What are you cropping?

[Chickenlady]

Haven't had a chance to get on here for ages! First I moved house (stress, stress and more stress) and now the allotment has gone crazy.

Current most wonderful crop is raspberries. Have frozen some and made some jam. I'm a bit sick of broad beans now, although the blackfly have hit so I shall pick and freeze the lot tomorrow.

What are you lot currently enjoying?

[Millymollymandy]

Poor you, I know what moving house is like - I did it twice last year!

I'm currently on my 2nd crop of coriander so thinking about curry for tonight - and making something with spinach beet which needs picking desperately - it just involves an awful lot of washing and chopping to make not very much!

I picked my first two WHITE beetroots the other day. They were really tasty and unusual. Other than that it is mainly lettuce, a few spring onions (the first lot didn't germinate), lots of annual herbs like dill and basil, and cherries. Oh, and new potatoes!

[hay331]

Raspberries already, WOW, have to wait a while for mine! I have just picked my first pea pod and eaten it! On a more abundant note, cut and come again lettuce for lunch and 5 strawberries . Oh and just bottled my very first Elderflower cordial, don't think it'll last long, it is scrumptious

White beetroot sounds interesting, where did you get them and am I too late up here?

[Wombat]

G'Day Chickenlady,

Nice to see you back on! not much hapening arouind here, being winter & all - some brassicas & stuff mainly

Nev

[jordan]

ive been growing a boatload of mint, hot peppers, snow peas, carrots, beans and tomatoes.

[Chickenlady]

All sounds good (apart from you Nev - wot, no winter crops?).

What are snow peas? Mange tout?

I didn't realise that everything would be so much later in Scotland, but I suppose it does make sense! Have just had a lovely lettuce with our spag bol. DH sowed a packet of mixed lettuce and they have all been delicious.

I also made some elderflower cordial for the first time. It is very refreshing, isn't it? Lovely with some ice.

[shiney]

All I have picked is a handful of cherries so far. The spuds look like triffids, I just hope theres a pound or two for a dinner under all that foliage!

The dwarf beans are looking, well dwarfie (with the short sticks Nev!), the leeks are still about the size of a match, but I may eat a spring onion before the week is out! Tonnes of mint, sage, marjoram, thyme, rosemary, lavender.

[greenbean]

It's terrible being up here in the cold north, we must be a month behind you lot in the south - i've been out this evening eyeing up my broad beans for my first picking, not quite filling out their wee pods properly yet, have to be patient. I have harvested some lettuces and basil (in greenhouse), one strawberry was ready yesterday and I had my eye on it for tonight, now I find some bird has gone and nicked it. Now where's that air rifle?....

[ina]

Going even further north... My broad beans are just beginning to flower! First lot of beans never made it to a recognisable state (slugs? birds? cat? - shoot them all !!!), my peas are lingering. But I shall harvest the first lettuce of the season tomorrow (overwintered), and I've still got last years spinach beet to pick. Strawberries are green, so are the (two and a half) cherries. But I've got loads of herbs (yep, it was curry tonight for me, too - the growth of the coriander dictated that), and slug-bitten radishes. (Actually, the slugs have noticably diminished since I kicked myself in the behind and got out slug hunting .)

Ina

[Millymollymandy]

Ina - at least your spinach beet sees it through a winter! The last place I was living in France it was too cold for that so I grew it as an annual.

I made a curry last night and spent about an hour washing and chopping the spinach beet. Had to use my largest pan and sweat it down in two batches before I could cook with it there was so much! Cooked it with onions, garlic, ginger, fennel seeds, cardamoms, ground cumin and some creamed coconut. It was delicious - and lots left over for tonight!

[Wombat]

Yeah, Chickenlady not much -

Some broccoli, cauli's, bok choi, rocket and turnips. Just finsihed the carrots, still got the chillis and capsicums, just harvested the sweet potato. Because of the vagaries of my yard, I dont't get large areas with a huge amount of sunlight so it majkes things a bit difficult. I admit I could do more, but because of the hours I work the only time I see the veggie patches in daylight is on the weekend. Must try to do better next year .

Nev

[Chickenlady]

Not much? That sounds like lots to me for winter. I would love to know all the things you grow for the summer Nev.

[Lyds]

Not doing too well what with all the slugs. They have eaten all my runnerbean plants and a batch of lollo rosso, but, the round lettuce have been good and the onions (red baron) are coming on a treat. Chard and Spinach are going great guns but both batches of rocket have run to seed as we cant eat it fast enough. I have plenty of courgettes coming on but have to get to them before the slugs do. My potatoe plants are HUGE and I'm going to dig one up this week and see how its doing, I tried Charlotte which are nice with salad.

I sometimes wish that I had no qualms about slug pellets. I could really do with a 24 hour slug watch around here - typical Devon summer warm and wet! My girls will not touch the slugs I offer them, the kids refuse to go around and snip them so theres me creeping around by torchlight like some weirdo - the neighbours gave up on me years ago.....

[Wombat]

Lyds,

Have you tried a beer trap? I haven't, don't drink the stuff, but some people swear by them.

Chicken lady, this is the sort of stuff that goes in in September -

Tomatoes - Gross Lisse and Roma - although I am experimenting with an early tomato this year that I am growing through winter in the greenhouse after some grosse lisse seeds got into my onion seedling and gave me an early crop last year.
Onions
Cucumber - apple cucumber and long green
Zucchini - usually only one plant!
Beans (dwarf)
Carrots - going to try two varieties this year - usually grow topweight or chantenay
Capsicum & Chillies
Bock choi (doesn't do well n the hot weather though)
silver beet (leaf beet)
Lettuce - I try every year but just as the look good we get a hot spell, or wet spell or cold spell or whatever and the bloody things bolt!
Sweet corn
Cotton (not very tasty- but filling )
Potatoes
Broccoli - tried chinese broccoli this year but was not a success - didn't produce much and what there was was bitter
Cabbage - sometimes european, sometimes chinese
Cauliflower - an all year round hybrid - sometimes does well, sometimes not!
And will be giving sweet potato another go as well
That's about it I think - my goal is to grow all that we need all year round, I don't have enough land to do that for the 5-6 adults here at the moment but when the kids go it may be possible.

It really bugs me when the pundits say things like - you can grow all the vegetables for a family of 4 for a year on 10'x10' of land - or some such figure - they have obviously worked it out theoretically and never tried it!

Well there's my two bobs worth!

Nev

[Millymollymandy]

Nev, how do you get by with all the watering you must surely have to do? I stayed with my brother in law when he was living in Sydney and everyone's gardens were brown and hard baked - I just can't imagine anyone having a veg garden in those sort of conditions - and that was in September!!! Your greenhouse must be a bit hot in summer too!!