Tuesday 16 September 2014

Home and Away …

When we are away from home taking a break at the coast – I think about the garden – will my neighbour keep everything well watered – will I have huge marrow like courgettes to come back to – will all my new seedlings have withered in my absence.

I needn’t have worried.  I harvested as much as I could before we went away – told my neighbour to concentrate on the greenhouse should she be pushed for time – and kept my fingers crossed that everything would be okay.

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And as you can see – no huge marrows – a few beans from the greenhouse – loads of patty pan squash – and all the chillies ripened.

There were one or two problems though.  My two wigwams of late sown runners had serious problems.

One  was infested by blackfly – I have never seen anything like it – unfortunately I couldn’t get a good photo to show you – and the other  has an infestation of green beasties (shield bugs maybe)?  These are eating the buds as they emerge.

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So the whole crop is ruined and will have to be pulled out tout suite.

I still have masses of Sungold tomatoes ripening outside – no sign of blight (touch wood).

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The patty pan squash plant is rampant and full of what look like baby space ships – so cute.

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The seedlings in the greenhouse have doubled in size – although something has eaten the baby lettuce (on inspection I found a big slug sleeping under a pot).

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And the kale plants that are waiting to be put in the courgette bed are looking pretty healthy and don’t seem to be suffering from being kept in pots.  I have put them outside now to harden off.

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The winter onions have sprouted too – so very soon I will have to find space for them in the raised beds.  Has anyone ever grown onions in containers? – did they do okay? – that is something I may have to resort to – it’s all going to be a bit of a tight squeeze out there.

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So, all in all I can breathe a sigh of relief.  I did get a veggie garden fix whilst I was away though.  In Wells there is a fantastic allotment area  - just one field away from the sea.   The plots are on the whole beautifully kept and one in particular that you can see from the lane is a model of perfection – I didn’t have my camera with me (slapped wrists)  – I am sure you would have been as impressed as I – talk about busman’s holiday!

The other thing I wanted to mention is why are restaurants so stingey with veg? They never seem to include them with the meal – sometimes they are listed as a side order – when the meal could really do with a bit of green on the plate.  The fashionable thing seems to be to put on the menu where  all the meat and fish is sourced locally – on one menu in particular the veg was supplied by Fred So-and-So from his allotment.  Well, all I can say is, that Fred was having a bad year with his veg, or he was keeping the best for himself.  Where were the runner beans, where were the French beans, where were the spinach and chard -  surely he must have had loads to sell on – one meal we had, included some curly kale, which was as tough as old boots and certainly didn’t add any flavour to the meal at all.  I know in the main restaurants like keep things seasonal, but even I, with my limited means, could have found something green to add to the meals – they all seemed to be very keen to add salad leaves to everything though.  Sorry – rant over – you have discovered one of my ‘bete noirs’.

‘Til next time – happy harvesting.

24 comments:

  1. I hope you had a good time. It's always a worry when you leave plants at home at the mercy of the kind soul who has offered to look after them, but in my experience, they always seem to be ok. My patty pan squash have been brilliant this year, I love them but there's just too many for us so I'm having to give some away, I wonder if they freeze, have you ever tried it? Those do look like shield bugs but I didn't think they did any harm to plants.

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    1. My one plant has gone bananas this year - I have frozen them before, as far as I can remember they freeze ok as long as you use them in something and not on their own as they go a bit mushy when they defrost.

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  2. Everything these days seems to be served with salad and chips. I don't mind this as they can't muck it up too much, which is a blessing.

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    1. I agree chips with everything - I must admit I get a little fed up with the limited options.

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  3. Bar the beans it all looks fantastic Elaine. Hope you had a good break.

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    1. I have never known blackfly on beans before - maybe they took over because the plants were stressed due to me being away and lack of watering. Oh well, there's always next year I guess. Yes, we had a lovely break but the garden needs some serious attention - hope the weather holds so I can get cracking.

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  4. All looking good except the poor runners,Elaine :)

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    1. Yes, it's a shame, but what can you do.I was hoping the ants might have cleared them up but they are obviously on strike.

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  5. We had the opposite experience today. We visited Daylseford farm near Stow on the Wold, which is organic veggie heaven. Had a really fab lunch, and bought lots of nice things in their shop afterwards. I had "heritage tomato salad with burrata mozzarella with mint and toasted sourdough". It sounds very simple - which it was, but also very good!

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  6. Shame about the late sown beans being affected like that, and yes they are shield bugs in the picture. Hope that blight stays away from your tomatoes. Otherwise it all looks pretty good.
    I rarely eat out nowadays but if I did I'm sure that I also have a rant if that happened to me.
    Flighty xx

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    1. The Sungold have been fantastic this year - but then I rarely have problems with them, they are such good 'doers'.

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  7. Always a worry to leave your vegetable plants when you are away but it looks as if all fared well. I must try patty pans next year. They look so attractive. I chuckled at your comment about a busman's holiday - found myself deadheading container grown flowers in a beer garden whilst on holiday.

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    1. Last year I grew yellow ones which weren't as prolific as these green ones - not really sure what to do with them all though. I was dead heading everywhere we went - it seems old habits die hard. ha!

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  8. I've never seen as many shield bugs as I have this year especially on the raspberries. I didn't know they ate buds.

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    1. I stood watching them for ages - one of them was definitely nibbling away - they don't seem to have moved much since I spotted them though.

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  9. I know exactly what you mean about lack of green vegetables on plates in restaurants. I am at the tail-end of a 3 week holiday in Europe and am suffering severe green vegetable withdrawal symptoms.
    Ms Soup

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    1. I never thought I would have a yearning for cabbage - made up for it when we got home though.

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  10. I totally get what you mean about stingy and poor veg portions!!! We have hundreds of shield bugs too, what is going on???
    Everything does look lovely, what a shame about the beans.....we have black fly everywhere too, even on holly!xxx

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    1. These infestations seem to go in cycles - remember when you couldn't move for ladybirds?

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  11. Hope you had a good time away; your plants seem to be doing well.
    I haven't noticed and shield bugs but doesn't mean they aren't around!

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    1. They are quite well camouflaged Kelli and the beans are the only place I have found them so far.

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  12. I tried growing onions in a big pot after hearing a talk on container veg at the Harrogate Flower Show. The advice was to plant them close, harvest the first onions small for salads, more as baby onions and leave just a few to mature. They didn't do as well as the onions in the ground... but then I'm not the most reliable gardener when it comes to remembering to water stuff in pots - you may well have better luck with container growing.

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    1. It's worth giving it a try - I grew leeks quite successfully in troughs - so I think I'll give it a go - I'm just so pushed for space.

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