Thursdays Top 10 Tryouts (Or Show Us Yer Tips 27)!!

1. Lutein is a hydroxy-carotenoid constituting the macular pigment of the human retina. Increasing lutein intake from foods could increase the density of this pigment and decrease the risk of developing macular degeneration. Yellow carrots are a novel food source that could increase lutein consumption. (N.L.M.)

2. At the moment this coming September is expected to bring some good weather in U.K., but if you intend to sow Broad beans, Lettuce, Radish, Spinach, Peas, Endive or Spring Cabbages it might be advisable to give them some protection from the elements.

3. This may be time consuming but its money saving. Those lengths of rope with 3 or 4 strands can be unraveled and cut to various lengths to give you a multitude of plant ties for the price of 1.

4. If you intend to grow Alpine plants remember the following tips. Most Alpines must have free draining soil. Moisture retention is necessary so add gravel or similar around the plants. Only water around the plants not over them. Keep them weed free and protect them if cold weather is expected, especially from frost.

5. Standing around in your shed waiting for the latest rain shower to pass over? Why not make a start cleaning some of those plant pots and trays, ready for their later use.

6. To attract beneficial predators  into your garden or plot, try dissolving a yeast based spread? with water, then spray it around your garden/plot. Check the other ingredients of the spread before using.

7. Planting shrubs in Autumn should give them a head start before the soil temperatures start to cool down. Try some of the following if you have the space available. Variegated Holly, Garnet tree, Firethorn, Orange dogwood.

8.Certain plants are better than others for planting on clay soils. Try some of the following. Ferns, Coreopsis, Potentilla, Virburnum.

9. Do we suffer from mosquitoes in U.K.? 3 plants that repel them are Marigolds, Catnip and Rosemary.

10.  A link to The National Wildflower Centre (Liverpool U.K.) >>>>CLICK HERE

Not Another Bank Holiday Post

Well !! how many excuses can I make for another fortnight of not posting anything on my blog. About as many as the amount of times I've heard the phrase "typical bank holiday weather again". Well if you believe that phrase then global warming etc doesn't exist. Actually since my last post I've enjoyed most of the past two weeks working down the plot doing a multitude of things, the main one this time of the year being harvesting of course. Prepping the various vegetables for freezing has taken up many hours and my freezer is almost full at the moment.

French Beans Prepped For The Freezer

  With several family members visiting and staying over, 2 different repairs carried out to my car, a couple of days spent organizing and attending a car boot sale, and of course avoiding the wind, frequent rain showers and thunderous downpours, I have still managed not to lose the plot.

Car Repairs Needed

 Incidentally, just to emphasize the state of the British Summer weather conditions here in Somerset, a recent t.v. news item (10 minutes ago) indicated that the Somerset Levels are currently having rain water pumped off them again. Many farmers in the area have been unable to produce any silage this year and indeed have been given free silage from other sources to help their stocks through the coming Winter.

