God I love growing our own

[JamezF]

Storm?

Mostly wind here, but some showers too. Seems to have been more rain elsewhere though, and temperatures are relatively warm still. Breezy humid weather is perfect for late blight to spread.

James

 

[pargyle]

That's hugely unlucky. I have processed kilos of mediterranean veg for the freezer already. Even the peppers are coming on stream in time. The Polish Linguisa, after a really shaky start, have done well and the new Ananas Noire that I tried are splendid. The Sagitta spuds in buckets have been brilliant, except one whole container which was rotten...never seen that: big spuds but every one stinky! One other had a mouse nest in it with a few nibbled.
The rats in the poly tunnel have disappeared so the rest of the tomatoes are safe. We have tons of Sungold and I'm even processing some of those into puree.
Happy days

The weather feels like it's ideal for the spread of blight to outdoor plants at the moment, especially after the storm that's just passed through. The wind can carry it for miles. After last year I decided not to grow maincrop potatoes any more because they always seem to get it -- I just can't get them to the end of their growing season before the conditions turn ideal for it to spread, and it seems to spread like wildfire once it gets going. Fortunately Charlotte potatoes seem to make fantastic chips And actually it works out nicely that the first and second earlies are out of the ground in time to get winter brassicas into the same space after lifting the potatoes.

By comparison, inside the polytunnel and Frankenstein's Greenhouse the tomatoes seem to be doing fine, presumably because it's much harder for the wind-borne blight spores to get to them. I'd love to be able to grow some tomatoes outdoors, especially perhaps some cherry varieties in hanging baskets, but I just don't see it as worth the effort if the plants aren't likely to make it past August. I'm starting to pinch the tops out of the plants once they reach the polytunnel roof now. Most of them will be at least ten feet tall by the time they do and I don't really have space for them to get any taller. It seems to be taking ages for the fruit to ripen though. I'm guessing that's a weather thing.

James

Yes... very frustrating I don't have room for a polytunnel and my greenhouse is 10 x 8 so again not big enough to do tomatoes in there. The storm coming in from the West, the heavy rain, strong winds followed by warm humid weather and it was almost inevitable that the blight would arrive. I have Sungold and Tumbling Tom in hanging baskets and I've had a few pounds off them in the last couple of days ... I keep trimming the blight and hope for best - there are lots of fruit on these cherry plants that are near ripe and only a few of the fruit have gone brown with the blight so all is not lost there although these cherry plants were the first to show signs of blight. My chillies in the greenhouse are fruiting (at last) and I'm hoping to get a few to ripen but it's late - they have taken ages to get to flowering this year.

We needed heat earlier in the year and it just wasn't there to get the fruit ripening. I can always ripen some toms on the window cill but they really don't taste the same as those ripened on the vine.

On the plus side I have loads of blackberries, some really nice cauliflowers and I could feed half of Fareham with the amount of Cobra stick beans that I'm harvesting. Win some lose some.

 

[JamezF]

Sort of growing my own... yeast, at least

Now in my fermentation cabinet, which shares many of the design features of a honey warming cabinet and could probably be used at such if I need more space. At the bottom is nine gallons of a clone of Moorhouse's Pendle Witches' Brew, though it's come in a couple of points lower than the 1050 OG I was aiming for. Above is about four gallons of an attempt at a "small beer" made from the same mash. Fermented to dry I expect the latter to come out at less than 1% ABV. I like the idea of low-alcohol beers for a mid-week or lunchtime drink, but so many of the commercial ones taste horribly thin and bland so I'm trying to come up with something of my own. At one time it was apparently common for everyone (even children) to drink quite a large amount of small beer every day because it was the only reliably safe source of water.

We chose this particular beer so my son can take some back to uni and compare it with the beer served at the Pendle Witch pub in Lancaster, but I think I'm in the mood to have a bit of a "clone beer" frenzy for a while. At my son's request, next on the agenda is a Beamish clone and then Newcastle Brown.

After that it's my turn and I fancy having a go at either or both of St. Austell Brewery's Tribute and Proper Job. I have a couple of their other beers that are bottle conditioned, so I'm hoping I can culture the yeast from those and use it to make the beer. After that there might be a trip across the water to Llanelli for a clone of Felinfoel Double Dragon.

James

 

[Sutty]

Clone of Proper Job is fabulous, go for it!

