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Gardening resources and tips, etc.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby PatsyMFagan » Fri Sep 10, 2021 9:11 pm

I think I posted a pic on here of the two dahlias I planted earlier in the year showing the damage caused by slugs, leaving just a bare skeleton of leaf ribs....

Look what has popped up from the base of one of the destroyed stems ... some more shoots. Now need to find out how to treat them ...(answers on a post card ;) )

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I also found this little beauty had decided to pop it's head up today ... I have no recollection of planting these (there are about 3 flowering stems ) .. Crocosmia perhaps ?


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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby slimpersoninside » Fri Sep 10, 2021 11:02 pm

After no plants this summer due to being away during August I'm excessively pleased with myself having just ordered the first packet of seeds for next year.

I think I need to get out more :oops: :lol: !

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby herbidacious » Sat Sep 11, 2021 12:02 am

I love getting new seed.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby scullion » Sat Sep 11, 2021 11:32 am

i had put about £50 worth of seed in the basket, on the chiltern seed site this spring, before realising that i needed none of them. seed buying can be addictive.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby herbidacious » Sat Sep 11, 2021 11:37 am

I have too much seed... about 5 tins of it. Will have to do a seed audit (for dates) at some point.

Yes, it doesn't feel that expensive but they add up.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby KeenCook2 » Sat Sep 11, 2021 5:09 pm

The tomatillo harvest is pretty much coming to an end now, I think there'll only be a handful of ripe fruit now. Those of you who've frozen them, I read that the best thing to do is to take the husky things off, wash off the sticky stuff, let them dry and then freeze them in a single layer.

Is that what you do?

I also read that unripe fruit are toxic? Does that mean I shouldn't freeze the very small ones that fell off before they filled out their lantern thingies?

We had never eaten tomatillo salsa and so had no idea if the one I made a few weeks ago tasted remotely authentic. I bought some in a jar from Waitrose that arrived today. It's underwhelming. It's supposed to be the real deal, called Gran Luchito https://www.waitrose.com/ecom/products/ ... 914-600915

As it was on a multibuy offer, we've also got a jar of the red one. Neither of us is very good with too much chilli so we didn't want anything too hot, but the green one is really disappointing.

Edited to add that it was the bought one that was disappointing, not the one we made, which was delicious - we were just very curious about what a bought one would taste like. There isn't anywhere round here where it would be made on the premises - there was a cheap and cheerful Mexican place not that far away but it closed down - even before covid struck.
Last edited by KeenCook2 on Sat Sep 11, 2021 8:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Sloe-Gin » Sat Sep 11, 2021 6:45 pm

I found it really cold this afternoon (16C) and so I shut the greenhouse doors (after watering). I didn't do the jobs I wanted in there, so guess where you'll find me in the morning.
You haven't sold me on the tomatillos, so do I waste money on seed, compost etc and forego a tomato space or two to grow them? Methinks not.
Hub is making some planters for the front garden. He's really taking an interest since he's been off sick. Wants to do successional plantings of bulbs - not my area of expertise, so any suggestions will be welcome. The planters will be painted charcoal grey.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby KeenCook2 » Sat Sep 11, 2021 6:59 pm

Ha, Sloe, the tomatillos are wonderful in the recipe they were grown for - scallops with citrus and beans - and our own tomatillo salsa was a lot nicer then the one we bought to try.

We had it on baked salmon and it was lovely.

I would definitely say yes - of course, I'm dependent on Herbi growing them from seed for me again - but if I were you I would definitely give them a space :thumbsup

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Linnet » Sat Sep 11, 2021 7:48 pm

PatsyMFagan wrote:
I also found this little beauty had decided to pop it's head up today ... I have no recollection of planting these (there are about 3 flowering stems ) .. Crocosmia perhaps ?


crocosmia.jpg


Think it is schitzostylus (sp) commonly known as kaffir lily. My FIL used to have a lot of them and gave me some, but they didn't like my chalky soil.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Stokey Sue » Sat Sep 11, 2021 8:15 pm

I think you are right, Schizostylis aka K lily, I was in South Africa over their winter and the Bloemfontein botanical gardens were full of them

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Badger's Mate » Sat Sep 11, 2021 10:20 pm

KC2 - Tomatillos here are either frozen as you suggest or roasted before freezing.

