What are you growing?

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Woody girl

Full Member
Mar 31, 2018
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Exmoor
Made some of Toddy's wild strawberry cordial this morning too, only a small amount, about a pint, but I can see that used as a drizzle over vanilla ice cream, rather than diluted to drink. Yummy!
Yes I'm working hard, like you disabled prepper, I have disabilities, and I've developed a trapped nerve the last few days on top of everything else, probably overdid it sorting out that willow tree. Serve me right!
I'm glad I timed it right with the rain able to water the garden, because I don't think I could manage watering at the moment.
I shall be adding two more small water butts soon as I've finished sorting the compost area for my friend. She has two she doesnt need, so that will be my payment.
Must get some linking kits sometime, and get them all linked up when i get them home, and figure a way to collect more water into them as they are at the top of the garden for a gravity watering system that I've rigged with a hose, and the house is at the bottom of the slope,so if I used my roof water, the gravity system wouldn't work.
Tricky!
 

bobnewboy

Native
Jul 2, 2014
1,296
849
West Somerset
So far we are eating:

Parsnips
Raspberries (Glut so may make some rasp gin, MORE jam, crumbles, fruit leather)
Blackcurrants (as for rasps!)
Strawberries, seemingly all done now.
French beans - bush and climbing planted together, making good use of limited space
Peas - Jaguar and Marrowfat
Borage - good for bees, but the flowers taste nice in salad and summer drinks
Garlic
Onions (various)
Shallots
Rhubarb
Potatoes - charlottes for salads, and some pink variety that I cant remember
Genovese basil - nice and strong flavour
Purple basil
Mixed salad leaves (from one seed envelope)
White radishes (icicle)
Wild (?) Rocket
Salad Garnet - not as tasty as I was hoping, but fine as a salad leaf
Mint in a bucket.

Our chillies are coming along but are not yet ripe. I’ve planted some skirret seed, and some have germinated/growing, but they wont be ready to lift and eat until next summer/autumn at the earliest.
 
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Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
38,982
4,626
S. Lanarkshire
Planted three dozen leeks yesterday. A friend asked last week if I liked leeks and I said that I did. I didn't realise that he had sprouted dozens of them until he handed my husband a newspaper wrapped bundle.
Hard to find proper room for three dozen leeks, but they're in, and it rained :) not a lot yet, but it did rain.

I think I'm going to be pulling some of them very young. I'm a Scot, we use the green of the leek too, and feel hard done to when we buy them in the supermarkets and they're cut down to just white stumps. Brilliant soup, and really good baked when young.

We're eating strawberries, gooseberries, blackcurrants, raspberries, a lot of fresh herbs, and new potatoes. No idea of the variety, just spuds that started to sprout so were planted.
 

Disabled Preppers

Full Member
Apr 3, 2023
213
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west midlands
Well before the rain hit i was planting out new strawberry bed with new plants don't ask for some reason a squirrel went in the bed and the fox followed and well lets say the bed was ruined , pulled some onions to dry and emptied a couple of my potatoes in buckets to have some lovely fresh out the ground spuds omg the taste a little butter over hmmmmmmmm , we have so much still to put out but ran out of room so the tunnel is packed with toms and cucumbers and sweet peppers and loads of herbs to as i start most stuff in there and then put out , i had to chop down a mint called crisper as it was infested with moth and web the other mints are all find , i have so much i need to harvest but the head is to dizzy still after the jabs in skull so no bending to low , i need to collect all the herb glut and dehydrate them we shall see how this week goes but oh the fun mother nature plays with us growers
 

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
38,982
4,626
S. Lanarkshire
We spoke about this earlier, but herbs dry really well in the mesh bags the supermarkets sell for fruit and veg.....under 50p for two here just now.
I just peg them out on the washing line and the herbs dry down really well, and quickly too.
 

