VEGETABLE GROWING 2020

I just picked and ate my first pea pod a few minutes ago. The purple pod ones. The peas were totally utterly delicious and I chewed the pod too... More ready very soon..

 

@Islander77 at my former home when my boys were still children, I used to grow peas along a fence behind a border and I put boards down between the peas and the flowers so that the kids could walk along the boards and snack on the sweet peas. And not damage the garden. You brought back some fun memories. I've got my peas growing near the edge of the raised garden here so that the grandchildren will be able to reach them without stepping off the lawn.

My onions are starting to pick up again after having been nibbled by bunnies. I hated netting the garden as it makes me feel greedy but I want my kelsaes!

 

Used to hide in the bean row eating runners raw and straight off the plants.
Pea ,rhubarb and carrots all used to get eaten raw.

 

We wouldn;t dare! This was just postwar when food was scarce. We would have got seriously ….. Now I can choose and I prefer my peas raw...But it always feels a little daring somehow! Or as they say here in Ireland, bold.

 

Probably.

 

We were rarely allowed even to shell peas and carefully watched if we did.. talk about self restraint! And temptation! Always feels slightly decadent now but very satisfying! A different era that was.

 

I can always remember trying to pinch a couple of slices of rhubarb when mum was making crumble or pie, and if feeling really brave, dipping it in the sugar bowl before eating it.

 

We were allowed a raw stick of rhubarb and given the corner of a brown paper bag filled with sugar to dip it in. Sweets were hard to come by at that era. ie 1940s

 

@Islander77 Same here, a bit of sugar given me in the palm of my hand and then when done with the rhubarb, licking my palm to get every last granule

 

As the wind is I think just starting to decrease. I went out to inspect the troops! Not a huge crop of the purple pods so I ate another delicious morsel. Then saw the broad bean pods waving a greeting from under the leaves. OH MY! They are huge and look plentiful. Too sleep deprived to enjoy cropping today but tomorrow. A few sweet peas are emerging. But we need sun so much.

 

And I finally managed to get through to the back patch. And last night's gale has destroyed the three stands of peas that were doing so well there. They are wind withered. YOU know. Makes me sad and I am so very tired so am heading bedwards . Still gusting .

 

Well, the foxes had a rave in the veg patch last night, almost all of my brassicas have been destroyed and to rub salt into the wound, they also defecated on said veg patch.

I've cleaned up the mess and fortunately I still have just about enough time to re sow cabbage and calabrese for a crop this year. I shall start them off in the greenhouse and plant out when big enough. In the meantime, I will fence off the veg patch so the b'tards can't inflict any damage to the remaining veg......... I might camp out with Ghost and my rifle too!

 

((HUGS)))

 

Over the last week I only managed a few bits and bobs, but most plants seem to be doing ok.
I made a trellis with twine for a few cucamelons which were sheltered in the house until now, because the ones already planted out have been very slow to develop.. I think they really need lots of heat to be happy.
But they started flowering, so I put them out now.
I bought some nylon netting which I am using for the beans, but frankly it looks awful, so for the cucamelon I used twine instead.
Also, I got around preparing a few baskets for the wild stawberries

Courgettes, squashes, pumpkins and tomatoes are most definitely growing well, and fruiting. With the exception of the californian pumpkins.. They seem to make a bunch of male flowers, but I am still to see any female one, despite one of the plant being already nearly 8 feet long..
I like the flowers for cooking, so in a sense it is still worth it, but a bit annoying nonetheless.
Conversely, the Japanese pumpkins are doing great, with lots of female flowers which I pollinate manually a regular basis.
The patty sunburst are productive but really small, less than 2 inches. I really need to try and cook them.
The tromboncino squashes are always a guarantee, growing tall and happy.

Pak Choi and spinach not so good, they all bolted with the mini heatwave we had. So I collected most. I think I will try them again at the end of the summer. And the radish are quite mishapen.
So now I will be seeding "perennial spinach", breakfast radish, rocket and callaloo, which might do better in the hot weather.

The "spacemaster" cucumbers are not doing very well though, lots of tiny cucs and flowers, but they fruits do not grow at all beyound an inch or so.
Raspberry, blackberry and some other berry doing good.
Tomatilloes too, they start fruiting.
Finally, we had some beans, very small yet but they are good.