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Posted by dirtyrob (U14395261) on Saturday, 10th July 2010
Earliest i've ever picked, who said the cold winter will have a big effect on this years veg growing Just a couple but i've got 100's set so a bumper crop is just round the corner
Well done, way ahead of me.
I think I might have noticed a teeny runner bean behind a flower this evening. I think this is my crop that I'm most looking forward to so can't wait to see them set. Not quite sure what to expect as last year was my first year of growing them but it was at an allotment. One week there were flowers, the next there were runner beans. Or so it seemed, I always had so much to do at the allotment I didn't have time to notice how things developed. This year, I'm growing in my garden and I love to see it all developing. Fascinating.
I picked a few runner beans today,am planning to eat them tomorrow with my roast dinner. I also picked my first few carrots, snap peas and cabbage.
You are so lucky. I have some flowers appearing at last.These are my favourite veg. Very slow this year.
, in reply to message 4.
Posted by grandcottagegardener (U14258183) on Sunday, 11th July 2010
You are not alone Gajean. Runner beans are thirsty plants and despite lots of watering they are not producing the same amount of beans as they did last year. Another thing I've noticed is that bees home in on certain plants, and ignore the others i.e. some bees concentrate on the tomatoes and completely ignore the lavender growing close by.
I've currently got one runner bean ready for picking!
GCG, your right about bees ignoring some flowers, that's why i generally self pollinate my courgettes, even though they are next to my runner beans, the bumble bees will always attracted to my beans. Last year i watched one bumble bee for 8 minutes on my runner beans flowers, he was still there when i walked away. I've just picked a couple more courgettes and a load of peas, and i've been looking more closely at the beans, there's even more than i thought there were. I'm not sure whether that's a good, or a bad thing
I've been very lucky so far, relatively free of blackfly and ant activity. The beans are starting to appear in numbers with around a dozen which are ready to pick and will be eaten in the next few days.
The beans that I planted last November I have been picking since 3 weeks ago and have just today started picking the ones that I planted this March. Quite a differing gap between the planting of them both and the picking of then both. Really nice mixed with some fresh picked and shelled tender sweet peas with dinner this evening.
Still it was nice having a few earlier and worth all the winter (harsh as it was) care and protection.
What topped it for me so far this year is the pavlova I topped with some of my bumper crop of gooseberries with the addition of some apple mint, not to mention the crumbles and fool.
Can any one recommend gooseberry wine?
Gooseberry wine? Excellent stuff
Like all country wines, it may need blending (depending on the gooseberry variety - some can be a bit acid and can result in a "thin" wine).
Green Gooseberry: 6lb gooseberries, 2.5lb sugar, 6 - 7 pints water, yeast, nutrient, pectic enzyme. (Takes a year before it's ready to drink, but can compare favourably with a good Hock).
Red gooseberry: 4 lb gooseberries, 3 lb sugar, 8pts water, yeast, nutrient and pectic enzyme.
But give it a go! And enjoy the results.
PHJ
I picked my first runner beans on 6th July
This is a photo of the veg which I picked for my dinner this evening.
[IMG]/IMG]
More french beans than runner beans and lots of peas!
I grow Painted Lady because I like the red and white flowers, but last year somebody round here must also have been growing beans because the some of the seed I saved from last year has come up red.
[IMG]/IMG]
KG, nice selection you've got, but you should of held off picking your runner beans, they look around 5 inches long. You can let them grow up to around 15 / 16 inches if you've happened to have missed some. I try and pick them around 10 inches to a foot
I love my beans small! Always pick them at around 6" as they taste nicer.
We returned from holiday on Wednesday evening and on Thursday I picked runner and dwarf french beans for dinner. Courgettes are just forming, cucumbers are in flower and I am really pleased to find I have some tomatoes. These are the ones I grew from seeds of the "anti aging" tomatoes we bought from Tesco's earlier this year. All the seeds seemed to germinate, I gave some plants away to a school and still have around 10 plants all either fruiting or in flower. Nan x
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