The Vegetable Patch

That Gin sounds good.

 

It is a favourite. We have a large blackberry bush on our allotment that we inherited. It is a bit of a thug and needs cutting back all the time, but the fruit tastes wonderful.
I make little Christmas hampers for some close friends and always put a small bottle of the blackberry and apple gin in. It is very easy to make.

 

Congratulations! Mmmm, gin!

I tried making blackcurrant liqueur last year, one batch with brandy and one with vodka. It tasted good on opening the bottles, but went off very quickly -- not what you'd expect from an alcohol. I must have done something wrong, but I don't know what!

This year has been the usual mix of successes and failures. Successes: Welsh onions, chives, herbs, gooseberries, lettuces, blackcurrants, raspberries, French beans. My jam cupboard and freezer are full. Failures: carrots, radishes, red onions. I haven't got the soil right, I think, or perhaps the microclimate is wrong. The onions were an experiment, in that instead of the usual sets I tried growing them from seed. Not a single onion resulted, and fewer than expected sprouted. I suppose I probably should have started the seeds indoors. Oh well, back to sets next year.

In the middle of the pear harvest right now. Not long and I'll have to start the usual processing: orchard jam, brown sauce, spiced pears, and dried pears.

The usual spiced peaches have also been prepared, and are now aging in the cellar. Very good peaches this year, but this is peach country.

RCB

 

Yes, if you are growing onions from seed you need to start them off somewhere warm and light. I usually start them off in a pot on my kitchen window, then grow them on in the cold greenhouse once germinated. They don't mind being transplanted.
I've had a very good year for peas, potatoes, garlic and cucumbers. Lots of tomatoes, but nearly all still green. Fruit is so so, my gooseberry got root rot in the spring deluge. Half my asparagus bed went the same way, but the surviving half did ok eventually.
Everything else is either way behind or eaten by slugs or both. A very cold and wet spring and the early arrival of autumn hasn't helped.

 

Here we've had just about the opposite in terms of weather: normal spring, warm+ summer, just about enough rain, and now an extended warm spell to finish things off. Everything ripened a week or more early; no one seems to be unhappy with yields except for some apple farmers a little further west. Haven't yet heard about the grape harvest, and thus the prospects for our wineries.

We may pay for all this good weather later, though; some have forecast a proper wintery winter in terms of both cold and snow.

It was a day of pear-processing, after a fair amount of prep. work yesterday. Brown sauce finished in the morning, and orchard jam in the evening. That still leaves well over a hundred pears downstairs, and several more hundreds on the tree... What do you do with such a productive plant? If nothing else, it makes for good compost, and keeps the local wasps, rabbits, and squirrels fed.

RCB

 

Hopefully this is an informative post. Those of us who grow vegetables have been coping with the lack of rain for some months now.
On our site most people have barrels to store rainwater, but these have been empty for a while.

What is often misunderstood is that you can water food crops, either at an allotment or at home in your vegetable garden using a hosepipe whilst the general hosepipe ban is on. The information is buried in Yorkshire Water's FAQ section.

No doubt I will have to explain this repeatedly to members of the public who pass our allotment site and see people using a hosepipe. Hopefully some rain before too long.

 

This might be one for @Allotment Bantam to answer but can I get parsnip seeds anywhere over here (has to be a garden center type thing). Grandson loves parsnips but in USA they are of “indeterminate” age, could probably use carbon dating but I have to core them before cooking.
I got some seeds in USA but 0 germinated. If anyone has an answer, let me know please.

 

Parsnip seed has to be fresh, i.e planted the year it was packed or shortly after. It doesn't last long before germination drops off.
Germination is often difficult even when the seed is fresh. Over here people sow in March but I find that far to early in the year, the soil isn't warm enough, I wait until the 1st week in May.
This year I have had lots of problems though, even waiting until May. Two lots never came up. It didn't look like a third sowing was going to appear so I sowed some in empty loo roll tubes in the greenhouse. Parsnips don't like being transplanted so it was a risk. These came up and hey presto so did the third sowing, somewhat late. I did wonder if it had been too hot, but probably just one of those things.

 

Thanks, I got the impression that they were tricky little things but didn’t expect a big fat zero. Was hoping there may be some places in Bradford that might have seeds but seems not. Still, not a huge problem in the scheme of things.

 

I have some I just bought and will not use all. Send me your address on a dm and I will post them. When are you next over - might be cheaper postage!

 

As @Allotment Bantam says, they are finicky things to grow. Some years (not this year) I sow some seeds, and the germination rate is always very poor; those that do germinate, however, generally produce good parsnips in due course. It's nice that one can leave them in the ground even over winter, and dig one or two up as needed. One can also leave one in the ground, and next year there will be a large triffid, er, plant with ornamental flowers and a million or so seeds! Been there, done that.

I've used Canadian seeds (OSC is one brand I remember), and English (Mr. Fothergill's). Much of a muchness; you pays your money and you takes your chances.

If you wish, I too could send you a seed packet or two from here, but the freshest seeds now won't arrive til the spring.

RCB

 

I’ll be getting some “heirloom” seeds when I get back. They may or may not do better. But thanks for the offers all the same.