Wednesday 14 August 2019

What's Happening in the Garden and Greenhouse

Everything in the garden is looking...............rosy? .......... well maybe not!

  The seed I bought especially to give me mini sweet-corn cobs for stir-frying produced plants that look really healthy, in fact over 6 feet tall but I was hoping for more than a half-a-dozen cobs from all the plants! maybe they are just a bit slow.

 The wind on Saturday caught the runner bean tripods, blew them over and broke some canes so I had to lean them against the French bean tripods, when I next looked they had gone over again and pulled the plants right out of the ground - so that's the end of the runner beans - Bother! This tripod is on top of what's left of the potatoes still to dig up, I cut the tops off a while ago.

(The strange heaps you can see are the soil that was in the aubergine pots. I cut off the plants and add to the compost bin and then empty  all the soil and roots out onto a bed and over winter they break down so that in the spring all I have to do is rake it over the bed.)

The Potatoes have been damaged so much by ants, I dug up 5 roots and only a handful were OK and nearly a bucket full were useless which is even worse than last year. I'm not sure about bothering with growing them next year.

My beetroot are Extremely Small. I was hoping for enough to use some to make the beetroot chutney which I made last year for the hampers as sister-in-law said she loved it . I think Col's brother might have a few spare if I ask him nicely, he is able to do lots of watering with a hose as he's not on a meter and has good water pressure..........unlike here.

The row of onions from the sets my sister gave me are all up and drying. They will last me a while. Leeks look OK, courgettes still going strong and the butternut squash are very late and slow growing, I might get half a dozen if I'm lucky.

In the greenhouse tomatoes and peppers are still doing well, but the cucumbers and aubergines are almost finished. Just one aubergine plant left. The cucumber plants all got the "whatever it is" that makes the leaves go yellow and dry, mosaic virus or a critter? so are gradually dying, one more cucumber probably.



Failures never put me off growing - I just have another go next year!

 I've now used some of the red peppers and lots of my Big Mama tomatoes to make the Red Relish, some will be for the Christmas Hampers.

This is the recipe that is on the separate Recipe page tab

RED HOT AND SWEET RELISH

4lb Large plum (Big Mama or Andine) tomatoes, skinned and rough chopped.
2 or 3   Large red peppers, finely chopped
1lb Red onions chopped small
1 - 5 red chillies (depending how hot you want it. I used two this year.) de-seeded and finely chopped ( Wear rubber gloves!)
2lb Gran sugar
1 tsp each salt,ground ginger, allspice.
1 pint Red Wine or White vinegar.
( For the best colour this really does need the red onions and red wine/white vinegar, and it doesn't work very well with normal tomatoes which have too many seeds and are more watery)
Put everything except the vinegar into a pan.
Stir over low heat until sugar is dissolved
Bring to boil and cook gently for approx 1 hour until thick
Add the vinegar and cook for 30- 50 minutes until thick again.
 Put into hot sterilised jars, cover, seal and label



Back Tomorrow
Sue




26 comments:

  1. We have had major problems with ants this year, I have heard others say the same, the relish sounds delicious.

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    Replies
    1. Ants are everywhere in the garden this year, luckily I didn't get the flying ant invasion in the kitchen

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    2. We've got more ants this year than I ever remember in the 8.5 years we've been here. I found them in the dogs water dish this morning. I hate them.

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  2. The relish has a beautiful colour. The wind has been strong here in East Anglia - sorry about your has-beans!

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    1. My fault really, the canes weren't spaced out enough due to trying to squeeze them into a small space

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  3. Yes your Relesh is a lovely colour. I was sorry you have had problems with your produce it's such a shame when it takes hard work to grow the vegetables. I gave up on vegetables a long time ago apart from tomatoes which I have not done for two years (illness). We still have the strong wind and it looks like rain.
    Hazel c uk

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    1. I hope to keep growing veg for as many years as possible

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  4. My cucumber plants get that yellowing/drying, but they'll probably be OK till the end of the month, and we'll have had enough of cucumer by then! Onions up and drying here as well, just before last weekend's heavy rain. Three types of tomatoes going beserk in the greenhouse, courgettes and squash slow. Considering we are at opposite ends of the country, issues are similar!

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    1. Given that my greenhouse tomatoes and outdoor second-earlies were grown in the same batch of compost (Homemade, vintage 2017), and the spuds were fine while the toms are aiming for world domination, I don't think it's a deficiency. I've done a bit of reading up, and it seems that cucumbers and tomatoes, whilst fine on the plate together, like different moisture levels in the greenhouse. I grow pot flowers and herbs as well to encourage pollinators in, so it's quite dry. Not what cucs like, apparently! We still get a good crop though, and I've no intention of getting a second greenhouse!

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    2. That's why we ended up with 2 polytunnels at the smallholding! while the overhead watering worked we had brilliant cucumbers, I need to get a sprayer to water the cuc leaves, been meaning to get one for ages and then I forget

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  5. Yellow leaves normally means magnesium deficiency to a farmer.

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  6. I didn't bother with potatoes this year; only got a handful last year so not really worth the effort. Am growing peppers for the first time this year and little baby ones are now growing - exciting! Still waiting for my first tomatoes outside - a handful of green pea-sized ones have begun to grow but soooooooo slow.........

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    1. I wouldn't want to be without a greenhouse as I've had one for so many years........since 1980 I think

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  7. Sorry about your potatoes - ants are a nuisance in the veg. garden. Red ants are worse. Try growing potatoes in large pots.

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    1. There was even an ant invasion in one of the cucumber pots in the greenhouse!

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  8. I remember tbe first year growing potatoes they were ravaged by ants. As you say keep going, the following years were fine.

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    1. I got cheap ant powder which has been useless. I won't give up!

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  9. Sounds like a great recipe. Have noted it. Sorry about the spuds and the falling-down beans! I had mine propped up with the yard broom, and had fingers crossed that it wouldn't blow too hard. They stayed up. Can you try your spuds in those big grow bags next year?

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    1. The wind whistled round the end of the garage straight onto the beans. - very annoying

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  10. It doesn't seem a very good year for growers this year. We're still waiting for the first tomatoes to ripen.

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  11. It's not been a good growing year for anyone that I know this year, myself included. Weather that is so hot/cold/dry/wet in such weird patches does not suit the sort of crops we try and grow in this country.

    The only things we have flourishing are rhubarb and plums ... thousands of bloody plums. I hate them, but luckily Alan loves them. Oh and I did get a tub of unexpected New Potatoes last week.

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    1. I picked and ate my first two delicious plums yesterday, trying to get them before the wasps. But there is a tree of dark purple ones in the hedge which are horrible.

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    2. My Grandmother grew up in Britain and her favourite jam was tins of Myra plum, haven't seen it here in Australia for many years, it had a picture of purple plums on the label and I had only seen red plums in the shops when I was a child.

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  12. Your relish sounds lovely. I am going to copy it down to use some year that we actually get an abundance of tomatoes.

    God bless.

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  13. It's been a funny year for growing. I don't have room for a greenhouse, but my tomatoes have been doing ok in the top corner of the garden. It's like an oven up there when the sun is out. Thinks it's been a humdinger of a year for ants!

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