Elaine rickett's Blog – August 2011 Archive (14)

This morning at the allotment I decided to go exploring in the jungle of my Butternut Squash to try and find some fruit ...

 

continued at http://awomanofthesoil.blogspot.com

I pushed my gloved hands deep into the potting compost, scraped back the soil, and ...

 

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For a cook there are two types of peppers, sweet and hot, but the botanical divisions are more complex ...

 

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The plums in my garden are coming into their own just now ...

 

see more of this post at my new blog http://awomanofthesoil.blogspot.com

 

hope to see you there

I sowed a row of autumn carrots a few weeks ago and the seedlings emerged fairly quickly, I covered them with a green mesh tunnel to prevent next doors' cats digging them out, and all was going swimmingly. I took the mesh tunnel off today to see how things were progressing, and all I could see was half a dozen 1in. fronds looking pathetic in the row.  So I guess I'll have to sow them again in the hope that this time I will get a result.  I don't know whether it is too late to try  this, but you… Continue

As I have more than enough runner beans to eat, I decided to let the French beans go to seed to dry for winter useage in stews and casseroles etc.  This afternoon I checked on how they were doing and the pods are bulging with beans, so I decided to pull the plants, with the beans still attached, and hang them in a cool, dry shed to complete the drying process.  I have sown some for a late crop and these are now about 9in. high, so hopefully we will have fresh French beans before the first… Continue

I spent the afternoon at the allotment digging up potatoes.  It didn't take me long, as the three rows I dug gave miserly amounts.  I had a feeling before I started that I wouldn't have a major crop, the plants didn't look that healthy, then the foliage dried off before flowering.  The dryness of the weather has probably had a lot to do with it, not having a piped water supply, I can only water with what I have saved, and the potatoes lost out on the watering stakes.  So, I have about a third… Continue

After my enforced day of 'rest' from the garden yesterday, due to the rain - I have attacked all the jobs that needed doing  with gusto today.   I have done quite a lot of successional sowing - wild rocket, mixed salad leaves, container carrots (Amsterdam Sprint) and Autumn King plus pak choi and broad beans.  They have all gone into containers that have already had crops that have been harvested.  I just added fresh compost and re-sowed.  I also have a late sowing of 'Hestia' dwarf runner… Continue

For the first time in weeks, except for watering the greenhouse, I have done precisely nothing in the garden or allotment.  It feels very strange, this wet stuff that is coming down, can't remember the name of it for the moment.    To be honest, it has been nice to have a day off.

I have one chili plant in the greenhouse that has loads of chilis on it, but they refuse to ripen.  Is anyone else having the same problem, or am I just being impatient.

The onions have dried out nicely, but I am thinking that I should leave them longer before I start using them, as they can be pretty strong when they are young.  I usually grow enough to last through the winter, so I don't want to start using them too early and have none left for the winter months.

At the rate I'm picking runners I will have to come up with ideas for using them.  I prefer them just as a veg but I know Delia Smith has a runner bean chutney recipe, so I may have to resort to using it.

At last we have had some rain, quite a heavy downpour, after weeks on no rain at all.  It is such a pain having to water everything every night, but I guess the rain we have had won't be enough and I'll be back to watering again after a couple of days.

The tomatoes are now coming thick and fast, ripening really quickly with the warm weather we have had this weekend.  The Gardeners Delight have been exceptional so far, best year I have had in a long time,  The strange thing is the trusses are all growing at the back of the plant, which I have never had before, so i have to crawl behind the plants to pick them.  After the initial battering the outdoor Sungold  had earlier in the year, they too are doing really well.  So I reckon it all hands to… Continue