Re: What are you harvesting today?

by polgara 23rd July 2013, 9:01 pm

Broad beans today.

by Dandelion 24th July 2013, 11:51 am

freebird wrote:
Ploshkin wrote: I picked 7lbs of gooseberries

I picked one. Gooseberry, that is, not pound of. It got missed when I picked the other 12. Gooseberries, that is, not pounds of. Sigh.

That sounds like my bumper crop of Jostaberries. To be fair, it's the first year that I've got any at all, but I made a very small pie with them rattling around inside the pastry. We just wanted to know what they tasted like. Good job there was a big jug of custard...
(They tasted lovely - gooseberry/blackcurrant cross.)

by polgara 24th July 2013, 6:08 pm

Green beans today

by Dandelion 24th July 2013, 7:36 pm

We had beans too, runner beans. Not many, and considering they're the first they are a bit woody (it must be the hot weather). Lovely taste though.

by Ploshkin 25th July 2013, 9:54 am

Beans are still a dream here (apart from broad) but I'm really pleased with my potatoes (Arran Pilot). I expected them to be really squiddly like the grand total of 12 that I had out my greenhouse bucket tower. But they're a really good size, loads of them & not been attacked or affected by any nasties. Dug the first row today & they taste wonderful.

Is it a law of nature that you always put the fork through the best potato?

by freebird 25th July 2013, 12:56 pm

Ploshkin wrote:Beans are still a dream here

Have you ever tried growing dwarf French beans in containers in the greenhouse? I find this a fairly good way of protecting them from the worst of the elements, and having a small crop of earlier beans to get the season started. Mine are superb this year.

by Dandelion 25th July 2013, 4:11 pm

Ploshkin wrote:Beans are still a dream here (apart from broad) but I'm really pleased with my potatoes (Arran Pilot). I expected them to be really squiddly like the grand total of 12 that I had out my greenhouse bucket tower. But they're a really good size, loads of them & not been attacked or affected by any nasties. Dug the first row today & they taste wonderful.

Is it a law of nature that you always put the fork through the best potato?

yes

by Dandelion 25th July 2013, 4:23 pm

Am off outside in a minute to pick some Kew Blue climbing beans, which some kind person put into the seed swap pack. But I'll photograph them first - they are beautiful (violet flowers and purple pods)

by Ploshkin 26th July 2013, 9:43 am

It's ok FB, I won't be needing a bean based food parcel. My ramblings were a bit ambiguous, I can grow beans ok but they are a very long way off still this season. First flowers only just starting to show on French & runner. I haven't ever done any in the greenhouse but will give it a try next year for some earlier ones. I do early carrots in the gh & they are always successful.

by Chilli-head 26th July 2013, 12:42 pm

At last, I'm beginning to get some stuff off the lotty. Last night I came home with cucumbers, peas, red onions and shallots.

I also took with me a couple of 1 litre plastic boxes to pick my blackcurrants. Filled them both without even finishing the first bush ! Looks like sorbet and jam this year Very Happy

by freebird 26th July 2013, 1:42 pm

Nipped home for lunch between jobs, and just come in from the garden with some more French beans, a few mangetout and courgettes. I noticed several melons forming in the greenhouse, and a nearly-cucumber. Not sure if it's the weather, or the fact that everything in the greenhouse is growing (for the first time) in home made compost - but everything is H U G E. The tomatoes are up to the pitch of the roof, chillies getting on for six feet tall and peppers not far behind.

by Chilli-head 26th July 2013, 2:09 pm

freebird wrote:Not sure if it's the weather, or the fact that everything in the greenhouse is growing (for the first time) in home made compost - but everything is H U G E.

Well done. I wish I could say the same. This year compost sieving was not an option, so I had to use New Horizons. It increasingly concerns me that I have no idea what they put in this stuff, but it is clearly variable - some are quite like leafmold, others look like shredded and composted kitchen cabinets - complete with bits of formica ! It is also clear to me that, like all sucessful products, it is no longer as good as it once was.

by freebird 26th July 2013, 4:02 pm

Hmm. As I said a while back, I am totally disillusioned with New Horizons. Last year absolutely nothing seemed to thrive in it - the best I got were adequate melon plants. One thing I will say in its favour, though, is all my spent compost goes into an old dustbin, and gets reused, mixed with fresh, for potato planters, early French beans in containers or salad leaves. Second time around, the texture of it seems improved, and is great for loosening up my heavy clay soil once it is finally emptied onto the vegetable plots.

