The FastDay Forum

@Sallyo the snow peas are finished and we have had a few broad beans with lots coming on. There's lots if kale which we love as kale chips. We have eaten all the kipfler potatoes and have planted some others that had sprouted in the cupboard. Also planted more leeks and spring onions and will do lettuce soon.
The tomatoes sound good but hubby refuses to plant any, I think he has nightmares of being a kid and having to plant paddocks full.

[carieoates]

As our plants finish and wither, it's lovely to see our friends down south are getting into their growing season.
I have huge tomatoes sitting there waiting to ripen.
Cues finished, courgettes done and French beans were a disaster due to a very windy few days.
Chillies in my greenhouse are big and green, so will leave them in there to "red up".
Think I will move my aubergines into the green house as they are flowering again but no fruit yet. Think my chook ate the last few.

Monty Don, on Gardeners World ( hugely popular TV gardening programme in the UK), said that, now it's the end of the season, we need to cut all the leaves off our tomatoes if we still had green ones waiting to ripen. Yesterday I did just that and my greenhouse now looks very strange! I only grow small tomatoes, yellow and red, and they look like jewels hanging on their vines. I must say, it does make them easier to pick when you don't have to fight through the foliage. I have just picked the last cucumber and, as for the pepper, it just hasn't performed. Perhaps it needs planting earlier or in a sunnier spot in the greenhouse. I spent yesterday pulling up purple loose strife, nettles and bindweed from one of my hugely neglected borders. I only managed about four square metres and there's still lots more to do! Better go and get on with it!

@wildmissus: I have a shady spot under the peach tree, and I grow lettuce and coriander there. But that's in summer.

Good idea, cutting off the leaves of tomatoes in the last stages. The leaves can get a bit diseased looking and having more air around the fruit has to be good.

I love the world view. And the idea of 'borders'. It's so English. We just call it 'the garden'. I love lavender hedges. We had one when I was a little girl in the first house we lived in. My sister and I used to give bunches of lavender to passers by - it must have been so cute.

I garden! We actually have a farm/orchard as well and I'm really into edible perennials. My gardens did really well this year and we are going to have a bumper apple crop

Hi, I need to know about kale chips, @wineoclock please, any way to get a bit of greenery into DS is worth a try ! We're still suffering from tomato fatigue here, and the sweet corn is yummy ... We managed to get it before the badgers this time ! I googled "snow peas" as they sound yummy, and discovered they are our mangetout / sugar snap peas and we never have a glut of those as they get eaten before they make it to the kitchen. Nice to hear of sprouting and new growth going on down under while our garden is dying back now.

My garden is very much a work in progress so no pics at the moment - have been fighting a battle with bindweed for the 12 years we have lived here and have now removed all plants from that bed and am spraying it with glyphosphate for as long as it takes to get rid of it properly then that area is going to become grass as we have created a new, central flower bed by filling in the pond, which was in too much sun and was constantly like pea soup. We hope to create a new, wildlife pond in a shadier corner in the future. Pleased with my pots of busy lizzie and hanging baskets this year though. We are kept well-supplied with fruit and veg by my uncle who has a large garden and grows lots of veg, tomatoes, cucumbers, and has plums, apples, pears, walnuts, all sorts of berries and cherries - we are very spoilt!

@mrstee kale chips are easy and very yummy. Use any kale or cavalo Nero, tear the leaves up if they are big. Lay them on an oven tray and sprinkle with salt rub in olive oil and bake in a moderate oven until crispy. They take about 10 minutes but check them regularly after 8 as they are quick to go from crisp to burnt. If you like chilli then sprinkle with chilli flakes before cooking.

Anyone else in the UK having problems with badgers at the moment. They have been digging up any freshly planted plants and also making holes all over the lawn in search of worms and grubs. We had a similar problem this time last year although not so bad. After a bit of research on the internet I have been scattering chopped up hot chillis in the vulnerable areas and that does seem to have slowed them up a bit. I am not so concerned about the grass which will grow again but my poor plants!

If removing tomato greenery and pinching any new growth doesn't help the green toms just put them in a paper bag with an apple and they will ripen.

I love tomatoes but do not have the dedication to look after them properly so I have to keep buying them

Next year @Lil just try one plant in a deep pot perhaps next to the back door. You can't forget about it because you have to walk by it. A home grown tomato has superlative flavor next to store bought. Well worth the effort I think.

I think I don't water them enough and they taste powdery. I did have some success with cherry tomatoes last year but the crop wasn't great. I do eat a lot of tomatoes so one plant wouldn't get me very far but I am sure you are right about the flavour

I'm not too proud to admit that I weeded a flower bed the other day and got just a plantpot full of weeds off it - last time I did it it had been very neglected and I filled the wheelie bin just from the one bed! Just goes to show the importance of keeping on top of things!

I am so excited about the garden at the moment but I am at work and can't write a proper post because I've got too many other pressing jobs, but later today, I'm going to drop back and tell you all about our exciting new project!