Home gardening - "Grow your Own" thread.

[Essexyellows]

Can trade courgettes for anything that isn`t a courgette......... they went mutant during the "weather".

This year's learning - don`t go away during heatwaves, and make sure you don`t plant courgettes in the freshly manured, slightly shaded bed.

 

[Peterdev]

The disappointing ones for me were cucumbers, courgettes and peppers. I thought they were meant to be easy.
Rhubarb is brilliant. I feed if lots of orange peel and soft fruit that’s gone over.
Ive found a nice drink. Filtered water, strawberry tops and cucumber with mint. Keep in the fridge in a jug

 

[Essexyellows]

Nightmares...............

 

[Peterdev]

Anyone know if you eat rhubarb the first year?

 

[ZeroTheHero]

Anyone know if you eat rhubarb the first year?

My allotment using and rhubarb growing wife says you can, but it will do the plant no good at all. Leave it this year and harvest it gently next year.

 

[MarkG]

My allotment using and rhubarb growing wife says you can, but it will do the plant no good at all. Leave it this year and harvest it gently next year.

Then once it’s ripe throw it in the bin. Along with gooseberries.
Don’t understand people who try such strange fruit.

 

[Paul Cannell]

Mm, gooseberries are only good in fools.

 

[werthersoriginal]

Then once it’s ripe throw it in the bin. Along with gooseberries.
Don’t understand people who try such strange fruit.

I’m growing gooseberries and rhubarb, NB you need to cook them

 

[Essexyellows]

Then once it’s ripe throw it in the bin. Along with gooseberries.
Don’t understand people who try such strange fruit.

Coming from you Mr G !!

Some of that strange imported stuff you travel with makes rhubarb and gooseberries look "normal".

 

[Northstandboy]

Coming from you Mr G !!

Some of that strange imported stuff you travel with makes rhubarb and gooseberries look "normal".

Gooseberries are lovely!

 

[Essexyellows]

Gooseberries are lovely!

They are - we have an early variety - once the woodpigeons start looking at the bush is the time to eat them..... pigeon breast with a gooseberry sauce.

 

[MC Yellow]

Then once it’s ripe throw it in the bin. Along with gooseberries.
Don’t understand people who try such strange fruit.

Rhubarb crumble and vanilla ice cream… Lovely Jubbly.

 

[Hackney Jack]

Hate gardening with a passion so why am I reading and enjoying this thread?
Am I alone with this or is it some deep psychological disorder?

I absolutely love this thread, possibly one of the greatest threads on the internet (for me) !

I've been watching Oxford for over 40 years, and one of the lovely and fascinating things about this thread is the various posters I have agreed with, or disagreed with over the decades, and this thread just does away with any of that, incredible.

I am no gardener, and really only got into it around the last 5 years, mainly because I like the symmetry and life of flowers - it seems to rest my dyslexic mind. I work for myself, and don't have enough time to garden as much as I'd like, but when I do, it brings me a lot of joy, and I sleep well.

The reason I quoted this post, is because embarrassingly enough, I go on the Gardners World forum for much the same reason as the post - I don't really have any idea of what I'm reading, but I love it, even their daily diaries of what all the old folk get up too.

I really like that the majority of posters on this thread appear more into veg gardening - I am purely flower/ferns/cacti/pines and other plants.

We moved to Whitstable around 2.5 years ago with our boy, and the garden was like the land that time forgot, and dangerous. The before photo is on the left, and the right hand photo is last December.

The black decking we put down brings me a lot of joy, every day.

 

[Paul Cannell]

They are - we have an early variety - once the woodpigeons start looking at the bush is the time to eat them..... pigeon breast with a gooseberry sauce.

Vulgar as a Michelin 1 star.

Look, the flavour is in the bones mostly, and it's not for no reason that they're roasted whole from Mrs Beaton to Mary Berry [for avoidance of doubt I'm not against roasting crowns and serving with confit legs] but for fucking hell's sake surely to your weeping jesus you whack a knob of unsalted butter into the juices from the 20 minute roast and a slug of half decent St Emilion perhaps with a hint of bayleaf and a little thyme. And job done.

Serve with croutons, dauphinoise (not an euphemism for the formerly coming Prince) and something green and spritely and you won't go further wrong than the moral compass invested in you by yr hrd wrkng mother meant you to.

Christ's fucking blood, go to Teeside, eat the locally caught shellfish.

