Plum Jam

Made my first jar of plum jam this year, using the plums from my tree at home. It's a bit thick / hard though, not sure what I did wrong yet - I made it in the microwave and didn't measure anything - might have overboiled it or used too much sugar or lemon juice - will be a bit more careful with the next batch.

I used about a pound of plums, stoned them, microwaved for about 5 minutes with a big splash of lemon juice. Added a large cup of sugar and stirred it in. Then microwaved for another 12 minutes. My microwave is quite powerful so it boiled for quite a long time.

My son isn't normally keen on jam, but he loves it - he said I could make a fortune if I make enough and sell it! Maybe the taste of the jam is enough to encourage him to pick plums for me?!

Plum Tree Identification

Had a couple of pounds of plums from the plum tree in my garden. Not sure what variety it is but makes lovely jam and crumbles. Plums look blue on the tree, but it's like a powdery coating that rubs off when the plums are handled, leaving a dark reddish/purple skin.

There are several varieties of blue plums like Czar, but according to various websites, they're not due to fruit yet. Maybe the heatwave we had a few weeks back caused them to fruit early?

Czar type plum left, is that cherry plum on the right?

Found a plum tree up the road loaded with smaller red plums and red leaves. I can't find any matching pictures on the internet - would be handy to know what variety it is. Others have guessed it's called a red cherry plum - the plums are a cherry red colour so maybe that's it?

There are several of these trees planted out in the street and neighbouring streets, so could have a massive haul of plums. First come first served!

Allotment Update

Not much change since the last visit, but feeling more positive.

A couple of brassicas have survived the pigeons - I have loads more in pots and modules at home ready to be planted out, so will get some canes and netting and get them planted out on the allotment soon.

Pulled up the last of the autumn sown onions - really good size - need stringing up

Picked 3 courgettes - loads more growing - I have never cooked or used courgettes, but have had them in lasagne before, so will find a use for them soon.

First pumpkin growing - about the size of a large cooking apple.

No cucumbers yet, but 3 of the 4 ridge cucumber plants are still there.

Potatoes need digging up - all the foliage has died off - I did try digging but no hope, my knees wouldn't let me - will try and get my son up there for a few hours.

The celery I planted a few weeks back is still there - doesn't look like it's grown tho.

Might get lucky with a couple of sweetcorn. It's mostly gone to seed, but there are some tassles showing so there are a couple of cobs growing. Might also get lucky with a bit of beetroot - can just make out some purplish leaves among the weeds.

As I'm getting fitter, garden veggie patch is improving and I can get up to allotment more easily, so will catch up. Just so much work to do up there!

Feeling Fruity!

Doing quite well with fruit so far this year

The pear tree in my garden looks like it's dying now, only a handful of pears on it, all the leaves on one side have turned yellow and curled.

The small cooking apple tree at home isn't producing this year, nor are the apple and pear trees on the allotment. Next door neighbour says we can have the cooking apples off his tree this year - we'll peel, slice and freeze as much as we can, crumbles all year round!

The plum tree at home is doing ok - 15 plums today - maybe enough for a small plum crumble for me and my girlfriend. Normally get them too late cos they ripen very quickly then get attacked by wasps. Must remember to prune it this winter. Have 2 plum trees on the allotment - didn't see plums last time I was there, but will check again tomorrow. Have found a couple of plum trees down our street - planted by the council in the grass verges - more freebies!

Loganberries doing ok - only had a dozen or so each week from the canes that grew last year, but loads of new canes have grown so should get loads next year.

Raspberries on allotment are poor, but home canes are growing like mad. It's almost all new growth this year, so will fruit next year. The dogs chewed through most of the canes that grew last year, but had a few good sized raspberries from the 3 canes that survived.

Rhubarb is doing really well - got 1 crown doing well in the ground, another 5 in buckets (4 from Su), and all growing well - will plant the crowns out properly over the winter.

Neighbour on allotment gave us some grape vines earlier this year - I planted them around Feb/March - they're growing well, not going to get fruit just yet tho.

Strawberries - all the plants seemed to dry up in the recent heatwave, no new strawberries.

Inability to keep weeds under control means parts of the garden are overrun with blackberry brambles. Will pick the blackberries before cutting the whole lot back and trying to kill it all off. Or might keep a couple of canes somewhere they won't get in the way!

Blueberry plants given to me a couple of months back have all died - they were left indoors too long, waiting for a friend to collect, which she changed her mind about, and they just didn't recover. Might get some more another time.

And also got a redcurrant bush, blackcurrant bush and 2 gooseberry bushes on the allotment, plus 3 gooseberry bushes at home, all finished fruiting recently, all picked and frozen.

