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Bit of a depressing time Garden wise.
Poly Tunnel cleared,not much going on in the garden other than Apples,Raspberries,Rhubarb,Leeks,Sprouts,Garlics,Pumpkins
Thinking about ordering an entire seasons seed box from D T Browns,anyone ever tried this?
a suggestion - for the amount of money you spend on wasting a pumpkin for Halloween, give the equivalent amount to an aid charity who are trying to feed the hungry anywhere in the world.
Whats wrong with pumkin soup or pie? You only need the outside for the lantern. There again I'm English and do not do halloween, but I do do food.
Yeah - maybe I shall just tell the kids that knock on my door that I thought they would rather help the homeless and hungrey rather than eat more sweets themselves.
Am digging the foundations for my garden studio - going to have a flemish bond wall so I can grow my own figs - had to plan carefully so the wall gets maximum sun and warmth though now I'm also tempted with some vines, maybe have to build a bigger room.
I'm going to go back to growing my toms on gravel, the grow bags gave too much shelter to the slugs. Maybe not try plum toms again - the old variety I tried did well and they were everso tasty. Not that I ended up with too many and they weren't very big.
And if you do insist on buying a pumpkin for Halloween lantern purposes, please use the discarded flesh in a tasty recipe, e.g.:
I fully admit to making pumpkin lanterns - sorry, FB.
But we always make good use of what we've hollowed out, and I'll happily eat them at other times.
Good idea re: aid charity, though.
Edit: x-post with bikermouse!
I feel a facebook campaign coming on
Not in this House fella!
I admit to promising one to my mates daughter but apart from that they get roast,stuffed,baked,souped & pied in my house.
In fact they have even been a chutney & ice cream previosuly.
Snap.
Did them this year for the 1st time & they were great.
Well, I've finally made it. Today I got an allotment. It's only half a plot, around 7 by 14 metres, but it's in reasonable shape.
Digging starts tomorrow, but for now I'm browsing the shed catalogues - ah, bliss!
enjoy.
BRT wrote (see)
Have made a note of that.
I'm going to grow figs and I'd like to grow grapes, also want to remove an ash tree and plant sweetchestnut in it's place. Methinks I'm going to be doing a lot of digging.
My fav sport.
I confess to never having tried pumpkin in any form
But neither do I buy them to make lanterns. Where we live it's too dark down our road for the rascals to come knocking!
My expert vegetable book arrived. Great book. I've dug over my beds,I've got a couple of tattie plants left in, and one wigwam of beans, but I think I need to dig some compost in for next years planting. Am I okay to grow stuff like brussel sprouts and leeks/onions in the patch where the tatties were?
Can't wait to get my raised beds sorted out, but I'l have to import soil for them. Any suggestions as to what soil I get? Will normal topsoil be good enough? We've got a compost bin so I can empty that and dig it in to the imported soil.
normal topsoil should do but a lot of stuff sold is pretty low in nutrients so it will need lots of organic matter and feed (manure) applied to it. composted leaves and general compost is good for organic matter - as is spent mushroom compost - but it will need added feeding as well.
blight has got most of my toms now - a couple seem to have escaped - so the affected ones have been cut down and binned and we have sorted what fruit can be used so we have a cooking session coming up this week
Morning all!
Good book I mentioned before, but couldn't fully remember - Organic Gardening by Christine and Michael Lavelle. Not as detailed as some, but really nicely laid-out, very clear with good photos/illustrations
. With veg, fruit and herb directories at the back.
I'd also recommend to folks starting out to get some kind of illustrated guide to British plants, i.e. Concise British Flora in Colour or similar. Useful for identifying weeds that need getting rid of.
oi.you wrote (see)Ace - good luck with it!
Sorry to hear about the blight, FB!
I have now started preparing the back of our garden for an influx of raspberry canes!
Raspberry canes
I had my witch hazel die last year - I thought I might've killed it though we lost 3 trees, the witch, an apple and my euccalyptus (which I'd grown from seed
) I planted another witch hazel, stupidly in the same place and it started to look sad so I dug it up and put it in a big pot, I've totally cleared the area and bunged a load of barkchip down, I now have a 12'x6' area that needs something, I'm thinking of growing some form of rubus, I've a big patch of Cockburns but am thinking of something that gas edible fruits - brambles in my garden have the least flavoursome berries ever.
B-M-M - shame about your trees, especially the eucalyptus
I love them. I've hopefully got one coming to me that is being nurtured at the moment.... the nursery at the back of us has loads of them, I didn't realise how many varieties of eucalyptus there were. They are beautiful. She said she'd give me a sapling when they're a bit bigger and 'ready' 
For my birthday I had Alan Titchmarsh's The Kitchen Garder and a couple of books by John Harrison. Think that's all I'll ever need... along with my Vegetable Expert book
Today I cleared the rest of my plot, harvested the last of the spuds and the garlic and we emptied the compost bin and I've scattered it over the garden. I haven't dug it in, I'm guessing that the worms will take it down and the frost will break up the rest of the soil. The bit where the tatties were has broken up beautifully. It looks like I can plant some more garlic in November too.
Has anybody bought anything from these people Marshalls?
Just wondering if they're any good? Seem to have quite a vast array! I've also decided I'd love a gooseberry bush
Morning all.
Not bought anything from them Squish. I did buy some red and blackcurrant bushes from Lidl this week though. 6 bushes for 4.98. I hope I get some fruit from them though.
Bit of frost for the Parsnips
I use Simpsons Seeds a fair bit as they have some good unusual varieties and also supply plant plugs so if you only want a small quantity of something unusual it they can be easier than trying to grow from seed. my aubergines and peppers came as plugs
Afternoon all.
Just thought I'd mention that the new seed catalogue is now out from these people, who I rather like.
We've just finished the last of our onions, but still have some maincrop spuds left. Mizuna is still healthy outside in the garden, our raspberry canes are planted, and my parents have bought me a very large strawberry planter for my birthday, so I look forward to plenty of soft fruit next year, with a bit of planning, effort and luck!
A sad time of year, because there's very little edible left on the plot, but here's to this year's harvest, and an even better one next year.
*raises virtual glass*
I'm still picking raspberries...and quite a lot still on the plants to ripen. We had apple and raspberry crumble/custard on Sunday for afters...luvverly jubbly.
Not much left now...just a few spring onions that we will be eating over the next few days probably.