This week in your Kitchen Garden.

[sheothebudworths]

I saw a frog hiding under my romanesco's this morning!

 

[ill-informed]

I dug up the last of the beetroot and carrots and used the beds to put some very well chitted potatoes in. Then i covered one bed with fleece and the other with glass. So we'll see how that turns out, either it will have been a waste of time or i'll be harvesting fresh spuds at christmas.

 

[pennimania]

We have field mushrooms that come up in roughly the same place every year. I've eaten loads of them and I am still alive.


Real, edible field mushrooms can grow quite large. They have pinky brown gills underneath and NEVER have a ring round their stalk or a tattered mebrane at the base. Avoid anything that does like the plague - it may be harmless but it may not.

The really shitty thing about fungi poisoning is that by the time they've worked out that you've got it, you're already in liver failure

 

[invisibleplanet]

A grainy mobile foto of some of the harvest:

.

The cucumbers are about 4 inches long at the moment, and very spiky and cute. The tomatoes are ripening - should get a few meals worth out of them, but next year, will need a more sunny aspect with less wind.

The potatoes aren't quite ready for lifting, but I've already dug up two plants for the mini-harvest above.

The beans in the ground are still going, but the seaside winds are buffeting the canes on a daily basis and I've had to strengthen the frame. Weirdly, the broad beans are trying to flower again?! WTF?

The beans in the pots weren't saveable, because they only had 4 inches of soil to around 5 bean plants and it was too little to sustain moisture levels

I have to lift the garlic and onions because the wet weather will see them rotting in the ground if I leave them there for much longer.

The final sowing of beetroot and carrots are coming along nicely.

 

[Melinda]

^^^ Oh very well done! That lot looks so fantastic! Ive loved this thread this year

I made a jammy sort of thing with the (shop bought ) greengages I had. I'm not sure how they'd do as a sauce tbh. Did you try it?

Did a jam and a chutney/ relish.

Greengage chilli jam with caramelised onion. Plus a spicier relish with shed loads of apple and caramelised onion with lots of toasted spices. I was so pleased with them both, Ive only got a jar and half left now. The rest has been taken. Id love to try again if I can get hold of more greengages.

Yep - shared with my flatmates. I toasted and crushed some cumin and coriander seeds, mixed that with oregano and garlic, then stirred it into olive oil to make a sort of paste. Then smeared over wedges of squash and roasted in the oven.

It was awesome

Ace!

 

[invisibleplanet]

^^^ Oh very well done! That lot looks so fantastic! Ive loved this thread this year

Me too - haven't had as much time for the garden as I normally would, being in the final year of my degree, but now that's over we've got some manure on order from one of the local stables and someone to deliver it, and hoping to dig that in sometime in October, once the beds are clear. The soil in the garden was so depleted, it was amazing to get anything out of it, but the broad beans seemed to not care, and neither did the rocket or the spuds. The other beans were far more fussy, and so the plan is to recycle the kitchen veg waste directly into a 'bean trench', and cover over. This is an old trick, which my ancient gardening sources swear by for bean growing. The bean seeds will then be planted into that trench, and hopefully not suffer any nutrient definiencies with the added advantage of being completely organic.

Did a jam and a chutney/ relish.

Greengage chilli jam with caramelised onion. Plus a spicier relish with shed loads of apple and caramelised onion with lots of toasted spices. I was so pleased with them both, Ive only got a jar and half left now. The rest has been taken. Id love to try again if I can get hold of more greengages.



Ace!

Looks and sounds delicious, Melinda!

 

[davesgcr]

Picked and ate last courgettes tonight - grow bags go into the compost bin for "recycling" - not enough sun of late !

 

[fogbat]

It almost feels icy in the morning at the moment. I'm contemplating bringing all my chillies back inside.

 

[sheothebudworths]

God I really just can't be bothered anymore!

I'm just randomly watering *whatever I feel like watering* when I'm down there without a passing worry for anything that I miss.

Have just stuck two kilos of tomatoes in the oven to make passata (and then some ketchup from some of that)...still have SHITLOADS more.

Also going to have my first squash for lunch today, roasted with an aubergine and my first red pepper.


Btw - a good tomato/aubergine recipe for anyone else who has a glut of those is THIS - quick, easy and damn tasty!

 

[Hellsbells]

Question re tomatoes - I've still got loads on my plants outside but they're still green. If it starts getting cold and frosty at night, are they going to be ok? Or should I just pick them all now and stick them on the windowsill indoors to ripen (or in a drawer or whatever you're meant to do )

 

[fogbat]

Question re tomatoes - I've still got loads on my plants outside but they're still green. If it starts getting cold and frosty at night, are they going to be ok? Or should I just pick them all now and stick them on the windowsill indoors to ripen (or in a drawer or whatever you're meant to do )

Sounds like a perfect opportunity to make green tomato chutney

You could try hanging a few banana skins around the tomato plants. That might encourage them to ripen.

 

[wayward bob]

is there anything else you can do with green toms apart from chutney? we already have a massive jar from my mum and we'll never get through it til xmas. i

 

[The39thStep]

slice, dip them in flour and seasoning and fry.

