If your Raspberry leaves are starting to look like this, kind of variegated and in some cases a bit yellow, they probably have an iron deficiency, and possibly a manganese deficiency too. I know because mine look like this!
I first noticed it a few weeks ago and actually thought it made the whole plant look a bit more interesting. But I looked it up in my edition of ‘Growing Fruit’. And, yep, there it was, iron deficiency.
The book recommended reducing the amount of water I gave to the plants in the short term and in the long term applying iron sulphate (bought from garden centre) to increase the iron in the soil. And if that doesn’t cure it some Epsom Salts to top up the manganese.
I will also be culling the canes (again) this Winter as I still have way too many Raspberries and I think the close proximity to each other is aggravating their growing conditions. It’s all go in the Raspberry bed right now!
Tags: Raspberries
The short answer is when you can give it a gentle twist…
just like this…
and it comes away from the tree easily, like this. If it needs to be tugged at then it’s not ready.
Tags: peach
Actually, this is probably not giant sweetcorn but more ‘normal’ sweetcorn. But wow, I wish my sweetcorn were this tall. Mine is about half the height of this one I found in Colorado. Sweetcorn really is a warm weather vegetable isn’t it? It loves to be baked in hot, hot sun and in the UK we just can’t offer that. But… I’m still hopeful that my Sweetcorn will give me at least one cob per plant. Anyone got any tips on growing bigger corn (apart from ordering some nice weather that is).
Tags: Sweetcorn
My sister-in-law is sorting Cucumber, yellow Squash and Courgettes – now what to do with them all? Any recipes ideas for her?
Before she forces me to take some home :)
Tags: Courgettes
I recently visited the Denver Botanical Gardens and somewhere in the depths of the gorgeous, lush gardens, and ponds full of lilies there is a kitchen garden, quietly growing in the heat.
It’s compact but packed full of kitchen favourites, plus an abundance of the heat-loving fruits like Tomatillos (or are they Physalis, I can never remember)…
…and Kohl Rabi that is way, way bigger than it would have been in my garden back home!
The Calvolo Nero looks great with a backdrop of espaliered Apple trees.
And a terracotta forcing pot makes a decorative centre-piece to this purple Basil.
And… while digging around in the Pumpkin patch (as you do!) I found this perfect little custard Squash.
Tags: kitchen garden
The Sweetpeas have arrived, and even if I do say so myself, have arrived in style!
I can not get enough of them. The fragrance, the colour, the ‘oh my gosh I can’t keep up with you’ production rate. Honestly, I picked the whole lot a few days ago. Every last one, there was not a pea to be seen, sweet or not, and two days later the wigwam is covered again!
And all these from a handful of saved seed. I forgot to harvest the final pods last year and by Autumn when I cleared the garden they had gone dry and crispy, but inside were some perfectly preserved little brown seeds. I kept them in a brown paper bag over Winter and sowed them in early Spring. They romped away and now… well.
Needless to say I’ll be repeating the experiment again this year.
Free seed? Thankyou very much. Free flowers? Thankyou very, very much!
I mean, who wouldn’t want an outdoor desk, with masses of Sweetpeas and a cuppa?
Tags: Sweetpeas
If you’re bringing in the Broadbean harvest right now you’ll probably have a lot of shelling to do. This is the technique I use when I have a lot of beans to get through in one go.
Harvest your Broadbeans before they get too big and mealy. Take the beans out of the shell and put them into a pan.
Bring them to the boil until they go nice and fat. The aim here is not to cook them but to expand the skin.
Then drain the beans and plunge them into a bowl of cold water. The skin will contract and go wrinkly. You should be able to pick each one out and shell it by popping the yummy green bit out with finger and thumb.
The faster you can shell them – the faster you can eat them, right?
Tags: shelling Broadbeans
Here are my smart new Lettuce varieties that I’m growing for the first time this year. Above is Reine de Glaces, an iceberg type, crispy sort with spiky leaves. Very fresh.
This one is called Really Red and is not quite big enough to cut yet as it needs to heart up a bit more. But when it does…
This one is my favourite, it’s called Flashy Butter Oak. What a great name? I particularly like the red flecks that look great against the one-colour Lettuces.
I also tried another new variety called Red Iceberg, but unfortunately all of the seedlings succumbed to damping off and keeled over. I’ve resowed in the open ground but the plants are still very small. But hopefully I’ll get to taste one this year.
Tags: Lettuce
I dug up my Shallots a few days ago and dried them out in the sun (before the rain came). They are now happily weathering the wet weather in the potting shed. If the sun comes out again I’ll pop them out to dry some more.
I planted them back in March from some saved Shallots from last season. I wasn’t sure that the bulbs would be okay since I’ve never saved Shallots before but hey… they worked out fine!
I like Shallots. They’re smaller and more usable for our small needs (maybe that will change when my two boys start consuming their own body weight in food everyday, but for now they are fine.)
They tend to be sweeter than Onions with a more sophisticated flavour and are great for caramalising.
And… I can’t help feeling just a little bit smug that the first stored harvest is in the shed!
Tags: Shallots
I often think that I’m giving Jackson, my eldest boy, a great and varied experience in the garden. I grow a bit of everything and so he can see where most vegetables come from. What I failed to understand is that he gets to see my garden and the way I have laid it out every day, but as a small boy he wants to explore new gardens and see how they look from his perspective.
He wants to water sunflowers until they’ll never need water again. Heck, even the hosepipe with its ‘different’ nozzle was a hit.
He wants to wash veg in a bucket – not in the sink like mummy does it.
He wants to scrummage around for Potatoes under plants that are taller than he is!
And rummage for Broadbeans…
…with someone who will happily carry his harvest in her skirt.
What a lovely morning we spent at our local community garden in the park. An enchanting place that is completely different to my garden and that’s why I love it.
Tags: my local community garden
