This week in your Kitchen Garden.

[contadino]

Yeah, mine's been really good this year too but I think it's pretty much done now. There's several tubs of pesto in the freezer, but a fair bit of it has gone into the tomato sauce.

I grew a variety of red basil called Red Rubin this year too which was fantastic. Quite peppery with an umami (so?) thing going on without being bitter. That's going to be a regular thing in future.

 

[RubyToogood]

I need to harvest the rest of my basil. I've also been putting in some overwintering broccoli which has made a welcome return to the garden centre.

Meanwhile, at what point do you give up and admit tomatoes are not going to ripen and it's time for green tomato chutney?

No I have no idea why this tomato has a penis.

 

[Boudicca]

I was going to ask the same chutney question. I have a great crop of tasty tomatoes from that one Waitrose tomato I sliced and planted (and so have about 10 other people around Bournemouth) but there's about 20 green ones left.

 

[RubyToogood]

I was going to ask the same chutney question. I have a great crop of tasty tomatoes from that one Waitrose tomato I sliced and planted (and so have about 10 other people around Bournemouth) but there's about 20 green ones left.

Well I have bitten the bullet and picked them. There were over 2kg of green tomatoes. I had nothing like that many ripe ones. If I can't grow tomatoes in a summer like this it's a lost cause. I'd only bother with cherry tomatoes in future, I think they're small enough to ripen fast.

Anyway, getting lots of chutney.

 

[RubyToogood]

Boudicca I'm just catching up with the Almanac for October and that says 18th-25th October.

 

[Boudicca]

Boudicca I'm just catching up with the Almanac for October and that says 18th-25th October.

OK, a bit longer then maybe. Which is good because I don't like chutney.

I was prepared to make some rather than waste the tomatoes but the recipes want me to buy more extra stuff than I had hoped.

 

[RubyToogood]

OK, a bit longer then maybe. Which is good because I don't like chutney.

I was prepared to make some rather than waste the tomatoes but the recipes want me to buy more extra stuff than I had hoped.

I know what you mean. It's not very economical if you have to spend £15 on more ingredients. I'm using this one as a basis which is fairly minimalist. But adding tamarind and lots of spices based on other recipes. But I do like chutney.

NB I did what they suggest and salt/drain the tomatoes overnight but ended up putting all the liquid back in. I guess it depends how juicy your tomatoes are.

 

[iona]

Have you both been removing leaves to help the tomatoes ripen?

 

[Boudicca]

Have you both been removing leaves to help the tomatoes ripen?

I've been removing dead leaves for aesthetic reasons, and there's barely any left to be honest. Which ones should I remove?

 

[iona]

I've been removing dead leaves for aesthetic reasons, and there's barely any left to be honest. Which ones should I remove?

From late Aug/September, barely any leaves left is right. Earlier on I would've been removing any leaves that were shading the tomatoes as soon as they'd formed, and working up the stem removing all leaves below a truss once its fruits had grown to a halfway decent size.

 

[RubyToogood]

I've got a sizeable garden centre gift voucher to use. I'm thinking of either a mini greenhouse or one of these. Opinions? Or a storage bench, but that's a different beast.

 

[RubyToogood]

I decided against all the above and have got a weeping mulberry and a dwarf fig tree "Little Miss Figgy" with my voucher. Both should be good in pots and will fit a niche on the patio.

I'm still quite tempted by the grow tables above. Would be good for growing salads whilst keeping slugs out.

Incidentally I was going to get a new RHS prize winning dwarf mulberry, but there were a few ripe fruits on it so I tried one with the bloke from the garden centre and they were flavourless. Apparently the RHS didn't assess it for flavour

The weeping one is morus alba, not nigra, so may not be as yummy as normal mulberries, but the bloke said he'd tried one and it was good, and the plant is very pretty.

 

[BoatieBird]

They sound lovely RubyToogood, I look forward to seeing their progress!

 

[iona]

I'm still quite tempted by the grow tables above. Would be good for growing salads whilst keeping slugs out.

Sorry, don't mean to piss on your chips but I really doubt those will do much to keep slugs out. Especially in summer when they'll get too hot for a lot of salad crops if you leave the lids on.

 

[RubyToogood]

Sorry, don't mean to piss on your chips but I really doubt those will do much to keep slugs out. Especially in summer when they'll get too hot for a lot of salad crops if you leave the lids on.