And elderberries growing like mad at the bottom of the garden - hopefully will get enough to make some wine or something!

Size Matters!

I've got a big thick 9 incher! Cucumber that is .....

Found a large cucumber hiding away in the greenhouse under a large leaf. Several smaller ones growing too.

Tomatoes are doing well. The ones in the greenhouse are much bigger and better than the outside ones. Have pinched them all out as much as I can, loads of flowers, lots of small baby size green tomatoes, nothing turning red yet.

Peppers also doing well, again, better in the greenhouse than outside. Flower buds forming, no flowers or peppers just yet though.

The drip feeding system is great, saves me a lot of time.

Still have various other plants in the greenhouse. Will get aubergines / butternut squash and others potted on or planted out soon.

The Weeds Are Doing Well !!

Still struggling with the arthritis - been more mobile, but had work and housework to catch up on as well as garden and allotment.

Did loads of weeding in the veggie patch at home this week. Have bagged up about 5 sacks of weeds. Thistles were 4-5 feet tall (you can just about see thistles in the potato bed in the pic on the left) and the ground was covered in a small leafed weed, not sure what it was.

All the garlic has disappeared without trace - presumed either eaten by slugs or strangled by weeds. Most of the broccoli and caluliflower ran to seed - I did manage to cut one of each that was usable, so not quite a total loss. All the spinach and most of the lettuce has finished so been pulled up.

The peas were dying off so pulled all them up too. Last year the Kelvedon Wonder grew to about 2ft tall, so the support "fence" I put up was only 2ft high. This year I planted Kelvedon Wonder one side, Rondo the other. The Rondo grew to about 4ft tall and flopped over. Good news is they had pods twice the size of Kelvedon Wonder and twice as many pods, so 4 x the peas I got from KW. Had 2 large pans full so far, all blanched and frozen.

The broad beans were destroyed by blackfly. Blackfly has also attacked the runner beans - see pic on the left with red flowers - I've sprayed them with ordinary bug spray a couple of times but not sure it's helped. Disappointing after the first lot of runners died and this lot are just touching the top of the wigwam and have started flowering. French beans are half way up the wigwam, not touched by blackfly yet, no flowers yet.

Bit disappointed with the potato yield from the patio tubs, but have had enough for several meals. Last night had 3 varieties of new potatoes with dinner - lovely - if only I could remember which was which!

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Have some vacant space on the legumes / salad bed (pic on left), and peas growing in modules in the greenhouse. Will build a solid frame for the peas with 2x1 timber and chicken wire and get that set up next week. The frame will be movable so I can resite it each year. Must sow some more lettuce and spinach

I also have vacant space in the brassicas bed, and loads of broccoli / PSB etc in small pots, so will get that planted out next week.

Damn heatwave

We've had a heatwave here for the last week - temperatures due to hit 32C today - and we haven't had much rain at all over the last few weeks - due thunderstorms and heavy rain tomorrow.

At home, I've taken all the small seedlings out of the greenhouse - only peppers, tomatoes and a few spare plants are left inside. I'm hosing the whole lot down every day.

The outdoor veggies are suffering - spinach, some lettuce and various broccoli/calabrese have run to seed - some other lettuce and broccoli are still ok. Having a sprinkler set up semi-permanently definitely helps, as does using weed control sheeting under the brassicas (stops the ground drying out too quickly) . The sprinkler doesn't reach the fruit bed though, and some strawberry plants look like they've died.

The allotment is in very poor shape - I haven't been able to get up there as much as I wanted due to the arthritis, so weeds and heat have taken their toll. Sweetcorn has run to seed, not even 2ft tall. I've lost one of the cucumbers and the peas didn't come up. The raspberries seem to have dried out and strawberries look dead. Carrots and beetroot have been lost in the weeds. The pigeons have eaten most of the brassicas, including the ones I planted a week or so back - I did net them, but the netting fell over, leaving a gap for pigeons to get in. The foliage on the spuds has died back, so they can be dug up whenever I'm able to dig.

On the plus side, I've had a fairly good haul of fruit, mainly from the allotment - several tubs of gooseberries, 3 tubs of redurrants, a tub of raspberries and a tub of loganberries. I'll have plenty more loganberries from home. The raspberries on the allotment are summer fruiting varieties, while the raspberries at home are autumn fruiting. I also found a blackcurrant bush under the weeds on the allotment - there is fruit on it, so must clear that when I get a chance.

I was given 3 blueberry bushes recently - they are little more than twigs with a few leaves and are very dry so are on the kitchen windowsill to get some TLC - not sure when to plant them out yet, but I do have a patch to grow them in at home.

Not forgetting the plum trees, rhubarb, apple trees and elderberry trees, I should get loads more fruit for wine and crumbles and things ........