God I love growing our own

[Goran]

Slivovirz... aka rocket fuel... brings back a few yugoslav memories... plums so very delicious by the kilo and slivovitz after our evening meal... always slept well after one or two... comatose after three or four!

Lol, it is said for good rakija: You just go, I ( rakija) will catch up with You shortly.. Cause You don't feel how strong it is in a throat or mouth, in stomach it warms..
I also drink one/two as aperitive - opens appetite ..

 

[Goran]

Presumably you press the fruit to get the juices to run, allow the mixture to ferment, strain off the liquid and distill it?

James

Sorry, didn't mention other fruits: we have to press pears/ apples to get it right.

 

[Erichalfbee]

and I wasn't aware that similar products were made from other fruit.

The French do Eaux de Vie in different flavours

 

[JamezF]

The French do Eaux de Vie in different flavours

Ah, yes, of course. There's calvados for a start. The village that I lived in during my teens was twinned with a place in France and when we had visitors to stay our family was paired with the mayor. It turned out that he made his own calvados, so obviously we had to try some.

Small-scale artisan distilling seems to be dying out in France, possibly with the encouragement of the French government. A real shame, as Armagnac is one of my favourite tipples.

James

 

[holmbee]

Looking for some recommendations on small cherry tomatoes - similar size to sungold. Flavour is the most important - just like sungold. Tried various varieties but none stand out. Will be grown in unheated greenhouse so blight should not be an issue. Thanks.

 

[JamezF]

Looking for some recommendations on small cherry tomatoes - similar size to sungold. Flavour is the most important - just like sungold. Tried various varieties but none stand out. Will be grown in unheated greenhouse so blight should not be an issue. Thanks.

There are some other suggestions here: Sweetest Tomatoes to Grow | BBC Gardeners World Magazine

I've grown Floridity in the past and have been trying Apero for the last couple of years. We've been pleased with them both, though I think I possibly prefer Apero.

Sadly I think they're all F1, which means propagating from cuttings if you want to protect yourself from the seed producers withdrawing them.

James

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Will be grown in unheated greenhouse so blight should not be an issue.

yeah, right
Do you want to buy a bridge - hardly used

 

[Goran]

This year we had strike of Tetranychus urticae ( red spider mite). I had to deal it with acaricides. It took me on surprise, but managed to cut the s..t down.. It also stroke in greenhouse. Now I have one more thing to worry about in future..
Of tomatoes, we are somewhat old fashioned big ones ( " honey heart, " ox heart", " pear tomato" and similar.. Don't like tiny tomatoes ( only our kid wants it in his garden, but even him don't eat it much).. Lot of it is " cooked" and in the freezer..
Apology, I wrote the name wrong, now I corrected.

 

[enrico]

This year we had strike of Tetranycus utricae. I had to deal it with acaricides. It took me on surprise, but managed to cut the s..t down.. It also stroke in greenhouse. Now I have one more thing to worry about in future..
Of tomatoes, we are somewhat old fashioned big ones ( " honey heart, " ox heart", " pear tomato" and similar.. Don't like tiny tomatoes ( only our kid wants it in his garden, but even him don't eat it much).. Lot of it is " cooked" and in the freezer..

Not sure we get plant eating ones here. Get them sucking blood from the chickens but that's probably a different species. I love the little sweet tomatoes

 

[Xander]

Sweet millions. Very productive, I grow one vine in my polytunnel and it keeps us in cherry tomatoes all summer. The flavour is great too.
Also mountain magic, a reliable cropper with fruit that doesn't split and is blight resistant although not a cherry tomato as such but small fruits nonetheless.

 

[JamezF]

I've been so busy doing bee-related stuff for the last couple of weeks that I've not really given the tomatoes much love. After having arrangements cancelled at the last moment for the third day in a row today however, I decided it was time... As there were lots of "almost ripe" fruit, I picked all the completely ripe ones whilst pruning out sideshoots and removing leaves etc. These will probably all end up in sauces of some kind or other tomorrow.

These are "Apero":

And one called something like "Limoncello" or "Limoncini", I think. Can't recall the name for certain at the moment.

Then "Amish Paste". My wife says that tomatoes the size of the larger ones here sell in Waitrose for about £1.50 each!

