Re: What are you harvesting today?

by Chilli-head on 19th November 2020, 4:31 pm

Bits and bobs from various places - Real Seeds, Seeds of Italy, Premier Seeds Direct, Nicky's Nursery. Makes postage expensive !

Mostly mentioned in this thread:

https://handmadelife.forumotion.net/t576-seed-banks-and-reliable-suppliers

by freebird on 19th November 2020, 8:38 pm

First picking of winter salad leaves today. I could have started two weeks ago, but awful weather and other things stopped me getting around to it. A large mixing bowl full is now sitting on the kitchen table awaiting washing: lettuce, mizuna, claytonia, spinach, endive, rocket and lambs lettuce. Hooray, no more bought salad leaves.

by Dandelion on 16th December 2020, 10:26 am

I found some tomatoes in the greenhouse which I had forgotten about - I had left them in case they ripened, but hadn't paid them any attention, so it did give a sense of achievement to be eating tomatoes from the (unheated) greenhouse in December. They were Rio Grande plum tomatoes - they had survived the frosts and damp fogs we had had for a fortnight or so - the tomatoes were sweet but curiously crisp! It's amazing to think that in about a month's time I will be thinking about sowing an early variety for next season!

by freebird on 16th December 2020, 11:13 am

I'm not harvesting tomatoes, but before I ditched my old plants, I pulled off some side shoots. I rooted them in water, and now they are in pots in the conservatory. One even has some flowers! I am going to see if they will give me an early start next season , in addition to the seeds I will sow. If they grow too big in the conservatory, I can always take side shoot cuttings and start the process again.

by Dandelion on 16th December 2020, 3:15 pm

Let us know how you get on - I've never thought of taking cuttings.

by Chilli-head on 16th December 2020, 4:28 pm

Good to see some experimentation going on Very Happy

I am interested in overwinter salads and other things. I have never had much luck in my greenhouse - it gets cold and very damp, so I get lots of mould. Overwintering chillies is hit and miss, and sometimes results in overwintering aphids too. Is your greenhouse drier than mine I wonder; you are definitely not in a drier part of the country than me !

by freebird on 17th December 2020, 3:34 pm

Most winter salads you don't, strictly speaking, need to protect at all. I usually grow them outside in cold frames. Can you not ventilate your greenhouse, CH? The protection from the worst of the elements will be sufficient - they don't need cossetting. Some form of protection ensures that the plants keep growing, albeit very slowly.

This year I have winter hardy lettuce, lambs lettuce, claytonia, winter hardy spinach, mizuna, rocket, and endive. The land cress didn't germinate (very old seed) so I've bought new for next season.

by Chilli-head on 19th December 2020, 9:53 pm

I think ventilation is part of the problem. I have just one rokf vent, which has an autovent thingy that opens when hot, so not at all in winter. At times I've wedged it open a little. But tge greenhouse is also used for overwintering things that resent being too cold. Still, my enthusiasm for salads is at a bit of a low in winter.

by Dandelion on 20th December 2020, 5:33 pm

If vegetables are more scarce after Brexit, I'm hoping I won't need to put barbed wire around the six little spring cabbages I have in one of the raised beds to protect them from burglars! I will definitely experiment with growing some salad crops on windowsills or in the greenhouse, depending on how cold the weather is.

by Chilli-head on 20th December 2020, 8:28 pm

Well we are stuffed now. The much predicted queues on the M2, and at this rate no flights to/from the rest of Europe who understandably don't want our germs. Just as domestic veg production hits the low season.

But look on the bright side, a bumper brussel sprout crop this year vom

by Dandelion on 20th December 2020, 10:03 pm

Don't you like brussels, Chilli?

by Chilli-head on 20th December 2020, 10:29 pm

Actually, I'm not a great fan of pretty much everything in the main course of a traditional Christmas dinner. I'm not that excited by simple roasts and IMHO the turkey is a bit bland prepared that way. Sprouts are a bit sulphurous. I like the roast potatoes and stuffing the best I think. And of course, the pudding dribble

Hopefully the shops won't be too depleted. But we should be getting a turkey from the school farm again. Home grown veg are thin on the ground - the odd red cabbage and some kale left at the lotty.

by Dandelion on 21st December 2020, 8:32 am

...and you have to brave the mud to dig anything! I have two celeriac, two large leeks and some beetroot left in the ground, ahem, mud!

by freebird on 24th December 2020, 6:34 pm

From the allotment today, a swede, two parsnips, the first of the purple sprouting and a small Romanesco cauliflower. Mixed salad leaves from the garden.

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