Re: What are you harvesting today?

by Dandelion 29th September 2016, 8:44 pm

Amazing!!

by freebird 29th September 2016, 10:09 pm

I hope it came with the keys .......

by Dandelion 1st October 2016, 8:03 pm

freebird wrote:I hope it came with the keys .......

by Dandelion 1st October 2016, 8:07 pm

I've picked (and eaten!) the first lot of french beans from the greenhouse. It must be about six weeks since I sowed them - I'm pleased with the result, and will do the same next year. OK, I'm not going to be getting the yield I would have had from beans grown up a wigwam in the soil, but I'm not having to buy beans which have been flown over from Kenya, and as the seeds were saved from a previous crop, and they were planted in a mixture pf homemade compost and garden soil it hasn't cost me anything...not a bean!!

by Dandelion 1st October 2016, 8:12 pm

We also had the last of the raspberries from the garden - red ones from canes which I thought I had pulled up a few years ago (!!) and some yellow ones, which I planted in an odd corner of the garden a few years ago (to replace the red ones...). The yellow ones didn't do anything, so I thought I'd lost them, but discovered some fruit last weekend. The yellow ones are a bit weird though - they're almost white, and somehow look wrong.

by freebird 1st October 2016, 9:14 pm

Remind me again, Dandelion, when did you plant the french beans?

Picked a meals worth of runners yesterday, and more flowers coming on the plants. All depends on whether it stays warm enough now.

by Dandelion 1st October 2016, 9:17 pm

I think it was about mid August - the beans were in large pots outside, which I then moved into the greenhouse about three weeks ago.

by Dandelion 1st October 2016, 9:20 pm

freebird wrote:

Picked a meals worth of runners yesterday, and more flowers coming on the plants. All depends on whether it stays warm enough now.

That's really good. My runners finished doing anything about a month ago - I took the plants down a fortnight ago and composted them. The Italian French beans (very international...) have stopped producing anything edible - we had the last few last weekend, and I'm just leaving the plants up for a bit longer to hopefully dry some pods off for next year.

by Chilli-head 1st October 2016, 9:23 pm

Dandelion wrote:The Italian French beans (very international...) have stopped producing anything edible - we had the last few last weekend, and I'm just leaving the plants up for a bit longer to hopefully dry some pods off for next year.

Mine are still going. The whole family are getting weary of green beans ...

The seed came from Seeds of Italy in a big pack, so if anyone would like a few more, I'm sure there are enough to share again.

by Dandelion 1st October 2016, 10:29 pm

I can add a few as well...!!!

by Ploshkin 2nd October 2016, 8:14 pm

I thought I really ought to harvest the remainder of my first early potatoes (Arran Pilot) today - I don't think they're meant to stay in the ground until October and there is an increasing variety of underground wildlife starting to take an interest. I've got a bed of second earlies (Kestrel) that I haven't started on yet. We eat plenty of potatoes but I haven't caught up with them since the unexpectedly large crop from the polytunnel early in the season.

by Dandelion 3rd October 2016, 6:17 pm

That's a good position to be in Ploshkin!

by freebird 8th October 2016, 3:30 pm

Two courgettes (one plant of the three is still going strong), 10 raspberries, couple of tomatoes, 6 peppers. Some annoying rodent is stealing all my remaining chillies - nibbling through the fruits and scattering bits and seeds all over the greenhouse bench. There must be the remains of a dozen chillies on there.

by Ploshkin 8th October 2016, 8:08 pm

Oh that's a pain Freebird, I've just picked loads of chillies - so many that I made chilli jam yesterday. It's not set as much as I thought it ought. I used jam sugar and took it to 105°. I've put it in the fridge and if it's still a bit loose I'll reboil it with some extra pectin. I think if I make it again I'll use a few crab apples. It's really nice but with my wimps' chillies I could have used all chilli instead of half chilli and half sweet pepper.

by Chilli-head 8th October 2016, 8:55 pm

I picked my first Red Savina chilli yesterday to put in my tortillas. They are properly hot !

