Very ingenious Bongo,dont they callthat guerilla gardening?  I seem to be experimenting with my cooking as a result of the produce available.  Just put home grown onion and tomato into a bolognese... Not so unusual, but also radish, shallots and broad beans, with toro rosso lettuce on the side.

Never tried cooking lettuce Rob, but have heard it is OK cooked.

Let us know if it's any good, would expect it to be like spinach as you suggest or Swiss chard (spinach beet)

Youve convinced me gents, prob not that recipe BB(dont tend to buy chicken) but will follow their advice and just chuck in a few leaves of these(enormous) toro rossos in my next chilli or bolognese or stew or whatever, might even just steam them and serve on the side with bangers and mash with gravy on top.

Ha ha, i dont even know my own produce - yes lolo rosso just shredded a few leaves and chucked them in the remaining bolognese, after twenty mins stewing.  Was fine.  This is a revelation, will try similar with the remaining two.  I alwo have a couple of green lettuce that have over grown now.. Kind of turned into pagoda like towers, instead of round ones smilar to supermarket.  Might be too much of a punt to cook them, but shall give it a go I think.

I saw Jack's post above after checking out the action on Politics and thought he'd harvested two racists at first reading. Then washed and topped them and had a better experience than the royals.

Radishes - good work.

I had no idea, other than slicing them up with a salad, so have Googled and just found 48 recipes for radishes on one site - you can even grill them!

http://allrecipes.com/recipes/fruits-and-vegetables/vegetables/radishes/main.aspx?Page=1#recipes

I am not a big salad person.  Think I shall just chuck them into anything I am cooking... Chilli, bolognese, cottage pie,stew, anything basically.

These overripe lollorosso lettuce are going the same way, gonna eat them like spinach.

and no won mentioned some rain arrived this week

I've been watering every night apart from one over the past 3 weeks. I have a drip hose on all of my potatoes and turnips/swedes but not enough pipe to do the full patch.

Radish seed pods are good to eat too. Pick them while they are young and juicy, they have a fresh peppery taste. Each plant will set hundreds of pods.

666, A mate told me they had soaking hoses in Poundland - so I had a look.

Indeed they do.  They are plastic and 6m long and cost, err, a pound.  No idea if they are any good though or how long they might last.

One thing I didn't realise previously was how colourful some of the veg can be.  The flowers on the courgettes are amazingly big and bright yellow - just for one day usually.  Strawberries have done well.  Orange flowers on the runner beans.  Reds of the beetroot and radishes poking through...

I do appreciate all the help from more experienced veg gardeners on here.

I have a bit of space in the plot.  Any tips on what we should be planting now.

Thanks, Delta! - will nip up the garden shortly to munch one!

Jack,
Still time to sow seed of quick growing veg such as radish, turnips, peas (choose a mildew resistant variety such as Boogie), spring onions and beetroot (will be baby beet but very acceptable).

Good time to take cuttings from any bushy plants you fancy (I nip off a few sprigs as I walk past - naughty but nice)and either stand them in water to root or pot them up immediately. Keeping a plastic bag in your pocket to pop them in helps keep them fresh until you get home.

If you are considering planting turnips then you should really plant swedes.

They are frost resistant whereas turnips are not. So you can be eating them very late into the season

It may be a little late but you can still pick them at Christmas - so they may not be as big as turnips but they are more hardy.

I usually do a small crop of turnips and 3 times as many swedes. Eat the turnips first and then have no worry about the swedes with the cold weather.

I dont plant swedes until this time of the year, and actually down as last saturdays job moved to this w/e due to heat!

they come fine around Xmas / New Year time which is when I want them, seasonal...


tbf i do keep them under abit of fleece so probably speeds them up abit

A tip for spuds - keep all your small ones and re-plant them in a patch so you know where they are.

Then next spring, dig them up and plant them again in their new spots. They are going up in price every year so it helps.

I usually plant around 4 varieties so they cross pollinate and you get some interesting combinations the following seasons.

You've convinced me. I'll be sowing swedes tomorrow.
Thanks for your help.