Showing posts with label achocha. Show all posts
Showing posts with label achocha. Show all posts

Friday, 21 January 2011

Grape in the ground

Last weekend I finally planted my grape plant that had been in the greenhouse. It had been in a pot all Summer but it had been a lot of hard work watering it.

It had 2 stems growing out of the pot so I removed the pot and put the spade down the middle to split the plant in half. The smallest section went back in to the pot, visible in the bottom right hand corner of the picture with some more compost/soil mix. The larger plant went in to the ground. I had already dug a whole and broke it up at the bottom, I added a hand full of bone,blood and fish meal. It went in with no problem and then I filled in the spaces down the side with soil. The plants was already being trained down wires on either side. Fingers crossed for more grapes this year. this variety is unknown and was grown from seed by my uncle in the 70ies. I have a Boskoop Glory planted outside


My wiki on growing this grape during the Summer of 2010

This is a quick shot of a dead Achocha "Fat Baby" plant killed by frost. It produced well but did not grow as well as other years. I need to remove the plant to the compost heap



My wiki on growing Achocha Fat baby from seed

This a "Helens Welsh Siberian Bunching Onion". I grew it last year and it is like a spring onion and you pull it when ready but unlike spring onions as long as you leave one in the ground it will bunch up and grow more at the side of the original plant. Useful. I grew it in pots last year and it grew well but I never got round to trying it. It is already starting to grow again so hopefully some early salad. I will planting some in the ground though this year and I hope it will spread




This is the strawberry patch at around 5pm this evening, still frost on the ground. A very cold day.



The weather in Wakefield today is cold and dry.


Sunday, 26 September 2010

What does Achocha Fat Baby look like?

Due to a request to see an achocha up close and personal. Here it is

This first picture is 6 fruit/vegetables/ not quite sure and a 1 pound coin for size comparison. I fry them like peppers or they can be used in a stir fry I am told

1 plant can be very productive although this year has not been as good as previous year for production 


This second shot is the inside of a Fat baby achocha. showing the seeds. They are small and black and very fertile. I tend to put 4 or 5 seeds in and 4 or 5 plants out.


Weather here in Wakefield, England today has been cold and windy. Nights are cold.




Thursday, 23 September 2010

Looking round the garden....

Checking round the garden...

The Achocha "Fat Baby" has grown lots in the last 4 weeks and there are now produce on the vine ready to pick. Will have to take photo and post the little things as they are interesting to look at



I cut down the Jerusalem Artichokes yesterday to the floor as they were hitting 10ft on the door and aiming at falling over. When I dig them up I will post choke pictures. Strawberry runners are in the background and hedge trimming in the fore which I use for mulch



The grapes in the greenhouse are starting to ripen. Wippeee. I was worried that they wouldn't ripen but they are starting to become translucent and I have tried one or two and they have a hint of sweetness about them.



Weather here in Wakefield, England today has been wet and rainy. Nights are cold.



Sunday, 8 August 2010

A big update.....

Havent posted for a few weeks, so here is an update on most plants in the garden and one or two developments


the poached egg plants are growing very well planted underneath the victoria plum tree. it is full flower.


The Achocha plant "fat baby" is growing quickly too up the fence but I thought it would have made more coverage by now so I am a little disappointed.  It does have flower starting to show



The self sown Calendula has lots of growth but only a few flowers. there have been about 6 or 7 so far but there are more buds showing too. It is hard to tell on the photograph. This pot is entirely self sown from I think one plant last year



As I started blogging today, the cat was keeping a close eye. His favourite position is on the desk. nice and in an unmanly fashion quite cute I suppose



This is a shot of the lettuce "Chrystal", it is a nice tasting variety but it is sown as a pick and come again variety, I kind of is but it has started forming very lose heads but I can still pick individual leaves. We are looking after a tortoise at the moment and he or might be a she absolutely loves this stuff!!!! I am feeding the tortoise, lettuce, chard, chives, strawberries (see later entry) and rocket (all from the garden). The lettuce and strawberries win hands down.


