Courgette Madness and Other Squashes

Alan Titchmarsh reckons that the average family of four needs two courgette plants to keep them in courgettes for the season........ so why then did we plant seven!!.

Don't get me wrong I like a courgette, I think they are a tasty and flexible veg and we use a lot of them, but the spreadsheet Heather kept (Yes I know!) shows we nearly hit the 100 fruits mark.

It comes to the point where you can't give them away, friends and family hide when they see you approaching with one and the only solution seems to be to pick them while they are still small enough to shove through a letterbox. Eventually your fridge looks like this!

The number of fruits one plant can produce never ceases to amaze me and we had a good year as you can see.

 

 

Add to this the range of other squashes such as pumpkin, marrow, spaghetti squash and the ornamental gourd and you start to see the scale of the problem we are dealing with here.

We will cover the spaghetti squash separately at a later date as they are an interesting one, by what about those gourds.

You can't eat them, so why grow them. It's an American thing, Heather is from the US of A and insisted on them, here what we ended up with.

We gave them away to  local schools and churches for harvest festival and used them to decorate the front garden for Halloween. They actually went down rather well, but maybe not so many next year.

The pumpkins were shop bought as we only grew small more edible ones, but I kept some seeds to grow my own next year.

Calling Fellow Veggie Bloggers

My list of other peoples blogs to link too not surprisingly got a little out of date in the 9 years this wasn't updated. If you are a blogger with a similar site, or a keen veggie cook then please send me a  link so I can link to you and feel free to point your readers here.

Thank you

We Are Back In The Farming Business!!

After a break of 9 years Dickys Farm, now known as Dicky and Heathers Farm, (there is a fellow keen gardener with me), is back in production.

In fairness it never stopped, following a few life changes I handed it over to my dad to run and never blogged it. Now with it all getting a bit a bit much for him, and with a very knowledgeable partner in crime it's time to pick it up again.

We started last year but never blogged it (the power of Facebook prevailed), but I've decided to start posting again.

When we started again we were a little on the back foot as my dad hadn't been able to clear up as much as he would have liked the previous year, the dangers of getting old he tells us. We had a lot of digging, weeding, clearing and sorting to do although the soil was in  great condition thanks to his hard work.

Here is what we started with, generally it just needed clearing, weeding and digging over.

A very over grown strawberry bed during its clearance. Heather dug to China after that bind weed. We took runners and will start again with them next year.

The Rhubarb and Raspberry's got a  bit "grassy" over the winter and still need a bit of work. Less canes and a herb garden is planned.

By shoving the Mrs up on the shed roof you can get some aerial shots. Things are just getting going here, lots of bare earth still to be seen.

Aerial 2  - Early days for the beans, wind nearly got them but they hung on bravely.

When your back aches from digging, even if you cheat and use machinery, there are some things that make it worth it. Here's couple of shots of our hauls. Hoping for even better next year!

Once I've sorted the rest of the pics from last year I'll post some more along with the current state of play.

At Last It's Raining :-)

It was the few showers and the promise of more, along with some reasonable temperatures that made me decide it was time to plant out the sweetcorn, that and the fact they were trying to escape from the bottom of the peat pots!!!! The beans are getting the same way so the last of the leeks and parsnips will come up this weekend to make room for the canes and planting out. It's a little early for my liking but I can always get the fleece out. One plot holder has risked putting out tomatoes plants already.

Elsewhere thinks are cracking on, all the spuds are up, the cauliflowers are holding their own, lettuces look good, the flea beetle have had the Pak Choi and there is even evidence of some carrots coming through.

Not a lot harvesting right now, parsnips, radishes and leeks are about it. Hopefully the lettuce will be coming through soon.

The Radishes and The Flea Beetle Bitten Pak Choi

The Cauliflowers and The Lettuces

First Crops of 2007 !!!!!

The title sounds a bit dramatic for a few radishes but they are the first thing to come off the plot that was sown this year, very nice they are too.

Elsewhere, the PSB has finished now, the little warm spell made it flower nicely, the lettuces are coming on, the main spuds are in and the beans and tomatoes are just emerging in their pots, one cauliflower didn't make it.

Only really the squashes and main carrots to plant now and then keep the replanting of others going.