Woody girl

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Mar 31, 2018
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Exmoor
My peas are ended but have loads of broad beans, and the runner beans are comming in nicely. Beetroot did wonderful this year, and I have a huge amount, some are about to be pulled up, and do baby pickled beets with.
I shall have to do far more peas next year, I can never have enough!
The courgettes are slow, due to the cold and wet, many male flowers and very few female, but I've had a few baby ones roasted with my potatoes and baby beets. Delicious.
 

Woody girl

Full Member
Mar 31, 2018
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Nice harvest today, potatoes, runner beans, broad beans, mushrooms.
Blackberries, and apples.
Another crumble, and veg filling for a tortilla for tea tonight.
 

TeeDee

Full Member
Nov 6, 2008
10,502
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Exeter
I planted Achocha " Fat Baby " this year. Just sampled the first offerings


Vigorous climber , heavy producer , tastes like Green Pepper ( kinda ) each fruit offers 5-10 seeds. Hardy enough to happily grow outside but will be aggressive in its climbing.

1692643249103.png

1692643301088.png

 
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TeeDee

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Nov 6, 2008
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Exeter
That was different :)
Would you grow it again ?

I think I would - but with caveats. As it has no issue climbing and growing outside and yet offers a taste similar to ( peppers which tend to have to be grown inside - so valuable growing space in a Greenhouse or Polytunnel ) it offers something usable , vigorous and a sort of plant and forget veg.

I've actually planted its bigger brother - the Giant at my place of work on some fencing - its just to fruit but the veg is a fair size larger.


 
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TeeDee

Full Member
Nov 6, 2008
10,502
3,705
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Exeter
It’s a shame that it tastes like green pepper - I’m not so keen! Unless it’s a less bitter green pepper!
Its more like young green pepper - before the bitterness. It quite palatable.

Drop me your address and I'll send some seeds.
 

Toddy

Mod
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Jan 21, 2005
38,982
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S. Lanarkshire
Toddy, did you try any of the smelly seeds I sent you.?

I did, and they've grown into white nigella 'love-in-a-mist' flowers. They're smaller and the white flowers don't really stand out the way the blue ones do. I'm waiting on them setting seeds.
Nigella is a kind of sprawling weedy type thing anyway, but I think this kind needs more sunshine than we get to really grow a lot of flowers.
Still do-able though :)
 
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cbrdave

Full Member
Dec 2, 2011
579
196
South East Kent.
Not long taken over an allotment, so doing a lot of clearing.
Wife's keeping the cut flowers going,
I'm keeping the fruit trees and bushes.
So far managed to grow or keep growing.
Spuds
Tomatoes
Onions
Carrots
Beetroot
Blackberries
Raspberry
Rhubarb
Strawberries
Gooseberries
Pumpkins
Planning on doing a lot of structural work in the autumn and get some compost in the soil.
Seems like the old fella that had it before us just grew fruit and flowers, some of the allotmenteers say he never did anything with the soil to help it, dumped wood cat litter on the heap every day and then one day just stopped, sat every day and let it over grow.
 

Woody girl

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Mar 31, 2018
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Exmoor
Sowed some late seeds in pots, hoping to get some things over winter. More carrots, potatos, and some turnips, will sow some broad beans and onions to over winter in pots, but I'm overhauling my raised beds this autumn so will need to clear them completely. One needs new sides as it's beginning to rot after 6 yrs, being made of cheap pine.
Pumpkins are very slow, just beginning to get females buds showing, whereas my friend's 4 miles away from same seed stock and planted at the same time, are already huge.
Don't understand that!
 
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slowworm

Full Member
May 8, 2008
2,014
973
Devon
Not in the ground yet, but picked up our seed potatoes today (Sharpe's Express and Pink Furries), a bag of onion sets and a packet of shallots.

It might sound a bit early for the seed pots but I can get them in trays now before they start chitting and I can avoid breaking the small shoots off. The onion sets will be started off in modules as well as they can struggle a bit in our soil.
 
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