Garden Diary ~ New Year's Day 2021

Illustration by Lena Anderson.

What a pleasure it has been to spend time in New Year's Day in the garden. The temperature was warm enough to venture out without a coat! Yesterday was perhaps slightly warmer and sunnier but both days provided unexpected bonuses. The first gardening task of 2022 was to snip off the old hellebore foliage and bin it. It was interesting to see that there was evidence of aphids on the back of a few leaves. I than disposed of some soggy tat. Tomorrow the weather is predicted to be cooler but still warm enough I think to get out again and mulch the hellebore plants with some well rotted leaf mould. In the garden there are signs of activity with bulbs beginning to emerge. The first snowdrops are opening which is such a heartwarming event. Some clumps are now quite sizeable but others are taking time to establish. 

Time soon to plan next year's vegetable garden. There are seed potatoes to order. I think that I will stick with my favourite 'Charlotte' which is a great salad potato. Without the allotment I grew potatoes in bags last year for the very first time. It proved successful and I think that a further bag might be purchased. This year's sowing definites include the usual suspects of salad leaves, shallots, French beans, beetroot, courgettes and chard but I will have to consider carefully whether to add on top of this list. It was good to notice yesterday that the garlic cloves of 'Purple Early Wight' planted on the 17th November have started to come through.

After my outside pottering an inspection of the greenhouse and my potted special snowdrops followed. One big change since last year is that I've bought a smaller number of pots in to overwinter. A good number will take their chance in pots outside. A lot of them are now planted in the garden so a few casualties in event of a tough winter will not be the end of the world. In the greenhouse are my favourites and newest additions will I can gaze at a close quarters during the winter months. If necessary I can put a heater on overnight to fend off the worst of any bitterly cold snaps. There are three trays which each hold two dozen bulbs and some dozen or so loose pots too.Some bulbs are duplicates. My two newest purchases are showing mixed promise - galanthus nivalis 'Prague Spring' which was a small bulb on planting will not flower this year whereas galanthus plicatus 'Sophie North' is thriving. Both were bought as dormant bulbs in the summer.

In flower today are the following galanthus elwesii ' Fenstead End', galanthus plicatus 'The Pearl', galanthus plicatus 'Trimmer', 'galanthus Sutton Courtney' and galanthus 'Betty Hansell' and galanthus 'Ding Dong'. Sadly the also early flowering 'Three Ships' has decided not to flower this year. Other 'drops are nearly there but not quite so I shall check again next weekend. 

Also in the greenhouse I was pleased to spot that the first anemone 'Mr Fokker' is sprouting. I planted six in November in dry compost which has been watered yet.

My gardening day is not yet complete as tonight I plan to order some dahlia tubers. some difficult decisions ensue! On this and my new seed packet storage container more to come hopefully next weekend. Happy New Year and happy gardening to all my blogging friends - I hope that 2022 treats you, your loved ones and your gardens most kindly. Thank you for all your kind comments and encouragement last year.

Diary Update ~ September 2021.

Well my using my diary keeping attempts using this blog are proving haphazard to say the least. A couple of months have elapsed since I last wrote a post. August came and went but maybe the least said about it the better. It was a dull and depressingly not at all like summer month.

September however has by and large been a warm, sunny and quite beautiful month although the temperatures have dramatically dropped over the last week when there have also been winds and heavy rainfall. Autumn is well and truly here. We enjoyed the first week of the month on holiday by the sea in South Wales.  The weather was a mixture of sun at the start and end, overcast in the middle but most fortunately dry throughout. Sadly there were no opportunities for any garden visiting but plenty of coastal footpath walks, unsuccessful dolphin spotting and sitting out in the garden of where we were staying reading and enjoying the beautiful view of the sea as well as bat watching each evening. We usually see bats in the summer at home but not a single one this summer. There was also time for the obligatory seaside fish and chips meal sitting on a bench overlooking the bay and of course an ice cream (not at the same time!)