It's taking Shape - But Am I Behind

Things are starting to move on the plot now, thanks to the warmer weather. As you can see it looks like a tent village at the moment, with early lettuces and the like hiding under cloches. Our plot is near a river and the temprature there is always a couple of degrees lower than at home.



The PSB is producing loads and already more than paid for the time investment, first time I've had it, very impressed, will be doing a summer variety this year. Don't think it will last much longer though.



My first lettuces are sheltering under the cloches tunnel and are growing nicely, these are Sangria, Little Gem and Counter, already planted more to follow them up.



The Candid Charm Cauli's have suffered some transplant shock, could be the cold, could be I didn't water them in very well, could be the shock of going into limed soil ???? I think they will be OK but will plant some spares in case.



Two rows of radishes (French Breakfast 3) and one of Spring Onions (Ramrod) are in the cold frame and doing OK, might have to fill in some gaps in the onions though.




And finally this contraption is sheltering my carrot, parsnip and beetroot seeds in case it rains and causes the clay to cap over too much, they were planted in well watered trenches and covered with well raked, dry soil so fingers crossed. The ends are covered now so might alos help with carrot fly. The rest of the bed will be spuds, 4 rows of earlies are in, the mains will follow this weekend.



And finally here are all the plants growing on the bench at home. there are more indoors that I planted this weekend that will go in here once they germinate.

It's Getting Warmer !!!

It’s that time of year again, slightly lighter evenings so you can visit the plot without breaking your neck and ankle and a hint of warmer weather that makes you reach for the seeds and compost J

I’ve already been to the garden centres, over bought everything I think I’ll need and started planting, I just wish the rain would give it a rest now and let me get on with some digging!!!!. I’ve made a start and re-cut the edges of 3 of the beds and trimmed all the grass, I’ve got one to go but its way too wet, the soil has the sort of consistency that would make a good mud wrestling ring!!!!

Still growing from last year are leeks, parsnips and suedes, all very nice, once again though my broccoli has been the victim of a bit of bad luck (and a savage high level attack!!!), I thought I was doing well, not a single sign of pigeon problems was I having, until it snowed and the buggers stripped all the purple sprouting!!!!!. Luckily it has recovered and was worth the wait, it's now producing a good few meals a week, will be netting it next year.

Here's some pics of my planting this year




Cauliflower seedlings

I have planted some onions from seed (Bedford Champion), (I wouldn’t be growing many this year), leeks (Musselburgh), cauliflower (Candid Charm), Spinach (Tornado F1) and lettuces (Sangria, Little Gem and Counter), Cabbage (tundra F1, Walking stick) all in cells ready for planting out in situ under cloches. I've dragged the cold frame to the plot and planted radishes and spring onions direct. Sweet corn,, chillies, peppers and auberines are warming nicely in the airing cupboard.


Happy Gardening for 2007!!!

Happy New Year!!!!!

Apart from regular visits to top up the compost bin there isn't a lot doing on the plot at the moment, the ground to wet and heavy and it sticks to your boots like a bugger.

As you can see below my last post on the parsnip potential proved right and we got a couple of lovely specimens for the xmas dinner table, lovelty and sweet after the frosts. The leeks were good and strong and I'll be trying a new creamed leeks recipe this weekend and some mashed swede I think.



The sprouting brocoli is doing well, a bit pushed over by the wind but none the worse off for it.I never got round to taking the cold frame down so no winter lettuce's for me.

The seed order for next year is already here and I'm eager to get planting, seed spuds this year I'll buy local.

Roll on the warmer weather!!!!!!!

All Sad

I'm now in the process of covering the lottie for the winter, there are still a few things growing, leeks, parsnips, swede, lettuce, purple sprouting brocolli and carrots.

I haven't pulled a parsnip yet but I had a dig around with my fingers and they feel like they have grown nice and broad. Think I'll wait for the first frost before I try them. Will leave the leeks a bit longer yet as well.

Cheeky buggers at the council sent me a letter saying I wasn't keeping it up and did I still want it. I hope for their sake they are confusing my plot with the unkept one next door and not including the unkept path of theirs which i'm not allowed to touch. Words will be had.

One the plus side I get to have a big fire,all blokes like poking a fire with a stick and I get to carve my pumpkins for halloween.

Soon it will be all plasticed over again waiting for next year, now wheres that seed book !!

