What are you growing?

[Woody girl]

You take care, hang the garden or Croquet, them's dangerous temperatures. I vividly remember seeing on TV one of a TV crew go down with heatstroke. Looked fine then went down like a sack of spuds, unable to revive him.

I will, part of the problem is, I live in a steep sided valley, so everything heats up so much more than if you are on the tops. Not a breath of wind in the valley. The stillness has been un nerving of an afternoon. No insect buzz, no birds, no breeze, no sound, just utter quiet and stillness.
I've been out early to the food and craft fair, came home by 11.30, as i couldnt get a drink of water, or cup of tea.... on a 30+° day, at a food and drink festival!!!!!!! Then been indoors since with my new 12 inch fan, and a large bottle of water, No croquet for me today!
The butternut was wilting by 10 am again! Sweetcorn is scorched and doesn't seem to be growing, nor the runner beans.
All water butts are empty.
If this is the new norm,I'm going to have to rethink my garden design.

 

[oldtimer]

To answer the original question: older, wrinklier and poorer!

 

[Woody girl]

To answer the original question: older, wrinklier and poorer!

I think that goes for everyone!
You are not alone.

 

[slowworm]

Along with all the fruit and veg I've remembered to pick a large bunch of lavender just as the buds are opening, to be dried and used as a moth repellent indoors.

 

[Keith_Beef]

Along with all the fruit and veg I've remembered to pick a large bunch of lavender just as the buds are opening, to be dried and used as a moth repellent indoors.

My mum grows a bit of lavender in a pot in by the kitchen steps. She uses the flowers in flapjacks.

I don't have recipe, but here's one I found just now.

Lavender Flapjack Recipe

If you haven't tried lavender flapjack before then you really must! Be careful not to add too much lavender the first time you make it though. I prefer to add some dried fruit to my flapjack but you can try adding different things, maybe some chocolate chips. Have fun experimenting with this one.

www.cotswoldlavender.co.uk

 

[HorseGuy]

what-are-you-growing

What are you growing?

Not much. I've been trying to grow my own fruit and veg for years but almost everything I plant generally has a life expectancy measured in months rather than years.

Usually thanks to dumb stuff like underwatering then overwatering and soaking the root ball. Always silly noob stuff like that. Luckily I have friends who can take care of that side of things and keep me well fed on the fresh stuff. I will keep trying though. There are so many new and interesting ways to kill plants that I still have to learn about and master.

Great respect and admiration for everyone on this thread who can put a seed in the ground and actually allow nature to do its thing without getting in the way. Bravo guys and gals. I salute you.

 

[Falstaff]

Regretfully I'm with Horseguy in the Dunce's corner. The only thing that grew as planned so far were the runner beans, but the birds have eaten all the flowers so I won't be getting much of a crop.

 

[HorseGuy]

Regretfully I'm with Horseguy in the Dunce's corner. The only thing that grew as planned so far were the runner beans, but the birds have eaten all the flowers so I won't be getting much of a crop.

I feel your pain brother.

 

[bobnewboy]

A good second harvest of Padron peppers - 26 of them, and the two plants still have flowers and small peppers growing!

https://flic.kr/p/2rhXevh

Our peas, blackcurrants and raspberries are completely finished now and stored away safe for later consumption. Our tomatoes are just starting to reach full ripeness, and our blackberries too. We’re well into our cucumbers but will probably give some away to neighbours soon as we’ve had more success than we expected after a shaky start.

 

[ged]

Plums - strictly speaking harvesting them, not actually growing them. They grow all by themselves, I just have to, er, fertilize them a little...

Can I not insert an image that isn't already on the Web somewhere? One that's just on my computer?

I've tried everything I can be bothered to think of at the moment.

 

[slowworm]

Alien ......... Aubergine!

 

[slowworm]

Another pleasant surprise. One of our apple trees has started to shed it's apples well before they should be ripe. They looked ripe so we tried one and they were very good cooked. Checking my notes it's probably James Grieve, which should only be ripe in September. Probably a result of our hot and dry spring. I also realised it must have been one of the trees I grafted several years ago.

 

[Silverclaws2]

What am I growing, well an organic Kombucha Scoby - it started out as a brew but I lost interest in it and now the jar is now nearly all Scoby. Beyond that the ginger root I was going to make a ginger beer plant out of has become it's own plant through sprouting cane like shoots.

 

[Keith_Beef]

What am I growing, well an organic Kombucha Scoby - it started out as a brew but I lost interest in it and now the jar is now nearly all Scoby. Beyond that the ginger root I was going to make a ginger beer plant out of has become it's own plant through sprouting cane like shoots.

The green shoots of ginger are great to use like spring onions in salad (thought they can get a bit woody in the lower parts if left for too long).

 

[slowworm]

This years blueberry harvest in full swing, some just under the size of a pound coin.

 

[slowworm]

And so are the aubergines. We normally buy young plants in but the person growing them has retired so tried them from seed this year. Pleasantly surprised they are as easy to grow as tomatoes, these are 'Black Beauty'

 

[ged]

One of our apple trees has started to shed it's apples well before they should be ripe ... it's probably James Grieve, which should only be ripe in September. Probably a result of our hot and dry spring. ...

Weird. I have a Grieve, between a Bramley and a Victoria. They're all doing what they're supposed to do. The crop on the Victoria has been huge this year but the apples nothing to get excited about. This is NE Derbyshire.

 

[slowworm]

Well it's that time of year when you need to dream up more uses for courgettes and runner beans etc. I decided year ago to not worry about the stringy beans or the courgettermarrow and to compost anything past its best but it's still hard to do.

I have realised that although it's been a tricky year again most things such as the runner beans, courgettes, tomatoes etc have done surprisingly well from their first sowing. We only had a few tomato seeds left and managed from just five plants but they've done very well with the extra room. We've also remembered to save some seed from them this year.

The main disappointment has been the poorly performing peat free compost, there still doesn't seem to be anything good available. The best performing plants have been the ones where a substantial amount of our own compost has been added to the pot.

I must not forget to mention the aubergines again, still doing well...

 

[slowworm]

Mangetout 'Golden Sweet' (from Real Seeds) today. We only planted a small patch but in this weather we're picking a decent harvest every other day. Very decorative as well, with our runner beans and summer squash the veg patch is looking better than the flower boarders!

 

[slowworm]

Ingredients, all from our garden and greenhouse, for tonights dinner.

Courgettes, summer squash, aubergines, tomatoes, chillies, onions, garlic, bay leaf, rosemary, parsley and sage.