God I love growing our own

[Erichalfbee]

But they were delighted to eat the delicious tomatoes before the type of fertilizer was disclosed. It's all part of the carbon cycle innit?

Well it’s a bit like honey from bees feasting on farm slurry. By the time it’s processed it makes no difference what the bees ate or trod in.

 

[Amari]

A warning for gardeners with dogs. A few days ago I turned over the compost heap in it's plastic bin. Yesterday the dog was sick, hyper alert and shaking. Took him to vet. Mycotoxic poisoning from eating rotten matter. ( never heard of it before now) .Has been kept in overnight with drips etc. Recovering well. Will cost about £850.
Now going to make garden as dog safe as possible. Will remove a couple of plants toxic to dogs and fence off compost area.

Do you put food waste in your compost bin? Seems strange that a dog, being a carnivore, would eat plant-only waste?
Fortunately we don't have a dog, only a rescue cat, now age 6, which never ails as per its similar predecessor. No vets bills or pet insurance......

 

[Amari]

When we bought tomato seeds from D T Brown they were conditioned in HCl (stomach acid) before packaging. A tour of a sewage treatment plant with thriving population of tomato plants in the filter beds shows the benefit of the seeds passing through a human alimentary canal. Maybe there's mileage in composting the material from an earth closet?

My late parents took part in 'Dig for Victory' in WW2 with the local council providing manure. Every year they marvelled at the forest of tomato seedlings that emerged.

 

[JamezF]

Went through all my seeds and a list of what I want to grow next year last night to work out what I need to buy. Also sorted out some of the packets that I probably need to do a germination test on before making a decision.

I would take a stroll around the garden to check everything is where I left it, but the worst of the storm isn't supposed to be until after midday and it's raining quite heavily at the moment. I think it can wait.

James

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Until a few years ago, our sewer system in the valley was designed so that during heavy rainfall, to take pressure off the system, there were overflows directly into the river (the river Aman is a ferocious torrent in a flood so the rationale was that any nasties would have reached the sea, or at least Llanelli before being an issue) during the summer there were various points in the river where tomato plants grew in abundance. Our local village 'idiot' Tony Twp (daft Tony) would spend his time walking the river picking tomatoes, either to eat or to make some weird alcoholic brew out of.

 

[enrico]

Went through all my seeds and a list of what I want to grow next year last night to work out what I need to buy. Also sorted out some of the packets that I probably need to do a germination test on before making a decision.

I would take a stroll around the garden to check everything is where I left it, but the worst of the storm isn't supposed to be until after midday and it's raining quite heavily at the moment. I think it can wait.

James

The environment agency didnt quite finish the flood plain overflow on the Tone. They had the last 20 yds to do when it overflowed so the bit that was still soil is now a raging torrent as it floods into the fields. The half mile of concrete overflow is dry as a bone. At least they got their diggers out before it flooded this time. Think the levels are in for a good flooding this year again.

 

[pargyle]

A warning for gardeners with dogs. A few days ago I turned over the compost heap in it's plastic bin. Yesterday the dog was sick, hyper alert and shaking. Took him to vet. Mycotoxic poisoning from eating rotten matter. ( never heard of it before now) .Has been kept in overnight with drips etc. Recovering well. Will cost about £850.
Now going to make garden as dog safe as possible. Will remove a couple of plants toxic to dogs and fence off compost area.

Had a similar problem with our previous dog... vet thought it was yew berries that fall from the trees at the bottom of the garden ... they are also above my compost bins so who knows he may have been eating compost. Labradors will eat anything. Symptoms you describe are the same as we saw.. I fenced off the whole area ... good caution for everyone with dogs ... particularly those prone to eating stuff they shouldn't !

It's scary how many plants are dog toxic... fox gloves, conkers, daffodil bulbs, onions and garlic, many others... there's a good list on the Blue Cross website...
www.bluecross.org.uk /advice

 

[Midget Gem]

This afternoon I picked a couple of kilos of sloes. Not sure what I'll do with them yet. I have a request in for sloe gin already, but for the time being they're just in the freezer.

James

Sloe gin, then slider - put the berries from the sloe gin in cider and leave for a couple of weeks - cider on steroids! We did it with cheap cider and it worked well. Plenty of recipes online if you google slider from sloe gin berries.

 

[JamezF]

Sloe gin, then slider - put the berries from the sloe gin in cider and leave for a couple of weeks - cider on steroids! We did it with cheap cider and it worked well. Plenty of recipes online if you google slider from sloe gin berries.

I've heard of slider before. Never tried it though. Perhaps I'll give it a go. Are there any particular proportions involved?

James

 

[Midget Gem]

Sloe gin, then slider - put the berries from the sloe gin in cider and leave for a couple of weeks - cider on steroids! We did it with cheap cider and it worked well. Plenty of recipes online if you google slider from sloe gin berries.