When I first started this blog, one of its purposes was to help me keep a record of sowing, planting, successes and failures down my plot, well I've not yet achieved that goal in any logical sequence yet, especially this year. As my memory is worse than ever these days, the following report on what I've been up to down the plot is not in any particular order. Over the past few weeks harvesting has been fairly hectic, especially lifting Potatoes from the still wet clay. I achieved a total of 3 x 25 Kg bags of Potatoes from my early crop, which I would class as an average yield. About 1 and a half rows of plants were affected by flooding of my 2nd plot in April. So far my main crop have been good, with 7 rows still to be lifted. My Runner beans (Enorma & Scarlet Emperor) finally started to produce a good crop by the last week of July. Since then I have been picking between 8 & 12 lbs every couple of days since. Cobra, my climbing French beans are also cropping well now, with a third picking due tomorrow, weather permitting. I have made 2 picks of my 2nd crop of Peas in the past week amounting to 10 lbs after shelling. My Parsnips have all been lifted, prepared for the freezer, eaten and some given to family members. I lifted my last 2 rows of Onions a few days ago, which are currently drying out on the ground, down the plot, in the rain? My first 2 sowings of Onions are languishing in my greenhouse and have dried out well. I expected these Onions not to store well, but so far so good. Lettuce and Spring onions are still growing well and the 2nd & 3rd sowing of Carrots are superb with no signs of Carrot fly. Despite the relatively wet spells of weather my Pumpkins and Cucumbers are now doing very well. The sowing of Pumpkins into barrels will be given a miss in future as they are tending to dry out the soil/compost mix in the barrels too quickly, despite frequent rain showers. Brussels sprouts have done well this year. At present they are being subjected to attack from 4 different types of Caterpillars, so my first job on each visit to the plot is to check each plant and remove any. My Swedes have benefited from the cooler moist conditions this year but are not yet ready for harvesting. On the downside 2 of my Tomato plants, which were looking excellent a week ago have developed blight and will be disposed of tomorrow. I have 6 more which still look healthy with a back up of more in my greenhouse. I currently have oodles of grapes growing, some of which have actually started to ripen recently. More prolonged sunshine will be required to complete the ripening process before too long.
Last week I decided to clear all of the "Brambles" I had growing at the bottom of my main plot, on the drainage bank. They were cut back along with a host of Nettles and Docks leaving the roots to be removed, sometime this week. Over the past couple of weeks, due to sunshine/rain showers, grass and weeds have been thriving. All the areas of my plots which are devoid of crops have been thoroughly hoed and weeded. One of this weeks projects will be to sow green manure after my Potato crop to check any further weed growth. Last Friday I decided it was time to remove all of my 3 year old Strawberry plants, from the bed on my main plot, and replace them with new "runners". This bed is probably the dampest area on either plot, so as each plant was removed, the soil was weeded and well turned, breaking the clumps of soil as I progressed across the bed. By mid afternoon on Friday drizzly rain set in (good weather, seeing as our area was subject to a yellow weather warning on Friday), so I packed up for the day. I continued work on the Strawberry bed on Saturday in between a few rain showers, until a torrential, thunderous downpour stopped play. Yesterday the weather was dry but overcast as usual, although the rain held off, enabling me to complete 2 thirds of the work on the Strawberry bed, with over 30 new plants in place. Hopefully the rest of the bed will be fully planted up by tomorrow night.

First 2 Strawberry Plants Removed

More Rain Clouds Over the Plots

Going Home Rain Stopped Play

 Had a lie in this morning and it rained for most of the rest of the day.

There's always tomorrow!!


    

Thursdays Top 10 Tryouts (Or Show Us Yer Tips 26)!!

1.  2 good varieties of Cabbage for Autumn sowing are Kilaton and Wheelers Imperial.

2.  Save your 1 and 2 Liter plastic ice cream cartons, they are ideal for using to pack your frozen vegetables into and they stack well in most freezers. Saves money buying containers too.

3.  Ensure that all parts of your Potato plants are burnt or bagged and disposed of, if they have any traces of blight on them. Don't be tempted to compost them or dig/rotavate them back into the ground.

4.  Gooseberry bushes are easy to propagate. From about July onwards, lay one of the lower branches along the ground and peg it down. Cover the branch with soil, leaving the tip uncovered. When the branch has rooted, (test by pulling it gently), it can be lifted, with as much soil attached as possible, potted and severed from the main (parent) plant.

5.  Cabbage White fly  (Aleyrodes proletella), is a well known pest in southern England, affecting brassicas. It can be combated by using Pyrethrums and natural fatty acids.

6.  Harvesting Shallots takes basically 2 forms. If you are harvesting their tops this can be done after about 30 days of top growth. The bulbs take approximately 90 days to develop. Pick the bulbs when the green of the plant has died back, usually mid to late Summer.

7.  Controlling rats/mice using methods other than poisons can be done by sonic control. Sonic repellers emit ultrasonic waves, which disturb the mice/rats. The repellers are safe for other wildlife and humans. Check the repellers specifications before purchasing.

8.  Use Tomato feed for plants that produce fruit, or use it on flowers as it usually contains high amounts of Potassium.

9.  Most hosepipe bans (in the UK) have been lifted now. If you have a pond containing fish you can still use a hose to top up ponds when bans are in force.

10.  Runner and French beans should be in abundance at the moment. Pick them whilst they are young and tender on a regular basis to ensure development of further beans.