The two new raised beds in the garden have been largely cleared. The sweet pea and bean wigwams have been cleared and will be dismantled soon. The pattypan squash 'Sunburst' remains along with some beetroot. Calendulas have been torn out but all the herbs planted there are designed to be permanent occupants with perhaps more to be added to their numbers in the future. The potato bags have been shaken out and cleaned in readiness for next year. We didn't grow the same volume of potatoes that the allotment allowed us to but the 'Charlotte' salad potato crop was much enjoyed and the potatoes were cleaner than those grown at the plot. We are now eating the last of the tomatoes the plants having been consigned into the green bin. The majority of the tomatoes were the variety 'Romello' which is a bush plant with delicious small red plum tomatoes and it produces in quantity. 

I missed my 'Sunset' apple tree at the allotment as well as it's two companions and of course all the soft fruit I had there especially the raspberries. Still the stick of a spring planted 'Sunset' apple tree has taken and grown better than expected and our wonky apple tree has produced more fruits than ever. This might be down to having removed a large autumn flowering cherry in it's vicinity. The pear tree is covered with fruit and harvesting will be done in the immediate future before the squirrels get there. At the moment their attention is focused on scurrying about with conkers in their mouths bound for a secret hide and forget all about spot but that diversion will not last forever. 

In the flower garden there has been some pruning and tidying. The battle against the marestail in the Lockdown Border runs it's infinite course whilst plans have been drawn in my head to remove some of the perennials in there. I'm planning on planting some new additions but still have to locate them. The new roses planted round the geodesic dome were doing well until I spotted some rose sawfly larvae munching them with relish. Some spraying and squishing seems to have done the trick but they did some damage. Their presence was restricted to one side of the dome so fortunately only three plants were affected. I've never come across these beasties on other roses in the garden and certainly didn't expect pests like that in September.

A few hardy annual seeds were sown as soon as we returned from our holiday - calendulas 'Sunset Buff' and 'Snow Princess', orlaya grandiflora, daucus carota 'Purple Kisses Mix', ammi visnaga 'Green Mist' and 'Antirrhinum 'Chantilly Bronze'. Most have germinated well except for the ammi and calendula 'Snow Princess' so second sowings have been made. A couple of days later I remembered the larkspur packet that I had left in the freezer before we left and a possibly too late sowing of these was made today. A perennial scabious has also been sown and cuttings of salvia 'Nachtvlinder' have been taken. 

I've made a few plant purchases for planting up a big container at the front of the house - white flowering cyclamens, white violas, a small skimmia, Christmas box and an ivy. My bulb order was sent off and should have arrived this week but because of the shortage of hgv drivers/ fuel it is still with the carriers. I'm not in a hurry for the tulip bulbs as I will not plant them until November but would like to get my hands on the other bulbs as soon as possible.

Finally we made one garden visit as such to Abbeywood Gardens in Cheshire, a few weeks later after blogging friend Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' was there. You can see her post here. This was my first there since last August and we had a most enjoyable morning walking around finishing with lunch outside. The photos you can see on this post were all taken there apart from the seaside holiday snap. We also visited Chester Zoo last week where some of the planting there grabbed my attention away from the animals much to my niece's bewilderment. So on to a new month tomorrow and wishing you all happy gardening in October. 

Dear Diary ~ Late July 2021

 

Here we are already at the end of July and thoughts turning to late summer and the autumn. I'm still dithering over my spring bulb order and need to make a final decision and get it off as soon as possible. I will probably order the majority of my bulbs from Peter Nyssen and a few odds and ends from Farmer Gracy.  Last year I ordered some narcissus bulbs from the latter and they turned out to be the plumpest narcissus bulbs I've ever seen. I'm also enjoying leafing through the tempting catalogue that you can pages from as Sarah Raven's  catalogues are always brimming with positively beautiful colourful combinations. 

Just a brief post today mainly for my personal records. A lull from full on seed sowing for now but the seed compost will come out again in September. I pricked out some 'Sooty' sweet william seedlings today which were sown at the back end of June and there is another batch of a different variety that are still to small to prick out.  I may fit in for some sowing more salad seeds though. We are now eating French beans, which were just morphing from flower to bean just over ten days ago or so, some rather delicious beetroots and cherry tomatoes. I've not grown my own tomatoes from seed for a while now but treat myself each year to some small plug plants from the excellent Simpsons Seeds. They offer a wide range of tomato varieties in all colours and sizes and their plug plants are always well packaged, happy and healthy. They also stock other vegetable plant plugs.We have just enjoy the third harvest of 'Charlotte' potatoes grown in bags this year. Each harvest has been enough for two meals and there are probably another couple of harvests still waiting. Not necessarily a cheap option but they have been delicious.  My shallots need lifting - they looked most promising in their early days but are not looking so brilliant now. The proof will be in the lifting sometime this week. 

