God I love growing our own

[Fellstoflats]

I've made a ****-up.

Having mowed around my wife's no-dig beds (brownie points, I thought), I left the gate open. And my flock of Hebridean sheep helped themselves to everything. And the poly tunnel.

Now, I'm not especially green-fingered, so any tips on how to rescue what's left would be appreciated. My thoughts would be to cut everything damaged back, harvest what we can, and keep fingers crossed?

On the list of destruction are- peppers, aubergines, blueberries, kiwi, a horse chestnut, strawberries, salad, carrots, beetroot, turnips I planted by mistake, a melon, dahlias. Corn and squashes seem so far unscathed...

Not my finest hour.

 

[emoclewbee]

I've made a ****-up.

Having mowed around my wife's no-dig beds (brownie points, I thought), I left the gate open. And my flock of Hebridean sheep helped themselves to everything. And the poly tunnel.

Now, I'm not especially green-fingered, so any tips on how to rescue what's left would be appreciated. My thoughts would be to cut everything damaged back, harvest what we can, and keep fingers crossed?

On the list of destruction are- peppers, aubergines, blueberries, kiwi, a horse chestnut, strawberries, salad, carrots, beetroot, turnips I planted by mistake, a melon, dahlias. Corn and squashes seem so far unscathed...

Not my finest hour.

Horse chestnut, both the seeds and young shoots are poisonous to sheep if consumed.

 

[Fellstoflats]

Horse chestnut, both the seeds and young shoots are poisonous to sheep if consumed.

I know- in this instance, everything else they've eaten is worse for them (and me!)

 

[Erichalfbee]

Having mowed around my wife's no-dig beds (brownie points, I thought), I left the gate open. And my flock of Hebridean sheep helped themselves to everything. And the poly tunnel.

Oh dear
A few days away somewhere posh and expensive

 

[enrico]

I've made a ****-up.

Having mowed around my wife's no-dig beds (brownie points, I thought), I left the gate open. And my flock of Hebridean sheep helped themselves to everything. And the poly tunnel.

Now, I'm not especially green-fingered, so any tips on how to rescue what's left would be appreciated. My thoughts would be to cut everything damaged back, harvest what we can, and keep fingers crossed?

On the list of destruction are- peppers, aubergines, blueberries, kiwi, a horse chestnut, strawberries, salad, carrots, beetroot, turnips I planted by mistake, a melon, dahlias. Corn and squashes seem so far unscathed...

Not my finest hour.

Eat the sheep

 

[enrico]

Tried some brandy wine, pink and red heritage tomatoes this year. That is a large Shirley normal tomato on the left and a red brandy in the centre and pink on the right, (not fully ripe as the plant couldn't take the weight any more.)
Not so sure we will grow them again although they are meaty and brilliant for roasting and freezing for soups etc.
They are larger and heavier than most potatoes

 

[JamezF]

Now, I'm not especially green-fingered, so any tips on how to rescue what's left would be appreciated. My thoughts would be to cut everything damaged back, harvest what we can, and keep fingers crossed?

On the list of destruction are- peppers, aubergines, blueberries, kiwi, a horse chestnut, strawberries, salad, carrots, beetroot, turnips I planted by mistake, a melon, dahlias. Corn and squashes seem so far unscathed...

I'm amazed they ate aubergine plants. Quite probably though the best thing you can do is just to leave them and see if they sort themselves out. Many plants will. Peppers will grow back in Spring having been pruned back hard at the tail end of the previous season for instance, so they should be able to produce new growth now. To quite another thread, "It's still only July" Beetroot will do similarly if lifted in the autumn and replanted in Spring and carrots too, I believe. Strawberries should come back next year too. Ours got heavily grazed by deer a couple of years back and survived.

With the fruiting plants it might make sense to remove as much fruit as you can bear to however, and perhaps even remove some of the flowers, just so the plant can put as much energy as possible into growing new foliage rather than ripening fruit.

James

 

[JamezF]

Tried some brandy wine, pink and red heritage tomatoes this year. That is a large Shirley normal tomato on the left and a red brandy in the centre and pink on the right, (not fully ripe as the plant couldn't take the weight any more.)

I grew some Brandywines a few years back. They were absolute monsters. Somewhere I have a photo of one tomato on our kitchen scales. I think it weighed something like three quarters of a kilo!

