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Order to eat things
An odd question, I think, but if you're picking your various crops and you
have more than you can eat in one go (which I'm currently getting with courgettes and raspberries and it's on the ever-closing-in horizon with the beans) ... next time you pick fresh, do you tend to eat the freshest you picked, with the worry that the earlier stuff will probably go past edible, or do you eat up the earlier stuff first, where you then end up with lots of mediocre not-so-fresh-but-edible stuff? Or am I just the most disorganised person around, and everyone else is keeping up with eating and freezing as required? -- |
Order to eat things
wrote... An odd question, I think, but if you're picking your various crops and you have more than you can eat in one go (which I'm currently getting with courgettes and raspberries and it's on the ever-closing-in horizon with the beans) ... next time you pick fresh, do you tend to eat the freshest you picked, with the worry that the earlier stuff will probably go past edible, or do you eat up the earlier stuff first, where you then end up with lots of mediocre not-so-fresh-but-edible stuff? Or am I just the most disorganised person around, and everyone else is keeping up with eating and freezing as required? Freeze what we will use and eat what we want of the fresh stuff and the older unused stuff in the fridge goes back on the compost heap. -- Regards Bob Hobden W.of London. UK |
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Each day I pick strawberries and raspberries and tayberries, and we eat what we want. Anything uneaten after 24 hours is then tipped into the deepfreeze. But reading the courgette thread in particular, I can't help wondering - wouldn't it be easier just to plant fewer plants? |
Order to eat things
kay wrote:
But reading the courgette thread in particular, I can't help wondering - wouldn't it be easier just to plant fewer plants? Then what do you do when you catch a late frost and half the plants die? |
Order to eat things
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Order to eat things
On 09/08/2010 10:13, kay wrote:
But reading the courgette thread in particular, I can't help wondering - wouldn't it be easier just to plant fewer plants? I grow them from seed and plant enough to allow for germination failures. Then there is the risk of a slug or snail eating the heart out of the young seedlings. Finally once they are in the garden there is the danger of a late frost hitting them or cropping suddenly coming to an end due to mosaic virus appearing. Since I've effectively got unlimited space for growing vegetables I'd sooner have too many and put surplus on the compost heap than not have enough. Same with the brassicas - there are usually far more than we can eat or give away - except for this year and they have done terribly, possibly due to the lack of rain. The courgettes get hand watered to keep them going but I can't do that with everything in the veg garden. -- David in Normandy. To e-mail you must include the password FROG on the subject line, or it will be automatically deleted by a filter and not reach my inbox. |
Order to eat things
On 9 Aug, 12:31, Janet wrote:
In article , kay.6d56646 @gardenbanter.co.uk says... But reading the courgette thread in particular, I can't help wondering - wouldn't it be easier just to plant fewer plants? * Yes; except that (at least in the north) *how they perform varies considerably from year to year. Some wet years they either rot off or * are all leaf and minimal flowers /fruit. This year we had two months of sunny unusually dry weather so they flowered their socks off. * Janet I am amazed at all this talk of wasting so much "Surplus" food, Doesn't anyone have friends, neighbours who wouls appreciate some "Eresh" fruit and veg, also one or 2 local OAP's, then there is freezing, salting and jam and chutney making. If your courgets are to many then let some grow into marrows, when properly ripe they will last well into the winter. I always keep my best peas and beens on the plant to ripen for next years seed( on this subjuec I use a blue flower spray to mark the pods I am keeping so that they dont get picked by accident). With runner beans I do 2 sowings, with the 2nd sowing end of June/ early July so that they will crop almost till the frost. David Hill |
Order to eat things
"kay" wrote in message ... Bob Hobden;896832 Wrote: wrote...- An odd question, I think, but if you're picking your various crops and you have more than you can eat in one go (which I'm currently getting with courgettes and raspberries and it's on the ever-closing-in horizon with the beans) ... next time you pick fresh, do you tend to eat the freshest you picked, with the worry that the earlier stuff will probably go past edible, or do you eat up the earlier stuff first, where you then end up with lots of mediocre not-so-fresh-but-edible stuff? Or am I just the most disorganised person around, and everyone else is keeping up with eating and freezing as required? - Freeze what we will use and eat what we want of the fresh stuff and the older unused stuff in the fridge goes back on the compost heap. Vegetable gluts are something I don't have a problem with, since I grow mainly fruit and my vegetable growing space is tiny, overshadowed, slugridden and totally unsuitable. Each day I pick strawberries and raspberries and tayberries, and we eat what we want. Anything uneaten after 24 hours is then tipped into the deepfreeze. But reading the courgette thread in particular, I can't help wondering - wouldn't it be easier just to plant fewer plants? It's never that simple. One plant would be enough for the two of us, but if I only plant one, it dies and we have no courgettes. So I plant two, and both survive, creating the glut. Murphy's law is quite specific in this regard. Incidentally, you'll be able to see the two of them later in the year. That's all I'm saying for now, I have a cunning plan. Watch this space. Steve |
Order to eat things
Dave Hill wrote:
I am amazed at all this talk of wasting so much "Surplus" food, Doesn't anyone have friends, neighbours who wouls appreciate some "Eresh" fruit and veg, also one or 2 local OAP's, then there is freezing, salting and jam and chutney making. A lot of my problem at the moment is lack of time. I went to do a job on the allotment yesterday morning. I was distracted by something else that had to be done. Then I had to go elsewhere, and only got back by about 6. Then I got distracted by something else that was more urgent (raspberries had suddenly started cropping heavily and were starting to rot on the plant!). By the time it was getting dark enough for insects to start feasting on me (and I'd already had to phone home to tell Nick to feed the children, as it was after 7 and he never remembers if I'm not there to do it!) there was no time to do the job that I'd originally gone out to do. I have about 6 of those 'really urgent must be done today' jobs lined up now, and every time I go to do one, something else goes to the head of the urgent queue instead. If your courgets are to many then let some grow into marrows, when properly ripe they will last well into the winter. Which is a nice idea, but then they would never get eaten. :-) I always keep my best peas and beens on the plant to ripen for next years seed( on this subjuec I use a blue flower spray to mark the pods I am keeping so that they dont get picked by accident). Ooh, now that's a good idea. I've never seen such a thing before, where do you buy it from? |
Order to eat things
Janet wrote:
" We don't like courgettes; what are they?" " I wouldn't know how to cook them" Those I've had from my nan. I think I traumatised her with a utternut squash once - told her how to cook it, but apparently she spent 3 hours with a potato peeler trying to peel it, instead of just taking a sharp knife to it! (or, in fact, leaving it a week or 4 to ripen a bit more) "My husband won't eat anything green or foreign". "Foreign muck" is my nan's response to pasta. It's very depressing, really. I'm sure she would like it if she tried it, and it would be a lot better for her than her current reliance on roast dinners! I offered the latter person some perfect new potatoes and she replied "he won't eat anything with dirt on it, either". "So wash them then!" |
Order to eat things
On 09/08/2010 14:57, Dave Hill wrote:
I am amazed at all this talk of wasting so much "Surplus" food, Doesn't anyone have friends, neighbours who wouls appreciate some "Eresh" fruit and veg, also one or 2 local OAP's, then there is freezing, salting and jam and chutney making. If your courgets are to many then let some grow into marrows, when properly ripe they will last well into the winter. I always keep my best peas and beens on the plant to ripen for next years seed( on this subjuec I use a blue flower spray to mark the pods I am keeping so that they dont get picked by accident). With runner beans I do 2 sowings, with the 2nd sowing end of June/ early July so that they will crop almost till the frost. I guess those people who live in towns who haven't sold their gardens to building developers may have plenty of outlets for their vegetable surplus. In rural communities everyone tends to grow their own anyway and everyone has the same surplus. Just can't give the stuff away. A good idea if someone could arrange it, would be to have some local drop-off points where people with surplus vegetables could leave their produce for collection by one of those charities associated with helping to feed the elderly or those living in poverty with no garden themselves. In France I'd imagine the local Mairie would maybe be interested in organising such a scheme. Not sure about the UK. -- David in Normandy. To e-mail you must include the password FROG on the subject line, or it will be automatically deleted by a filter and not reach my inbox. |
Order to eat things
"Dave Hill" wrote I am amazed at all this talk of wasting so much "Surplus" food, Doesn't anyone have friends, neighbours who wouls appreciate some "Eresh" fruit and veg, also one or 2 local OAP's, then there is freezing, salting and jam and chutney making. If your courgets are to many then let some grow into marrows, when properly ripe they will last well into the winter. I always keep my best peas and beens on the plant to ripen for next years seed( on this subjuec I use a blue flower spray to mark the pods I am keeping so that they dont get picked by accident). With runner beans I do 2 sowings, with the 2nd sowing end of June/ early July so that they will crop almost till the frost. We give some to family/friends but none of them live close so do I drive them there? If I do I put up the cost of MY veg so it's a lot cheaper and easier to return them from whence they came, the soil, if we aren't going to see them anyway. Neighbours do take some, but Runner Beans, for example, are a British veg so only two households would eat those. -- Regards Bob Hobden W.of London. UK |
Order to eat things
On 9 Aug, 18:13, "Bob Hobden" wrote:
"Dave Hill" *wrote I am amazed at all this talk of wasting so much "Surplus" food, Doesn't anyone have friends, neighbours who wouls appreciate some "Eresh" fruit and veg, also one or 2 local OAP's, then there is freezing, salting *and jam and chutney making. If your courgets are to many then let some grow into marrows, when properly ripe they will last well into the winter. I always keep my best peas and beens on the plant to ripen for next years seed( on this subjuec I use a blue flower spray to mark the pods I am keeping so that they dont get picked by accident). With runner beans I do 2 sowings, with the 2nd sowing end of June/ early July so that they *will crop almost till the frost. We give some to family/friends but none of them live close so do I drive them there? If I do I put up the cost of MY veg so it's a lot cheaper and easier to return them from whence they came, the soil, if we aren't going to see them anyway. Neighbours do take some, but Runner Beans, for example, are a British veg so only two households would eat those. -- Regards Bob Hobden W.of London. UK The drought set my beans back so none for about another week and 2nd lot are just showing the first flowers. Looking in Tesco today they had packs of Value Beans for 45p BUT the pack was just 3 beans, Kilo price was £4.00 and they were from Kenya. The Spray for marking pods etc Oasis flower colour, ask your friendly florist or find a wholesale florist. must be cheaper than ordering on line http://www.onlinepackagingshop.co.uk...ay-colour.html David Hill |
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