We have had a fair bit of rain this week which the garden needed after the recent heatwave. Unfortunately there were two intense cloudbursts involved which did flatten some plants but no long lasting damage done.

Not much in the way of other news. I'm expecting an exciting delivery in the post next week but more of that next time round. The weather for the last week or so has been on the wet and cool side so I've not been out there in the garden as much as I would have liked to. Just in the nick of time we gave the new 'Bathsheba' roses a specific rose granular feed this afternoon. Their second flower flush is just starting with one or two flowers already out and plenty of buds to come. That's it for today - short and sweet. Next time I hope to say that I've ordered those bulbs. Does any one else dither just trying to decide what to include in their bulb order.

Wordless Wednesday ~ No Air Miles

 

Worldless Wednesday ~ One Pear Tree + Eight Years On

 

Wordless Wednesday ~ On Tonight's Menu

Mixed salad leaves sown ~ 22nd March.

Wordless Wednesday ~ Abundance

Chelsea Physic Garden, London - October 2018

Wordless Wednesday ~ Playing Gooseberry

#mygardenrightnow - A Work In Progress

A sunny late summer morning and what better place to be than at my allotment, working on my long term mission of getting on top of the mare's tail. This work in progress has now been years in the making and I feel that I'm never going to get the upper hand. If you could knit or crochet with the stuff I think that I could have made a blanket by now big enough to cover the entire plot. The shadow you can see in the photo belongs to me.  I only wish that I had not first seen my plot in the winter - little did I know what trouble lay underneath the ground. Any advice is more than welcome.

All is not doom and gloom thankfully. There were butterflies and bees about as well as crops to take home, swap and to be gifted. A couple of wonky cucumbers were put in my hands. They may not be straight or supermarket shelf worthy but they will be deliciously crisp and tasty. 'Katy' and 'Sunset' apples were swapped for some Cox's Orange Pippins. A plot neighbour and I picked some of the rose hips from the eglantine rose on my plot - she is going to make rose hip jelly and in due course a jar will come my way.

From my plot I picked a couple of courgettes, a patty pan squash, 'Charlotte' potatoes, some climbing French 'Cobra' beans, apples and a few autumn fruiting 'Polka' raspberries. The raspberries are the start of a second flush and will decorate my porridge tomorrow morning. Now it's back to the kitchen to the bowl and two carrier bags full of apples picked earlier in the week.  There's much peeling ahead of me this weekend.

A HUGE thanks to lovely Michelle over at 'Veg Plotting' for inviting fellow garden and allotment lovers to share a scene from their patches of earth captured at some point this weekend. Your contribution can take the form of a blog post, a tweet, a photo via Instagram, a YouTube post or you could use Facebook. Do join in if you haven't already.

Musing In July

" We have our first dish of peas. The aisles of pea plants grow tall and the green walls are full of bulging pods ...... Compared with the gathering of strawberries, pea picking is is intricate, but undramatic. There is no sudden grow of crimson , no soft warmth of fruit. It is a world of shapes, pea being undistinguishable from leaf only by virtue of its bulk and form. We pick by feeling rather than by sight. The pea plant is a gentle green, deep and soft against the pale colour of the lettuces that shelter from the sun in the shade of the pea rows. Our baskets full of hard, rattling pods, we pick lettuces for salad. It is good to feed oneself from one's own earth" 

Words from 'Four Hedges A Gardener's Chronicle' by Clare Leighton.

Illustration by Sara Midda from "In and Out Of The Garden".

Glut,Wot Glut?

The last courgette of the year has been consumed this week and the battered, mildewy plant dispatched to the glories of the compost heap. It was an unsatisfactory year for courgettes for me as although the harvest lasted over a long spell, output was far from prolific - the word 'glut' never entered the equation. I've attributed this to the fact that they were not sown and subsequently planted out until quite late and were then abandoned in that hot spell in July. They had set fruits before we went on holiday but I removed all the immature fruits before we went on holiday. My lovely plot neighbour kept things ticking over providing welcome liquid refreshment at intervals but I think that that the courgettes stuttered somewhat to establish themselves. Back home the above photo was taken on the 21st July but there were also sadly a number of courgettes looking like this ~ 

A bit of a horror show!

