Hi Guys!
I took up a bit of GYO (extra to my usual toms and runners) this year to keep myself occupied, and belong to a really good veg growing forum, but I thought it would be nice to chat with likeminded peeps who understand the physical restrictions of gardening with MS and possibly swap seeds/recipes.
Any takers?
Mags xx
Hi Mags,
It’s my o/h who grows our veg but I do know that enorma runner beans are delicious, beyond that I haven’t a clue, sorry.
Janet x
Thanks Janet, I am glad that you are enjoying the fruits of his labours, although it’s been a pretty atrocious growing year this year so I hope he hasn’t been too grumpy about it!
Mags xx
Hi Mags
I decided to start with something easy and see how i went on. So i got some tom plants. I have not done very well at all i’m afraid!
Perhaps i just don’t have green fingers!
Hope you find a likeminded person on here.
Teresa.x
Thanks Teresa.
Please don’t give up, it’s been a challenging year even for those with the greenest of digits and home grown toms are lush!
Mags xx
Hello Mags,
I loved the idea of growing veg, so this year I bought three grafted Gardener’s Delight tomato plants, three Hunter butternut type of squash plants, a blueberry bush and I grew a few runner bean plants (Painted Lady), more for the butterflies than anything. It interests me that r. beans were first grown for their flowers, long before people discovered that they were good too eat. I fed everything well and patted it on the head when it made a move, but I am afraid that this totally dire Summer has put pay to any sort of a crop. I like the idea of trying the old fashioned varieties of vegetables, and I have seen several for sale in The Organic Garden Catalogue. We had a few blueberries, but all the other ‘crops’ went into the council bin I’m afraid. But I like a challenge (except MS!!) so I will try again next year. I was excited to read about these turbo grafted plants as I assumed that I would get far more veg for the amount of work I put in - but next year it will have to be.
Best wishes,
Moira
Hi Mags, This year has been a ‘wash out’ for many things we grow. Toms in the greenhouse were OK. Runner beans had a slow start but are now trying to make up for lost time. Courgettes loved the wet weather and have been growing too fast and turning into baseball bats in no time. l think the secret for us pwms is ‘raised beds’ or even try growing different veg in old oil drums [my cousin got old wheelie bins from his council depot and cut them down a bit] Climbing french beans l love - no prep needed to cook. l grow rainbow chard - this is rampant!! - Broccoli/purple sprouting/ cabbages all got eaten by caterpillars even though we covered the plants with fine mest netting. BUT curly kale - grows excellently - and is avoided by the caterpillars - and is heralded as being the top food for us with ms. Try stir-frying it - or steaming anything but just boiling. l know someone with ms - who juices all hers and makes smoothies - you can add tinned toms or tom puree and worcester sauce for flavour.
Try not to grow things that are going to be plentiful and cheap when you have a ‘glut’ - l have messed about freezing some of the runners - but it is a fiddle. And to be honest they never taste quite the same and in the winter l do buy ready frozen beans.
Same with peas. We grow carrots that taste so different from shop bought ones - leeks- spring onions - parsnips - beetroot. We have tried different ways of cooking beetroot. l like to roast them - my husband [aka Mary Berry- as he keeps making cakes] even messes about making a salt dough which he encases his beetroot in and bakes in the oven. The flavour is amazing - but what a mess the whole procedure is - especially after they have been baked you have to crack open the salt dough to get the beetroot out - and the dough is thrown away. But its worth doing occasionally because the taste is so different.
Don’t forget herbs - fresh herbs are wonderful. And can be frozen as they are - when you want to use them - take them out of the freezer and just break off what you need and put the rest back in the freezer. They become freeze-dried. l always keep lemon in the freezer and ginger and just take out and grate what l want then put back.
Salad leaves in a window box type trough work out well. You pick off what you need and they kindly grow back the missing leaves!!!
l have a large plastic strawberry barrel - it was slow starting because of the late summer - but now l can go out every day and pick a bowl ful. We have put the barrel on castors so that we can move it about on the decking - and turn it round to get the sun. Most of our herb boxes are on castors- good idea to help move them to different more sheltered spots as the weather changes.
l grow chillies on the kitchen window-sill - they have been successful - l shall soon pick whats left and freeze.
Be interesting to see what else people grow successfully. Getting the raised beds high enough for you to manage - even so you can sit on the sides. Plently of organic muck in the bottom to hold the moisture in - even line them with old compost sacks. But you can be quite inventive with containers like the old dustbins and wheelies. Especially for crops that grow down into the soil like parsnip/carrots/leeks.