That Seemed Like A Very Short Season

I was thinking when I visited the plot last week after being away for a week and all the squashes were finished, the tomatoes looking sad and beans lacking flowers that it had been a short season. Then I realised that I haven't bought any veg or salads from the supermarket for months and that really, I hadn't done bad.

I've collected my squashes, strung my onions (as you can see) and have a sack of spuds in the garge for the winter (hope it's not too warm in there). There is a pile of plant debris to burn and a lot of bare spaces on the plot. Now the digging manuring and reclaiming of edges can begin before covering up for the winter.

All thats left is the winter stuff, leeks, parsnips, carrots, PSB and swedes, I got to get my over wintering lettuces down there soon.

Like many I'm already planning for next year, what will go where, what new stuff do I want, what won't I bother with and eagerly awaiting the seed books.

It's been a fuuny year with the weather and hopefully next year will be better, my brocolli has come to nothing so far and pak choi was a no-no, next year I'm growing them under fleece from day 1.

Where Did The Sun Go?

Well that's the end of summer then......

At least with the return of cooler weather the lettuces, radishes and cucumbers are surviving better and worth planting again.

With the rain everything is looking pretty healty, the runner beans are getting a second flush of youth, lb's and lb's of them so far, and as a bonus, I no longer have to lug 30 gallons of water around nearly every night.

My pumpkins seems nearly ready, the big one is actually the same variety as the other, but it grew wide and they grew tall, very strange.





I thought the butternut squash were doing nothing, that I had planted them too close to everything else, but now there are squashes appearing all over the shop, mostly nowhere near the mother plant



I have an epidemic of flea beetle, they attacks the radishes, then the brocolli and I had to give up on Pak Choi completely. Once I uncovered the swede they have made a start on those too.

I have covered any heads of brocolli with fleece now to try and protect them, as you can see they wreck the heads, but at least there is is no club root.

Let The Courgette Battle Begin

No Picutures again, not very good at this am I.

The current picking list is:

Lettuce: Sangria, Little Gem, Red/Green Salad Bowl
Radishes: French Breakfast 3
Spring Onions: Ramrod, Ishikura
Spinach: Pass, it's green, it's taking over the world
Potatoes: Foremost
Courgette: O'Reila, Nice De Round (loads of them)
Beetroot: Detroit 2
Runner Beans: Best Of All
Carrots: Early Nantes
Tomatoes: Gardeners Delight, Gartenpearle and Golden Sunrise
Onions: Sturgeon, Red Baron
Garlic
Cucumber: Marketmore

Peppers and Chillies are doing nicely, the pumpkins are even starting to go orange as well as growing nicely, sweetcorn is nearly there and some of brocolli has started to form heads.

But the heat isn't all good, I've given up planting any more radishes in the open, they go woody before they get big enough in this heat or the tops get burnt off them, I've got some under fleece with swedes and they seems to be coping now. Pretty much all the salad bowl lettuce has bolted, but others are coming along to replace them.

It's still good to be able to pick a decent size bag of produce a day, I'm paying my dad with it for services rendered on DIY on my house and just about managing to get rid of all the courgettes.

I have some blank spots now as spuds and onions are coming up so I'm looking for replacements already.

More On The Harvesting List

Things are going mad, bit of rain would be nice, but the currently picking list has grown :o)

Currently Picking:

Lettuce: Sangria, Little Gem, Red/Green Salad Bowl
Radishes: French Breakfast 3
Spring Onions: Ramrod, Ishikura
Spinach: Pass, it's green, it's taking over the world
Potatoes: Foremost
Courgette: O'Reila, Nice De Round
Beetroot: Detroit 2
Runner Beans: Best Of All
Carrots: Early Nantes
Tomatoes: gardeners Delight, Gartenpearle.

Cucumbers are going to start this week I think, brocolli is starting to form heads as well.

I have to rig up some shade in all this sun, I have used the space vacated by the first row of early spuds for more beetroot and swedes, but as soon as they come up the sun burns them and kills them. Same with lettuces planted out, running out now as they seem to grow at very different rates per batch, never quite getting the hang of them.

Any way heres a couple of update pics



I'm growing these for a halloween party this year, 6 on 3 plants to get them nice and big.



The onions are harvested, seems very early but they had folded over etc. Only a few had rot in the end and gave them away straight away.



The first carrots, just started to show signs of forking as they reach the bottom of the sand/peat holes I dug out.



growing nicely under the netting, Marigolds seem to help with the white fly, will be growing more next year.



