God I love growing our own

[JamezF]

@JamezF
Would you grow Amish Paste again?

Definitely. I shall be doing some seed-saving shortly if you'd like some. Other than the Apero F1 I think we'll be growing all of the tomatoes we had this year again. Probably right after I get through processing onions.

Thanks to the dry Spring (I assume) we ended up with quite a few smallish onions, so I split them into those small enough to pickle and then too small to be worth stringing. We've decided to chop and freeze the latter to make sure they get used. I've been chopping small batches for a few days now. I think I'm about halfway through

The smaller brown onions (about 2.5kg of them) are brining at the moment. I shall probably pickle them in cider vinegar. Then I'm quite tempted to try the smaller red onions in red wine vinegar. After that I have some shallots, which I'd normally pickle but as it looks like I'll already have plenty of onions I might just leave them to use as shallots this year. There are also some salad onions that got forgotten about (I tend to dot clumps around the veggie plot wherever there's space) and fattened up, though they're still relatively small. I've no idea what they'd be like if they were pickled, but it's not very many so I'm tempted to experiment.

I've actually spent quite a bit of today out in the veggie plot doing some tidying up, netting the carrots as they seem to be the next preference for the deer now I've covered everything else they've been eating, and replacing the mesh cloches that were protecting the smallest of the brassicas from the butterflies with taller netting. My father-in-law normally prunes the raspberries but it looks like he's not going to manage it this year so I've done it and shredded all the old canes before putting them in in the compost.

There's also been a fair bit of harvesting happening. We're almost at the end of the courgettes and I've picked all of the ripe chiles to pickle. My wife has been harvesting (sweet) peppers and preserving some of those as well as roasting some with aubergines, courgettes and tomatoes to freeze and then use in stuff like vegetable lasagne through the winter. Turns out the barbeque is excellent for scorching the skins of peppers to allow them to be peeled. Far better than the grill or a blowtorch. She's done quite a few batches of tomato sauce too, but stored in jars rather than frozen, and had what will probably be the last major pick of the basil. The basil plants are beginning to go brown now. I don't think they have much life left in them this year. The melon plants are well beyond "beginning to go brown", so I've removed them from the greenhouse and picked off all the fruit that are worth eating.

Last day of September and it really does feel exceptionally autumnal even if it is still quite warm. When I was putting the netting on the brassicas I was scooping up huge numbers of fallen sycamore leaves and keys. I honestly don't know where the year has gone...

James

 

[Erichalfbee]

Yes, where has the year gone!
I do my shallots in sweet balsamic and they go down beautifully with a decent pork pie or a nice hard cheese.
Talking of cheese I used to make my own and I might revisit that.
A neighbour is going to fill an invert can with milk for me when I’m ready. I seem to remember @pargyle used to make cheese too.
Peppers I rub with olive oil and roast in the oven for 15 minutes. Then they are easy to skin and freeze.
@JamezF
Yes please to the Amish Paste seeds.

 

[JamezF]

I've always wanted to try making my own cheese. When I was in my teens my parents kept a couple of goats that used to graze in the churchyard opposite our house. My mum had a go at making cheese from their milk once, but my recollection is that it wasn't that great. It seems much easier to get hold of "raw milk" now than it used to be, so I really should get myself organised and give it a try. Not sure what to do with the whey though. I gather there's a company somewhere over towards Bath where they ferment it and then distill it into vodka I can feel the dark looks from JBM's direction already

A friend bought some fresh milk from a local farmer recently and made his own butter. That seemed to work really well.

Once I have the seeds sorted I'll be in touch, Dani.

James

 

[enrico]

W

I've always wanted to try making my own cheese. When I was in my teens my parents kept a couple of goats that used to graze in the churchyard opposite our house. My mum had a go at making cheese from their milk once, but my recollection is that it wasn't that great. It seems much easier to get hold of "raw milk" now than it used to be, so I really should get myself organised and give it a try. Not sure what to do with the whey though. I gather there's a company somewhere over towards Bath where they ferment it and then distill it into vodka I can feel the dark looks from JBM's direction already

A friend bought some fresh milk from a local farmer recently and made his own butter. That seemed to work really well.

Once I have the seeds sorted I'll be in touch, Dani.