I also picked off my borlotti, flageolet and Greek giant beans, all of which seem to have dried well this year.

by Ploshkin 21st October 2016, 10:27 am

I'm still harvesting a reasonable number of courgettes from the polytunnel. The cherry tomatoes are still producing well in there too. I don't know how long they will be able to go on for as it has been down to zero degrees for several nights.
I'm also using up my cabbages from the garden as they aren't winter hardy. I've ended up without any winter cabbages - I think they either failed to germinate or were decimated by mealy aphids.

by freebird 23rd October 2016, 1:09 pm

15 tomatoes and to my surprise, a small handful of runner beans. They will go with tonight's roast chicken.

by Chilli-head 6th November 2016, 10:26 am

Yesterday I picked peas - unusual for November ! Also the last of the butternut squash before the frost spoils it - hopefully it will ripen some more on the window sill. The last red cabbage too - not a great year for them. And another picking of drying beans - the last of the borlotti, which have been the best result for years despite a shaky start with slug damage. The giant beans still have a few pods drying, though I think that they are starting to suspect that they aren't in Greece !

by Dandelion 6th November 2016, 5:51 pm

Chilli-head wrote: The giant beans still have a few pods drying, though I think that they are starting to suspect that they aren't in Greece !

by Dandelion 6th November 2016, 5:54 pm

I've dug up the last of the beetroot, to protect it from the frost, but I'm hoping that the celeriac will be OK in the ground for a bit (I do remember digging some up one Christmas, so I'm assuming it'll be OK)
The Piedmonte pepper which is still bravely hanging on in a pot in the greenhouse shows every sign of being fully aware that it's not in Italy...!!!

by Dandelion 12th November 2016, 9:44 pm

Not so much what I AM harvesting, but what I'm not - I had to buy tomatoes yesterday for the first time since early June. I've been using the toms which had been growing in the greenhouse, and have been ripening up on the windowsill, but they're finally coming to an end. Still, five months of home grown toms isn't bad!

by Ploshkin 13th November 2016, 9:01 pm

I've picked all my green tomatoes from the tunnel and brought them indoors - the big ones have turned red in a couple of days. They should last a couple of weeks.
Do peppers finish ripening off the plant? I've picked them all off (about 20) as the plants looked dead but I'm happy to use them green if they don't go red.
Courgettes in the tunnel are officially ended now, I had the last small one today but there wont be any more after several below freezing nights. I had a few surprise beetroot from the garden too. I thought they had all failed but found some good ones lurking under the outdoor courgette plants.

by Chilli-head 15th November 2016, 10:36 am

My tomatoes are long gone. Chillies are still good though, and my they are hot this year. Last night I chopped up and froze about a dozen Red Savina, and my fingers are still tingling this morning. I could feel my face burning in the shower too !

My peas and beans are now all cleared up too. The last of the Gigandes pods were still quite green, and I find they don't dry well off the plant from that state, so I have followed the advice of Paulo at Seeds of Italy, and frozen them instead. I wonder how the flavour and texture will compare with dried ones, and having tried both this year, I can finally compare.

Just leeks and celeriac left in at the allotment - both seem rather small so I hope they might swell just a little more. A few mooli left in the garden too.

by Chilli-head 4th May 2017, 2:02 pm

It is very early days in the harvest season, but to kick off ...

Over the last few days I've had salad with Italian wild rocket, and radishes. Flat leaf parsley in our curry last night, and bay leaves, and of course dried chillies from last year. Oregano is looking rather healthy, both golden and Greek and I'm using it in tomato sauce for pizza. I must remember to dry some oregano; usually I forget and let it flower, after which it is not much use.

by freebird 4th May 2017, 5:06 pm

Ooh yes, I tend to forget about home-grown herbs in the harvesting thread. For me, rhubarb and asparagus, rosemary and salad burnett.

by freebird 19th May 2017, 12:16 pm

First strawberries!

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