 

[invisibleplanet]

Manure arriving either this weekend or next, from a local stable
That should help with the sandy, depleted soil which the climbing beans hated.

 

[Melinda]

Just wanted to say the greengage chutney is the best thing Ive made in years. A week on and it is DELICIOUS.

Fruity, fragrant, rich with a sweet and gentle background heat. Unbelievably flukey considering I started out wanting to adapt a recipe to ingredients I had to hand, and ended up striping out loads and just chucking in stuff.

I dont care that its churlish to say I resent being so prematurely profligate with my jars of heavenly goodness while it was merely 'quite tasty.' Im a third of my way through my last jar

Beat sandwich- home made multi grain, two slices of left over roast beef, home grown cucumber and onion, plus my chutney of the gods.

 

[Melinda]

Manure arriving either this weekend or next, from a local stable
That should help with the sandy, depleted soil which the climbing beans hated.

IP- is it well rotted manure? Or is it fresh?
You may have to stack it for a year which is such a pain.

 

[invisibleplanet]

IP- is it well rotted manure? Or is it fresh?
You may have to stack it for a year which is such a pain.

Good question, Melinda. I don't know - I won't find out until it arrives.
It'll be at least six months before anything is planted ...
When I had an allotment I bought 7 tonnes of 'mushroom' compost, which was horse manure that had mushrooms growing in in for a season, and that was lovely, but I can't get that delivered onto the pavement outside the house. We're using the rear beds are being used as a kitchen garden. I would love another allotment, but they're like gold dust around here.

 

[wayward bob]

slice, dip them in flour and seasoning and fry.

thanks for this, they were pretty good (certainly better than more chutney!) although i reckon there's not many things that wouldn't taste decent battered and fried except pickled walnuts

 

[Melinda]

Had a fabulous day filed with cob nuts. So good. Copious amount of child labour was used to shell them.

They were picked up at a farm in Pembury (Kent), does anyone know of a closer farm to get some more?

 

[sheothebudworths]

Note how SMALL everything is :-/

Jars/bottles btw are piccalilli, redcurrant and blackcurrant cordial and tomato ketchup.

 

[Melinda]

You've done so well! Such a variety of preserves, and Im so desperately jealous of the squashes.
My aubergines were a waste of time. Ive got only two at knee height with lots of foliage but not a sausage on them- they didnt get enough consistent sun.

 

[Melinda]

Oh and the Cobnut hunt- Found Allens Farm near Sevenoaks- which is closer than Pembury- can anyone do better than that?

1kilo for £12 is their price.

 

[pennimania]

I'm still getting tomato overload.

sweet peas and nasturtiums doing well too!

 

[free spirit]

could everyone please stop posting pictures of their huge tomato haul. thanks.


my garden got some form of blight type thing while I was working away for a couple of weeks, and I've had to rip out most of the tomato plants, corgettes, pumpkins and oddly enough, sprouting brocolli in a vain attempt to save the rest of it. Luckily I'd also planted several bits in different sections of the garden which don't seem to be affected yet (thought the slugs and catapillers have been very hungry indeed), and the indoor stuff is mostly ok, but I'm generally not happy.

In other news, I managed to cut a big ash tree right back using only a hand saw and some long seceters and my roped access harness over the weekend... I now can barely see the garage for branches, and my arms hurt a bit.

 

[pennimania]

could everyone please stop posting pictures of their huge tomato haul. thanks.


my garden got some form of blight type thing while I was working away for a couple of weeks, and I've had to rip out most of the tomato plants, corgettes, pumpkins and oddly enough, sprouting brocolli in a vain attempt to save the rest of it. Luckily I'd also planted several bits in different sections of the garden which don't seem to be affected yet (thought the slugs and catapillers have been very hungry indeed), and the indoor stuff is mostly ok, but I'm generally not happy.

In other news, I managed to cut a big ash tree right back using only a hand saw and some long seceters and my roped access harness over the weekend... I now can barely see the garage for branches, and my arms hurt a bit.

Sorry

we cut back a rowan tree that had fallen down over a wall - I ached for days

 

[LilMissHissyFit]

I got two tomatoes..yes, just two

fuckers

 

[Melinda]

We've got loads, they are finally ripening in the garden. Should I be picking everything and bringing it in?

Im still getting lots of beans, and continuing to harvest massive sweet peas. Im going to let them form seed now.

Can I dig up and bring in my aubergines? Will they be ok over wintering with the chillies?

 

[BoatieBird]

I reckon it would be worth bringing the aubergines in Melinda, nothing ventured nothing gained!

My kitchen garden seems to be over for this year
I've really enjoyed it though and I can't wait to start it up again next year.

I'm not going to grow anything over the winter apart from some green manure and a row or 2 of garlic.

 

[pennimania]

Can you do that with aubergines?

mine's in a big pot - has flowered but never got further. The only year I managed fruit was when I had a plant on a south facing windowsill.

So can they be perennials like chilis?

I'm going for garlic soon too

it's been a GREAT year for sweetpeas hasn't it?

 

[Melinda]

Oh for sure, they have been the stars of the garden this year. Just massive flower heads.

In the past 2 weeks, I have a fresh flush of growth of about a foot, and scores and scores of new flowers.