James

We only use raw milk now for various medical reasons, luckily we have a raw milk farm half a mile away. In a previous life we used to take our churn down to the local farm and filling for free from his tank. Times have changed since then! Just had the best rosti from grated carrots and sagitta potato, went down well with a nice piece of salmon and our own peas. Beginning to get sorted for Autumn. Just pollarded our massive walnut tree as it was far too large. Plenty of nuts to last us the year already. Got one of the beds ready for the garlic but not planting yet as it is too warm.
I love planting the garlic, it is a sign of next year's harvest
Tidying the garden in general and seem to be on top of it. We have decided not to open for the NGS any more. It takes the pressure off. Pity but getting too old to worry about others seeing the garden.

 

[pargyle]

As I've said earlier .. my tomato crop has (again) been decimated by blight ... virtually none of the Roma survived, Moneymake & Maskotka - both hopeless about the only things we've had anything like a crop from is the cherry tomatoes (Red Cherry, Sungold and Tumbling Tom) ... still lost more than half the fruit that formed though).

So.. when I was at my local nursery, quite late - picking up some compost .. there was a tray of six very sad looking weedy tomato plants on the counter - I asked the owner, who knows me well, what they were doing there - "heading for the compost bin" he said - "we don't know what type they are, they came with a batch we bought in from a grower with no label - I think it's the last tomato plants we have left - if you want them you can have them". I'm a sucker for a lost cause, more so when it's free - so I took them home - they were miles behind all my other plants and really did not get going very quickly when I potted them on and put them outside, they were slow to flower - then, the fruit set and they took off. Medium sized fruits - just as I like them but ... the bad news - they are STILL green .. the good news, despite being surrounded by blight everywhere, spread amongst all the other varieties that have blight and next to Roma that were decimated - not a sign of blight, not brown leaf, not a patch of brown on any parts if the stems .. not a sign anwhere.

And I have no idea what variety they are !!

And unless there is a miracle of weather for the next two weeks - no chance of them ripening.

Can I save green tomato seeds ? Got to be a must grow for next year. I just hope the seeds are worth keeping and they were not F1's.

 

[enrico]

As I've said earlier .. my tomato crop has (again) been decimated by blight ... virtually none of the Roma survived, Moneymake & Maskotka - both hopeless about the only things we've had anything like a crop from is the cherry tomatoes (Red Cherry, Sungold and Tumbling Tom) ... still lost more than half the fruit that formed though).

So.. when I was at my local nursery, quite late - picking up some compost .. there was a tray of six very sad looking weedy tomato plants on the counter - I asked the owner, who knows me well, what they were doing there - "heading for the compost bin" he said - "we don't know what type they are, they came with a batch we bought in from a grower with no label - I think it's the last tomato plants we have left - if you want them you can have them". I'm a sucker for a lost cause, more so when it's free - so I took them home - they were miles behind all my other plants and really did not get going very quickly when I potted them on and put them outside, they were slow to flower - then, the fruit set and they took off. Medium sized fruits - just as I like them but ... the bad news - they are STILL green .. the good news, despite being surrounded by blight everywhere, spread amongst all the other varieties that have blight and next to Roma that were decimated - not a sign of blight, not brown leaf, not a patch of brown on any parts if the stems .. not a sign anwhere.

And I have no idea what variety they are !!

And unless there is a miracle of weather for the next two weeks - no chance of them ripening.

Can I save green tomato seeds ? Got to be a must grow for next year. I just hope the seeds are worth keeping and they were not F1's.

Put them in a paper bag with a ripe banana. Or stick them in the airing cupboard. No idea if either will work but worth a try

 

[JamezF]

I have spent an hour and a half this evening peeling pickled onions (the recipe I have starts the brining with the skin on and then completes it after they have been peeled). I appear to have developed the ability to see with my eyes closed and tears streaming down my face

James

 

[enrico]

A pan of home grown mixed veg to go in the oven and to be eaten later with home made focaccia bread. Spot the white beetroot.

 

[JamezF]

Finished with the chopped red onions this evening. Tomorrow I start on the brown ones. And I got these done. If I can face it I might start red ones off tomorrow too.

James

 

[Goran]

Has someone experience in using Calamint as tea. Still didn't use it, but its fragrance is seducing.. It is described that it is used similar as sage or mint.. Seems will have it a go, since we have it grow wild at our property ( as some other plants we also use for tea).

 

[JamezF]

Hornets have been after these for a week or thereabouts, so I decided I'd best harvest them before they were all eaten. The chickens got the half-eaten ones, though they seem to prefer overripe cucumbers.

