Merry Christmas and what does Santa have for you

[tree monkey]

8 minutes ago, Stilllearning said:

One of my earliest memories is of my grandfather harvesting peaches from the tree he grew in the back garden of their house in Surbiton. My grandparents moved there at the end of the war, and I think the tree wasn’t young when they bought the house, so it should be possible in England.

Peaches are possible in the UK but they suffer from peach leaf curl as soon as you stop staring at them and really don't cope with the cold early in the year, it is a real faff

[nbfiresprite]

On 12/12/2021 at 14:23, Athy said:

No, but we've made literally gallons of apple juice over the last three months. I've just sampled Mrs. Athy's latest creation, apple jam, and shall be requesting that she makes some more.

 

How about some Dorset Apple Cake to follow your apple jam sandwich.

 

 

Edited December 13, 2021 by nbfiresprite

[IanD]

2 hours ago, tree monkey said:

Peaches are possible in the UK but they suffer from peach leaf curl as soon as you stop staring at them and really don't cope with the cold early in the year, it is a real faff

When we do get a decent crop off our trees some years they're absolutely delicious, but leaf curl is an absolute b*gger *every* year... 😞

[Athy]

26 minutes ago, nbfiresprite said:

 

How about some Dorset Apple Cake to follow your apple jam sandwich.

 

 

\she makes apple cake too! Very talented, is Mrs. Athy.

[mrsmelly]

4 hours ago, tree monkey said:

Peaches are possible in the UK but they suffer from peach leaf curl as soon as you stop staring at them and really don't cope with the cold early in the year, it is a real faff

We have five olive trees in our garden. Even got a few olives last year lol. Need to water em more this year as they get blasted with heat when the sun is out. Got absolutely loads of pears off the two trees also. As for veg............stuff all that messing about, weve grassed over two veg patches and planted wild flower seeds elsewhere 

[peterboat]

13 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

We have five olive trees in our garden. Even got a few olives last year lol. Need to water em more this year as they get blasted with heat when the sun is out. Got absolutely loads of pears off the two trees also. As for veg............stuff all that messing about, weve grassed over two veg patches and planted wild flower seeds elsewhere 

Allotment did well this year plus all the fruit trees produced. at the boat my olive tree produced olives as well as it has every year

[Naughty Cal]

45 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

We have five olive trees in our garden. Even got a few olives last year lol. Need to water em more this year as they get blasted with heat when the sun is out. Got absolutely loads of pears off the two trees also. As for veg............stuff all that messing about, weve grassed over two veg patches and planted wild flower seeds elsewhere 

We had a huge crop of carrots and beetroot this year. Seemed to be eating them for ages. 

 

Currently working our way through the mountain of chillies as well. We didn't expect them to do well as we left them outside but we have got loads off them. 

 

Nothing off the olives though. But they are only babies. We want them more for decorative purposes rather than fruit anyway.

 

We are lazy gardners so nothing we grow needs much looking after 🤣🤣🤣

[mrsmelly]

1 minute ago, Naughty Cal said:

We had a huge crop of carrots and beetroot this year. Seemed to be eating them for ages. 

 

Currently working our way through the mountain of chillies as well. We didn't expect them to do well as we left them outside but we have got loads off them. 

 

Nothing off the olives though. But they are only babies. We want them more for decorative purposes rather than fruit anyway.

 

We are lazy gardners so nothing we grow needs much looking after 🤣🤣🤣

Previous owner here was a megga keen veg grower, we took on every kind of veg known to man lol.  Much of which such as kale we never eat. We have taken the greenhouse down, planted grass etc. Veg is in the local shop 😂

[Machpoint005]

On 11/12/2021 at 13:45, tree monkey said:

I'm glad you recognise the sacrifices I make

Most trees have what is called a mast year, in effect a cycle of heavy fruiting followed by a more fallow couple of years

 

Our raspberry canes did that - last year. This year -- niente.

The grape vine (singular) did well though.

 

 

 

Edited December 13, 2021 by Machpoint005
Bl**dy autocorrect

[tree monkey]

17 minutes ago, Machpoint005 said:

 

Our raspberry canes did that - last year. This year -- niente.

The grape vine (singular) did well though.

 

 

 

Raspberry shouldn't tbh because all last years fruiting wood should be pruned out, I suspect it was something lacking in the growing season or late frost damaging the flowers.

I've never seen it happen with vines either but that was with heavily managed ones, possibly it could happen on a vine left to its own devices.

[ditchcrawler]

The sloes looked plentiful this year

[tree monkey]

16 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

The sloes looked plentiful this year

And I haven't collected any again this year, the other half treats my sloe gin as her own personal "poorly" medication 

[alias]

5 minutes ago, tree monkey said:

And I haven't collected any again this year, the other half treats my sloe gin as her own personal "poorly" medication 

 

So that must mean she's not going to be poorly this year. Result! 😁

[tree monkey]

6 minutes ago, alias said:

 

So that must mean she's not going to be poorly this year. Result! 😁

I have at least 4ltrs of old stuff left but don't tell her or she will be poorly at lot

[ditchcrawler]

25 minutes ago, tree monkey said:

I have at least 4ltrs of old stuff left but don't tell her or she will be poorly at lot

We didn't need any this year, it would have been easy

 

[BlueStringPudding]

15 hours ago, tree monkey said:

And I haven't collected any again this year, the other half treats my sloe gin as her own personal "poorly" medication 

It is!

