How Does Your Garden Grow?

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

I did mean to make a bucket of nettle soup, the one that reeks of wee as it rots. Then dilute at 10:1.

A guy on the allotment recommended cow manure pellets which are basically dried pellets that you just sprinkle on. I prefer these to the err...natural version which is just way too much hassle for me.

You may get lucky with the squash if things stay warm - I think once they've fruited then they can stay out and mature right up to just before the first frost (but thats from reading up!).

I'll take some pics of my squashes....I have quite a few of them on the go (hopefully the rodents don't get them!)

Edit...just checked and mine had (started to) fruit on the 29th July...so they've been maturing for about 4 weeks.

 

[Onoff]

For no particular reason, better pics of apple trees 3 and 4:

https://flic.kr/p/2qceRPh

https://flic.kr/p/2qchcfb

Where I've trimmed the huge beech by the gate I've used this on the cut limbs:

 

[Beeezer]

For no particular reason, better pics of apple trees 3 and 4:

https://flic.kr/p/2qceRPh

https://flic.kr/p/2qchcfb

Where I've trimmed the huge beech by the gate I've used this on the cut limbs:

View attachment 462690

Is your garden a field… you seem to have projects everywhere..

 

[Onoff]

Is your garden a field… you seem to have projects everywhere..

It's a half acre with the house slap in the middle. Everything you can look at is a project including the house.

 

[DAPPH]

@DAPPH Towers as I've christened it is loving this rain:

https://flic.kr/p/2qbSq5N

Not sure how I'm going to support the fruits inside:

https://flic.kr/p/2qbSq5n

The outside ones should be easy enough:

https://flic.kr/p/2qbKva8

I've found you have to be quite attentive that they don't grow through small gaps where the mesh joins and strangle themselves:

https://flic.kr/p/2qbSqsm

You showed the Ker-plunk picture . do the same with canes through the wire use soft rubber covered tie wire 8 inch lengths or so lengths of wire to wrap round the vines to hold the stems to the canes .

 

[DAPPH]

I meant many food items grown in the UK are late this year. My tomatoes in the garden are full of yellow leaves.

Take note
On NHK TV this morning ........... Japans rice harvest is also several weeks late , so is China's USA is have a bad grain year so is a lot of the world and whilst Putin & his thugs are playing SB's , a lot of Ukraine's grain harvests will also be lost.
Discussing this with Olha ( our Ukrainian refugee guest ) & Alison this morning, we're planning to buy 10 or more kilograms of rice , flours and pasta, then vac pack & heat seal them into daily portion sizes ..... similar to what I did when the crisis in Crimea first began.
Our current political masters seem unconcerned about how the majority will obtain basic foodstuffs in seven months time . Hope to goodness it ain't like the covid protection gear debacle .

 

[DAPPH]

Bit tricky to plant mine in the ground now.

I did mean to make a bucket of nettle soup, the one that reeks of wee as it rots. Then dilute at 10:1. Supposed to be a great nitrate rich fertiliser.

Is it too late I wonder?

Likely to be too late for the tender stuff as temps are starting to drop to below 10 oC ( 50 oF ) could do wonders on your brassica greens if you really pulp the nettles and add a kilo of cooled dissolved in hot water sugar to feed the yeasts needed for nitrogen and other nutrient production. Let if ferment a few days before using it neat on the ground , not on the leaves .

Yellow leaves on outside plants in this rubbish weather usually mean not enough sunlight & warmth to produce sugars etc for the fruits so the plant considers its life is over & shuts down .
My onions are starting to slow down mainly at 2 inch bulbs , when by this time normally they are usually three or more inch bulbs ready for lifting , Next dry day I'll be lifting them and putting them on undercover drying racks.

( Before on/ off or anyone else says it ... " Undercover ? " ... they look like cut up plastic euro pallets

 

[RaceDiagnostics]

Just noticed today that all the trees round here are suddenly on the turn.

 

[ukracer]

Just noticed today that all the trees round here are suddenly on the turn.

They think it's winter already.....

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

With the benefit of hindsight I think just 1 butternut squash might have been more than enough. I planted X3 but I really wasn't expecting them to take over!

My first year growing them...will know for next time!

 

[DanZac]

All the squashes and Pumpkins tend to get a bit unruly.

Butternut squash keep well in a cool, dry, dark place though, and are delicious. I like them roasted in the oven, then have them like a jacket spud with beans and cheese or chilli, as a tasty winter tea.

 

[DAPPH]

With the benefit of hindsight I think just 1 butternut squash might have been more than enough. I planted X3 but I really wasn't expecting them to take over!

My first year growing them...will know for next time!

View attachment 462909 View attachment 462910

At least the BNS's will store for months in a frost free place so long as the slugs haven't had them .

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

At least the BNS's will store for months in a frost free place so long as the slugs haven't had them .

I'm getting a little stressed about having them out in the open if I'm honest.

Do you happen to know when they can be harvested....tinternet says when the flesh has gone hard?

 

[Onoff]

I'm very jealous. Nothing doing with mine. I'm relying on courgette handouts from a lad up the pub for my squash esque fix!

 

[Onoff]

I've only really grown beans and more beans. If you have a glut then giving them to friends, neighbours, folk up the pub goes down well.

A lad at work has moved from south London to Kent. He was talking to a lad from north London. Both white btw:

- Me bruvver come over the other day and picked an apple off da tree!

- Wot you never ate it?

- Yeah, but we soaked it in salt water for an hour so the maggots all come out.

Me: Oi, you pair of (plural beginning with c), I suppose you think apples come from supermarkets?

-No but you gotta soak dem so da worms come out.

-Sum people eat berries straight off da bushes!

 

[DAPPH]

I'm getting a little stressed about having them out in the open if I'm honest.

Do you happen to know when they can be harvested....tinternet says when the flesh has gone hard?

See how big they are about 9 inches is good they should not easily mark if you dig your finger nail in to the skin . I've often put a small bed of straw under them to keep them off the ground if they are not potted up and growing on a frame of wire

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

I've often put a small bed of straw under them to keep them off the ground if they are not potted up and growing on a frame of wire

Next year I'm going with a wire frame....somehow I just never realised that they're a vine .

Good tip on the finger nail test...are they OK to eat before they're fully ripe or is it just best to wait it out?

 

[DAPPH]

Wait as long as you can , they can get a lot bigger if the weather turns warm in late September early October .

Keep an eye on the weather forecasts , much below 9 oC forecast for the day or more importantly the night hours and they'll need harvesting , look at some in the veg areas of the bigger supermarket chains their colour is ideal .

 

[Sergei Slovenija]

Every two or three days I harvest cucumbers, 6-8 kg. I can't eat that much, I give it to my colleagues. There are fewer tomatoes, I planted them late, but they grow and bloom.

 

[DAPPH]

Every two or three days I harvest cucumbers, 6-8 kg. I can't eat that much, I give it to my colleagues. There are fewer tomatoes, I planted them late, but they grow and bloom.

View attachment 462944

Hmmm. Deformed tomatoes including dwarfism ............ just how far are you from Chernobyl? Do they glow in the dark as well ?