 

[JamezF]

I now have my very own Tunnel of Love (Apples)...

Not happy about this, though. A couple of days ago I remade a path where the clover had regrown into the one I made a couple of years ago. I just laid a load more cardboard down, then put a thick layer of woodchip on top, just as I did originally. Today it looked like this:

Whatever animal decided to do this needs to have serious concerns about finding itself in a cold, confined space in my cellar where the light only comes on when I open the door

Something is also nibbling the tops out of my lettuces and chicory. I suspect it is deer, as there was a large clump of rusty red and grey hair that had fallen on top of one, presumably where the perpetrator was having a scratch.

I actually spent a fair few hours today catching up on weeding which has fallen by the wayside a little whilst I've been dealing with Covid. The weather was doing its best to put me off, going from sweaty and humid one moment to absolutely bucketing down the next and then back again. I managed to get about half the plot done as well as giving the tomatoes a quick prune and taking delivery of 30kg+ of malt and lots of hops for the next brewing session.

I buy my hops as vacuum-packed loose cones and store them in the freezer until I'm ready to use them. The packs do contain a fair number of seeds, so I'm slightly tempted to open a few varieties before freezing and try to separate out the seeds with a view to sowing them to raise new plants. In all honestly I'm really not sure how one goes about growing hops, but it seems like it might be a fun thing to try, especially as some of the more traditional English varieties seem to be falling out of use these days.

James

 

[E&MBees]

I now have my very own Tunnel of Love (Apples)...

Not happy about this, though. A couple of days ago I remade a path where the clover had regrown into the one I made a couple of years ago. I just laid a load more cardboard down, then put a thick layer of woodchip on top, just as I did originally. Today it looked like this:

Whatever animal decided to do this needs to have serious concerns about finding itself in a cold, confined space in my cellar where the light only comes on when I open the door

Something is also nibbling the tops out of my lettuces and chicory. I suspect it is deer, as there was a large clump of rusty red and grey hair that had fallen on top of one, presumably where the perpetrator was having a scratch.

I actually spent a fair few hours today catching up on weeding which has fallen by the wayside a little whilst I've been dealing with Covid. The weather was doing its best to put me off, going from sweaty and humid one moment to absolutely bucketing down the next and then back again. I managed to get about half the plot done as well as giving the tomatoes a quick prune and taking delivery of 30kg+ of malt and lots of hops for the next brewing session.

I buy my hops as vacuum-packed loose cones and store them in the freezer until I'm ready to use them. The packs do contain a fair number of seeds, so I'm slightly tempted to open a few varieties before freezing and try to separate out the seeds with a view to sowing them to raise new plants. In all honestly I'm really not sure how one goes about growing hops, but it seems like it might be a fun thing to try, especially as some of the more traditional English varieties seem to be falling out of use these days.

James

I grow hops against an old de-skinned poly tunnel at work. The garden owner wanted the plant moved. I dug up a massive root ball and sawed it into pieces. The resultant plants provide excellent green shade for garden therapy sessions. I don’t use the hops for brewing, instead they get used to decorate autumn and Christmas wreaths.

 

[Erichalfbee]

with a view to sowing them to raise new plants.

I did that. The result now threatens to strangle my beech hedge and has to be ruthlessly culled every year.

 

[alisonfosterbell]

A-ha perhaps you can advise me! A friend gave me a bit of her hop plant a couple of years ago. This summer it flowered for tge first time but...no cones! Just tiny flowers full of dusty pollen. Are these male flowers? How could this happen if its from a plant which has cones?

 

[Goran]

Our dog rose is ripe for picking.. Dog rose marmalade is so tasty.. and healthy.. We don't add any jelly or something to increase mass of it, just dog rose.. Some will dry for tea ( I like it with honey a lot)..
Cornel.. this year have no time nor will to make something of it. Usually we make syrup in mix with aronia berries.. But this year on top of all misfortune birds ate all and nothing left to us, cornel is also left little.. To my surprise tit bird attack it, also what little left of plums and grapes they eat.. We barely had few to taste.. Our cats are feasting on them but again hundreds massacrate our fruits. Even many fallen from cats they are still attacking.. Even tit hang on hazel nuts and pierce through younger ones where shell is soft. It all hit me as surprise cause I thought they are after insects only..
Marmalade from shops we don't eat.. just a jelly with fruit fragrant additive.. so we don't buy it..

