Mid-summer Bits and Bobs

A place to chat about anything you like, including non-gardening related subjects. Just keep it clean, please!

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retropants
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lots of leaf fall here too Monika.
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Took off the biggest pears & apples from the trees & 2 huge bags full & they came off easy so ready! I got the main crop spuds up as Bightwatch is in overload! That was a great surprise as they were huge but the plants were uninspiring as quite small! They were Vales Sovereign which I have not grown before so taste tested with a jacket spud for lunch. Nice & floury with a proper taste & looking forward to roasties with them as well. And skin didn't get too tough; but of course it was in the ground a couple of hours perviously & not hardened off! I shall try them again & the slugs didn't like them as much as the Teds & Cara!
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One of the guys on our allotment gave me four for jackets spuds ,I decided to put 2 in the oven as cooking for one means small meals ,I put 2 in the oven as occasionally one turns into a bomb even after stabbing it as the clock ticked bye the spuds went smaller it was a good job I started of with 2 as bye the time they were cooked they were only big enough for one
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Just pulled up two + buckets worth of spuds from raised beds. Seems some on the outside/corners spuds have been got at, any idea what?
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Monika
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Mice?
Westi
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Rats? I had a couple also on the outside with similar damage - healed over so not recent damage but too off putting to eat. Mind I say that as got a good crop but if not would have (maybe tried), just cutting it off. Or not!
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Yesterday I pulled my shallots - one bread loaf trayful - and onions - three of those trayfuls.
Now in the shed stacked up with a fan on them and a bunch dangling on a string from the ceiling.
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vivienz
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I've been peerjng into the centres of my romanesco broccoli. 5 plants in total, I can see a tiny pointed head in 1 and the others look like they aren't far behind with how the centre leaves are arranged.
I've sown some more spinach as the last early August sowing bolted in the hot dry weather. The new sowing has germinated and is coming on well.
I've also been using some Japanese greens, Green Boy from the free KG magazine seeds. Very nice in a stir fry or soup noodles. A lighter, crunchier taste and texture than pac choi.
Sadly, it looks like my carrots won't get to the kitchen. I keep eating them as soon as I've given them a wash and then munch away during Morning Inspection! I shall have to tell hubby that carrot fly got them!
Given the difficult weather and circumstances of this year, things are going well.
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retropants
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I've had 3 cobs of corn from my 3 plants grown in a pastic tub. One full size, the other two: somewhat dainty! Tomatoes are all cropping well (growbags & hanging baskets) and the cucumber in the greenhouse (pot grown) supplies a new one as the one I'm using comes to the end, how very civilised! The carrots (in a dustbin) are smaller than hoped, but perfectly formed. It's strange after 27 years of an allotment, having to grow a very limited range and number in containers.
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Must be very frustrating for you in some ways retropants but challenging to still get a few crops. Guess you just have to develop a different technique and try to grow the things you either eat the most of or which are expensive to buy in the shops.
A friend of mine has recently grown a satisfying crop of climbing French Beans from a well composted pot on her patio which delighted her. Cucumbers, especially the mini crunch ones are obviously another crop worth growing.

I go have a veg plot in the garden but this year have been experimenting with growing succession punnets of rocket on my kitchen window still. They've grown well but I find I'm continually battling with tiny flies in the compost which I don't seem to be able to eliminate which is a problem if you rely on growing stuff indoors.
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Well the weather was pretty accurate today! The Needles recorded gusts of 79mph & it was still lively when it met my garden which is only 2 blocks behind the beach where we see then Needles clearly. Loosened the obelisks so they are on a tilt but luckily smothered in climbers, snapped one tomato growing behind the greenhouse & one inside it & that's the end of the Gladioli's. My attempt at saving the neighbours children's blow up pool (a big one), was a life threatening disaster but it was found wedged between two cars a few doors down but helping her bring it back was comical to say the least! Had a reprieve mid afternoon & now Francis is back. Dread to think about what is standing on the allotment (or not more accurately)! But work tomorrow so won't be until I finish I can check - fingers crossed the extra stakes I hammered in on Sunday held, but I doubt it with the amount of rain that accompanied the wind.
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Monika
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An interesting day ..... Quite a few branches down and certainly many leaves.
I had to go for a covid test in town, was not allowed to use public transport, so I walked 45 minutes to the hospital car park, partially in pouring rain, then waited there, also in pouring rain - no cover at all, not even for the poor nurse who conducted the tests whilst most people sat in their dry cars. Luckily, my shoes and raincoat are almost completely waterproof but my trousers were sodden. Anyway, I chickened out going home, walked to the nearest taxi rank and got a taxi home. That was early this afternoon and my clothes are still drying out at half past seven!
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Primrose
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Sounds a miserable day Monika. Hope the test is ok. I guess any gazebos they erect for patient shelter in this weather probably wouldn,t have remained standing for very long. The wind is very wild here now. We have a loose letter box flap which has been banging noisily all day. Need to push a newspaper halfway through it I think to stop it banging all night and keeping us awake !
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retropants
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Yep, it's been blowing a hoolie here all day
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oldherbaceous
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Dear Monika, I do hope the Covid test results come back negative, for you....sounds as if you had rather an unpleasant day.
Kind Regards, Old Herbaceous.

There's no fool like an old fool.
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