Frances.
I think it has been a bad growing year for a lot of people Moira and I am so glad you’re game for having a go next year!
I’ve never tried the grafted plants as they seem to be quite expensive but they do look interesting. I’m really looking forward to next year and hopeing it will be better than this one.
The Realseeds site does some lovely heritage varieties if you want to have a squint. They also trial their veg and give instructions on how to save your own seed…
My blueberries didn’t crop very well this year as it was their first year but I’m hoping that if I can keep them alive 'till next year, there will be a fair few more as they are one of my favourites.
I agree with the problems associated with a glut Frances. I have about 20 pints of tomato sauce in the freezer now and when it comes to beans I am all blanched out!
My runners (White Lady) this year didn’t do well at all, though it was my first year growing them in a large tub. I think (hope) it was the weather. My climbing French beans have romped away though (Blue Lake and Cosse Violette) and I have loads frozen. Just the last few left on the plants now which I shall hopefully keep for seed (if they get a chance to dry out as it now appears to be Monsoon season).
I do love PSB but I’m not sure I’ll bother again as it takes so long to grow and takes up a lot of space. I made up a large tent like structure with a friend for protection but unfortunately didn’t protect my cabbage and most of my kale seedling so yes, the catterpillars had a real feast. One of the sites had some plants half-price the other day so I bought a few (cabbage, cauli, calabrese) and we’ll stick them in Mum’s greenhouse when the toms come out just to see what happens.
I did manage to protect a few chard and kale plants and wasn’t too keen on the kale (a bit chewy) so I was going to give it to a friends chickens but found a few recipes for lovely sounding soups. It’s in the sink now in water (well, actually, it been there for a couple of days…) waiting for me to have an energy burst! Maybe I could borrow Mary Berry? 
Going to try overwintering a couple of the chillies this year, just to see if I can!
If the soup recipes are any good I shall pop a link on (presuming I actually get around to making it, that is!).
Have a good day!
M 
xx
How can you talk about vegetables without me being involved ?
S xx
Hi Mags,
Funnily enough we had loads of beans this year, they didn’t do very well at the start then suddenly whoosh, I was blanching for ever and a day. Our Rhubarb grows all on it’s own, we have so much we don’t know what to do with it all. Hubby does grow tomatos but they didn’t do to well this year.
Janet
x
Ooh Janet, how about rhubarb wine! I’m sure Wobblyboy would agree that it would be a shame to waste it. And you could bring some to our next party in the Asian Forum!
Mags xx
Hi Mags -been gardening for 50 years and you aint going to stop me now! Love it. Also had MS 50 years and gone from v. large veg garden to v. small veg garden to growing everything in pots this year. Very little sucess though due to rain, rain, rain. One trough full of French beans was reduced to stalks overnight by slugs -hundreds of them. A kind friend bought me some slug pellets which are harmless to the environment. Unfortunately they were also harmless to slugs and I found at least 4 on each plant in broad daylight and that was the end of that. Grew some “heritage” crimson-flowered broad beans which grew well -after I’d bought some decent slug pellets online, but no bees meant no pollination and no beans. Turnips, beetroot, radish all disappeared without trace, and spuds in whalehide pots produced one boiling. Courgette plant in pot was reduced to shreds by slugs. Not a good year. MS-willing, I shall be trying again next year. Also grow rare wild flowers from seed for a conservaton project locally and they did well and am collecting lots of seed now for growing on next year. A very rewarding hobby, but veg was pretty much of a wash-out this yearapart from tiny toms in green-house -forgotten name. Gardeners’ Delight growing alongside were rubbish, though usually do well.
Never gave rhubarb wine a thought, hm! thinking now, good idea.
Janet
x
ooh! I’ve got some rhubarb in my garden also.
I’m coming to join that party!
How long will it be before it will be ready to drink?
Thats a date then! - party in 2 yrs time! lol!!
Teresa.x
Hiya
I adore my garden so I am down in the dumps as that escape route is closing down very quickly. Today its a monsoon outside.
I am terrible in that anything that makes a bid for life is given a chance so I end up with huge amounts to look after.
