General Chat

Lol, Liz, like everything else my courgettes aren't doing very well this year! i believe they only grow from "female" flowers (don't quote me on this) so when you get flowers on skinny, spindly stalks, remove them, as opposed to flowers growing on bulgy stalks, which will develop into courgettes, There! Was that technical enough for you???!!! Lol. Good luck on your greenhouse.

I wish I knew why I can never grow courgettes. have grown lettuce, spinach carrots, onions (salad) and french beans in containers this year. Didn't even try courettes again as usually I get one and it is lovely then the rest just fall off as theya re starting to grow.

What do people do with cucumbers besides eat them in salads?

Helen....my this years courgette plants only had male flowers so I actually bought one (hangs head in shame) that had signs of the lady about them - we ate her first born last night :-D Now the boys are showing signs of young :-S
I have visits from bumble bees so I don't think there has been a lack of socialising.

I think we need Merlin Holmes and Fred The Badger Watson on the case.

My basil which was looking lush and healthy has collapsed and withered apart from a few shoots :-(

my garden is mostly paved and decked
but i do grow some veg with baby satan he loves doing the garden
and this year we have herbs
runner beans broardbeans tomatoes cucumbers
peppers beetroot and lettuce pea pods

and a single parsnip that we planted last year
but only come through this year

Ann, there was a recipe for cucumber relish on here a while back which I copied.

It's delicious. I'll check my files and post it.

Cucumber relish
yield 2 and quarter pounds

1 and half pounds ridge cucumbers
8 oz onion
1 green pepper
three quarters ounce of salt
half pint of white vinegar
5 ounces sugar
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon mustard seed
1 teaspoon ground allspice
half teaspoon ground mace
Peel and dice the cucumbers, finely slice the onion, de seed and shred the green pepper. Place in a bowl with the salt. Leave to stand for 3 hours.
Drain, rinse in cold water, and drain again thoroughly.
Place remaining ingredients in a pan, stir until sugar is dissolved, bring to boil and simmer for 2 minutes. Add the vegetables, bring to the boil, and simmer for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
Pour into warm jars, cover securely and label.
KEEPS FOR 6 - 8 WEEKS

Many thanks to who ever posted this originally. I made some for presents last christmas and had pleas for more. :-D

It keeps for way longer than 6/8 weeks. We still have a jar that oh dips into and he hasn't had a tummy upset so far lol

I think my dad has found a new way to pull. He and his mate, wheelchair bicycle convoy, go out with a carrier bag and trowel harvesting from the roads. Horsey ladies then stop and offer them richer pickings at their houses. So, off goes the wheelchair,wheelbarrow convoy for a larger consignment.

Where his mate and I are quite new to the growing lark we do make some balls ups. This year we planted a double row of peas which came up as sweet peas. Don't know how.Some discrepancy in the greenhouse.

I have had quite a lot of sucess with plants from Aldi. They did me proud last year with tomatoes,cues,peppers and aubergines and look like they will again this year.

Have had one or two feeds from the runners already and the broadies were pretty good too. Some peas might have been good too!

There are always failures and successes. OH brought up with a large village garden and in WW2 also an allotment. He has been an allotment holder for over 30 years and cannot grow a cauliflower to save his life!

All around him are growing caulis - he even gets plants from his friends and plants them -noooooooooo. However, we have had a large asparagus bed for over 25 years, his advice is constantly sought on this and as for our fig tree in our garden - bought as a 2 yr old - looked like a cane and produced a tiny fig first year - it got its final chop last year after 28 years as in spite of constant pruning it reached a height of 30' a spread of 15' and everyone - neighbours included was sick of figs.

Somebody asked about raspberries, I haven't looked to see if anyone else replied but have checked with OH and he says prune the old wood (the shoots that had this years fruit on. The new shoots will fruit next year.

Well,we are doing well all .one way or another,with everything from courgette to cauliflower.
i used to grow beutiful cauli ,which i used to show in our autumn garden festival ,and noticed that other gardeners on the same site ,were doing far less well,,so i did a little research on them.
It would seem that the Australian varieties of Cauilflower seed do fasr better than our home grown our All year round being the worse to grow,giving hit and miss results.
Most veggie growers use either Dok Elgon ,Barrier Reef, or Canberra, which are all freely available ,yes ,i know they are a bit dearer,but the results are well worth the expense.very large heads with a beutiful taste.
My cucumbers i grow in the greenhouse saving space in my very little veggie patch ,and i use hybrids ,all female.,i only mention this because i someone ask about uses for them apart from the obvious [salads] try slicing them lengthwise ,into thinnish slices,tossing them in a mix of flour salt .pepper and spice ,then frying them,quite nice they are :-).
Someone mentioned growing Parsnips ,cor ,you have picked a belter ,he he ,one of the most difficult garden veggies to grow, you need soil very rich from a spot well manured from the year before ,parsnip take a long time to come away from seed and need a lot of hoe work to keep them weed free ,and allow air into the soil., i grow mine in raised boxes to keep them well off the ground to keep the bugs off ,most flies are low flyers ,inches off the ground,and i rely on ant dust to keep the other nasties away.
Anyone know of a good variety of Red onion seed i can use ,lol i have tried sets ,but hey keep bolting despite being well watered,yet the white onion sets do fine strange that ,
This thread is interesting to me being a semi retired grower ,so i will keep appearing if nobody objects :-) Fred.,hiding from the threatened culls :-\