 

[Sheik djibouti]

This year has been challenging due to the heat, lack of rain and a perennial problem with rabbits. We did manage to grow potatoes (think we might've dug up less than we planted ), broad beans (lost a lot to heat/drought), carrots (in pots to keep the rabbits and carrot fly off), lettuce (in pots again - same logic) leeks. we've also got tomatoes, cucumber and one sweet potato in the greenhouse - all done well in the heat with plenty of watering. We did have some gooseberries and blackcurrants, but not many (pigeons and mice had most of them at a guess!).

Apples have been amazing this year - we've got two eaters and a Bramley...and of course we have a Quince tree which is laden

Don't whatever you do grow Jerusalem Artichokes. I did it when I first had allotment 20 years ago (just got the garden now) and would never grow them again! They may taste nice roasted, chipped or mashed etc etc, but they make you fart like a racehorse and they will take over if you do not severely restrict their growth or grow in big pots.

 

[Paul Cannell]

Don't whatever you do grow Jerusalem Artichokes. I did it when I first had allotment 20 years ago (just got the garden now) and would never grow them again! They may taste nice roasted, chipped or mashed etc etc, but they make you fart like a racehorse and they will take over if you do not severely restrict their growth or grow in big pots.

Yeah. Spookily unlike the 'Mericans who translated 'Chemin Couvert' to 'Smackover' the topinambour far exceeds english wit and, with their ape-like aptitude for simple sounds and political sophistication, the southrons laid (like the jews) claim to a place they never owned (apart from 3 years of 3000; no time at all). No change.

Anyway, a puree of said veg is as good as parsnip with scallops and black pudding (if you can find any decent pudding with proper lumps, not that Stornoway shite that's flavoured with like red wine gums or sumpt). Also sliced thinly (you hep wi this technical s**t @Sheik djibouti ?) with almost any sort of steak as a crispy treat and like fucking hell risotto, scarin the trousers off raidsh in a fattoush (kohl rabi's not inept at this role and makes a fine base for the sinus-clearing papaya salad we afficinonadones from Phucket (yeah, Phucket all) erm,

Yes. need to be grown in pots or on the open heathland.

[cont on P.94]

 

[Peterdev]

I’ve grown parsnips for fun this year. I’m not sure when to harvest them as they seem ready to dig up. Not done any research but anyone had luck with them?

 

[ZeroTheHero]

... a perennial problem with rabbits

My wife's allotment is a bloody menagerie. Not only rabbits, but also foxes (she saw a cute little fox cub asleep on the straw around her strawberries, surrounded by the remains of the fruit!), badgers (who bulldoze the sweetcorn and the fence around it to get at the eaty bits), deer (muntjack and others) who seem to be partial to anything at all! At least we are helping to keep the local wildlife population in the style to which there are becoming accustomed though!

Mind you we've have some lovely blackcurrants, blackberries. pears and apples this year.

 

[werthersoriginal]

I absolutely love this thread, possibly one of the greatest threads on the internet (for me) !

I've been watching Oxford for over 40 years, and one of the lovely and fascinating things about this thread is the various posters I have agreed with, or disagreed with over the decades, and this thread just does away with any of that, incredible.

I am no gardener, and really only got into it around the last 5 years, mainly because I like the symmetry and life of flowers - it seems to rest my dyslexic mind. I work for myself, and don't have enough time to garden as much as I'd like, but when I do, it brings me a lot of joy, and I sleep well.

The reason I quoted this post, is because embarrassingly enough, I go on the Gardners World forum for much the same reason as the post - I don't really have any idea of what I'm reading, but I love it, even their daily diaries of what all the old folk get up too.

I really like that the majority of posters on this thread appear more into veg gardening - I am purely flower/ferns/cacti/pines and other plants.

We moved to Whitstable around 2.5 years ago with our boy, and the garden was like the land that time forgot, and dangerous. The before photo is on the left, and the right hand photo is last December.

The black decking we put down brings me a lot of joy, every day.View attachment 10209

We’ve sorted out a nice space at the end of our garden and this year I grew strawberries, raspberries, and gooseberries. None of them fruited but I enjoyed watering them and peering gloomily at them, and sitting on the bench . Tomatoes did well but my Mrs prefers the ones from the shop ...

 

[Marked Ox]

My wife's allotment is a bloody menagerie. Not only rabbits, but also foxes (she saw a cute little fox cub asleep on the straw around her strawberries, surrounded by the remains of the fruit!), badgers (who bulldoze the sweetcorn and the fence around it to get at the eaty bits), deer (muntjack and others) who seem to be partial to anything at all! At least we are helping to keep the local wildlife population in the style to which there are becoming accustomed though!

Mind you we've have some lovely blackcurrants, blackberries. pears and apples this year.

Catch and cook the rabbits, get your own back. Use some of the fruit with it when you cook it.