The runners, sweetcorn and squashes, a busy bed this one.

The Year So Far.....

It's been far too long since I updated this. No pictures this time because I keep forgetting to take the camera, just an update on the season so far.

Currently Picking:

Lettuce: Sangria, Little Gem, Red/Green Salad Bowl
Radishes: Big Ben, French Breakfast 3
Spring Onions: Ramrod, Ishikura
Spinach: Pass, it's green, it's taking over the world
Potatoes: Foremost
Courgette: O'Reila, Nice De Round
Beetroot: Detroit 2


Coming Along Nicely:

Tomatoes:
Golden Sunrise, Gardeners Delight are swelling nicely, hopefully ripening soon in the greenhouse

Cucumber:
Greenhouse Marketmore are doing nice, very healthy

Runner Beans:
Not yet at the top of the canes but beans are setting quite low down, not enough to pick yet but soon

Parsnips:
Good germination rate and looking very healthy so far

Leeks:
Musselbough are looking healthy and starting to bulk up a bit

Main Spuds:
Sante, no sign of blight, coming into flower now

Sweetcorn:
Look healty, no sign of silks like my neighbours, but I think they are 4 weeks ahead of me


Not Such A Great Success:

Onions:
Looks like the onion patch has a case of white rot, they seem to have have had to tops falling over a little early for my liking, waiting for them to dry a bit before I dig them up, but a couple of sample pulls have not been hopefull

Carrots:
Earlies didn't have a good germination rate but are catching up now, couple pulled up to gauge size seem to have esxcaped carrot fly so far. Mains were doing nicely but suddenly a couple of the tops have gone a bit Orange and a couple of gaps have appeared, mains are still very small.

Brocolli:
Not sure if these belong here or the next section up, some of the leaves have been attacked but they are netted against pigeons and I haven't seen a catapillar so far.
Will give them another spray with Deris and hope for the best. They don't appear stunted or too unhealthy

Pak Choi:
They grow OK but the flea beetles get to them before I do,growing them as a sacreficial crop for the brassica bed.


Changes For Next Year:

Already thinking about it, so far I want to change to following in the plan:

Mini Cauliflowers and Cabbages to add to the list, whole large ones are too big for me.

Grow some traditional waxy salad spuds (foremost are lovely but quite flowery)

Grow banana shallots but no onions, for space & ease of weeding verus yield & shop price it's not worth it. Also not got the storage space for them.

Replace runner beans with french beans


Things Already Learnt This Year

1. Don't go out, get drunk and forget to open the cold frame.
2. Must stagger sowing more.
3. You can never plant enough lettuce.
4. Squashes need a lot of room!!!
5. Carrots are a pig to grow.

I've also added a row of suedes to the plot where the early spuds were, no point planting them early as I wouldn't eat them in the summer.

My Evil Plan Has Worked

The plan when I took on this plot was to sow everything at home and pot it out, so I could give it a good start and keep and eye on it, so far it's working.

I have finally potted out all the plants, it's the first year so I'm not worrying too much about stretching the session etc, it would have happened with the brocolli but I got drunk, over slept and forgot to open the coldframe killing the first batch.

Any way here are some more pics:

The brocolli (Red Baron, Marathan, Nataliano) are in, derris'd against flea beetle, slug pelleted against slugs and netted against pigeons!!!. If anything can get at them I reckon they earned them!!



The squashes, 3 pumpkin (growing for a party), 3 butternut, 2 round and 1 long yellow courgette



The strawberries I inherited, I though I was losing them to slugs, turns out it's the birds, caught the little b******s today, netting goes up tomorrow!!!



And here's a genral one of the plot, the grassy area at teh back will bed an extra bed next year....I just haven't told the council yet.

We have produce and more work to do

Finally, I can do what I was hoping for when I started work on the plot, I can stop by on the way home from work and pick something to eat for me tea. It's not much so far I grant you, some lettuces, spinach, radishes and the little bits of pak choi the flea beetle have left.

I almost ran out of radishes, I thoughtI had more, turns out they were very similar looking weeds, so I've rushed in another row. The slug pellets are dealing with most of the little blilters and I have some home made beer traps to install when I can be parted from my beloved beer.

The masses of rain have really helped both the veg and the weeds along, but I didn't really enjoy erecting runner bean supports in a down pour.