Thursdays Top 10 Tryouts (Or Show Us Yer Tips 25)!!

1. Your Tomato plants may have adequate supports as they grow, but don't forget to support the trusses to prevent them from snapping/bending from the extra weight of the developing Tomatoes.

2. August may be your last chance, this season, to sow Welsh onions. This perennial Alium grows with thicker stems than Chives and is a useful addition to salads.

3. If you have a taste for Garlic and have a very shaded and damp area of ground to spare, try planting some perennial Wild Garlic (Ramsons).

4. Certain herb leaves such as chopped Chives, Mint & Parsley can be easily frozen in ice cubes.

5. Nettles are said to be a good indicator of a nitrogen rich soil, some fruit bushes may benefit from having Nettles planted near to them.

6. Cut the legs from old tights and use them to protect developing Cabbage heads from attacks by Catterpillars, Earwigs etc. Old nylon socks can also be used for the same purpose.

7. Pruning of Wisterias should be done in July or August and again in January or February,. but remember when doing any Winter, pruning that heavy frosts can easily damage plants that have recently been pruned.

8. If you are using old pieces of carpeting as coverings for compost heaps or on the ground, they can contain toxins in certain backings of the carpets.

9. Yellowing of the leaves and drooping of Brassicas are possibly signs that they require the addition of a multi-purpose plant food.

10. Some house plants to try growing in low light conditions are: Snake plant, Dracaena, Spider plants and certain types of ferns.

Weeds Bees and Harvesting

1st of the Cucumbers

This Little Devil Was My 1st Tomato To Ripen

 Since my post of  6 days ago, when I was demoralised by yet more rain, the weather has come good with oodles of sunshine every day, enabling me to spend far too much time down the plot, if that's possible. I've harvested more main crop Potatoes, 4 more picks of Runner beans, Parsnips of various sizes, some of them almost large enough to use as baseball bats, numerous heads of Lettuce to make several salads this week, Climbing French Beans, Carrots, Autumn Raspberries, my first ridge Cucumber and the last of the White currants. In fact I have been so busy harvesting and preparing fruit & veg, for meals and the freezer, I didn't find the time to weigh the produce this time.  Oh and my 1 and only Plum was picked this afternoon, but was inedible due to being attacked by an unknown insect. I ruled out Foxes, Deer, Badgers, Rabbits and Moles due to their lack of tree climbing abilities and the possibility that they don't like Plums anyway.

Early Parsnips

 After the wet weather of last week and earlier, some areas of my plots had become festooned with weeds, so in between harvesting and dealing with Strawberry runners, potting up cuttings and sunbathing, out came the hoe, hand forks and various containers and weeding commenced, last Thursday.  By 3 p.m. this afternoon the majority of weeds had been removed and consigned to the compost heap. My main Strawberry bed needs about 50% of the 3 year old plants removing, replacing them with new plants. Hopefully I will achieve this goal by the end of the coming week, on completion of the remainder of the weeding.

Halfway Through The Weeding (1 Bed)

The Plot Alongside My 2nd Plot

Many more varieties of insects are now apparent down the plot and its nice to see a huge amount of Honey bees returning, (I've just counted 21 on one of my plants in the back garden), quite a few more than in the last couple of years and in particular on and around the Runner bean flowers and Atlantic Giant Pumpkin flowers. I have also noticed lots of Butterflies in attendance this week, as well as Hover flies, again more than in, previous, recent Summers.

Honey Bees Inside One Of My Atlantic Giant Pumpkin Flowers

More Honey Bees

Hover Fly

 Most of the veg on my plots is Developing well now, a far cry from a couple of months ago, with the exception of the French Climbing beans which are still slow in setting their beans. My Cauliflowers are disappointing again this year, with the heads "blowing" as soon as they have developed. My Tomatoes are looking in good condition with the first few ripening this week. Two benefits of the unusual  weather this year have been, the lack of watering to be done and the fact that I haven't had to use any chemical or none chemical sprays, except once earlier in the year, (soap spray) to combat Flea beetles.

Hopefully the fine weather will hold up this coming week. I might even get some more seed sowing done, which will be a bonus. Think I might try planting some spuds for Christmas?? That's spuds not puds.