From The Guardian:
Slider is very easy to make but the sugar contained in the sloes can easily start your cider fermenting again. If you do not want any explosions it is well worth making the infusion in a thoroughly clean demi-john and fitting an airlock. The process takes about a month, by which time the otherwise tragically lost alcohol will have been extracted from the sloes and any fermentation completed. I have not experimented with doing the whole thing in a champagne bottle to produce sparkling slider, but if you wish to tread this treacherous path put your bottles in the shed at the end of the garden with appropriate hazard signs. If you have a lot of sloes then half-fill a demi-john with them and top up with cider. If you just want to try it out or only have a small amount of sloes this can be accommodated in any bottle which has the right diameter neck for a bubble-trap bung. Leave it for a month or so and strain it into bottles. Oxygen is the death of many alcoholic drinks so avoid splashing the cider around too much when pouring it into the demi-john and the final bottle.

This is pretty much what we did using cheap tinned cider. Strong and delicious - drink with caution

 

[Erichalfbee]

but if you wish to tread this treacherous path put your bottles in the shed at the end of the garden with appropriate hazard signs.

No need. Put it into empty plastic bottles that have contained something fizzy like lemonade. Once a day just loosen the cap to let a little CO2 out.

 

[JamezF]

I've sown a load of seeds in the propagator today to do some germination tests of saved seed and stuff that I still have plenty of but may be getting past its best. I was hoping not to need the propagator, but it's just getting too chilly now.

James

 

[enrico]

I've sown a load of seeds in the propagator today to do some germination tests of saved seed and stuff that I still have plenty of but may be getting past its best. I was hoping not to need the propagator, but it's just getting too chilly now.

James

Planted a few new potatoes in a pot that we chitted. Usually do it for Christmas but never got round to it this year so see if we can have some by February. They are in the greenhouse so it is going to be dependant on how cold the winter is!

 

[pargyle]

My winter broad beans are already through and about an inch high .. they are under a cloche and so protected from the worst of the rain we've had which has rendered most of the garden into what can only be described as a bog ! Despite the storms the air temperature remains quite warm and in the greenhouse my chillies are still (very slowly) ripening. Several kilos of Medlars are now bletting in trays courtesy of Dani - it wll be awhile before they are ready for processing but some nice juicy looking fruit. Picked (and ate !) a couple of autumn fruiting raspberries - a rare treat this late in the year. Carved a pumpkin for Halloween and used fhe flesh to make some totally uninspiring soup - despite the addition of garlic, onions, turmeric, ginger, chillies, cayenne pepper, all spice etc. - there was a lovely after glow but the soup was tasteless !! Not up to our usual home grown butternut squash soup. Brussels sprouts are not developing much in the way of sprouts and the kale has been decimated by the pigeons - I should have netted it. Time for some autumn pruning next and a general tidy up and mulch ... have to empty my leaf mould bins as this years leaves are covering the lawn.

 

[Moobee]

Picked from the greenhouse this morning!

 

[JamezF]

Those are fantastic-looking tomatoes. We're down to our last few now, and most of them are still green. I've removed all the vines that don't have any fruit left on them and between today's rain showers shredded them before they went into the compost. Also shredded all of the basil plants from the polytunnel as most of them were dying off. The smell was amazing. Overpowering, even.

James

 

[JamezF]

Cheese-making was mentioned a month or so back. Last week someone I know wrote (elsewhere) that they were in the process of making a 2kg batch of halloumi (or "squeaky cheese"), which is a particular favourite of my daughter. Apparently it isn't that difficult (he says) so I have bought the book he recommended ("Home-made Cheese", by Paul Thomas) and now need to go about organising equipment and all the other necessaries such as rennet and cultures.

James

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Cheese-making was mentioned a month or so back. Last week someone I know wrote (elsewhere) that they were in the process of making a 2kg batch of halloumi (or "squeaky cheese"), which is a particular favourite of my daughter. Apparently it isn't that difficult (he says) so I have bought the book he recommended ("Home-made Cheese", by Paul Thomas) and now need to go about organising equipment and all the other necessaries such as rennet and cultures.

James

Let us know your thoughts on the book. It sounds suitable for a. Christmas present for a relative I have in mind.

 

[Moobee]

Those are fantastic-looking tomatoes. We're down to our last few now, and most of them are still green. I've removed all the vines that don't have any fruit left on them and between today's rain showers shredded them before they went into the compost. Also shredded all of the basil plants from the polytunnel as most of them were dying off. The smell was amazing. Overpowering, even.

James

Thanks! They are Sungold, Indigo Apple (dark ones) & Pink Oxheart. All great for flavour.

 

[pargyle]

View attachment 38018
Picked from the greenhouse this morning!

Those red tomatoes are exactly the same heart shape as the 'unknown' ones I had that survived blight when everything else succumbed .. what variety are they ?