 

And don't blame me, it was prescribed by Dr. M. Onkey, and is a miracle cure-all. 

14 hours ago, tree monkey said:

I have at least 4ltrs of old stuff left but don't tell her or she will be poorly at lot

 

Only 4 litres! 😲

[Athy]

23 hours ago, Naughty Cal said:

 

 

Currently working our way through the mountain of chillies as well.

I love spicy food, so about four years ago I planted some little chilli plants in the greenhouse. Watered them, watched them grow up into strong healthy plants with lots of fruit (or whatever chillies are) on them. At last the time came tp sample one; they were scotch bonnet, which pack a punch, so I nibbled very gingerly at one.

No heat - not one iota. It was like gnawing a raw green bean. They were all the same. We did pluck them and put them in a jar with vinegar, but they were frankly so boring that after a while we chucked most of them away.

I haven't planted any since.

[tree monkey]

5 minutes ago, Athy said:

I love spicy food, so about four years ago I planted some little chilli plants in the greenhouse. Watered them, watched them grow up into strong healthy plants with lots of fruit (or whatever chillies are) on them. At last the time came tp sample one; they were scotch bonnet, which pack a punch, so I nibbled very gingerly at one.

No heat - not one iota. It was like gnawing a raw green bean. They were all the same. We did pluck them and put them in a jar with vinegar, but they were frankly so boring that after a while we chucked most of them away.

I haven't planted any since.

The sorta father in law grew some a few years ago and they were tiny and apparently packed a punch, it was decided I should be the victim so I was handed one whilst the other half's family all watched me waiting for the expected sweating, hiccups, crying and beating of my chest...

Nothing, absolutely nothing, the disappointment was obvious 

[Naughty Cal]

24 minutes ago, Athy said:

I love spicy food, so about four years ago I planted some little chilli plants in the greenhouse. Watered them, watched them grow up into strong healthy plants with lots of fruit (or whatever chillies are) on them. At last the time came tp sample one; they were scotch bonnet, which pack a punch, so I nibbled very gingerly at one.

No heat - not one iota. It was like gnawing a raw green bean. They were all the same. We did pluck them and put them in a jar with vinegar, but they were frankly so boring that after a while we chucked most of them away.

I haven't planted any since.

We planted four varieties with varying hotness. The hottest Rat Turds, pack a mean punch. They are super hot.

 

Unfortunately Liam has mixed all the others up in a bowl and they all look pretty similar (the rat turds are very small so pretty obvious which they are) but some are really mild and others are very hot. So it is a bit of chilli roulette when I'm cooking at the moment. 

[peterboat]

33 minutes ago, Athy said:

I love spicy food, so about four years ago I planted some little chilli plants in the greenhouse. Watered them, watched them grow up into strong healthy plants with lots of fruit (or whatever chillies are) on them. At last the time came tp sample one; they were scotch bonnet, which pack a punch, so I nibbled very gingerly at one.

No heat - not one iota. It was like gnawing a raw green bean. They were all the same. We did pluck them and put them in a jar with vinegar, but they were frankly so boring that after a while we chucked most of them away.

I haven't planted any since.

 

23 minutes ago, tree monkey said:

The sorta father in law grew some a few years ago and they were tiny and apparently packed a punch, it was decided I should be the victim so I was handed one whilst the other half's family all watched me waiting for the expected sweating, hiccups, crying and beating of my chest...

Nothing, absolutely nothing, the disappointment was obvious 

You have to stress chilies otherwise they are flavourless, ie miss watering out to make them droop a bit before watering.  I did this and nearly killed a neighbour who borrowed some 🤣

[tree monkey]

3 minutes ago, peterboat said:

 

You have to stress chilies otherwise they are flavourless, ie miss watering out to make them droop a bit before watering.  I did this and nearly killed a neighbour who borrowed some 🤣

Which funnily enough helps improve the taste of tomatoes as well

[Naughty Cal]

13 minutes ago, peterboat said:

 

You have to stress chilies otherwise they are flavourless, ie miss watering out to make them droop a bit before watering.  I did this and nearly killed a neighbour who borrowed some 🤣

Probably why ours are so bloody hot this year then. 

 

They have definitely been stressed. 🤣🤣🤣

[peterboat]

1 minute ago, Naughty Cal said:

Probably why ours are so bloody hot this year then. 

 

They have definitely been stressed. 🤣🤣🤣

All those weeks away in a van 🤣

[Naughty Cal]

9 minutes ago, peterboat said:

All those weeks away in a van 🤣

Yep. They looked almost dead when we came back from Scotland after 16 days away 🤣🤣🤣

[ditchcrawler]

I'm stressed, maybe I should ask the misses if I'm hot or not