Ripening fruit

The chillis and the tomatoes have been ripening apace, benefiting from the sun that has finally shown itself in the sky this week.

The two chillis that were slowly reddening the other day are now almost entirely red and ready for harvesting, and one of the outside tomato plants has three or four tomatoes that are starting to turn and are now a lovely orange colour.

The two red chillis, with some other green ones nestling behind.

The nearest chilli isn't quite fully turned yet, as you can see the dark green of it's behind.

Tomatoes far more on the turn now too - you can still see some flowers out too, which hopefully will get pollinated and become even more tomatoes.

Whilst I was out taking these photographs I noticed a spider which had spun it's web near the chillis and thought I'd get a quick snap to show you all.

A spider hanging in a web near the outside chilli plants.

Thanks for reading

Kitchen Herb Garden Update

So, as promised, I have an update that I have been planning for quite a long time.

You may remember that I saved a couple of plastic trays that meat comes in from a supermarket, put some soil in them, and planted a couple of different herbs in each compartment.

Also, my girlfriend bought some Greek herbs for a dish one day, which I added to the windowsill collection.

I have had a mixed bag of results, and here is my report:

The Greek herbs, a little brown but still smelling INCREDIBLE

The Rosemary (in the back compartment) never grew at all, but the Thyme is looking good.

The Sage has managed to grow two relatively successful plants.

The Basil was growing ok, but then died (I didn't let it die, this happened despite regular watering and careful care).

As you can see, this has not been a raging success, and I haven't yet actually used any of these herbs (such as I have grown) in any cooking.

I would like, here, to pass on a couple of tips that I have been told by various people in response to some of the questions I have posted on this blog over the last few weeks.

First of all, regarding harvest time for parsnips, apparently they should be pulled after the first frost.

Secondly, regarding onions, apparently if you sow with seeds in autumn, and leave the sets in the ground, next year you get even better onions.

So there you are, a couple of hints for you.

Enjoy, back tomorrow.

Edit thanks to @clareyh for the following:

"Did you know not to water basil until it droops? And it hates having wet feet!"

and

"Best one I had I put in a large pot with 2"gravel at bottom and only watered when it was drooping Lasted 3yrs on windowsill 13" high"

So now we know why my basil is dead dead dead :( oh well, better luck next year :)

Sweetcorn, Cabbage and Ripening Tomatoes

Another update update today, this time about the sweetcorn, cabbage and some more tomatoes.

The sweetcorn does look like it is coming on really well, to be fair, but I'm not sure if what I'm seeing is good or bad - I had expected some cobs to have developed by now.

A close up of the tip of one of my sweetcorn plants

The sweetcorn bed

The cabbage has come on very well, and is now ready for harvesting and eating. This weekend I will be planning a meal which will enable me to taste it, finally.

The sweetcorn bed; the wet weather has once again stalled my grass-cutting habit, which is frustrating.

I have also been very excited to notice, following my hopeful blog of the previous days, that the outside tomatoes appear to be starting to turn :)

A little bit of colour starting to show on some of the outside tomatoes.

However, while I was looking over the tomatoes I notices that some bug has managed to get a taste before me! How rude!

A couple of shots of the pre-munched tomato.

So, that is it for now. Be back soon I am sure.

Chillis on the turn (and some other stuff)

I have some very exciting updates today.

Last night (when I am actually writing this, now) I went to water the chillis and noticed a little discolouration on the ones on the bedroom windowsill. So I ran to get my camera and THEN noticed that, when I looked closer, it was more than just a slight discolouration, but a large bright red stain spreading from both ends of the largest chilli, and starting on another.

The chilli which is turning the most

Both the reddening chillis.

The chillis downstairs are still green. You can still see the remnants of the flower stretched around the tip of the chilli on the right!

One of the downstairs chillis enjoying the space now that I have moved all the indoor tomatoes out of the way.

A shot of just how poor the inside tomatoes had become. I will be monitoring these over the next few days, and will update with more shots.

While taking these pictures I also got a couple of other pics of the tomatoes outside, and the apple tree (minus my EXCEPTIONALLY tasty apple which I picked the other day)

 The outside apples, seen through the newly-uncovered window post indoor-tomato-removal.

The apples, also seen from inside the house and through the aforementioned window.

Finally for today, I cooked myself chicken and chips and picked some of the new planting of the lettuce to eat. It was outstanding.

The lettuce, well grown now and very ready for eating....

... and sitting on my plate prior to eating.

So there you are. Tomorrow I will fill you in on the state of the kitchen windowsill herb garden.... and also some hints I've received about growing better onions, and when to harvest my parsnips.....

Taking inside tomatoes out, and other progress

Hello there fellow growing enthusiasts.

Today is an update especially for those of my regular readership who are continually agitating for news on the tomatoes.

Unfortunately, while I was away gallivanting in my "soon to be retreat" location, and despite excellent care from my Business Partner and my Housemate, the indoor tomatoes have suffered greatly and are no longer really looking healthy enough for me to fight to save them. I have been looking after them carefully for the past five days or so, but each day they look more and more unwell. Even more sadly, one of my chilli plants has also gone the way of the great greenhouse in the sky.

One little tomato, next to a mass of wilting greenery.

It isn't such a great loss though as, in terms of fruitfulness, the interior plants have been a great disappointment. I have had two tomatoes off them but for the amount of foliage I was expecting far more.

I have moved the plants outside to see if being in the fresh air helps at all, and also to clear the light for the chillis that remain. God there is a LOT of tomato plant here, huh!

Anyway, having sorted this out I have taken the following photographs purely for the tomato-fetishists amongst you.

This plant was a runt which I almost threw away, then just pushed randomly into my herb garden - it is doing quite well now huh :)

If all of these can ripen off in any remaining sun we get this year I will be very happy, otherwise I think I'll be making chutney with the green tomatoes.

Blackberry Fly and eating apple

Hello again, I know I've been a while since posting an update, but that is because I have been out of the country for a bit.

I've not got that many pictures to upload today, I'll get some more tomorrow, as the outside tomato plants are going great guns and I want to photograph them, but for now I have a short update about two different fruits that are now being harvested.

First of all, I risked life, limb and skin-integrity picking more blackberries from around the garden the other day. While doing so I saw a dead fly attached to a blackberry, as if still eating it.

 While going on collecting I saw a few more of these; I can only presume that the fly ate until it expired.

I've just got back from a lovely walk and camp in the lake district and, while packing lunch for the walk, I finally got round to picking an apple off the tree.

The apple, pre-bite.

This was eaten sat on Walla Crag, above Keswick, and it was SO SO tasty!

I munched every little bit that I could, enjoying every mouthful.

Right, I'm done. There will be tomato related bloggage shortly.

Laters

Staking out the sweetcorn

After a couple of weeks of thinking about it, I finally got round to staking out the sweetcorn, some of which was starting to look a little wobbly.

None of the plants have fallen over, but a couple are leaning quite dramatically.

You can see in the background of this picture that some of the weeds had been overgrowing slightly too. I have inserted the stake ready for attaching too.

The sweetcorn plant is now much more stable, and is no longer impacting the smaller plant next to it

I am using little plastic hoops bought from Wilkinsons for a couple of pence each. These are also what I have used when staking my tomato plants.

All the plants are now staked, and I have pulled back the overgrowing seeds. There is still some work to be done clearing the little weeds around the base of the plants, but none of these are too big right now

The sweetcorn forest.

So, a practical post. If any of you are growing sweetcorn I'd be really happy to see pictures, and maybe post them on here, including any other hints you may have.

Cheers