And "Olivade"

And finally, a mixed tray. The yellow and the few bright pinkish-red ones were in a packet of "Rainbow" tomatoes that were given to me. I assume they were just a mixture of seeds for tomatoes of different colours and of no known variety. The darker red ones are "Garnet", which I have to admit I expected to be a little darker still.

There are loads more fruit on the vines, but I've removed any trusses that haven't started setting fruit yet as I doubt there's time for them to fully ripen now and I'd rather the plants worked on ripening the existing fruit.

James

 

[Skinfaxi]

Apple schnaps is really good. Hello to the old country

 

[enrico]

I've been so busy doing bee-related stuff for the last couple of weeks that I've not really given the tomatoes much love. After having arrangements cancelled at the last moment for the third day in a row today however, I decided it was time... As there were lots of "almost ripe" fruit, I picked all the completely ripe ones whilst pruning out sideshoots and removing leaves etc. These will probably all end up in sauces of some kind or other tomorrow.

These are "Apero":

And one called something like "Limoncello" or "Limoncini", I think. Can't recall the name for certain at the moment.

Then "Amish Paste". My wife says that tomatoes the size of the larger ones here sell in Waitrose for about £1.50 each!

And "Olivade"

And finally, a mixed tray. The yellow and the few bright pinkish-red ones were in a packet of "Rainbow" tomatoes that were given to me. I assume they were just a mixture of seeds for tomatoes of different colours and of no known variety. The darker red ones are "Garnet", which I have to admit I expected to be a little darker still.

There are loads more fruit on the vines, but I've removed any trusses that haven't started setting fruit yet as I doubt there's time for them to fully ripen now and I'd rather the plants worked on ripening the existing fruit.

James

Ours are all finished and plants have been taken up. Greenhouses being cleared for washing and soil improvement before winter crops go in. Three freezers full to bursting!

 

[JamezF]

Ours are all finished and plants have been taken up. Greenhouses being cleared for washing and soil improvement before winter crops go in. Three freezers full to bursting!

I'm genuinely surprised that yours are finished. I'd have thought you'd be getting milder weather on the Levels than we get here on top of a hill on the fringes of Exmoor and our plants don't really struggle to make it as far as October.

I've been harvesting again this morning, from the main plot this time. Filled a couple of trugs like this:

After peeling they looked pretty good, though one or two weren't particularly well pollinated. I think we ended up with close to fifty cobs in the end, which averages out at just over one per plant. I can be happy with that, though I was hoping for a little better.

This one though, I think we might have to buy a bigger plate for

James

 

[enrico]

I'm genuinely surprised that yours are finished. I'd have thought you'd be getting milder weather on the Levels than we get here on top of a hill on the fringes of Exmoor and our plants don't really struggle to make it as far as October.

I've been harvesting again this morning, from the main plot this time. Filled a couple of trugs like this:

After peeling they looked pretty good, though one or two weren't particularly well pollinated. I think we ended up with close to fifty cobs in the end, which averages out at just over one per plant. I can be happy with that, though I was hoping for a little better.

This one though, I think we might have to buy a bigger plate for

James

We do plant early but all our corn is picked and in the freezer too. Apart from that one lot of rain over a week ago we have still had nothing significant. We had such a good growing season in spring and early summer and then everything just dried up. We have trees that look like the are in the middle of winter! Grapes are our next harvest. They have done well this year.

 

[Moobee]

Tomatoes still ripening here. Just made a vat of chutney with glut courgettes, apples and green tomatoes. Chilli jam next….

 

[Erichalfbee]

Everything here is winding down but pumpkins and courgettes still coming. I'm afraid some courgettes are ending up in the compost bin.
Aubergines suffered badly in the heat...producing anaemic looking misshapen fruit but now seem to have picked up. I've been grilling slices and freezing for later.

 

[enrico]

This is what the rain has to soak through in our garden today! That weird looking limb is my are (sorry arm!) with the hand down the crack (So to speak!!!)

 

[JamezF]

That looks horrendous. I guess at least the cracks mean water will get down into the soil

James

 

[enrico]

That looks horrendous. I guess at least the cracks mean water will get down into the soil

James

It just disappears. You can run a hose down the crack and it never fills up! How we have had such good crops this year I don't know! We are clay over peat and we put a couple of tons of manure on every year!