I bought 3 tom plants to keep it small this year but loads of seedling grew ( must of been in my own compost) and they were yellow cherry ones…I havent been able to give them away as fast as I was picking them. Totally overrun with them,yet the bought ones taking residence in proper grow bags have been very poor. Decent amount on them but just not ripening.
I buy koi food in 5kg buckets,when I ran out of veg patch space for brocoli I put some in there,and it grew well,but I messed up with my phased planting and must of kept all the ones that had germinated at the same time so it was all ready at the same time.
I havent got used to the brain farts and still think I will just know what is what and when I planted the seeds…wrong.
My peas were a disaster which annoyed me as they must of been infected with something as the leaves just died off, but cucumbers a huge success unlike last year.
I tried Portland crown spuds this year and will definately have them again next year.Did well in bags and garden.
I think gardening is brilliant for keeping you on the move,be it windowsill,pots or raised beds. Growing from seed is so rewarding,and you get visitors when people come to see what they can have off you. I make everyone who has veg/flowers off me also take some sunflowers too. Its amazing how quickly they convert to wanting smiley faces in their gardens,especially yhis year as there are up to 8 heads per stalk.
Pip
Hi all,
So good to see everyone’s comments on gardening. I am a relative newcomer but I love it! Can’t do a lot I used to, but it won’t stop me!
Has anyone tried PattyPan Squash? I have grown them for the last two years and they always crop well. For those that don’t know, they are like courgettes but round. I sowed a mixed lot this year. They are lovely with a bit of butter. Well worth the effort.
Not been a good year for lots of ther things though. A question for those in the know please. Should I be harvesting my pumpkins now that the weather has turned colder and wetter?
Enjoy your day all.
Anne
Hi all, it seem’s that we have a good crop of green fingered people, like a lot of others our garden didn’t fair well, toms in greenhouse did well, we grew a cherry type black tom they were so tasty, will grow again, broad beans there one day the next day it was like looking at the petrefied forest!! just stalks left, pots semmed to take ages to start but we had a good crop from them, carrots grew then they dissapered, sowed more and they look healthy, r beans like most of you slow start now they are growing to fast for us to keep up with, peppers ended up being chillies so gave them to my neighbour, aubergine went rotten on plant, peas grew but dissapointing crop. But ms willing and hubby as well we will try again next year.
Sue
Hi all, it seem’s that we have a good crop of green fingered people, like a lot of others our garden didn’t fair well, toms in greenhouse did well, we grew a cherry type black tom they were so tasty, will grow again, broad beans there one day the next day it was like looking at the petrefied forest!! just stalks left, pots semmed to take ages to start but we had a good crop from them, carrots grew then they dissapered, sowed more and they look healthy, r beans like most of you slow start now they are growing to fast for us to keep up with, peppers ended up being chillies so gave them to my neighbour, aubergine went rotten on plant, peas grew but dissapointing crop. But ms willing and hubby as well we will try again next year.
Sue
Just tell them it’s rhubarb Teresa, I’m sure they’ll never notice!
Hopefully it won’t be like this for long Pip. It’s amazing how resilient tomatoes are. Why don’t you make a bit of sauce or soup with them? If you haven’t got time now, just stick them in the freezer whole and cook them later. A nice lazy recipe is to roast them in the oven (unpeeled) with some dliced onions and garlic cloves (unpeeled but with the tough bottoms cut off) and a pinch of salt & pepper & a glug of olive oil. Leave until cooked and whizz up with a blender, sieve and add some herbs..
I often forget what stuff is so one of my resolutions is going to be to label everything properly this year (labels + pencil in Pound Shop). That’s the theory anyway. Also going to label my frozen stuff properly. We’re getting a bit fd up of mystery meals!
Indoor cues were great but outdoor not so much so won’t bother again.
I have grown Patty Pans for the first time ever this year Ann. Like most things they’ve not done as well as they should but I’ve been really enjoying them. Have a few white plants and one yellow but I’ve been munching them in salads, they are lovely.
I’ve picked my winter squash as the plants started to die off but left some of the stem on. They’re in the kitchen curing now. They are a bit smaller than I expected but I put that down to the weather. I grew Uchiki Kuti and Harlequin up a trellis and Golden Nugget in the garden (they did really well).
Do you know what the cherries were Sue? I love Sungold but fancy a bit of variety next year.
I really hope the weather perks up next year and there are less slugs. I had to use two tubs of the blue pellets of doom (animal safe) this season but they did seem to work really well if I go by how many disappeared. Fingers crossed I guess!