For the record I planted 3 different varieties and a total of 4 plants :

'Romanesco' (sown 15/04/13 - a variety which I've grown for a number of years, it produces long green small to medium sized ridged courgettes and has a pleasing shape when sliced. It's often described as having a 'nutty' taste but I can't say that I've noticed this when eating it. This performed satisfactorily but has done better in previous years.

I was prompted to grow the other two varieties after reading an article on courgettes in the RHS magazine 'The Garden'. In an in depth article 32 different varieties were grown and in conclusion observations were made on the basis of yield and appearance. I experimented with :

'Brice'  (sown either 18 or 19/04/13) - I liked the look of this round green courgette and the taste but I picked far few courgettes from this than the other varieties. I still have some of the rather expensive seeds left, so will have another go next year but may try another round green courgette for comparison.

'Floridor' (sown - 15/04/13)  - this produced the most attractive sunshine yellow round courgettes. It seemed to set plenty of fruit but unfortunately some did not mature. Definitely a contender for next year's sowing plans. Again there is left over seed.

You can see full details of all 32 courgette varieties here in a useful chart format.

What I have decided to do next year is to stagger seed sowing. How did you fare with courgette growing in 2013, what did you grow and what would you recommend? 

Pride Becomes Before A Fall

Smug satisfaction about my bumper 2013 apple harvest has rapidly gone out of the window, or it might be more appropriate to say out of the garage door in this case. There has been much gnashing and gnawing of teeth. Venturing in to the garage earlier this week to store some spring flowering bulbs until I was ready to plant them, I thought to have a quick look at my apples. What apples? Some of them had totally disappeared without a trace whilst others had been nibbled. Result - some 60 or so apples totally ruined. I could have wept.

The Crime Scene 
The garage, the doors of which have been left open all day for most of the past week, as himself is engaged in a major diy project so there has been much coming and going.

Whodunit? 
Main suspect is squirrels .We have a plague of the creatures which are up to seasonal mischief at the moment hiding conkers away for their winter larder. They usually appear to forget about them and leave me to pull out chestnut seedlings in the spring.

There is about an acre of uncultivated land behind the garden which has a stream running through it, so over the years we've seen the odd rat or two but I can't see a rat making off with a whole apple.

Any other suggestions to add to the wanted poster which will be going up shortly?

The Verdict
Apart from giving every squirrel I see a dirty look for the foreseeable future, the decision has been made to store next years crop in the harder to access shed. As for apples I still have a few left in the house so I am going to savour those with even greater delight.

PS What I forgot to say was that there was also a nasty present from the culprit in the form of some droppings. Maybe other unsavoury doings went on. That decided me on not attempting any rescue as far as the remains were concerned.

Wordless Wednesday - ''Roll Out The Barrel''

'What Katy Did' And Other Stories

The first autumn storm of the year was responsible for a disturbing nightmare, in which the allotment apple trees were stripped bare of their fruit, providing a veritable feast for the occupants of the wasp nest lurking nearby. Yes I was away from home so was greatly concerned about their welfare. The crop on our three year old trees had been looking promising so it was with some trepidation that I ventured to my plot on Monday afternoon. Here much to my relief there was the sum total of one apple on the ground. Cupping and gentle tugging of those fruits still on the trees did not produce much, as the majority of the fruit was still clinging to the branches, so a decision was made to leave them be although more unpleasant weather was forecast. I returned to the allotment on Friday when in the space of just a few days apples were coming away easily. Rosy red 'Katy' is still wearing a few fruits but the 'James Grieve' crop has now all been removed.

'Katy' or 'Katya' as she is originally called coming from Sweden should have been ready to pick in late August but was late. Of the three apples varieties we planted she is my least favourite taste wise and does not have a long keeping period. Although she looks great and has had a few compliments on her appearance I now wish that I had chosen another variety.