Well you'd have to put stuff round the legs and whatnot to deter them - but it's more defensible than the open ground.

 

[The39thStep]

Still mild here around 15/16c , if grey and cloudy in between the rain .

Variety of brassicas, aubergines ,peas, lettuce , onions and peppers in there plus an orange tree outside my local shop .

 

[Ron Merlin]

Christmas parsnips! Well pleased with these

 

[RubyToogood]

Where sells nice veg seeds? I should get on and buy some.

 

[iona]

Where sells nice veg seeds? I should get on and buy some.

Real Seeds and Chiltern are both good. Premier Seeds Direct are best value-wise.

I'm always trying to offload extra seed onto people if there's anything you want me to send you.

 

[RubyToogood]

Real Seeds and Chiltern are both good. Premier Seeds Direct are best value-wise.

I'm always trying to offload extra seed onto people if there's anything you want me to send you.

I'm all about the unusual courgettes and runner beans with nice flowers mainly. I'm not actually sure how much I've got room for this year.

 

[iona]

I'm all about the unusual courgettes and runner beans with nice flowers mainly. I'm not actually sure how much I've got room for this year.

Definitely check Real Seeds then. Heritage Seed Library are good for beans too, although I can't remember if you're allowed to buy stuff without being a member and most people will have put this year's orders in by now so they might be out of stock with a lot of things.

 

[RubyToogood]

Got an order from Real Seeds on the way. I used to use the Heritage Seed Library back in the day...

Have also succumbed to one of the lidded grow tables I linked to above as I got another lot of vouchers for Christmas. The only time I've successfully grown salad was in an old bath with windows over the top, and I'm hoping this will replicate that. I'm bored of cooking courgettes and runner beans in the middle of summer.

I need to work out how to fortify it against slugs. I'm thinking maybe copper tape round the outside of the legs, and fill the legs (which are hollow) with a mix of stones and sharp sand. Or something.

Ooh, maybe I could finally grow carrots?

 

[iona]

I need to work out how to fortify it against slugs. I'm thinking maybe copper tape round the outside of the legs, and fill the legs (which are hollow) with a mix of stones and sharp sand. Or something.

I grow decoy pak choi for slugs plus give the whole garden & allotment a strong dose of nematodes during a rainy week at least once each in spring & autumn. Keeps the numbers down to the extent they don't really do much damage to anything else.

 

[iona]

The chilli plant that's happily spent all winter in my kitchen, including an entire month in the sink with a drippy tap because I couldn't water plants from Australia, has now decided to sulk and possibly die because it saw the sun for a few hours. It'll get over the shock with a bit more water than I've been giving it but honestly for fucksake what is wrong with plants

 

[Boudicca]

Wasn't sure if the Waitrose tomatoes would sprout as the back window in my new house isn;t as sunny as the old one but they have started to come up. Tagging spellbinder as they asked about the process on the shortages thread. Not sure it's really a process though!

This was two weeks ago:

Add a thin layer of compost over the top.

And they started sprouting yesterday:

 

[sparkling]

Wasn't sure if the Waitrose tomatoes would sprout as the back window in my new house isn;t as sunny as the old one but they have started to come up. Tagging spellbinder as they asked about the process on the shortages thread. Not sure it's really a process though!

This was two weeks ago:

Add a thin layer of compost over the top.

And they started sprouting yesterday:

Thats inspirational.

 

[sparkling]

Started off seedlings on window sills a couple of weeks ago and now ready to pot up today. My worry is that have I gone too early? North East Scotland, its going to be ages before I can put things outside even in a cold frame. I think there is going to be lots of window sill gardening this year. Hopefully next year we will have a functioning greenhouse.

 

[Boudicca]

Thats inspirational.

I don't know why it has taken me so long to try growing from a tasty real tomato rather than packet seeds which have always been a disappointment flavourwise.

 

[WhyLikeThis]

I don't know why it has taken me so long to try growing from a tasty real tomato rather than packet seeds which have always been a disappointment flavourwise.

It’ll be interesting to see how they turn out as they could be F1 hybrids. Do you remember what variety they were?

 

[Boudicca]

It’ll be interesting to see how they turn out as they could be F1 hybrids. Do you remember what variety they were?