 

[enrico]

Our dog rose is ripe for picking.. Dog rose marmalade is so tasty.. and healthy.. We don't add any jelly or something to increase mass of it, just dog rose.. Some will dry for tea ( I like it with honey a lot)..
Cornel.. this year have no time nor will to make something of it. Usually we make syrup in mix with aronia berries.. But this year on top of all misfortune birds ate all and nothing left to us, cornel is also left little.. To my surprise tit bird attack it, also what little left of plums and grapes they eat.. We barely had few to taste.. Our cats are feasting on them but again hundreds massacrate our fruits. Even many fallen from cats they are still attacking.. Even tit hang on hazel nuts and pierce through younger ones where shell is soft. It all hit me as surprise cause I thought they are after insects only..
Marmalade from shops we don't eat.. just a jelly with fruit fragrant additive.. so we don't buy it..

Never heard of Cornel. Our grapes are amazing this year. Red and seedless white, just hoping for some sun to sweeten them up a bit. We make all our own marmalades and jams. We grow our own lemons and limes, no oranges but we use all sorts of fruit, cherry plum, and a type of plum like Merryweather but not sure, Greengage, and then make chilli jam which we use in cooking and as a relish nearly ever day.

 

[JamezF]

We also make many of our own marmalades and jams. One year I made lots of quince marmelade which was soooo nice, but since then the quince trees haven't done very well. They seem very susceptible to a bacterial(?) infection that causes the leaves to turn brown and drop off. There doesn't appear to be any real control for it either.

I thought Merryweather was a damson, but I guess they're all the same family really. If you have a fruit similar to that perhaps it might be a bullace? Our Victoria plums and damsons look and feel about ripe now and I may pick some tomorrow, but the plums really don't seem to have as good a flavour as I'd hope.

I'd not heard of Cornel either, but Wikipedia suggests it is also known as Cornus Mas or the Cornelian Cherry. Their web page says it is used in the UK, but according to the accompanying map it doesn't grow here naturally.

I also have a medlar, though I've never got around to doing anything with the fruit.

One of the new plants I've grown this year are Hungarian Black chiles -- very similar in size and form to jalapenos, but black. I saw them in someone else's polytunnel last year and as I grow lots of jalapenos and pickle them for putting on pizzas and in fajitas I just had to give them a try. Some of the fruit on mine have gone black and then started to turn red, but it's not the same kind of red as a jalapeno. They're a beautifully glassy deep red that looks amazing. I'll try to get a photo, though I don't know if that will do them justice.

James

 

[RJC]

We also make many of our own marmalades and jams. One year I made lots of quince marmelade which was soooo nice, but since then the quince trees haven't done very well. They seem very susceptible to a bacterial(?) infection that causes the leaves to turn brown and drop off. There doesn't appear to be any real control for it either.

I thought Merryweather was a damson, but I guess they're all the same family really. If you have a fruit similar to that perhaps it might be a bullace? Our Victoria plums and damsons look and feel about ripe now and I may pick some tomorrow, but the plums really don't seem to have as good a flavour as I'd hope.

I'd not heard of Cornel either, but Wikipedia suggests it is also known as Cornus Mas or the Cornelian Cherry. Their web page says it is used in the UK, but according to the accompanying map it doesn't grow here naturally.

I also have a medlar, though I've never got around to doing anything with the fruit.

One of the new plants I've grown this year are Hungarian Black chiles -- very similar in size and form to jalapenos, but black. I saw them in someone else's polytunnel last year and as I grow lots of jalapenos and pickle them for putting on pizzas and in fajitas I just had to give them a try. Some of the fruit on mine have gone black and then started to turn red, but it's not the same kind of red as a jalapeno. They're a beautifully glassy deep red that looks amazing. I'll try to get a photo, though I don't know if that will do them justice.

James

But dwarf cornel does - it's an upland plant. Not sure what the Croatian species is though - Assynt Flowers: Dwarf Cornel (Cornus suecicus) - Assynt Field Club

 

[Erichalfbee]

Cornel makes the most gorgeous jam.