They're Concorde, which is apparently a cross of Conference and Doyenne du Comice. Not sure what we'll do with them all for the moment. Need to do a bit of research.

James

 

[Erichalfbee]

Hornets have been after these for a week or thereabouts, so I decided I'd best harvest them before they were all eaten. The chickens got the half-eaten ones, though they seem to prefer overripe cucumbers.

They're Concorde, which is apparently a cross of Conference and Doyenne du Comice. Not sure what we'll do with them all for the moment. Need to do a bit of research.

James

We had a huge crop last year so I canned them in a light syrup of grape juice from our vines and honey. Poach in liquid for a few minutes then pack into Kilner jars then into the honey warmer to sterilise. Still eating them. They are great.

 

[pargyle]

Hornets have been after these for a week or thereabouts, so I decided I'd best harvest them before they were all eaten. The chickens got the half-eaten ones, though they seem to prefer overripe cucumbers.

They're Concorde, which is apparently a cross of Conference and Doyenne du Comice. Not sure what we'll do with them all for the moment. Need to do a bit of research.

James

If they are still firm I like them preserved in sugar syrup. Really easy if you have some spare kilner jars. You can make the sugar syrup with red wine and if you want a real luxury version a couple of spoons of brandy. Mid winter with a dollop of double cream ... can't beat it as a dessert. I've kept them this way well into the spring.

https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/preserved_pears/
This recipe works well ..ignore the USA Canning .. just make sure your kilner jars are sterile and the seals in good order. Spoon the hot pears into the jars after poaching them in the syrup and pour the hot syrup over them, clamp the lids down and bobs yer uncle.

Ahhh ... Dani beat me to it. Sadly, I no longer have access to a pear tree !!

 

[Erichalfbee]

I use the jars that have a pop down middle and my Lidl jam maker.

 

[Newbeeneil]

Hornets have been after these for a week or thereabouts, so I decided I'd best harvest them before they were all eaten. The chickens got the half-eaten ones, though they seem to prefer overripe cucumbers.

They're Concorde, which is apparently a cross of Conference and Doyenne du Comice. Not sure what we'll do with them all for the moment. Need to do a bit of research.

James

We have an aspalier of Concorde, its a nice pear but ours are still pretty firm. The missus is leaving them a bit longer.
Our hens are enjoying the cucumbers that got lost in the overgrown foliage of the green house as well!!!!

 

[JamezF]

I've been thinking about compost over the last few days. I've not really made sufficient this year, perhaps in part down to the dry weather in spring meaning that some plants weren't growing as fast. I know we barely cut the grass for two months or more because it just wasn't growing. Normally my father-in-law gets twitchy if he's not out there every two weeks on the mower. I may have to buy in more council green waste compost, but rather than use it "neat" this time I'll mix it with my own as I turn the heaps in the next month or so.

Finding enough "browns" is always a bit tricky, so I've decided to add another box to go with the ones for our recycling collection. Into that I'm going to put cardboard, card and paper that hasn't been coated with other materials or printed with shiny inks. Those will go into the compost and what's left will go out with the recycling.

My daughter has decided to defer going to university this year as planned and in fact may end up re-applying elsewhere. In the meantime she's been making items like this bag, using recycled material.

I think this one is made from some old pairs of jeans that were beyond repair and lined with material from an unwanted curtain. I know on some she's sown a pocket inside using one of the back pockets from the jeans and until she ran out even the waistbands were made into straps. I think the idea is to try to sell them on Etsy or even in a local shop. It struck me that being a natural fibre her offcuts ought to compost as well, so she now has another bin in which to put all the unusable scraps of natural fibres and they'll eventually find their way out onto the heap too.

James

 

[JamezF]

I've been picking the bean pods that I left to dry on the plants this afternoon, but at this rate it looks like we might be having runner beans with Christmas dinner!

James

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Finding enough "browns" is always a bit tricky

buy a bucket and eat more fible

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I've been picking the bean pods that I left to dry on the plants this afternoon, but at this rate it looks like we might be having runner beans with Christmas dinner!

family tradition with us at one time - from when, in the late 1970's my grandparents stepped into the electrickery age and acquired a big freezer to the day my grandfather gave up gardening in his nintieth year (although me and my stepfather kept it going for another few years)

 

[JamezF]

buy a bucket and eat more fible

I'm working on that one, as it were.

James