Any way, the beans are in, they had out grown their tubes, the sweetcorn are hardening off to go in next weekend and the squahes are at the one leaf sage so I'll give it another couple of weeks. My plot is by a river and it always seems a little colder than elsewhere down there, better to be safe than sorry.

Anyway, heres a few picture updates.



The beans on the supports erected in the pouring rain, and slightly on the p**s!!!



The salad bd, the most productive 16ft square so far, the strawberries are just starting to fruit as well.



The onions have sped along with the rain, the carrots are coming up slowly, the earlies are doing about the same despite the difference in planting time, mother nature proving she will not be rushed. Promise this has been weeded since!!!1



And finally the parsnips doing well in the front, leeks just gone in behind and the early spuds just showing signs of flowers. Most of the mains are just about showing.

What A Difference

A bit of sunshine makes.....

I'll have to post photos of the evidence later as I forgot the camera on Saturday when I spent 4 1/2 hours weeding, planting and digging. Here's an update on the lottie beds.

Bed 1

The great sunny weather and a bit of rain last week have made a HUGE difference, all the early spuds are shooting upwards at a great rate of knots, not earthing them too much, but keeping a very close eye on the weather forecast. The mains are in, but no sign of them yet. All the parsnips have germinated, I now have 1 per station planted, quite an acheivement after all the warnings I got. The leeks aren't in yet but it won't be long, some are getting to quite a size in their bog roll tubes now. the beds ready for them anyway.

Bed 2

The carrots...or lack there of. Finally the first sowings of Early Nantes are showing, been very slow, even under plastic, but finally we have some tiny shoots showing. Also planted 2 rows or main orange and 2 rows of main purple carrots this sat in lines of peat. The onions and garlic are going well, there is the odd failed red one but all the white ones and garlic are fine. This bed took 1 1/2 hours to weed, still doing battle with something the previous people had planted, ut it looks good now.

Bed 3

Hoed and weeded round me salad stuff, removed the clouche for a bit of air and planted out some more rocket, lettuce, pak choi and radishes. The flea beetle, I've seen them now, are still eating the pak choi and radishes but a spray with liquid derris seems to be helping. Must remember to take slug pellets down for this bed. The beetroot and spring onions are just coming through as well. Dug over the half for brassicas, got to firm it ready for planting out now.

Bed 4

Still under wraps, start that one next weekend, bean trench and putting cane up to start.


Pics to follow....

The First Harvest

Woo Hoo. It has finally arrived, not much I grant you, a few salad leaves, a few radishes and some spinach, but finally we have something to taste after all the digging and weeding.

Hopefully by the end of the week there will be more lettuce to harvest as well.

The slugs are starting to put in an appearance after theheavy rain of the weekend, nothing major yet but my milk carton beer and bait traps will be going out ASAP before they eat everything.

Let there be weeds

Apologies for the lack of posting this month, been up to my arm pits. A good month for greenery, especially weeds, spent 2 1/2 hours weeding and cutting grass edges on the lottie Saturday but at least I can see progress.

The early spuds are coming up now, at least I think that's what's poking through, I was worried I had buried them a bit deep, need to get the mains in now, might have a crack at that one day this week.

The parsnips are in that bed too and it looks l like they have decided to put in an appearance, a few tiny seedlings are poking their heads through the sand/peat mix I put them in.



The onion and garlic are going great guns, birds have left them alone and apart from an ongoing battle with something the previous owners have planted in that bed that refuses to die and needs constant weeding they all seem quite happy. Good news is that whatever is eating my radishes and pak choi in the clouch seems to like whatever it is as well which helps to control it. Think I'm going to have to hoe the onions every week this year though....!



In the last inhabited bed is the nearest I'm getting to something I can eat, the lettuces are coming on well, little gem, red salad bowl and sangria, some should be ready for picking soon. radishes and pak choi are being munched by something, I think flea beetle, I have given them a spray with liquid derris and will see what happens, most likely going to have to pull them up and start again.

Nearly Dinner


In the nursery as it is now called the runner beans and sweetcorn are coming up nicely, I managed to murder the broccoli by getting drunk and forgetting to open the coldframe which cooked them long before they are ready for that sort of thing.



The peppers are doing well and along with the 3 early tomato plants will be moving into the greenhouse next door that I'm using as soon as I finish cleaning it up.