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Today's harvest from the allotment :-
Runner beans, tomatoes, the last of the red peppers (there were four in all) and two Blenheim Orange apples.
I was talking to one of my allotment neighbours today and he was saying that even the chaps who spend hours every day on their plots have had disappointing crops this year. The weather's been all over the place of course, which hasn't helped in the least.
I'm hopeful of my overwintering crops doing better - the brassicas I planted a couple of weeks ago, including the ones kindly donated by another allotment neighbour, seem to be growing well, as are the leeks, also including some donated by another neighbour again. The red cabbage are forming hearts and I have some parsnips and a row of late carrots coming on, as well as some potatoes still to lift.
The runner beans seem to be more or less finished - there are a few more still on the plants but no more flowers. More apples to come, but only small ones, by the look of it.
Tomorrow I hope to spend some time weeding and tidying a bit more.
Runner beans, tomatoes, the last of the red peppers (there were four in all) and two Blenheim Orange apples.
I was talking to one of my allotment neighbours today and he was saying that even the chaps who spend hours every day on their plots have had disappointing crops this year. The weather's been all over the place of course, which hasn't helped in the least.
I'm hopeful of my overwintering crops doing better - the brassicas I planted a couple of weeks ago, including the ones kindly donated by another allotment neighbour, seem to be growing well, as are the leeks, also including some donated by another neighbour again. The red cabbage are forming hearts and I have some parsnips and a row of late carrots coming on, as well as some potatoes still to lift.
The runner beans seem to be more or less finished - there are a few more still on the plants but no more flowers. More apples to come, but only small ones, by the look of it.
Tomorrow I hope to spend some time weeding and tidying a bit more.
optimistic
The beans were jolly nice with last night's dinner :-)
(I think squirrels got a baby tomato while it was still green cause it disappeared.)
I used the tomato to make Mexican rice which was very tasty.
Oh dear! How are you off for pollinating insects in your neck of the woods? if there aren't many, you can use an artist's paintbrush instead and do the job yourself.
I hope it hasn't put you off the whole idea and you'll have better luck next time!
I'm not as enthused about doing tomatoes again next year but definitely want to get some more rosemary and oregano, and trying thyme and sage. And, mint ... definitely mint. I love the hot jalapeno/mint chutney I can buy at Costco to put on my home made jamaican beef patties and samosas and wonder if I could whip some up myself.
I love sage - if it gets frosty in winter don't get the variegated sort as it isn't frost hardy. I grow purple sage myself and I seem to have manged to root some cutting this year, practically by accident (I chopped off a lump of the plant while weeding and flung the bits into pots just in case...)
I'll have to see what sage plants are best suited for south-western Ontario. :) They don't HAVE to overwinter.
I did get loads of mint though, but even that is dying down now.
It's a good ornamental plant too, nice dark stems with light stripy leaves and little blue flowers. Bees love it.
I also have a couple of pots of Corsican mint, which is good to add to mint tea, just to pick it up a bit. But primarily I have it for scent, just ruffling it gently is enough to release a cloud of mint scent, and leaves your hands smelling minty for hours too.
I also recommend Orange scented thyme if you want to branch out from mint.
I don't know how hardy the orange scented thyme is, this is the first year I've grown it and I'm keeping it indoors this winter just to make sure it gets really established. Next year it's going out and will have to cope. I know I did get virtually 100% germination from the seeds, and that it can take a bit of overwatering of seedlings (oops).
It's good to know about hardiness. The 2 planters in the back yard are big cement ones that my parents used to use for flowers. I dug out the weeds and layered fresh potting soil on top and planted my herbs and the lone tomato plant in them and, since I can't bring them in, I hope to be able just cover/wrap the herbs and let them go.
Of course, I know basil is an annual but the lone rosemary plant should be ok (fingers crossed). I have to harvest the greek oregano soon though.
I don't use that variety for eating though.
I also have the ordinary mint and Black Peppermint growing in tubs. They are great for many things. I use to have Applemint as well, but it failed to come back one year.
I grew Orange scented thyme last year, but it didn't last long. I just don't seem to have the right conditions for it :(
Agreed on the Corsican mint on its scent, it is wonderful. I find a small amount of it added to mint tea just lifts it a little, giving it something. Even if it is supermarket own brand mint teabags, a bit of Corsican mint makes it almost like proper tea.
When I do manage to grow some, I use it in salads. If I had loads of it, I might have a go at making my own pesto, because I love that.
So, only five plants grew the first time. The second time, I did 4 and all 4 sprouted. The last time, I only did 3 and all sprouted again. It was a very small decorative ceramic pot (3 1/2") cause I had pitched ALL the plastic ones along with their trays I had last year in the house in the great clear-up of the attic and basement. Boy, did I regret it.
:-) I love seeing the little seedlings come up though - it's like magic!
Do you like coriander/cilantro? That's quite easy to germinate - in fact it's taken to self-seeding on my allotment, despite not being fully hardy here. I thought of it because they tend to sprout two or three from a "seed" - I think the seeds are actually little seed pods.
Law of the universe that, I reckon - you have a load of clutter around the plce for ages, you finally get rid of it and a few days later you fins a use for it. Bah!