There's always tomorrow.

Thursdays Top 10 Tryouts (Or Show Us Yer Tips 24)!!

1. Parsnips are said to taste better when cooked and eaten after a heavy frost before they have been lifted. Try the following, lift your Parsnips, clean & cut them to "cookable" sizes. Put the cut pieces into freezer bags and leave them in the freezer for 1 week before cooking them. If they don't taste as good as after a frost, blame the cook/chef.

2. Thinking of harvesting your Carrots but not sure wether they are ready to be picked. The tops of the Carrots should be just showing at soil level and not green. If the width of the top looks a good size in line with the variety sown, then the length of the Carrot is probably o.k. Carrots can be left in the ground after maturity as long as they are not standing in waterlogged soil.

3. August & September is a good time to check sheds and other outside buildings to ensure that they are watertight before the Winter weather sets in.

4. Try adding some freshly picked Nettle tips to your pasta sauce. The taste is excellent, high in protein and minerals.

5. If you want some new (Autumn planting) Potatoes for this coming Christmas, August/September is the time to plant a few tubers in pots or containers filled with a mix of compost and soil. For pots of approximately 12 inches wide by 15 inches deep plant either 1 or 2 tubers per pot.

6. Adding Beetroot to your diet may help your endurance during physical exercise. It is also believed that Beetroot helps to reduce blood pressure, possibly due to nitrates contained in the Beetroot.

7. Now is the time to start thinking about pruning back Summer flowering shrubs. Wait until their flowers have fully died back, then prune.

8. Autumn fruiting Raspberries should be pruned over Winter. Cut the canes down to ground level before the end of January, ready for next years crop.

9. Bamboo plants are nice ornamental plants to have in your garden. They can become invasive if they are left to grow unchecked, especially the types that spread by underground shoots (rhizomes). Look for clumping Bamboos when purchasing.

10. Honey glazed baby Carrots recipe = 

16 ounces baby carrots 1 tablespoon butter 2 tablespoons light brown sugar 2 tablespoons honey 2 teaspoons cornstarch. Directions:   In a microwave-safe dish, combine all ingredients. Cover and cook on high 10-12 minutes, stirring once, until tender.

Nuff Said

Another uneventful week down the plot. What can I say. 3 more days of rain great. Think I will leave the rest of the fruit and veg in the ground now for green manure.

Thursdays Top 10 Tryouts (Or Show Us Yer Tips 23)!!

1. If you are troubled with deer eating their way through your garden or plot, try planting Rosemary plants or sprinkling Rosemary oil around your planted areas.

2. This is an addition to a previously posted tip. If you are putting runners from Strawberries into pots, for later planting out, when you peg the runner down, use pegs that are longer than the depth of your pot. Push the peg through a hole in the base of the pot. This will anchor the pot down as well as the runner.

3. If you are growing greenhouse Tomatoes, remove some of the lower leaves from the plants. This allows more air circulation, more light to the plant which aids ripening and lessens the chance of soil borne diseases being splashed onto the plants whilst watering.

4. If your legumes bed will lie empty over the winter prior to using it for brassicas, try sowing  Winter tares as a green manure. ( sow July to September). Winter tares will fix nitrogen into the soil. Work the Tares into the soil about 4 weeks before sowing your Brassica crop.

5. The Devils Coach Horse, (Staphylinus Olens) a long black beetle is a good friend (predator)  to have in the garden or plot. It will eat such things as larvae, slugs and insects. If it is disturbed it will adopt a scorpion like stance. It's bite can be painful.

6. Adding lime to compost heaps is not beneficial and can actually kill off beneficial bacteria which are active within the heap.

7. To stop your growing Pumpkins from splitting, provide them with some shade as they develop and get larger.

8. It will soon be Christmas but some vegetables to sow in August are, Carrots, Cress, Kale, Lettuce, Radish, Pak-Choi, Rocket, Salad onions, Swiss chard, Turnip. Certain varieties will germinate better than others at this time of the year in average UK weather conditions.

9. Don't forget to "deadhead" your garden flowers now, as many perennials will re-flower into Autumn.

10. Pick your Runner and Dwarf french beans on a regular basis. This will prevent them from growing tough and stringy.