 I have 2 plums on the Dennistons superb plum tree and these are 2 of those fruit. They look the part and I cant wait to try them. There are lots more on the Victoria


A little bit of wildlife has appeared in the garden in the last couple of weeks. 2 adult frogs have populated my half barrel pond. I am very happy about this as they eat slugs. On the whole the wildlife with in the garden has been greet this year with lots of different type of hover flies making making an appearance and plenty of birds on the feeders  



These are 4 cuttings I have taken from the red desert gooseberry bush. I took 4 8inch cuttings. stripped the leaves of the bottom 6inch and stuck in the ground. Apparently this is the right time of year for taking this type of cutting and only time will tell if they are successful. watch this space as they say


 The grape vine in the greenhouse is growing nicely. It is still in a flower bucket and I am training it along a wire or two, you can also see the grapes in this shot, which are still very firm. I do not know the variety if the vine as it was a seed grown by my uncle who passed away in 1973 I think before I was even born. This is a cutting from his original vine. I have had the grapes before and they are very nice when ripe


 The kiwano plants are doing nicely. The shot on the left is one plant in the garden. The shot on the right is two plants in the greenhouse. The green house plants have small kiwano on them as can be seen from the bottom shot. I am still very unsure if they will make any sort of fruit or not.




 This is the kiwi plant "Boskoop " i have moved it to a larger pot and it looks great. I think though for it to do really well and produce fruit it needs to go in the ground. I am still pondering that one.


 These are my raspberry canes "glen ample" I have had lots of fruit from them this year and they tasted delicious. I think I enjoyed them more than the strawberries which is saying some thing. They will be getting trimmed back shortly


 This is spare beekeeping equipment I have been aquiring. There is 6 brood boxes here, a lid and 2 floors, 1 solid and 1 varoa, hopfully it will all get used next year. fingers crossed.



 Planted a couple of buckets a couple of weeks back. They were 2 spuds that had sprouted in the bag, so hopefully I will be having new potatoes for Christmas dinner. when it starts to get cold, I will put them in the greenhouse for extra protection



These are an alpine strawberry "Mignonetto" is the variety. I am very impressed with them as they are still producing lots of small tasty strawberries. I love picking them before I go in the house after coming in from work. I have also found that the tortoise loves strawberries.



The june bearing strawberries that I have are producing runners. Any with any roots on are being removed and potted on in the bottom half of 2litre milk carton pots.


This is one of the 5 I think tomato plants I have outside. This variety is called "green Zebra" and get this, they stay green, well they go a little yellow when ripe but still more green than yellow.




Weather in Wakefield, England today. nice, not to warm but not cold and sunny. a great day really.

Friday, 11 June 2010

Buzzy bees every where

Planted the Achocha Fat Baby next to the fence and it looks fantastic, I am very happy with it. I have 5 others in 1litre pots though and I dont know what I am going to do with them



When I planted the achocha in its "usual" spot, I noticed all the self seeds from last year produce that didnt get picked. Not to big but they are growing and growing very well. I will monitor to see how they do



Lots of the Bees in the garden this evening, spotted maybe 9 or 10 seperate bees. They were on the raspberries "Jonkheer van tets", the chives and the Catmint "Nepeta Racemosa"







Pulled a radish "Oriental Rosa 2" tonight. It tasted well like a radish... superb and peppery, this one was grown in a tub, pulled out as a smooth as a hot knife through butter and a quick wash from the hose and it was ready





Weather report - sunny day, Wakefield, England, lots of bees in the garden tonight. Dont know which type of bees but not honey bees.


Tuesday, 1 June 2010

Achocha... bless you

the  Achocha plant is growing very well. I grow have grown one every year for the past 3. The variety I grow is called "fat baby"

Shortly this will be planted against the fence, as it is an avid climber


Check out my Achocha growing guide here

I have planted my peas in a tub with some 6ft canes. This is Bijou variety. They are all growing quickly and I am happy with their progress. This is the first year I have grown pea's




Tuesday, 25 May 2010

Fat Babies and Chives

The chives and looking great and have come in to flower nicely. So far this year depsite having 3 clumps, I have hardly had any fresh chives at all




The lemon balm is growing well too and so far no sign of rust. I will keep watching as it always seems to appear. Maybe the very cold winter has got rid of the rust


This is one of Achocha plants "fat baby" is the variety and it is coming along nicely. I am very happy with it. Once it goes against the fence it will go bonkers. Just like normal