'James Grieve' is a much older variety (1893) originating from Scotland. The fruits are quite large and will keep for a couple of months. This is a dual purpose apple but I think that this year's crop will form the basis of apple crumbles. This has produced the smallest yield of the three trees but the fruits are much bigger so I suppose it's a case of less is more.

Finally still to yield its fruit is my favourite 'Sunset', which was introduced in 1918. If you enjoy the taste of 'Cox's Orange Pippins' this should appeal to you. It is thought that 'Sunset' may be a seedling of 'Cox's Orange Pippin'. This year it is bearing a lot of fruit although the apples are on the small side. I should have been more ruthless with the thinning out in June instead of being so greedy. I'm hoping that these will soon be ready to pick. I must try to remember to do a head count this year.

There are plans to try and fit in a couple more fruit trees on the plot. No definite conclusions yet but here might be at least one other apple variety in the mix. It will have to be dwarf rootstock as large trees are not allowed. I would like to grow a local variety and will be consulting 'The Apple Source Book' for ideas. Whether I can get a local variety in a dwarf rootstock remains to be seen. Although our three little trees will certainly never provide us with all the apples we use, they provide us with much enjoyment and are most rewarding to grow. If you are thinking of adding any apples trees to your plot of earth this autumn, the Orange Pippin site is a most informative resource with detailed descriptions of some six hundred varieties. Not sure which variety to go for no problem as the site allows you to short list varieties, then see an on screen comparison. Do you grow apples and if so what variety or varieties tickle your tastebuds?

Conundrum

The old grey matter has been struggling this week trying to solve a mystery. I'm now well into French bean harvesting and consumption. What I am unable to fathom is the different growing patterns of the beans. I planted a trio of climbing beans at the allotment this year. The 'Borlotti' turned out to be a non climber so I will leave them out of the equation. The others are old favourites, the green 'Cobra' and 'Blauhilde' which has purple pods which turn slowly green as the water in the pan comes to boiling point. Great fun to watch.

The beans were both sown on the same day. 'Cobra' was the first to produce beans where they appeared from the bottom of the plants upwards, whilst 'Blauhilde' was about ten days behind and has been cropping from the top of the plants downwards. Now I wonder why that should be and whether it is a regular happening or just a one off. I will have to wait a whole year before I can put this to the test but perhaps somebody out there might have a scientific explanation as to this particular phenomenon. 

Meanwhile if you are wondering why there is a photograph of some sweet peas accompanying this post it's because I do not have any to illustrate my point :)  However my sweet peas are giving me great pleasure this year. The above bunch was picked earlier this week after cutting some for my allotment plot neighbour. They were the biggest bunch I have possibly ever picked on a single day so I thought that they deserved a special mention. Another option would be to post without a photo but more on this subject later this week. 

Current News

Taking a break from what looks like a long job. I'm in the midst of removing the stalks from a ginormous mound of white currants. My favourite the red currants are done and dusted, the black currants are still not quite there but the white currants are dripping thick and fast. I have filled a large box this afternoon with probably about one third of the harvest. Last night's search amongst allotment and recipe books did not produce much in the way of inspiration. There were suggestions to combine them with other fruits to make jam as they are high in pectin. However I do not have a surplus of other fruit at the moment to do that. Nigel Slater has hopefully come to the rescue with a recipe for a white currant compote, which he describes as delicious both hot and cold. There are only three ingredients - white currants, water and caster sugar so there should be little room for error. I must admit that I like simple recipes. Are there any other white currant growers out there? If so please tell me what you do with your harvest. Oh well coffee break almost over and time to get back to the job in hand. Something tells me that this is not going to be the most exciting Saturday night.
PS Slight blip - Nigel recommends having a biscuit or two at hand to enhance consumption of compote. We do not have a single one in the house so will have to remedy that sad situation in the morning. I'm thinking ginger snap. Any suggestions?

Wordless Wednesday ~ 21st November 2012

As displayed by The National Vegetable Society at the Southport Flower Show, August 2012.