by Dandelion 26th July 2013, 5:39 pm

Good advice FB - I'll remember that for next year. I still use new Horizons because I reckon it's still better than anything else on the market, but I know what you mean about bits of wood in it, CH. (I tried Homebase peat-free compost a few years back, and one of my daughters remarked that it looked like the stuff the caretaker used to throw on the floor when someone was sick at school - so even more sawdust than New Horizons!)

by freebird 26th July 2013, 10:25 pm

As major harvest time is starting to creep up on us, does anyone else use those Stayfresh green bags from Lakeland? They really do work, and I find putting freshly picked produce in them keeps considerably longer than if it was in ordinary bags or containers. I keep them going for quite a long time, too, by washing them out.

by Ploshkin 27th July 2013, 10:55 am

I've never tried stayfresh bags but will give them a whirl as you have had a good experience with them - I tend to be sceptical of claims made about products.

I've started on the blackcurrants today as the area round the bush was starting to resemble a film set for a remake of Hitchcock's Birds. I love the blackbirds to bits and always share the currants with them but they are starting to take liberties not to mention the purple poo everywhere. I have my first ripe tomato (Sungold as always) and one mangetout (should that be mangeseule, my Francais is very rusty). The courgette avalanche is now well underway - suggestions (polite) for things to do with them would be very welcome.

by Dandelion 27th July 2013, 2:22 pm

Ha - yes! Courgettes a-plenty here too. Have roasted them (cut in 1/4" slices, brushed on both side with olive oil then roasted at gas mark 6 (200 C) for about twenty minutes - add plenty of seasoning to taste)
Also courgette tart - will post on recipe thread.

by freebird 27th July 2013, 8:17 pm

Courgettes are great in stir-fries, and also in ratatouille. The man proclaimed he hates ratatouille (which I love), but the simple expedient of dry frying some cumin seed before adding all the rest of the ingredients, and putting in a chopped chilli has transformed the dish into something he can't get enough of!

I dried a lot of my courgette surplus last year, and that was very successful. They didn't fully rehydrate in cooking, but it gave them some nice 'bite' that is lacking when used fresh.

by freebird 27th July 2013, 11:00 pm

Oh, and grating them (courgettes, that is) as one of the vegetables in Jamie Oliver's fish pie. That is a goooood recipe.

by Dandelion 28th July 2013, 2:33 pm

freebird wrote:Oh, and grating them (courgettes, that is) as one of the vegetables in Jamie Oliver's fish pie. That is a goooood recipe.

Thanks FB - will look that one up.

by freebird 28th July 2013, 6:13 pm

Dandelion wrote:
freebird wrote:Oh, and grating them (courgettes, that is) as one of the vegetables in Jamie Oliver's fish pie. That is a goooood recipe.

Thanks FB - will look that one up.

The recipe is in his Ministry of Food book. It doesn't actually have courgettes in it, but as neither of us eat celery, I substitute it with other things, courgettes being one of them.

by Chilli-head 30th July 2013, 11:15 pm

More blackcurrants. Maybe 2-3 kg. Lots of sorbet to make tomorrow evening.

I've also got rather more cucumbers than necessary, and I'm getting weary of shelling peas for the freezer. First cabbage for a while too today, but not a lot else.

by Dandelion 31st July 2013, 11:44 am

I bet Heston has a delicious cabbage and cucumber sorbet recipe....
Evil or Very Mad

by Chilli-head 31st July 2013, 12:14 pm

Reminds me of a sorbet I was once served. I've seen a TV chef prepare it since, too. Stilton sorbet,. Quite vile. Whoever thought that was a good idea ?

by freebird 3rd August 2013, 4:43 pm

Oh no! You just turn your back for a minute, and courgettes turn into mini Zeppelins. Never mind, they are already sliced up in the dehydrator. Nice crop of Nicola potatoes - finished digging those out today. My greenhouse tomatoes, started much earlier than anything outdoors, show absolutely no sign of ripening - very disappointed about that. I really expected to be eating tomatoes by August. I'll be looking for a different variety for next year.

by Ploshkin 3rd August 2013, 6:58 pm

This thread should be renamed 'What are the blackbirds harvesting today'. I've managed to rescue a reasonable amount of blackcurrants & realised that it has all been a front for the raiding of my early blueberries - the bush is bare! I'll have to resort to netting the later ones which I rarely do. They're raiding the redcurrants big time too so I'll have to mount a rescue mission on those tomorrow. On the positive side perhaps it means that they have had a good breeding season this year.
FB I've heard loads of reports of tomatoes taking an age to start ripening this year. I've had some sungold but the rest (4 other varieties) are determined to stay huge & green

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