Thank you for all the comments yesterday with ideas for the pears. Unfortunately most seemed to include buying things such as alcohol that I don't keep in stock and as I'm on a budget ....things I don't buy for one-off recipes. I'm quite happy poaching a few at a time in a little water with lemon juice to keep them from going brown and a little sugar to bring out the pear flavour. I'm eating a bowl full every day so will get to the end of them in a week or three.
And the crop disappointments? well it wasn't all wonderful in the garden this year.............is it ever?
I got all the onions up to dry out a few weeks ago - such a poor crop. I didn't get round to weighing them but surely could have bought the same weight from the supermarket for less than the cost of the onion sets last March.
The tops on my onions were blown over early which stopped them getting any bigger and some were even going rotten on the bottom when I brought them in. More have gone rotten since, so that what's left won't last much more than a couple of months.
A kilo from Asda are 80p with 11 in the pack and many of mine are smaller than shop bought size.
A pack of heat treated onion sets in the new Marshalls Seed Company catalogue that arrived last week are £4.49 for 75. I buy heat treated so they don't run to seed and it's true these didn't bolt during the dry weather.
Then Butternut Squash...................I started off with 5 plants from new seeds - a variety said to be extra large. I planted them into big pots on the patio and watered regularly. After a while it was obvious that 3 of the plants were dying off. They'd had flowers which hadn't opened but then just seemed to give up. Two plants hung on a bit longer looking nice and green with plenty of flowers but again the flowers didn't open. Finally one flower produced just one squash, and yes it is bigger than normal.
I'll use it to make a big batch of vegetable curry later in the winter.
So 2021......Onions and squash................to grow or not to grow, that is the question?
Back Tomorrow
Sue
My mother poached pears in water and cloves in a slow oven, the bottom oven of the Rayburn never normally used in fact . She had a special pot for doing them in. I still do the same and they are delicious. I just use a covered pyrex dish.
ReplyDeleteChristmas has been a non starter here for six years, due to Mum having dementia and unable to cope with the seasonal changes. Since she died, no one even asks me over, so no difference for me, just an incredibly lonely, sad day. Sorry about your crops. I long stopped growing things I can buy cheaper, and focus on more unusual or pricier fruit and veg.
ReplyDeleteI am ready for the phone call to inform me that our Chat and Craft can't go ahead on Monday. The government is on a mission to destroy our country.
ReplyDeleteWe have already told our two younger offspring to celebrate Christmas together as we don't think it will be a "goer" this year due to Covid. We will meet in a car park somewhere to exchange gifts.
ReplyDeleteMeanqueen, our quilting group has also been told by the local Council it's a no-go, even with us wearing masks and being Socially Distanced. I shall miss the company of my friends.
Sue - we have had ONE courgette so far this year. We had to start the courgettes, tomatoes and chillis THREE times and the peppers never co-operated at all. We put it down to not having any fresh compost because we couldn't go out to get any due to Lockdown. I don't grow onions as they don't do well here. Our Big Squashes (3 plants) have one squash apiece and the pattypan squashes 3 babies.
BB, If it was up to me I would say let's carry on with our Chat and Craft and see what happens. Will the police arrive and arrest us because we have eight people instead of the allowed six. We don't wear masks but we are so far apart we would have to catch a bus to infect each other.
DeleteIt’s difficult to know if or when the time is right to make the decision to not plant. It seems a shame not to utilise your large block but do you stop because of one poor harvest? What I missed when I stopped altogether was knowing exactly what ‘extras’ had been put around them in the soil. Organic means clean growing but often weird and wonderful shapes
ReplyDeleteI wondered how the news was already known by so many, it was because of it being announced the night before ... and yes, there's usually a reason when they do something like that!!
ReplyDeleteI remember well a few years back nurturing two full beds of onions, all the planting, weeding and watering involved and then when they came up they were barely any bigger than when I had planted the sets. Then because I was doing a Challenge I had gone to Asda and bought a kilo of brown onions for 55p. I decided then and there not to plant onions en masse again as a crop, it was just so demoralising. It's one crop that does not taste THAT much different if it's homegrown, the exception being if you just plant a few in rich compost in a large tub or pot and look after them, then they do grow to show size and taste beautiful.
I'm glad I'm not the only one to grow Challenged Onions Sue!!
DeleteHow disappointing to get such poor crops from all your hard work. Certainly does make one wonder if it is worth all the effort - but, on the other hand, they usually taste better. It is sort of hard to decide what to do.
ReplyDeleteWell I get my pears from the village, and it was written that they were hard and allow to ripen, of course they were conference. But have had courgettes and plenty of tomatoes, plus eggs of course. Lettuce has been a wash out due too large brown slugs though.
ReplyDeleteYour Butternut looks like the ones I had when I saved seed from the previous year; they were much longer, and fleshier, but didn't have the same flavour of the F1 sown seeds. Mine are tiny this year.
ReplyDeleteNeither of my two butternut squash plans have produced anything but leaves as far as we can see. Very disappointing and we've decided we won't bother with them next year. The courgettes have perked up again so have earned a reprieve.
ReplyDeleteWhat a shame about the onions - we've never grown them because they are so easily an cheaply available in the supermarkets but I was wondering about next year . . .
I'm waiting to see what any new rules actually consist of - there aren't many details out yet. Christmas will still happen although it may be different to current plans. We will see.
xx
We have had spectacular failures of onions (one large edible one, the rest soft) lettuce (lots eaten by slugs) radishes (poor development) potatoes (due to poor soil we think) and Bramley apples (earwigs and some codling moth damage) We got the allotment late last year so couldn't prepare as well as we might have. Now we have dug in some green manure and will grease band the apple trees shortly.
ReplyDeleteI think you do really well with your fruit and veg, Sue, a great squash there 🙂
Sue thank you for a lovely read. If the onions look like they will not keep long my daughter told me to chop them up and pop them in sandwich bags and put them in the freezer, it is great to put in dishes nice and quick. Hard though life is don’t forget to count your blessings folk, fancy being in a third world country we cannot think of what it would be like.Best wishes nana from under.t
ReplyDeleteNot being a gardener I get all my fruit and veg from Asda and very good it is too, I know they have just won a major award. As a family we don’t celebrate Christmas in a big way, we just treat it like a long week end with some extra treats. And I’m not at all upset that the city German market will not be happening this year, it’s just turned into a giant tat fest.
ReplyDeleteCold winds, blackfly and drought gave us very bad conditions in the garden this year.
ReplyDeleteThe evidence favours not growing them again - perhaps edible flowers instead - to lift your spirits as well as your taste buds? Darned Covid - it is getting very trying, and I have to remind myself it is Really Deadly Serious, and just get on with it.
ReplyDeleteI gave up on veggies. I can buy them at farmers market cheaply. Now I have a flower cutting garden. It cheers me! Perhaps next year you can try more flowers? Celie
ReplyDeleteI'm quite envious of your garden haul. It may not be what you'd hoped but it's better than I've ever done! I missed the pear post but did anyone mention pear crisp? If you google Ina Garten pear crisp you'll find a very good recipe!
ReplyDeleteI didn't think our butternut squash was going to grow, now well we have 18 squash of various sizes. What didn't grow well for us was potatoes and the set onions.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
Is it a swan neck squash Sue? x
ReplyDelete