Salad Days ~ Totally Tomatoes

Back in the heady days of early May, when misplaced optimism about the coming summer still prevailed, I posted about my hopes to be munching on a veritable rainbow of tomatoes this year. I was inspired by the '52 Week Salad Challenge', laid down by Veg Plotting. The seeds germinated profusely forming fine sturdy specimens though I say so myself. After the initial positive start my tomato growing year went downhill. Things went haywire - cold spring nights saw me lugging crates of plants in at night and back out in the morning, labels went missing, plants were given away or sold at the garden club plant sale without me checking what I was left with etc., etc.........

The final straw was a nesting blackbird in the lean- to greenhouse at the allotment where my plants were headed for. I hung on and hung on but there was no sign of the last fledgling leaving home and I was about to go on holiday. A last minute rush to plant the majority of them in the community greenhouse ensued. So all in all a challenging start but matters improved when I eventually started munching. I have just stripped the vines down except for a few fruits, which were too high up for me to reach. So sadly not as accurate or as scientific as I would have liked is my verdict on the 2012 rainbow crop :

Tried and Tested (grown before)
'Sungold' - sown on 24/02/12, first picked on 21/07/12. Grown on in greenhouse.

'Gardener's Delight' -  sown on 17/03/12. Grown on in greenhouse. First harvest date not recorded but is was sometime in August.
Both these varieties fared well and produced lots of tasty fruits. A definite case of 'small is beautiful'.
'Losetto' - a low growing bush type tomato. This did really well gown in containers outdoors at the allotment last year. The plants were grown outdoors again and despite the odds being against them they set a plentiful supply of fruit. This is an expensive tomato to grow from seed but on balance worth the extra pennies if you are keen to grow a basket type trailing tomato.

On balance I have decided that taste wise I prefer 'Gardener's Delight and 'Sungold'. Also 'Losetto' has a thicker skin.

Beefsteak - 
'Super Marmande' - if somebody could enlighten me as to the difference between this and 'Marmande' (which I have grown before) I would appreciate it.

I am not sure what happened to these. I did not end up with any mature plants!

Uncharted Waters - (not grown previously)

Here there was the most disappointment as both plants and labels walked. Of the dark purple/black varieties listed below, I ended up with one variety which I grew indoors. My suspicion is that it 'Black Sea Man' but I would not testify to this in a court of law.

'Prudens Purple' - a potato leaf variety producing pinky- purple beefsteak fruits. 

'Black Sea Man' - a potato leaf variety which hails from Russia. The fruits are described as mahogany to brown in colour with green to olive shoulders.

'Noire de Crimée' - another Russian tomato with reddish brown fruits.

'Matt's Wild Cherry' - hailing from Mexico this apparently bears a multitude of very sweet small red tomatoes. I planted my plants outside on a tripod of canes. The plants did not thrive at all. I picked but a handful of tomatoes and was not that impressed but then it could be that there was never enough sunshine to give them much taste.

Again with the varieties below it is case of either or but I think it was the Polish variety that came through. Both these were grown under cover.

'Zloty Ozarowski' - a golden orange tomato from Poland.

'Jaune Flammé' - originating from France, this is an early ripening apricot coloured tomato.

Both the above were grown under cover.

Taste wise none of the larger tomatoes have been that impressive - himself replied with the word 'musty' when I asked for a verdict on the one I have down for 'Black Sea Man'. Not exactly the response I hoped for.

In conclusion I have decided that :

• I will try again next year to grow some varieties that I have not grown before.
• I will not sow so early.
• I will sow fewer seeds.
• I must be more disciplined when it comes to labels.
• I must not give away/sell plants before checking whether I've set at least one of each variety aside for myself.

How's your tomato growing gone this year and what has been your favourite variety? 

Do visit Veg Plotting today for more September salad pickings.

Introducing 'Socrates'

Not the philosopher but the cucumber. I have never had much joy when it comes to growing cucumbers, usually managing a paltry few cues each year late on in the season. This year though looks as if it going to be different.

I sowed three varieties in  April - 'Crystal Apple', the usual 'Burpless Green' and the new to me 'Socrates'. I have ended up with one plant of each. 'Crystal Apple' is growing outdoors - somewhere along the way its label got lost. Initially there was an id problem - I thought it was some sort of squash but it has turned out to be a cucumber. Planted out in June it has not really flourished but finally there is a small lemon golf ball sized cucumber forming.

