Veg Patch

To read the story of my Veg/Flower Patch in chronological order use the links in the Blog Archive

Sunday 18 August 2013

Its Glut Time!

I planted all the tomatoes on the same day , so it should be expected that they would all be ready to eat at the same time.. I have been waiting weeks for my greenhouse toms to go red. Last year I was picking at the end of June, but here were are half way through August and I was still waiting. Finally they are all going red. 


I was planing to use them to make Ratatouille with my Aubergines, I have loads,


but I now find I have used up most of the courgettes. I am hoping that with another predicted sunny few weeks, I shall get more growing. 

I did have a couple though, so I picked everything ready for my first batch of the season. 


I was very pleased with how it came out. delicious. Hopefully there will be more by the weekend. 

The beans were also all ready to be eaten. Some were getting a bit big as we cant eat them quickly enough. I decided that I would pick them, blanch and freeze them .


I ended up with 10 portions in the freezer. I shall enjoy some with my Christmas ( Yes I said it) Dinner. 

I mentioned previously that my potato's were ready and in need of digging, I sent off for some Hessian sacks to store them in, they have arrived and are rather smart. 



I have been very pleased with the spuds we have eaten so far. I only used Sarpo varieties  They are tasty and blight free. 

WIth the prospect of an empty raised bed, I decided that this year I would try and overwinter some onions. Off I went to the Nursery and bought a couple of varieties


I got out my trays and then realised I didnt have enough compost. Well thats not true, I didnt have enough shop bought compost, what I did have however were the Daleks.


The two I installed when we designed the patch, have been consuming kitchen scraps and hen poo for the past 18 months, and to be honest, although I have put stuff in the top, I had never looked in the bottom. 

Time to have a look and see


Worms!! loads and loads of them. That must be good. it looked a bit wet, but I haven't put any water in it so I suppose it has made that itself. 

I didn't need much so I dug a few shovel loads out, but I didn't want to put the worms in with my seeds . It took me 20 minutes and I picked out 113 worms!! and dropped them back in the bin. 

I mixed my home made in with the shop stuff and it looked very nice. 


Let see how well the seeds grow. The grow sure ones were interesting  They had a blue coating to them, so it was really easy to see where you had dropped them . 

4 trays are planted and hopefully that should give me a nice crop of Onions in the spring. 


Thats it for this week. The flower patch is starting to come to an end. The plants still look pretty but there are not many I can cut now. 

Finally, This is the Seedypenpal parcel I sent to Linda. She seems very happy with it. 


12 comments:

  1. I sure am and thank you again going to sow rocket and spinach tomorrow

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  2. We are still waiting for red tomatoes that don't have blossom end rot - so far I think two!

    No real gluts yet either this year. We ate waiting for onion sets to come in to the nursery and as usual will plant those rather than seeds.

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  3. All tomato varieties have their own timelines, and it always gets affected by weather, water etc. This year I got my brandywine (late variety usually 90-110 days) in July while my silverfir (early - 50 day) was still green and only now starting to show color.

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  4. Wow with that kind of compost and all those worms your garden is going to be well fed! I usually make ratatouille too, but alas this year our eggplant (aubergine) is doing terrible and zucchinis have been poor too. And the tomatoes have been very slow to ripen. So we're unlikely to get any this time around. Your harvest looks lovely!

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  5. Compost is one of those magical things that happens without you really knowing that it's actually working until you dig down in there. Magic, indeed. And so incredibly worth the effort and the wait.

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  6. You're a professional!! Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.

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  7. My toms look rubbish and are still green, mind you the runner beans are great. Fair play to you haveing a veggie garden I relly can't be bothered with the hassle, mind you my garden is not much to look at. I shal now follow you with interest.
    http://spudsdailyphoto.blogspot.co.uk/

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  8. Wonderful, I wish my vegetables would grow the same way! Love the dark beans!

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  9. Your pics make me crave veggies!!! home grown of course!!!

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  10. Excellent harvest, everything looks so yummy!

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  11. I don't have a garden, but I do enjoy checking out other people's gardens. Interesting bit about your compost. A good way to do things!

    Linnea

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