Kitchen Garden Forum

I always put my green tomatoes in a brown cardboard box in a cool dark place the wife's purse would be ideal as it never gets opened but it's a bit small so I use the garage

Harvested my Quince tree.
Two sacks and two carrier bags full.
Each sack originally held 17kg of dry dog food, quinces definitely heavier than dog food.

That's a good crop Peter. What are you going to do with them all? There is such a lot of bounty at this time of year one can be overwhelmed with it all. Last time I had some i made quince cheese which was nice but it set hard and was rather sweet so we never managed to eat our way through it all

I've planted a quince bush down the plot but early days this is it's first year along with eleven other various bushes

I'm going to make some membrillo tomorrow. It's lovely with a good cheese and keeps for ages if wrapped and kept in an airtight container if you make a large quantity.

robo wrote:I always put my green tomatoes in a brown cardboard box in a cool dark place the wife's purse would be ideal as it never gets opened but it's a bit small so I use the garage

My wife must be related to her.

One of my raised beds is close to an apple tree and a beech hedge and to be honest the crops were below expectations from it this year. Whilst clearing it out and about to add manure for next years project, the Trench Celery, I noticed roots in the soil, further investigation showed that the weed proof membrane was not tree root proof, the bed was rather badly infested with fine roots. So to cut a long story short a 5 minute job turned into a couple of hours removing said roots. Most of the membrane is still intact, but will only slow down the inevitable, though it has kept the couch grass out that comes through from neighbours unloved garden. Manure now added and I will add more to the trenches when they are constructed next spring.

Sounds like a good job done, Tigerburnie, I had the same problem in one of my greenhouse borders and ended up put shingle down and using grow bags.....the roots were from a massive conifer in next doors garden....

Nice to have a bit of early morning company, so nice to see you about so early, Plumpudding....

Looking in a butchers shop window whilst the other half was nattering to a friend, was rather puzzled by two products in the window. Braising steak, 100% meat, and Ox Tail, some 50% bone, both the same price per lb [sorry, still imperial ]

Good morning OH, I wasn't sure what time it was but was trying to find my binoculars - going to Old Moor RSPB this morning and can't find them.

As for the meat Shallotman, perhaps people don't know what Ox tail is any more so they might think it's a bit exotic if it costs more. A local supermarket that still sells liver has started calling it beef liver so people might know what Ox is.

Good point re: the Ox tail PP! That could be precisely why! I've also noted it in some recipe sites a lot more so 'the next big thing'?

I blame the poncy chefs for aome of these escalations in meat prices. At one time it was cheap to buy pork belly strips. . Then we get few fancy dishes by TV chefs using such items and the price seems to double overnight. Supply and demand I suppose but annoying when you enjoy cooking some of these cheap tasty "artisan" dishes and suddenly find they come with "aristocrat" prices attached.

Our village butcher has often in the past given us free bags of chicken carcasses he's prepared so we can make proper chicken stock, I'm just wondering if this is the next item which is suddenly going to have a fancy price tag on it.

Don't start me on tv chefs, watching it earlier in the week, "what you cooking"...………"Sea trout"...………..and there lies a bright pink ………………….pellet pig of a Rainbow trout. What ever happened to the trade description act? another ones doing "Monkfish" which is actually Anglerfish caught north of Scotland, a Monkfish comes from warmer waters near the Mediterranean……..rant over.

Looks as if we are in for some much needed rain here today, so in the greenhouse potting bulbs up, for me.