James

 

[pargyle]

My leeks are ready to plant out - almost given up on kale ...the pigeons are so keen on it I can't find a way of protecting it. I've got some more Brussels seedlings which they don't like so I might give up on the kale and plant them out instead. I have some carrot seeds left...might try them again.. the last lot were useless.. germinated but did not grow. Need some sun to ripen tomatoes desperately....

 

[Erichalfbee]

Carrots in tunnel are great.
Carrots in raided bed succumbed to carrot fly. Our fault. Didn’t protect them.
We’ve lifted the onions you sent me.

 

[Midget Gem]

Growing purple carrots in a bid to defeat the carrot root fly. Seems to have worked but I also put them in a 1m high raised bed so not sure what worked! Carrots have grown well but lack the flavour of the orange ones I have grown in the past so will be going back to growing orange ones next year.

Aubergines are doing well - the long variety is much more prolific than the fat ones. Just need the tomatoes to hurry up so I can make roast ratatouille.

Already thinking about garlic for planting in the autumn. Supermarket garlic or the proper stuff sold for planting? Opinions, please.

 

[pargyle]

Carrots in tunnel are great.
Carrots in raided bed succumbed to carrot fly. Our fault. Didn’t protect them.
We’ve lifted the onions you sent me.

MIne are still in the ground but they are ready to come up .. my garlic is now drying in the greenhouse ..

 

[JamezF]

Got all my leeks into the beds earlier this week, and all the brassicas I have planted out are under mesh. We don't tend to suffer with pigeons that much even though there are a few around. Caterpillars and flea beetle are a major nuisance though. My carrots also go under mesh wherever possible to keep off carrot root fly, though in my efforts to use up all the seed I had this year (I ended up with two packets of free carrot seed from DT Brown as well as the seed I bought) I've sown in some small areas that may not be practical to cover.

I'm really not sure about the whole "carrot root fly can't fly very high" thing. I've never seen a proper explanation and I suspect there's nothing that stops them landing on a barrier and climbing over it, or perhaps climbing a tall plant (we have lots of cow parsley in hedgerows which I believe their larvae also feed on) and gliding over barriers. I bought some Enviromesh insect netting a metre or so wider than my beds and just lay it over the top once the carrots have germinated. The carrots push it up as they grow. Then we just lift it off when we want to take some carrots and lay it back over again afterwards. It's not pretty though

James

 

[JamezF]

Already thinking about garlic for planting in the autumn. Supermarket garlic or the proper stuff sold for planting? Opinions, please.

The only time I've seen supermarket garlic planted out the end result seemed quite poor. I bought some Solent Wight from Kings Seeds last year and it did astonishingly well although I had to plant it in the polytunnel because we had a lot of problems with rust outdoors. I've kept back six bulbs with nice fat cloves from this year's harvest and I'll plant those again at the end of the Summer.

James

 

[enrico]

Growing purple carrots in a bid to defeat the carrot root fly. Seems to have worked but I also put them in a 1m high raised bed so not sure what worked! Carrots have grown well but lack the flavour of the orange ones I have grown in the past so will be going back to growing orange ones next year.

Aubergines are doing well - the long variety is much more prolific than the fat ones. Just need the tomatoes to hurry up so I can make roast ratatouille.

Already thinking about garlic for planting in the autumn. Supermarket garlic or the proper stuff sold for planting? Opinions, please.

Proper stuff if you have none and then keep your own for following years. Elephant garlic is the best although not really a garlic. It doesn't succumb to rust like ordinary garlic

 

[Brenda]

The title says it all!the big white thing is a cabbage not a chicken
View attachment 33032

 

[Brenda]

Like me you are lucky to be able to accommodate a garden space, I have raised beds which are a godsend and do not buy veg as I grow all my own, and grow them on seaweed. Great! Each bed has Annuals grown along side for pollinators very beneficial with Beans etc. Bees and Butterflies love the flowers too.

 

[JamezF]

Proper stuff if you have none and then keep your own for following years. Elephant garlic is the best although not really a garlic. It doesn't succumb to rust like ordinary garlic

I've never grown it, but I've heard that elephant garlic is quite mild in flavour compared to normal garlic?

James

 

[enrico]

I've never grown it, but I've heard that elephant garlic is quite mild in flavour compared to normal garlic?

James

But they are bigger cloves. Cut a whole bulb in half and roast with the Sunday roast. You get little hard bulbs when you lift the main bulb. The first year they turn into single cloves which you can eat or store. The second year they turn into a multi clove bulb.....all free.

 

[fian]

I have been in the greenhouse and in the garden collecting white peppers from Oimbra and some green from Arnoia. I also picked up some bean pods.