houndzrus Posted August 6, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 6, 2011 I don't make it very often, but i do enjoy it. a little bag of goodies from today. We also dug up all the Charlotte potatoes and had a peek at the maincrop spuds too. Bored of taking pics of those though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murtle Posted August 6, 2011 Report Share Posted August 6, 2011 scrumptious, your food looks fabulous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rufus the wonderdog Posted August 6, 2011 Report Share Posted August 6, 2011 Well done Marge All that hard work is really paying off now. I've harvested my patio container of potatoes - good potatoes and a reasonable size this year. I have had several strawberries from my new plants (even though you're not supposed to in the first year) . My runner beans arer growing apace and the first few are almost ready for picking. My cauliflowers didn't go until very late, they were growing well but now the caterpillars have had a good feed - just hoping that they recover. Nothing beats harvesting and eating your own fruit and vegetables, however small the amounts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
houndzrus Posted August 7, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 7, 2011 All that hard work is really paying off now. I've harvested my patio container of potatoes - good potatoes and a reasonable size this year. I have had several strawberries from my new plants (even though you're not supposed to in the first year) . My runner beans arer growing apace and the first few are almost ready for picking. My cauliflowers didn't go until very late, they were growing well but now the caterpillars have had a good feed - just hoping that they recover. Nothing beats harvesting and eating your own fruit and vegetables, however small the amounts You're right Val, I'm happy with whatever I get out of it, the flavour is something that can't be bought in a shop. I have been pleasantly surprised by how things have done over all and have only had to resort to spraying once, as I couldn't bear losing everything to whitefly. It has been a huge learning curve, and made me think a lot about exactly what is done to supermarket produce. I have got used to funny shaped multi- sized veggies again too, with dirt on Funny thing though, i was in Sainsbury's the other day and lo and behold, tiny leeks and a small bundle of beetroot were on the shelf as "taste the difference" , for over £1.50 for six! Marketing eh? I've learnt something else too. The garden centres/plant suppliers don't always sell things at the right time, so, consequently, we are set up to fail For example, the onions I had ordered should have gone in months before, so never will reach their full potential this growing season. i am a bit sad that this growing season is coming to and end, nothing more to put in for winter, what am I going to do with myself till spring? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
houndzrus Posted August 7, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 7, 2011 August 2011 and harvesting well under way. Broccoli all eaten, so cabbages and caulis, getting there too. Earlies and second early spuds all up and some of the space given over to Autumn/winter cabbage and caulis. Weeding and more weeding,and the compost bin is getting fuller by the day! Sweetcorn and the last of the beetroot Courgettes and patty pans. These and the swedes got powdery mildew, so I sprayed them with a solution of skimmed milk and water. Sorted them without chemicals. Maincrop spuds just starting to die of, so these will be ready to dig soon. Rhubarb growing well, Nets have Autumn/winter veg One quite decent red onion I'm the bumkin in my 'lotment hat planting some swiss chard in the redundant brassica bed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yantan Posted November 6, 2011 Report Share Posted November 6, 2011 Marge I am full of admiration for what you and Keith have achieved The allotment looks absolutely fantastic I tried growing tatties, carrots and a few salad things about 4 or 5 years ago in containers in our tiny garden but they got diseases or eaten up by bloody slugs and snail and I got really disheartened. I'd love an allotment - in fact Ruby has her name down for one for about 3 or 4 years now - but I know I could do very little of the hard graft what with my medical problems Anyhoo we have decided to cut down our huge bay tree as our next door neighbour is claiming the roots are causing problems to one of her walls. It's about 15 foot high and has really taken our small garden over. When it goes it will give us a lot more room and light so I might think about trying container veggie growing again as you have inspired me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
houndzrus Posted November 7, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 7, 2011 I tried growing tatties, carrots and a few salad things about 4 or 5 years ago in containers in our tiny garden but they got diseases or eaten up by bloody slugs and snail and I got really disheartened. Glad you are going to give it another go, it's always worth it. I have lots of failures along the way too, there is always something to set you back. We planted slug pellets with the potatoes as we found out that they live underground. I had some advice on growing carrots in tubs too. Half compost and half builders sand, plant each tub a couple of weeks apart. Every single pot I planted this way grew absolutely perfect carrots, while the few in the ground on the lotty all got eaten If you can plant potatoes in the ground, they will be bigger than container grown, but if not, you should still get good results from containers. Salad stuff is great, straight from the garden too. All mine are container grown. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yantan Posted November 7, 2011 Report Share Posted November 7, 2011 If I manage to get organised and get on with next year I'll no doubt be asking for advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
houndzrus Posted November 7, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 7, 2011 If I manage to get organised and get on with next year I'll no doubt be asking for advice. We should start a new thread in the new year for veggie gardening, to keep ourselves motivated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
houndzrus Posted November 13, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 13, 2011 (edited) haven't updated for a while, so thought today would be a final outing. how wrong I was! We spent a very pleasant 4 hours digging, planning and then, just after the picture of me was taken, we decided to move the compost bin (big structure made of pallets)including it's contents! and then ....Extend our growing area! This for two people who thought we had "enough to do" with the half we left ourselves to work on. Anyway, fuelled by a cup of tea and a banana, we set to work. A few (many) swear words later, our energy left us, the sun was setting, so we came home. Good job done though, we have about an extra 8ft x 20ft to work with next year. Plenty of room for all those potatoes I have on order. Seems like there is no end to this allotment lark ........ Rainbow chard and over wintering greens Cabbages. Unfortunately the whitefly have taken too much of a liking to them, the weather has been too mild for the time of year. Today's mini harvest. Swede (all taken up so that we could dig over the ground). Rainbow chard, kale and leeks. The view from the shed was a little premature as we totaly re-arranged the top end of the allotment! Rhubarb boxed in and garlic bed made. All ground now dug. Tea break time. It was so warm! Finally, the repositioned compost pallet bin and the newly exposed extension of land. Edited November 13, 2011 by houndzrus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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