The other two plants have been planted into containers, which are living in the community greenhouse at the allotment. Normally I grow my tomatoes and cucumbers in lean to at the allotment, which is accessed via the shed. However a blackbird took up residence in the spring and decided that she liked the feel of the place enough to nest there. I did not have the heart to disturb her and her young, so ended up taking my plants into the community greenhouse, where they seem to have flourished so far, especially 'Socrates', which you can see in the above photo.

I was tempted to try this variety after reading this post in Graham Rice's excellent 'Transatlantic Gardener' blog. Not only is it high yielding but it produces mini cues, which as this household's only cucumber fan is the ideal scenario. I picked the first one at the end of June but then quite a gap until the last few days. They must have responded to the increased temperatures and have swollen overnight. I picked one at the weekend and another one came home with me yesterday.There are at least half a dozen waiting in the wings which will need picking in the next few days. I detect a surplus coming on and am off to investigate recipes other than chilled cucumber soup and cucumber raita. Do please share if you know of any.

Update - 26/07/11 - another two picked yesterday. Meanwhile one of my allotment neighbours has told me that pickled cucumbers are delicious in the middle of winter.

"Red And Yellow And Pink And Green "

"Red and yellow and pink and green
Purple and orange and blue
I can sing a rainbow,
sing a rainbow,
sing a rainbow too."


~ well that's the plan. Inspired by Veg Plotting's 52 Week Salad Challenge, I'm hoping to be eating a myriad of rainbow coloured tomatoes later this year. Tomatoes are an essential and favourite salad ingredient for me. A salad would not be complete without at least a slice or two, preferably homegrown and eaten when still warm from the sun. A few years ago on holiday we came across a small market stall in Brittany, where a young man was selling tomatoes of all sizes and hues as well as variety of squashes. Just the mere act of looking made my heart sing. I had seen such tomatoes on catalogue pages but this was the first encounter in the flesh as it were. We bought a bag of mixed tomatoes and had a short conversation with the vendor about the source of his tomatoes. He bought out a well thumbed book from behind the stall and I spent ten minutes or so leafing through the manual of the Association Kokopelli. This non profit - making organisation was formed in 1998 and seeks to protect food biodiversity. Membership offers access to a range of organic heirloom vegetable seeds. I am not a member but am tempted.


Now I know from bitter experience that north west England can't compete with Brittany when it comes to sun, warmth and quality of light but this year I decided I would have a go at producing a riot of colour as well as taste. So here is the roll call :


Tried and Tested 
'Gardeners Delight' and 'Sungold' - both produce small sweet bite sized fruits.
'Losetto' - a low growing bush type tomato. This did really well gown in containers outdoors at the allotment last year.
Beefsteak 
'Super Marmande' - if somebody could enlighten me as to the difference between this and 'Marmande' (which I have grown before) I would appreciate it.
Unchartered Waters ~ 
'Prudens Purple' - a potato leaf variety producing pinky- purple beefsteak fruits. 
'Black Sea Man' - a potato leaf variety which hails from Russia. The fruits are described as mahogany to brown in colour with green to olive shoulders.
'Noire de Crimée' - another Russian tomato with reddish brown fruits.
'Matt's Wild Cherry' - hailing from Mexico this apparently bears a multitude of very sweet small red tomatoes. 
'Zloty Ozarowski' - a golden orange tomato from Poland.
'Jaune Flammé' - originating from France, this is an early ripening apricot coloured tomato.


Harvesting tomatoes seem a long way off at the moment. I am regretting the fact that with one or two exceptions I sowed most of them at the back end of February. I am now lugging trays back and forth in come evening and morning as it has been too cold to leave them in an unheated greenhouse overnight. If the plants had been smaller I could have fleeced them effectively but most of them are too big to be wrapped up, without the risk of damaging the foliage. Then of course as usual there are more plants than needed. I will be sowing later next year and also maybe looking at buying in from other sources, which might take care of the some of the hard graft. Age must be catching up with me!


Hopefully if it ever gets warmer I will be back later in the year with photos of my tomato fest, growth and taste verdicts. I have an inkling that the Polish and Russian varieties may fare better than the French and Mexican but who knows ~ maybe a glorious summer is on the cards. How is everybody else getting on with growing tomatoes in this challenging spring?