Most liked posts in thread: The Vegetable Patch

Onion's obviously what else would there be in my onion bag .

 

Would you happen to have the recipe for that black pudding? I've been veggie for many many years but have never heard of such a thing, sounds very interesting.

Strange how such a good result sends us all off in a spiral of non-City topics...

 

Here you go, A veggies delight, Enjoy
INGREDIENTS

1. • 4 cups fresh pig's blood
   • 2 1/2 teaspoons salt
   • 1 1/2 cups steel-cut (pinhead) oatmeal
   • 2 cups finely diced pork fat (or beef suet), finely chopped
   • 1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
   • 1 cup milk
   • 1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
   • 1 teaspoon ground allspice
2. 1. Preheat the oven to 325°F and grease 2 glass loaf pans.
   2. Stir 1 teaspoon of salt into the blood.
   3. Bring 2 1/2 cups water to a boil and stir in the oats. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes, until just tender, not mushy.
   4. Pour the blood through a fine sieve into a large bowl to remove any lumps. Stir in the fat, onion, milk, pepper, allspice and remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons salt. Add the oatmeal and mix to combine. Divide the mixture between the loaf pans, cover with foil, and bake for 1 hour, until firm. Cool completely. Seal in plastic wrap and wither freeze for extended use or store in the refrigerator for up to a week.

 

Russian salad goes with almost anything. Boil up a few carrots, New potatoes and peas and also boil two eggs. Allow everything to cool and then dice it all up and add diced gherkin. Mix in mayonnaise and it's ready to serve. Goes particularly well with pork or turkey sznitzel and vodka to wash it down.

 

Just back from the plot with the brussels sprouts and parsnips for tomorrow's Christmas lunch. Harvested some red Russian kale and some Italian flat parsley too. Merry Christmas!

 

Luckily no slugs bothering my veggies and berries, just rabbits. The garden now has chicken-wire fences everywhere; not great for looks, but the plants have been saved. The rabbits can eat as much of the grass as they like.

First crop of radishes now finished; chives and Welsh onions now dying back before the new greenery arrives later in the season; lettuces just ready for eating.

RCB

 

Well, look what happened when you did -- thread killed dead! Never tried to grow any myself, I suppose because I wouldn't eat enough of them to make it worthwhile.

Raspberries, on the other hand, I can eat any amount of, which is good as I've been getting well over a quart a day for most of the past week, and just under a quart yesterday and today. There's been so many berries that I haven't even had to worry about how many the various birds -- grackles, finches, sparrows -- eat; there's been enough for all of us.

RCB

 

This year I planted 3 courgette plants - 2 green and 1 yellow. A cutworm sliced clean through the stem of one of the green ones not long after planting out but the others are doing fine. They are just beginning to motor now, a courgette from each plant every other day. I feed the plants with home made comfrey tea.
I am getting lots of raspberries too this year.

 

I got given 24 tomato plants this year so thought l'd have a go.

24 x 3" pots and saucers + 24 x 6" pots and saucers + 24 x 9" pots and saucers + 24 x 12" tubs + compost, feed & bamboo = £125+ = no toms at all so far. Garbage.

Done 7 chili plants which are doing OK.

 

Thanks for all that, I never thought about yogurt pots and I get through 10+ Longley Farm per week. Some little green toms are now making an appearance.

I know nothing about growing anything, some people told me to incrementally pot up, others said go straight from 3" to 12", some said prune religiously, others said don't bother. What I do know, is that when you know nothing and have nothing then taking on 24 tomato plants and 6 chili plants, is waaaay too much! I know a £65 wooden (Amazon-Chinese) small greenhouse is rubbish too

 

The raspberries were very productive this year -- almost a fortnight of a quart to a quart-and-a-half a day; now they're down to a pint every other day, and just about done. So it has been a raspberry festival at RCB Towers: jam, raspberry cake, raspberries and cream, raspberries and ice cream, raspberries and custard, raspberry fool, raspberries with a garnish of raspberries...

Not to be outdone, my one, still small, blackcurrant bush produced 2.5 quarts -- one's consumption of blackcurrant jam will have to more than double this year.

The pear tree is having a quieter year this year, fortunately -- last year the amount of pears was simply overwhelming. I have enough brown sauce to last me through this coming year still...

Beans have been decent, radishes excellent but just about done, lettuces excellent but done last week, peas enough for a few meals, but perhaps more trouble than they are worth. Waiting on the carrots and Spanish onions now, and for the second growths of chives and Welsh onions.

It is very satisfying to grow one's own edibles.

RCB

 

I think there must have been a frost at the wrong moment this year. Our lovely mirabelle tree at home has 1 plum and the orchard at the allotment is bare too.

 

At least they left you the pears. A long time ago now I had a neighbour with a pear tree; one day it was full of pears, next day just stalks hanging off the branches. A flock of starlings, I think it was.

Meanwhile, the cardinals, from above, and the grackles, from below, look over the raspberry patch with puzzlement: there used to be berries here, what happened? Another marker of the passing season -- cutting-out of the old canes and pruning of the new.

RCB

 

Poor sweet corn.... organically grown like all it's pals but hasn't come out like it wanted, then tossed aside for the sake of 20p. This allotment stuff...fcking brutal! Embrace the diversity of organic growth and cast not aside the weak and feeble but celebrate their individuality, it's not all about winners, it's about battling against the odds regardless of the useless fcker that planted you and then cast you aside for 20... chuffing....pence.

 

Very difficult. Slug pellets do work but I don't use them as i grow organically. The ferric ones don't harm birds or wildlife - avoid metaldehyde ones. Nematodes work but very expensive. None of the other options such as beer traps, egg shells, wool etc work really. I just accept that they will consume some of my produce. Prefer them to the thieving human bastard who nicked my best beefsteak tomato just before the show to be honest

 

The buggers are everywhere, keep getting them in my porch. They've eaten something the wife planted by i've no idea what it was.

 

Back from Spain and I've tons of toms, they smell gorgeous and very tasy they are too. Lost a lot to wind but still more than we can handle. Now I know a bit I'll do better next year.

The chili plants though, what a disappointment, all seven look in top condition, well grown, healthy green, been watered/fed well and had plenty of sun. Result? Not 1 chili.

 

Are you growing your chillies outside? If so, that is the problem. It will be too cold. There is a chilli called Nigel's Outdoor chilli but I only try and grow mine in my greenhouse or polytunnel. You might get away with outside in a sheltered spot down south.

 

The Royal Society for the Protection of Inferior Vegetables?

Just got back from a fortnight's wandering; some carrots still left to be pulled, and the parsnips look very promising; I hope the parsnips underneath will be as impressive as their tops. The pears are now ready to be harvested as well: pear chutney, orchard jam (pears, plums, and apples, plus ginger), pear tarts, poached pears...

It has been a very good year for the fruits and veggies over here at RCB Towers.

RCB