Early Summer Bits and Bobs.

[Westi]

I don't get blight warnings now, but they were so helpful & I feel this consistent rain/drizzle would provide humidity to trigger an alert. I was given a new website for alerts & I dutifully filled in my details for them to contact me, but unsure, as got no response & a right hassle to fill in as said one of my settings was too high, but had no idea what it was? I just e-mailed them with my details in the end, but I will try to find it & share with you all as everyone else on the site got acknowledgement. The farmer's potato site still gives warnings but you have to go on & check as they don't contact you.

In the interim I was recommended a product you mix up in the watering can & apply it weekly to spuds & toms, last ages as had my bottle for 2 yrs & still a bit in it! I did not get blight last year but there was some on the site. Could just be luck!

Back to lucky you Primrose having a ripe tomato! Not too disappointed as do have toms to come, but the bought ones I am currently using are pants. They go soft & get mildew (?) spots on them despite rinsing & hardly last a week.

[robo]

My strawberries were eaten by my young granddaughter and grandson it took them about an hour to eat the lot and I had a decent amount, my cherries are a different propersition I’ve three bushes lest year I didn’t get one the birds had them all this year the bushes are laden even myself is struggling to keep up picking them if been going for nearly two weeks and I’m just about half way through them

[Primrose]

I was gifted a free unnamed courgette plant. Beware of what you wish for !!! It has turned out to be one of the "round globe" varieties and it seems that every day now Mr Primrose is out there harvesting tennis balls and larger fruits which were only marble size when we went to bed the previous evening.

This shape is just more difficult to chop and cook with.
Is anybody a fan of them and prefer to grow them over the usual cylindrical varieties?

[oldherbaceous]

I’ve never grown them, Primrose, they just seemed to be one of those gimmicky introductions, to me….

[Primrose]

Same here. Perhaps i should take my surplus down to the local tennis courts but I don,t think they would last long! Don't even think there would be much enthusiasm for them at our village food bank.

[Westi]

I found 2 courgette plants on our free table & as I had no shows I took them, never thinking they would not be the normal long ones. Today I found both are the round ones & yellow at that. My one surviving 'normal one' keeps having something pick the flowers off so 1/2 covered it today as I want to keep the pollinators coming & I had just one spot left in the squash bed so risked a late sow as well. It is well surrounded by proper pumpkins so if it grows might not get the attention from the flower nibbler! The food bank will be grateful for the other round ones as they appear or until they out thug the others & dig them up.

[Primrose]

Westi. I think it,s s*ds law that the little critters always nibble the plants you,re most trying to protect while all the less valued ones get away Scott free !

[Westi]

Nice quiet day so just doing little jobs that have been begging to be done for months. Finished these baby jobs like tying in the windbreak & the like so just left the shed. I took a deep breath & I tackled it. Only one spider incident when tidying the mesh under the shelf & nowhere as time consuming as usual, as I have actually been pretty diligent putting things back into their labelled containers. Even tidied the seed box where I was not so diligent but that's back in order now as well. The amount of dirt & grit I swept out was pretty significant but I'm sure the back beds will enjoy the slight rise in their height!

Still some time to kill so filled all the water butts & trugs & dragged the staging out & sowed some winter things. I'd say caught up but it will be short lived!

[retropants]

I picked 7 cucumbers on my return from a few days away! Everything else is looking good, as by lovely brother came over to water for me. It won’t be long before I have a lot of broccoli. I’ll have to try and freeze some, any tips on this would be gratefully received! In over 30 years of growing veg, I’ve never frozen broccoli.

[Primrose]

Never frozen it Retropants but imagine it,s similar to how you freeze cauliflower which I have done. . Cut into smaller pieces if freezer space is short. Blanch in boiling water for 1 minute, cool quickly in cold water, pat dry then freeze in plastic bags.

Am sure there are some people who omit the blanching pocess altogether and still get reasonable results but I,d quickly wash & dry the heads first if doing this to remove dust and any lurking insects.

No way you can freeze all those surplus cucumber though as they,re too full of liquid . Wish I knew of a way of preserving them. We're just having to give ours away.

[tigerburnie]

Been missing on parade again, had a ride in an ambulance after collapsing with what turned out to be a significant internal bleed from my stomach, polyps the likely culprits, so 4 days of wonderful NHS treatment and less wonderful NHS food, on the mend again.

[Primrose]

Must have been scary tigerburnie. These things can knock your confidence. Hope everything now sorted - rest up and enjoy the rest of summer hopefully without any more incidents.

[oldherbaceous]

Wishing you all the best for a speedy recovery, Burnie.

[Primrose]

any theories why a thriving cucumber plant in a patio tub should suddenly have its leaves go limp and the plant go into terminal decline and die ?(not that we're short of cucumbers but I want to understand what's happened to it.) It's been well watered so lack of moisture is not the reason. Do cucumber plants suffer from any popular diseases? First time I've lost one.

[Colin2016]

Regards freezing broccoli is there a way of cooking it which still keeps it crispness rather than being soggy?