[Dave K]

Actually given the forecast I'm concerned about the possibility of hail damage to my outdoor vegetables overnight. Ridiculous as it might be in these temperatures I might have to fleece up some things tonight :%

[JanetB138]

I dont think growing Salad potatoes was a good idea, as after reading posts i should have staked them up with Bamboo, one of the potato sacks had gone wild growing, and hadnt enough soil to add to it. The other green bag seems to be doing well, so tomorrow will stake them up.

Have bought another min green house and a tomato house, the man next door gave me 3 Tomato plants and 2 Cucumbers, the toms have gone mad growing and have been staked, and just noticed some flowers coming on one of them, so left the tomato house open to let the pollinators in.

 

Sweet peas are doing well, as are the Radishes,  and Salad leaves, have already planted the Winter pansies, considering got free plants and seeds the little veg garden is doing well.

[Nigel Bolton]

Courgettes are ripening nicely now, brought on by some equibally temperatures sunshine, goosegogs are now ripe and runner beans are in flower. Spinach has now bolted, but will use some of the leaves before pulling.

A good way to cook spinach, as taught to me by my wife.

Pick lots of leaves.

After washing thoroughly, cut very small with a Sabatier knife.

Add a little Olive Oil and Garlic to a frying pan and heat.

Place in spinach, cook and stir for a couple of minutes.

Leave to rest to allow garlic to infuse.

Serve and enjoy.

It is really delicious done this way, believe me!.

N.

[Dave K]

Hi Nigel thanks for that but for me, spinach is best eaten as a salad leaf, uncooked ;)

[Dave K]

Some good spells of warm sunshine have brought the outdoor tomatoes on a bit and a few are starting to ripen, one is quite red and the others more orangey.The "normal" size toms definitely a bit slower though than the cherry ones to complete the ripening.

Nearby, both an apple and pear tree have fruit probably just a little under half their eventual size.

[nicko31]

Courgettes managed to harvest first few
Runner and French beans loads of flowers
Gooseberries been and gone
Cherries been and gone - very good year
Raspberries just starting to come on stream
Brocolli first crown harvested yesterday
Tomatoes - not great due to lack of water while i was on hols
Kale coming on nicely

First year of my allotment I'm pretty happy so far

[scrapemedic]

Not bad nicko, making me feel bad that I haven't got everything in the ground yet

[Nigel Bolton]

Kale.

My favourite green veg, and even better as it is frost resistant.

However, despite what the books say, the pigeons love it, and the pigeon population around here gets worse by the day.

N.

[Nigel Bolton]

Plums are ripening. This is very early, surely. Tree not at prolific as last year, but is still young, and heavy croping tends to occur on a bi-annual basis, I am lead to believe.

N.

[Dave K]

Well done to everyone above on your crop successes - I wish I had more room to be more experimental and try some new things.  About 8 tomatoes now have turned various colours towards red, the first one is fully red but doesn't yet feel quite ripe, can't wait to try it.

The Numex twilight has dozens of multicoloured chilli pods on it now, the fatalii and chocolate habanero about 10 green ones each. I'm glad now that I took the risk of starting them so early back in January, will hopefully get a long growing season.

Also picked my first Hungarian Hot Wax which is supposed to look like this


but actually looks like this



I think it ate all the pies :%

[Nigel Bolton]

First plums picked and eaten, were small, but delicious. Courgette plant now providing one courgette every two days, just a little under a kilo in weight. New carrots are very sweet, and thankfully not plagued by carrot fly; planting then with the onions hopefully should have helped.

Onion and shallot bulbs swelling nicely, largest onions about 7cm across.

Spinach starting to bolt. Wife will hopefully prepare a spinach and potato soup during the next couple of days; some to eat, and the rest to freeze for another time.

Runners are disappointing so far. Some flowers, but nothing set as yet. Placing them in a raised bed away from the rest of the veg has helped to prevent ant aided blackfly infestations, so far.

So many goseberries. Am eating some and freezing the rest. The weight of the fruit has caused the tips of the branches to touch the ground, where they have taken root. May nurture these 'bushlings', and sell them to any interested party.

N.

[Nigel Bolton]

Have made two batches of jam. One, gooseberry and blackcurrant, the other plum. Both have set really nicely, and the plum jam especially, delicious.

N.

[Nigel Bolton]

Those living in the south and west may wish to do some staking this afternoon. Winds likely to become strong enough to topple tall crops such as beans, or heavily laden young fruit trees.

N.

[Bazmundo]

The weight of rainfall this morning has already snapped a few upper branches of my Buddleia, as it's in full bloom now. Not been gusty so far, but I agree precautions may be needed tomorrow as far up as N Wales, NW England and NI as well; maybe also East Mids as well on Monday.

[John Mason]

Got a mission on tomorrow after getting distracted with work. Walked over to the garden tonight and everything has gone bonkers - approx 4 hours' weeding required, shallots need lifting then a bonfire for the pernicious weeds.

The shallot-crop is disappointing this year. The very dry conditions in Spring I coped with by lots of early morning waterings: the May 23rd gale is what did the damage I think - snapping many roots and flattening the foliage. Worst result in the 3 years I've been growing them.

Onions have however recovered, and broccoli is doing well, as are parsnips and mooli. Runner beans slow but vermin (rats or bank-voles??) took out seedlings and seeds in their pots leaving just 4 viable plants  so a late re-seeding has some little 'uns setting off up the sticks.

The other issue I have is a trio of chilli-plants that have outgrown the cold-frame in terms of height. Raise the frame up on blocks or what? Any ideas?

Cheers - John

[Bazmundo]

I may be wrong John, but I think you can trim the fresh tips at the top of the chilli plants to encourage them to bush out and flower more. I used to keep mine at about 3ft high.

[Dave K]

My Pink Fir Apple potatoes look as if they are nearly ready for harvesting. A couple of haulms already yellowed and dying back ( hopefully not due to the leaf spot fungus they have picked up ) which is about 18 weeks after planting so I hope there is something waiting under the soil. They have really taken a lot of watering, with such a mass of foliage very little rain gets though to the soil so the large container takes about a gallon a day unless the weather is cool and cloudy.

Tomatoes going quite well despite the shortage of sunshine, have picked about 10 so far and around 40 fruit stil growing on the two plants in various sizes and states of ripeness. These 'Orkado' are a fair size, have quite a good taste too and very soft skins.

The first batch of the extreme heat chillis are ripening up and already picked some for drying.



Great colour on the ripe fatalii



Slightly unedifying colour of the Chocolate habanero [hehe]

[Nigel Bolton]

Had my first runners this evening, boiled for just a few minutes with carrots, freshly pulled. Chuffed to nuts with the taste. Squirrels nicked my remaining plums while I was away. Soon be time to pull the shallots and onions and hang them to dry.

Most of my carrots this year, I planted with the onions, in a bed some half a metre above the ground. Hopefully will have deterred onion and carrot fly. Some of my carrots planted in a standard bed are showing a few signs of this pest.

Very surprised how dry the ground is.

N.

[John Mason]

Here people are reporting onions doing very well, runner beans poor, brassicas OK, spuds poor. Onions are doing well on my patch, beans only just into flower following a forced replant, broccoli coming along (cabbage whites have almost finished laying now, or so it appears). Been bringing in lots of seaweed and grass-cuttings for compost, placed in layers between weeds to get the whole process going nicely.

Cheers - John