 

[Goran]

Cornus mas ( latin) is our cornel. It grows wild at my place and there is plenty of it, but how time has changed also the people. Less and less they prepare their food, they buy jars and bags from the shop.. We long time ago used to make marmalade/jam.. True to be told, I don't know to differentiate them ( which is called marmalade which jam).. But as we make from 2 types of plums, occasionaly of vineyard peach and when have time of dog rose, we don't make marmalade/jam of cornel. Just as fruit syrup with aronia. Time and labor we don't have much, and frankly cannot eat all these sweet stuff..

 

[Erichalfbee]

Goran...you are an inspiration.
I tried cornel jam at my daughter's in Berlin.
There is an abundance of rose hips here in the hedgerows and I have made hedgerow jelly in the past which is great with meat and cheese so I am going to try rose hip jam. I've found a few recipes, one which has orange peel and apple (we have pink crab apples which might give more colour too) for pectin which looks yum!
Our Bullaces are groaning with fruit which is sweet this year.
With spare apples or ones beginning to go mouldy in storage I cook lightly with cinnamon and honey, have with my porridge in the morning and freeze the rest.
But, as you say, there is only so much sweet stuff you can eat.
I have a few litres of blackcurrant juice which I shall turn into jam with honey and sell.
I hate throwing stuff away.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

As there seems to be a significant part of the forum membership belonging to the "more mature" classification, how many recall gathering bagfuls of rose hips and taking them into school where the assembled contributions were ultimately collected and taken away to be made into rose hip syrup on an industrial scale? It was said to be far better than citrus fruits as a source of vitamin C for children. Delrosa was one brand which I recall being heavily advertised in campaigns aimed at mothers and sold in chemists shops

 

[Erichalfbee]

I remember the syrup
I also remember the insides of the rosehips being used as itching powder

 

[enrico]

As there seems to be a significant part of the forum membership belonging to the "more mature" classification, how many recall gathering bagfuls of rose hips and taking them into school where the assembled contributions were ultimately collected and taken away to be made into rose hip syrup on an industrial scale? It was said to be far better than citrus fruits as a source of vitamin C for children. Delrosa was one brand which I recall being heavily advertised in campaigns aimed at mothers and sold in chemists shops

We used to break them open and smear the juice on other children and shout that we had put itching powder on them. Don't know why but it just sticks in my mind (Definitely not more mature)

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

As there seems to be a significant part of the forum membership belonging to the "more mature" classification, how many recall gathering bagfuls of rose hips and taking them into school where the assembled contributions were ultimately collected and taken away to be made into rose hip syrup on an industrial scale

It is a big 'cottage industry' out in Lesotho, in the season, every village would collect rosehips, dry them in the sun then bag them up and leave them at the roadside to be collected by lorries sent out by the small processing outfits dotted across the country (the owner of the 'guest houses' where I was staying made a fair bit of his money from rosehips which was a popular folk medicine out there - the powdered rosehip or the syrup being added to people's milk or tea. He had just built a new processing plant just up the road from the complex. I was out there during rosehip season and as the new factory hadn't been commissioned yet they were using the old plant which was just behind where my 'chalet' was and the noise from the plant went on all night

 

[enrico]

We also make many of our own marmalades and jams. One year I made lots of quince marmelade which was soooo nice, but since then the quince trees haven't done very well. They seem very susceptible to a bacterial(?) infection that causes the leaves to turn brown and drop off. There doesn't appear to be any real control for it either.

I thought Merryweather was a damson, but I guess they're all the same family really. If you have a fruit similar to that perhaps it might be a bullace? Our Victoria plums and damsons look and feel about ripe now and I may pick some tomorrow, but the plums really don't seem to have as good a flavour as I'd hope.

I'd not heard of Cornel either, but Wikipedia suggests it is also known as Cornus Mas or the Cornelian Cherry. Their web page says it is used in the UK, but according to the accompanying map it doesn't grow here naturally.

I also have a medlar, though I've never got around to doing anything with the fruit.

One of the new plants I've grown this year are Hungarian Black chiles -- very similar in size and form to jalapenos, but black. I saw them in someone else's polytunnel last year and as I grow lots of jalapenos and pickle them for putting on pizzas and in fajitas I just had to give them a try. Some of the fruit on mine have gone black and then started to turn red, but it's not the same kind of red as a jalapeno. They're a beautifully glassy deep red that looks amazing. I'll try to get a photo, though I don't know if that will do them justice.

James

They look like this with yellow flesh. Not sweet but not sour