Bob Hobden wrote:
"Andy" wrote ...
Well, not all veg strictly speaking but I am still getting ( ridge )
cucumbers, have 20+ tomatoes still to ripen, my runner beans which gave up
in late summer have decided to try again for a few more beans, and my
greenhouse sweet peppers are turning red one by one.

I also have left a couple of radicchio heartening up, and my Conference
pears (?slim ones ) still aren't quite ripe. Parsnips need to wait for the
frost, and my Savoy winter cabbages are passable for juveniles though full
of slug holes.

Tomatoes all surcumbed to blight two weeks ago (including Ferline!!), Sarpo
Axona spuds are still growing strongly and flowering with no sign of blight,
"Chertsey" carrots are doing as well as usual (own seed), second flush of
runner beans coming to an end, pumpkins beginning to look sad but "Turks
Turbans" are growing apace, Sprouts doing well (taste nice too) as are the
winter caulis, savoys and "Winter Tundra" cabbages except I noticed some
caterpillar holes, sweet potatoes are all over the place they have grown so
well this year (now I can see the family trait!), mixed lettuce nearly ready
to start using, Romain lettuce is growing well, perhaps time to put in some
more before winter.

I'm jealous. Not paying attention meant all my lettuces - of which I
am a greedy consumer - went direct to seed over the hot dry summer. I
round myself re-seeding some more only around mid August, and that is
still not ready to consumer :-(

The toms are still in production, modest enough crop - they are
outdoors in growbags - but quite tasty after a disappointing start.
Some tend to burst if not consumed within days after picking. It's a
bit odd.

Sprouts are looking promising - I'd say first dinner to be harvested
next week end. Kohlrabi is just right at the moment, and I am starting
today to graze on that. I too have had a modest second wave of beans -
but the crop overall was a tiny fraction of last year's - which filled
my small freezer.

Scorzonera should be harvestable soon - I haven't lifted any yet, so
not sure what to expect - but the leaves look good.

Courgettes have been a disaster - I surmise that I put them in too
shady a spot, or they were unhappy with the very dry summer, or both.
I got about 4 small courgettes out of 3 plants. The plants did not
grow as big as they should, the courgettes took forever to swell to any
consumable size, and many simply rotted faster than they formed.

I got the most amazing crop of berries from 2 gooseberry bushes (about
6 kgs of berries, which I froze, and made jam out of 2 kgs this
weekend), about 2 kgs from a single blackcurrant bush - also delicious
jam made from frozen berries last week end. Not to mention the
mountains of my favourite of all times jam, blackberry, made out of the
3 kgs picked from nearby hedgerows last week end between showers. Yum
yum.

Cat(h)