Mine are just starting to produce but there should be plenty to freeze. A few have popped up in the cabbage patch. I've just left them to get on with it. :)

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby PatsyMFagan » Sat Sep 11, 2021 11:21 pm

thanks for the ID . :thumbsup .... I wonder where they came from ? Not something I ever recall buying

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby herbidacious » Sun Sep 12, 2021 5:38 pm

I'd be happy to grow some for you again next year, KC2. I haven't made use o mine enough really. I should make some right now but if we are going away we probably won't get through it.

I am not making use of my chillis enough either. Wondering whether to freeze them or try to dry them.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Sloe-Gin » Mon Sep 13, 2021 5:25 pm

I have lifted the garlic (mixed results, some plump, others not so) and left them in the greenhouse to dry. Seeing as they weren't planted till Feb, they've done well.
Another good haul of toms and courgettes again.
Next, earth up the remining spuds.
Geranium cuttings started, too. Been a good afternoon.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby KeenCook2 » Mon Sep 13, 2021 6:26 pm

Badger's Mate wrote:KC2 - Tomatillos here are either frozen as you suggest or roasted before freezing.

Thanks, BM.

I think I'll make a roasted salsa verde with some and maybe try freezing some of that, as well as freeze some uncooked. I'm planning another couple of the delicious scallop, bean, tomatillo and citrus suppers and that'll be it!

Thank you Herbi, yes please :thumbsup

Badger's Mate wrote:Mine are just starting to produce but there should be plenty to freeze. A few have popped up in the cabbage patch. I've just left them to get on with it.


Do you live in the frozen North? Or perhaps, Herbi, ours were just very precocious!

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Badger's Mate » Tue Sep 14, 2021 8:08 pm

Do you live in the frozen North?


East Hertfordshire, neither frozen nor North, unless your frame of reference is the Lea valley. :D

I usually get the tomatillos started in plant plug trays after I've got the chillies or tomatoes out. They've just taken their time this year.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Sloe-Gin » Tue Sep 14, 2021 8:57 pm

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Last tomatoes.jpg
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September

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby ZeroCook » Wed Sep 15, 2021 7:22 am

.

I've never heard of unripe tomatillos being toxic KC2. They're quite commonly sold pretty green, though not completely unripe, and quite sour/tart especially at the beginning of the summer. Having said that, I looked around online and there seems to be a ton of alarmist content about unripe tomatillos being toxic and likewise very green tomatoes and tomato leaves etc. The toxin is good old solanum which is found to a greater or lesser extent in all of the nightshade/solanum plant family including the shoots of potatoes when they start to sprout. I also found a blog where the blogger eats tomato leaves to no ill effect and points out cultural food/veg beliefs and conventions about what is eaten and not eaten. I didn't see any conclusive reports or studies about unripe tomatillo toxicity - perhaps I needed to scroll down more pages of listings ...

That said, the very small tomatillos that fell of the plants may or may not be worth freezing in any case. If they're full and juicy, I'd freeze them. If not and still very hard I wouldn't really bother. When freezing, I usually throw them into small freezer bags husks and all. Gives an extra layer between them and stops them sticking together. Freezing roasted is good, too.

Good garden vibes, Sloe Gin. Hesperantha or schizostylus also known as Cape lily or painted lady - my grandparents grew them in the Cape.

Word to the wise and note re the the K-word, which is the the apartheid SA equivalent of the N-word: " It is sometimes known in cultivation as "Kaffir lily" (a term considered offensive in South Africa).[5] The same derogatory name is also applied to the genus Hesperantha (formerly Schizostylis).".

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Suffs » Wed Sep 15, 2021 9:23 am

Worth noting that ‘K’ lime leaves are now sold in the UK as Makrut lime leaves.

The ‘K’ Lily is more often referred to nowadays as the Natal lily or Clivia Miniata.

:)

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby PatsyMFagan » Wed Sep 15, 2021 9:27 am

You beat me to it Suffs .... I did wonder about the K word used in the context of the limes too :thumbsup

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