Trowel and Error

[FiveO'Clock]

Mumbaa

[baargain]

She took 25 cucumbers to her circle dancing class too :))

I'm going to make cucumber vodka if I end up with a glut.

[absley]

Oh Baa, what a thought. :cry:

Having said that, I made fig leaf gin this week, tastes amazing in a negroni (I had it at a wonderful restaurant in Cambridge).

I do love the random cucumber/ courgette deliveries though! I used the paintbrush method on my lemon tree and have two new lemons growing, so maybe I should just do that!

Today I have worked out that a random plant that was fruiting but I didn't know what (I posted a pic ages ago), is a plum, based on taste tests. Nothing is ripe yet so I don't know what sort, although it looks as though they may be yellow, with a pink/ red blush. Exciting though, I love plums.

[baargain]

Oh, so many plums!!

[FiveO'Clock]

I used the paintbrush method on my lemon tree and have two new lemons growing, .

This might be what Charlie Brown needs! How do I do it?

[absley]

Sorry, Five, I didn't see this - you're just trying to cross pollinate the flowers, doing the work that bees would otherwise do, so use a fine paintbrush or cotton bud and delicately pick up and brush pollen from flower to flower.

I've started picking those plums now :)) And two of my corn are flowering. I have two pumpkins growing well, the third one seems to have stopped. And the borlotti are turning pink but are still v flat - a few have been munched as well. :mad: No tomato action and I'm harvesting the potatoes occasionally, I might try the ones I actually planted next! There are definitely a couple of courgette plants that still haven't given me anything.

How's everyone else doing ?

[emma_p]

The mini pumpkins are so cute! Great Dixter was growing the same kind.

[Cerise]

So much garden action while we were away! Several more cucumbers, a few ripe tomatoes, loads of raspberries, sunflowers aplenty and, most exciting of all, a (small) handful of ripe delicious blueberries - the most we’ve ever had!

[Disco]

Lovely sunflower.

I’m jealous of the ripe tomatoes. I topped my biggest plants off the other day and removed superfluous foliage to help them.

[Cerise]

How do you top them? Literally just chop?

[Disco]

Yes just cut the top off the plant after 4 or 5 trusses so the energy goes into the already formed fruit rather than growing new flowers that will never ripen. Also pinch off any side shoots

[FiveO'Clock]

Sorry, Five, I didn't see this - you're just trying to cross pollinate the flowers, doing the work that bees would otherwise do, so use a fine paintbrush or cotton bud and delicately pick up and brush pollen from flower to flower.

Thank you!

[Cerise]

Yes just cut the top off the plant after 4 or 5 trusses so the energy goes into the already formed fruit rather than growing new flowers that will never ripen. Also pinch off any side shoots

Thanks. I’ve done this today. :)

[absley]

Today's harvest. I know I shouldn't be picking rhubarb in August but the rain has given my plants a huge growth spurt so there has been lots of new stems. I'm also blaming emma as she gave me a plum & rhubarb jam recipe that I want to make!

[Disco]

Lovely harvest!

I've just picked three courgettes.

[absley]

My courgettes are being so tardy, it's really annoying!

[baargain]

I had a bbq yesterday, with eight adults and five children. All the veg sides were from my veg patches! Lettuce, tomato salad, courgette salad, and a shallot vinegarette style potato salad. V proud of meself.

[absley]

Amazing Baa!

[Mountain Goat]

That's so satisfying! And look at all your rhubarb and plums, abs!

Thank you for the tomato lopping advice. Monty Don had told me some of it but not all of it, and now all my tomato plants are sporting tidy new haircuts, and I have three (3) ripening tomatoes. My experiment has so far shown that the indoors plant grew the biggest, but not all the flowers became fruit; the ones in the raised bed are just slightly smaller but are absolutely weighed down with fruit, except the one that was really shaded out by the courgette which is little; and the one in a pot outdoors barely grew in size at all but is covered in fruit, and is leading the game in terms of ripening.

The courgette! Jesus. The main body of it is spent. The last couple of courgettes coming off it went mouldy on the plant (probably all the rain), which was a relief as I am feeling under courgette pressure. But! it has sprouted two entirely new wings, all new light green perky stalks, one at each end of the main body, and these now have a total of 10 baby courgettes currently underway. :lol: So I got about 20 (!) courgettes off the main body before it finished and now 10 more, if they all grow to fruition. WTF. And because everyone has a courgette glut I can't even give them away, unless by stealth. :lol:

My (sacrificial) nasturtiums are entirely covered in cabbage white caterpillars. Guess I'll definitely be needing to net any winter brassicas I plant....

Oh and I did a sowing of rocket, lettuce, radish and spring onion at the weekend.

[Cerise]

Have you tried putting a box of them outside your house with a “Free” sign? That’s how loads of of excess fruit/veg disappears around here.