I agree heartily. :) I used to sprout mung beans for stir fry though so I should be used to it but it's always a shock.
"Do you like coriander/cilantro?"
I'm one of those people to whom the cilantro tastes like perfumed soap smell. :( I substitute flat parsley for it in all my recipes but I know it's not the same, of course.
Oh dear :-( You could grow it for the seeds though and make your own spice :)
Buggrit! :-(
Looking forward to tasting the apples later - they're dual-purpose eater/cooker apples, so maybe some apple sauce :-)
You're way ahead of me in the overwintering stakes. All I've got is some purple sprouting broccoli and leeks. The cabbage and kale will have to come out soon, along with all the other bits and bobs. Still, I've got onions, garlic and shallots on order, so fingers crossed for both of us :)
I really love the Gartenperle cherry tomatoes - they're probably the most tomatoe-y tomatoes I've ever tasted.
I hope the weather will be kinder next year though - the crops have been much better in previous years. Except for the peppers - this is the first year I've managed to get them to ripen!
We're champing our way through Williams pears at the moment (not too fast in my case, lest I suffer too-much-fruit-itis :-( ) and the apples are pretty well ready. How many of them we'll be able to use is the problem; I can only cook so many of the Bramleys (there must be 500lb. or more on the tree), and we can only nom so many of the Cox's and Charles Ross. The rest will probably go back to nature as usual.
I trust that your overwintering veg will grow well. We've just finished the first British brussels sprouts I've bought this season with tonight's dinner. I'm looking forward to good local leeks and cabbages from the autumn farmers' markets too.
What a shame! Still, I daresay the wildlife will appreciate the ones you can't cope with. I'd suggest making wine from some of the excess, but since Geoff doesn't drink that wouldn't be much help either...
No runner beans to be had therefrom? I must say though, the beans are usually my most reliable crop but this year even they haven't done too well.
It is indeed. I'd love to offer them to the local shop, but I'd have the Food Squad on my neck, and a big fat fine or worse, for supplying them (even free of charge) without a licence - and on top of that, I'd have legal product liability considerations, even were I licensed to supply food :-(
It's a thought, but I'm not quite sure how Bramley wine would come out - it'd need tons of sugar to make it sweet enough to be drinkable, I'd have thought. TBH, I haven't really got the space to set up winemaking kit either :-(
They'll have them on their stalls, but even from the farmers' markets they'll be long and tough, as they let them grow to that size for maximum crop weight. Quality has really gone way downhill for this, my previously favourite vegetable[1], in the past decade or so.
[1]I now favour Brussels sprouts, which seem to have improved vastly in quality over roughly the same period.
Bah! I suppose it's not worth bunging a box by the front gate with a "Please help yourself" notice? Or would the Food Squad frown on that too?
I acquired some Bramleys from a fellow racer at the weekend who brought a big bag in for anyone who wanted them. Contraband! :-)
Bah encore! How annoying!
Technically, they could, if they felt like it. AIUI, it's one of those things they currently choose to overlook, but could get awkward about if they got out of bed on the wrong side that morning. IIRC, a chap who put out runner beans for 50p a bag got told off by his local council for not conforming to the food regs; they didn't prosecute, but he had to stop doing it.
:-)
We gave each of our neighbours a big bag of Williams pears, and the people to one side of us have put out some apples. I've seen people selling fruit at a couple of recent radio rallies I've been to, but I'd imagine they have no idea of the rules.
It is infuriating, but I suppose they're almost as much profit-driven as the shops are these days.
Oh for goodness' sake!
I know I'm not allowed to sell produce from my allotment, which is fair enough - I suppose that would make it a markey garden or something - but if people want to give stuff away, they ought to be allowed to, I think.
I can see where there might be some concern about unpleasant people tampering with the food, but there has to be a limit to that sort of paranoia.
It is totally daft, isn't it? The government claim that they want to do away with unnecessary regulation - in my view, they could do well to start with silly rules like those. Common sense about food was always enough in the past, and so it should still be today.
I absolutely agree; unfortunately, the rules seem to get made by people who have too much time on their hands, so they make them as awkward, convoluted, and restrictive as they can get away with - apparently almost out of spite, it would seem.
I am clearly far too sensible to be allowed to be in charge of anything :-)
Well exactly. However, they constantly berate people for drinking "too much", yet rake in billions every year in drink duty, so wanting/having it both ways is nothing new to them...
Likewise to me. I strongly suspect, though, that they don't want people to supply other people free (or for cash) with what could otherwise be sold to them by companies who pay corporation tax, VAT, and all kinds of other fees, and who employ payers of income tax - much the same reasoning as I suspect lies behind the rules against doing some types of DIY electrical wiring (only for that, they dress it up in a great big "safety" banner).
Cynical? Moi?
Moi aussi! I suspect, if anything, we underestimate their perfidy :-(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essex_County,_Ontario
I just found out we have an 'official' tartan as well.
There's a lot of giving each other things though - just today one of my neighbours said I was welcome to pears from his tree if I wanted some. People are wonderfully generous.
I quite often see little stalls outside people's houses with veg for sale, usually with an "Honesty box" for people to put the money in, but I don't know if they're strictly legal. Probably not.
And now you know!