This week in your Kitchen Garden.

[Tankus]

The seeds that came out of some 50 Pence medium heat lidi chills have produced ones hotter that the original, some are black/ purple too
I've had a couple of curries out of them so far.

Initially I just threw the seeds into a pot on the kitchen window sill, and they went mad

 

[Tankus]

The seeds from those multicoloured small toms in lidl have also done quite well, I love the small plum toms

Absolute bullets of flavour

The ripening is staggered too, so it's not all coming in one go, but keeping pace with my eating of salads

 

[Fairweather]

Had some great potatoes from the allotment this year, these are pink fir apple which I've grown in sacks.

 

[Ron Merlin]

Garlic harvest today. Not a bad haul.

 

[The39thStep]

Had some great potatoes from the allotment this year, these are pink fir apple which I've grown in sacks.

Lovely tasting spud

 

[Artaxerxes]

Cucumber are in full spate, weighed a absolute ton bringing this lot back from the plot

 

[Epona]

Quick update from my indoor herb growing (my kitchen garden is actually in my kitchen, I have no outdoors, can't even fit windowboxes outside)

- the salvaged basil cutting that I propagated and potted ended up doing quite well, and I think would have done better if we'd had any sun the last few weeks. As it is, I think I am still going to get enough pesto for a couple of meals out of it before it is over for the year in addition to the bits I have been using here and there in my cooking.
I know to get started on the basil cuttings earlier next year - it works on the south-facing kitchen windowsill just fine, main risks seem to be over watering or being eaten by mice (the reason I ended up working from a cutting rather than splitting and re-potting what I got from the supermarket was because mice got to it overnight and I only had one sorry looking bit left). It was lovely having fresh basil for some of the summer though, will definitely do again (and scale it up a bit) next year starting in spring.

- the mint plant did not do as well as the one I had last year which got absolutely massive, I think again the poorer performance this year was due to lack of sun for part of the summer. It is fairly hardy though and survives most of my clumsy attempts to look after it, it is definitely not as fragile as the basil. I still got plenty of leaves from it though, and it is a pretty plant to have even when it looks a bit straggly (which I put down to not enough sunlight). I let it flower as I cannot keep it going indoors indefinitely - and I think mint flowers are very pretty to have in the kitchen. Will probably make some mint sauce to store.

- had no luck at all with the parsley cuttings, I think next year I should buy a plant early on and split/re-pot if I want to give it a go.

At least my attempts this summer have finally quelled objections from OH about "watching poor herb plants die" - now I have some bigger pots and a small bag of compost I am all set for next year.

I am wondering whether the small led grow lights are reasonable for small scale indoor kitchen herb growing or if they are just a waste of money?

 

[campanula]

I will send you some parsley seed Epona. It does not transplant well and must be sown from fresh seed. I had very mixed results from commercial seed packets (and none at all from supermerket splits)...but all this changed once I left my plants run to seed for later sowings. Using this years seed is guaranteed to germinate (slowly) and can be sown at any time of the year.
In a small space such as a windowbox, fresh herbs are definitely the very best choice - fragrant, beautiful, useful, beloved of pollinators. Well done you (and yes, there is a lot of value in having a little indoor LED growlight. My D-I-L has a thriving orchid collection, all grown on windowsills and grow shelves. Will ask about specs as there is a vast and bewildering choice.

 

[Epona]

I will send you some parsley seed Epona. It does not transplant well and must be sown from fresh seed. I had very mixed results from commercial seed packets (and none at all from supermerket splits)...but all this changed once I left my plants run to seed for later sowings. Using this years seed is guaranteed to germinate (slowly) and can be sown at any time of the year.
In a small space such as a windowbox, fresh herbs are definitely the very best choice - fragrant, beautiful, useful, beloved of pollinators. Well done you (and yes, there is a lot of value in having a little indoor LED growlight. My D-I-L has a thriving orchid collection, all grown on windowsills and grow shelves. Will ask about specs as there is a vast and bewildering choice.

Oh thank you, that would be wonderful! I'll PM you my address, thanks so much! I use quite a lot of parsley and am keen to grow my own if possible

 

[iona]

Phwoar

Most of those are local varieties you can't get in the shops too. Nice to be able to try them before planting trees.

 

[davesgcr]

Trundling through a graveyard in the central of a Cathedral City I find a "do it yourself" veg patch which provides fresh food for a local food bank. Spoke to some of the tenders (who were harvesting) - much impressed

 

[seeformiles]

Had some great potatoes from the allotment this year, these are pink fir apple which I've grown in sacks.

I love fir apples - tastiest spud by a country mile - just served with lots of butter.

I’ve wondered whether their name is a corruption of the German term for horse shit (“Pferdapfeln” - lit. Horse Apples )

 

[seeformiles]

Chocolate Habaneros starting to ripen

 

[iona]

Bastard bunny's been eating my beets

 

[fishfinger]

Bastard bunny's been eating my beets

 

[seeformiles]

Beans and chillies collected 2 mins ago

 

[Ron Merlin]

Carrot harvest today. Not bad. Grown in old council recycling boxes.

 

[20Bees]

Nice crop, did you use multi purpose compost or a mix with sand?

 

[Ron Merlin]

Cheers. Multi-purpose with a bit of fish, blood and bone.

 

[iona]

Mr Parsnip is very happy to see you

 

[The39thStep]

It sowing season here in Portugal for the next six weeks , albeit totally undermined by the fact that no rain is forecast untill December. Undeterred I’ll be putting in peas , cabbage , carrots , broad beans , etc and spending a fair bit on water ( it’s not cheap here) on getting them started .

 

[seeformiles]

Tomatillos are nearly all ready - salsa verde and chilli for tea

 

[seeformiles]

Just had an unexpected visitor to the back garden - great to see!

 

[iona]

Whyyyyyy did I plant so many potatooooooes

 

[StoneRoad]

This afternoon I picked what will be the last of the runner beans, and we had most of hem with our dinner. Maybe a few more, but it was almost frosty on Friday night.

Also been picking up windfall apples [cookers, probably Bramleys] and there are some decent blackberries still to pick.

 

[Artaxerxes]

Picked about half the remaining squashes, there's still 7 butternut squash out there waiting. Store cupboard has about a dozen odd various others including one beast of what looks like a hybrid kuri one.

 

[Carvaged]

Did anyone else have particular trouble with tomato blight this year? It really hampered efforts at kitchen gardening this year for us

 

[Artaxerxes]

Did anyone else have particular trouble with tomato blight this year? It really hampered efforts at kitchen gardening this year for us

Mine went end of July but started getting it in June, usually it’s August and a few years ago had some survive until November

Way to fucking wet in the spring and parts of summer this year

 

[iona]

Allotment tomatoes were fucked but I'd put that down to my mum's inability to water plants properly. My garden has its own microclimate that gets blight before the first blightwatch email's even gone out, but still get a decent crop of maskotka tomatoes even when the plants are looking like a textbook example of every possible pest and disease combined.

 

[StoneRoad]

Blight has been a pest this year [and last year tbh]
I got it in the pot grown spuds but not the green-house tomatoes.
and I've got some stuff to mix up and spray - But the knapsack sprayer is not where it should be ...