somebody asked about uses for cucumbers too! :-D
I'm getting a complex LOL

Hi Fred

Any advice on courgettes?

who's threatening to cull you? pelt 'em with manure I say :-D :-D

I Grow my courgettes in buckets from Asda [free if you ask] as do i grow ALL my veggies apart from my onions which are in boxes i brought from Aldi.[storage boxes] all with holed bottoms.
I just use a good grade compost from the garden centres,and sink the buckets ,boxes a few inches into the soil,'Stick a couple of seeds per bucket ,watewr a couple of times ,and bingo .
The cucumber i start in the greenhouse ,and transplant to buckets when large enough. Both Courgette ,and cucumber are gross feeders and need regular feeding with such as miracle grow. ;-) Fred.
P/s culling Badgers to stop bovine T B is on the governments agenda ,so Badger is in hiding ,lol :-S

Island, sorry I have copied the cucumber recipe. I thought I thanked you but sorry if I forgot. Chaos here, inbetween a few minutes on here getting the house ready for the family visiting for the weekend. Goy all the beds sorted now. We get so used to it just being the two of us.

thanks for the tips re courgettes as well Fred.

Fred what sort of buckets? Not that we shop in Asda. We grow our baby carrots, salad onions, lettuce, French beans and spinach in troughs. Had a lovely first crop of spinach but the second crop we lost as young plants when we were away for the weekend and the snails got them. Cucumbers are in the greenhouse. Just two plants and we give some to our neighbour.

Hi Ann ,the buckets that the flower section buy in ,they [Asda] Have flowers come in every day ,and all they do is throw them away in the skips.if you ask for them ,they will keep them for you ,i normally get mine 20 at a time.
My onions ,parsnips ,and carrots i grow in troughs and boxes i get from any store [storage boxes],everything else ,e,g, cabbage calabrese ,beans ,beetroot ,and my greenhouse stuff are ALL in these buckets,and everything grows pretty well .
My veggie patch is only 10 ft wide ,and 16 ft long ,and i manage to grow stuff to do the two of us for 12 months.I grow three sorts of beans broad ,runner and dwarf french [both climbers] which saves a lot f space for the other stuff ,including 12 Asparagus plants ,yum.Fred.

Ann. Enjoy :-D

last post vanished before I could hit submit :-( so doing short version :-D

I managed to buy some of those very large pots that trees grow in for £9.99 each in a cheap shop.

They are the right height for the old man to reach from the wheelchair, which doesn't mean he wants to!

Last year I stood over him and beat him into submission.He planted some French marigolds in with the runners I had in the pot. They are supposed to keep the white fly away.

This year the runners must take their chance. He has decided he is dung monitor!

I have some asparagus peas in a container. I think they are a kind of vetch so,at least,they will be good for the soil. It seems you steam the little pods before they are an inch long and eat them with butter. There are at least five coming so we are going to be full to bursting!

We all had a blueberry each a couple of weeks ago. We might even have a strawberry later. Can't cope with these prolific harvests.

Sharron, lol, a blueberry each!

Think what all this fruit and veg will do for your insides....

I ventured out to strim today as the weeds were disguising whatever was growing in the veg plot.

First ,I got an electric shock from the mashed plug. Now who put it away in that state??? OH is looking very innocent.

Second, I got stung by no end of nettles. OH informs me loftily that there are many sorts of nettles, blah blah blah, and this from him on the settee watching the Grand Prix. It still hurts!!

Third, I got bored. Especially after weeding up and throwing away swede plants, again. They look just like weeds.

Ha ha! This thread s not only funny now but also informative.

Fred, there has been a butterfly watch going on around here, I think. We have a lot of Red Admirals and Painted Ladies, whizzing round our garden but mostly Cabbage Whites chomping their way through my winter supplies. And a few Kentish Blues which are tiny, delicate and **blue.**

I love to join these surveys because the idea of sitting in the garden doing nothing for several hours appeals to me, can't think why!!!