Kitchen Garden Forum

I'm not sure how this high & cool temp is going to pan out long term. I love the way some plants respond to the high, but just sulk when it gets lower & then others seem to thrive with the lower temp after a heat blast! I'm pretty sure I can get pumpkins & toms but some of the lettuce seem to be boiling in their own leaves.

For me lettuce is just not working, they stay the same small size so the mid summer heat must be too much for them. Glad I found out now and not next year on our new piece of land.

This perhaps belongs in 'Weeds, Pests and Diseases'.
Watched the end of the Tour de France yesterday with the picture breaking up (I have to watch on Freesat as Freeview doesn't carry ITV4 here), it was raining but not hard but I couldn't decide if it was them or me. Later in the evening tried to watch something else but all I got was 'no or bad signal'. Decided it wasn't my receiver so got the ladder out this morning to examine the dish etc. Now I want to know what damn bird wrecked this and whether it will attack the replacement I've just ordered.

Geoff wrote: Now I want to know what damn bird wrecked this and whether it will attack the replacement I've just ordered.

Pterodactyl

Never mind your pterodactyl, Alan, I think it was a jackdaw who attack things just for the fun of it, Geoff.

Magpies or jackdaws quite probably. I've often had magpies round here trying to attack their own reflections in car wing mirrors or windscreens but more normally during the mating season. Or maybe they thought there had been just too much politics on TV recently and decided to give you a bit of peace and quiet.

We have window tapping jackdaws, 4 or 5 magpies and woodpeckers so it could be any of them. It is a while since I saw a pterodactyl though. I'm hoping it was brittle with age so even if the new one is attacked it won't break.

Some off you might remember that I thought garlic was too expensive. So I planted a row of garlic from that well known island, and a row from my supermarket ]80p for three] Hanging side by side in the sun to dry out, can see no difference.

After two days of torrential rain the sun is out its now muggy and warm perfect growing weather

I picked a second cucumber this morning. It's not as straight as the last one! The first tomatoes won't be long, and I have a LOT of blackberries!

Pictures can speak more than a thousand words, so I figured this would be a great share. For me the tomatoes are also getting there very soon. Cherry tomatoes earlier than regular ones, they are still green.

Oh I really wonder how the stores get those perfectly ripe trusses of exactly 10 tomatoes packed for sale, with the stem still on it. My tomatoes never ripen at the same time at once


Thought it would take ages and ages for this to happen, but now finally one of the cayenna peppers are slowly turning red. They said gardeners need a lot of patience, now I understand!



Last but not least, as I have read a thing or two about kiwano, these little ones may be ripe when autumn strikes the country. I'll be holding my breath for the next season!

I've been remiss in taking photos of the plot but I've even had my first beefsteak ripen (although it was not as big as the others still maturing) & twas lovely! (Can't remember variety). But here's a pic of another smaller one that I took to ripen at home as nicely pink/reddish & I didn't know whether I would have time off this week as the work team is depleted of members for various reasons & didn't want to miss it perfect - it is even tinier than the first. My self sown cherry that I allow to grow in some places has had ripe fruit, but that doesn't even make it home this early in the season, but is just for me on the plot. When I am overwhelmed then they come home & are shared out!


On my '2 Do' list is take some pics of the plot - must put it top of the list as times runs out with weeding & as great as it to make that achievement I have no evidence to compare to other years.

I harvested the first French beans today and we ate them with poached salmon and just dug new potatoes tonight! It's amazing what you can produce from a 10' by 10' plot! The dwarf beans are the climbing variety Cobra in order to maximise the space and they are producing a really good clean crop, free from marauding slugs.
The courgettes, one plant each in a large pot, are benefiting from being near the house and being watered very copiously and regularly.
The first tomatoes are just on the point of being ripe, so that is a joy to come ....

My tomato skins are a bit on the tough side this year.

Its an exciting time with a lot of crops starting to ripen now. I've been picking handfuls of Cobra French beans. In my view they'rethe best variety to grow and taste delicious when eaten slightly al dente either hot or cold in a salad. . You just can,t buy them in the shops this good. I'm planting two or three in succession against each upright pole so am hoping they will keep cropping for longer.