting to the second....

Dear OH, Are you losing your mojo? I thought you might have been up at 5 am this morning starting off an Early Autumn thread to mark the metrological start of Autumn, although with this glorious sunshine here it still feels very much like a summer's day.

However, I won't pull a coup on you and will leave it to you to start when it feels appropriate.

But the mildew on my courgette plants is certainly suggesting later season conditions now, and yesterday I took Monty's advice to remove all the surrounding leaves from my only butternut squash fruit to help it start to ripen. I have to question whether it's a good use of space though, to grow a plant which ultimately takes over half your plot area and only yields one fruit ! Definitely an allotment growing plant, I think, to keep the weeds smothered.

Dear Primrose, I was up as normal at 4.30am but, i couldn't possibly start an Early Autumn thread with the weather like this....

Although tonight is going to be nippy, then back to a nice warm spell.

Finished digging the Kestrel, just over 2cwt and about another 30lbs of baking potato size, so very pleased indeed.
Might start to dig the Rooster next week.....hoping for around the same amount.

oldherbaceous wrote:Although tonight is going to be nippy, then back to a nice warm spell.

From the forecast it looks as though here the temperatures are set to remain the same as today's 17C and nights in double figures right through till the middle of the month.

Honestly I was hesitating because I don't know exactly when they're ripe for harvest. There are so many varieties and sizes and their color appeared a bit too bright. Turns out I was just on time, maybe a tiny bit too late because seeds have started to form on the inside. These are my first ever homegrown cucumbers! Already ate the small one and the other will probably be used for a good salad.



Also the kiwanos are really growing well as we just had another unexpected heatwave and the summer haven't completely left yet. This is starting to look really, very promising. Never really expected this! They may be a bit smaller than those imported from Africa but hey, it appears to be working. Now I think I just have to be very patient and not get tempted to pick too early.

Wow! Look at those! They are fabulous Elmigo.

Babysitting the Daughters Jack Russel for a week. So have joined the dog walking brigade in the Park. Am I the only one picking up empty drink cans. With plenty of litter bins, why don;t people use them.

Bad family training and discipline! What appals me is the way smokers always toss their fag ends down on the pavement. I don't think I,ve ever seen a smoker stub it out and put it either in a bin or in his pocket to dispose of later.
Perhaps somebody would invent some small pocket sized canisters we could give to smokers as a tactful hint to take their fag ends home if there are no litter bins available

Elmigo your Kiwanos look fab! Are the little white bits on the horns what is left of the prickles? Do they just dry up & not be prickles anymore or have you rubbed the prickles off?

Primrose you make a good point, the filters apparently take decades to decompose & are not recyclable, I can't guarantee this as I was told by someone & not enough interest to check the facts. I quite regularly see people stub theirs out on the pavement & pick it up & drop it in the next bin & even one old homeless chap in town puts his in an old tin in his pocket. It could be the litter fines that make most people think twice, shame the wardens aren't out at night as that is when the we get a deluge outside the pubs, that is even though the pubs provide a smoking area out the back with loads of ashtrays.

Fancy a gunnera that won't collapse in the first frost?



Buy your lottery ticket now!



Part of a sculpture trail at RHS Harlow Carr

Geoff wrote:Fancy a gunnera that won't collapse in the first frost?

IMG_4317_R.jpg

Buy your lottery ticket now!

IMG_4316_R.JPG

Part of a sculpture trail at RHS Harlow Carr

Wonder how many they have sold.

I was really surprised to see the min temp in the tunnel was showing 6.1 degrees today when I went down today! I know the allotment is always colder than home even though only a mile or so away, but it certainly was well above that at home. Front door is now shut on the tunnel as the sweet potatoes are that end as I am hopeful for a decent crop. I've grown reasonable crops previously but never had the vines rooting as well like the mad things are doing currently. I want to give them as long as possible & I know I will be a tad excited when I dig them up! Fingers crossed!

When do you know it's time to harvest your sweet potatoes Westi?

Acorn trees are shedding acorns by the bucket, wonder what it means.