Advice for a hopeless gardener

Food, Nutrition and Agriculture
Frnc
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Joined: Sat Mar 12, 2022 1:54 pm

Re: Advice for a hopeless gardener

Post by Frnc »

Note that Poison Hemlock is a member of the carrot family. Has a nasty smell though.
jennyjj01
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Joined: Sun Jun 04, 2017 11:09 pm

Re: Advice for a hopeless gardener

Post by jennyjj01 »

Frnc wrote: Tue Jun 14, 2022 11:49 am Note that Poison Hemlock is a member of the carrot family. Has a nasty smell though.
Cripes. It's pretty dangerous. I thought that gardening was a nice safe pastime.
And I had been considering making pesto with the supposedly Carrot tops...... But thankfully, i don't think mine was that. I'll pull it from the composter just in case.
The Pesto can wait.

https://www.medicinenet.com/how_does_he ... rticle.htm
Graceful Degradation! Prepping's objective summed up in two words. Turning Disaster into Mild Inconvenience by the power of fore-thought

Not Feeling Optimistic. Let me be wrong
Frnc
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Joined: Sat Mar 12, 2022 1:54 pm

Re: Advice for a hopeless gardener

Post by Frnc »

jennyjj01 wrote: Tue Jun 14, 2022 12:24 pm
Frnc wrote: Tue Jun 14, 2022 11:49 am Note that Poison Hemlock is a member of the carrot family. Has a nasty smell though.
Cripes. It's pretty dangerous. I thought that gardening was a nice safe pastime.
And I had been considering making pesto with the supposedly Carrot tops...... But thankfully, i don't think mine was that. I'll pull it from the composter just in case.
The Pesto can wait.

https://www.medicinenet.com/how_does_he ... rticle.htm
There's a few wild plants that are members of the carrot family and/or look similar. Parsley, carrot and celery are all members of Apiaceae aka Umbelliferae. All four poisonous plants listed below are from this family.

Poison Hemlock (Conium maculatum)
Image
Can be confused with Wild Carrot/Queen Anne’s Lace, Cow Parsley/Wild Chervil, Sweet Cicely, Angelica and Yarrow. Cow Parsley/Wild Chervil is too risky to forage.

Hemlock Water Dropwort ( Oenanthe crocata), the most poisonous plant in the UK can look like Flat Leaved Parsley, Water Parsnip, Water Celery, Wild Carrot/Queen Anne’s Lace and Alexanders. Unlike Poison Hemlock, Hemlock Water Dropwort doesn't have a giveaway nasty smell like Poison Hemlock, it has a nice smell. Found near water. The clue's in the name.

Giant Hogweed Touching it can cause your skin to be permanently susceptible to sunburn, and getting in your eyes can cause blindness. When small it can look like Commom Hogweed, an edible plant.

Fool's Parsley Toxic. Crushed leaves smell bad. Leaves look similar to Wild Carrot/Queen Anne’s Lace.
Yorkshire Andy
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Joined: Thu Oct 03, 2013 4:06 pm

Re: Advice for a hopeless gardener

Post by Yorkshire Andy »

Giant Hogweed can be very nasty abd it's spreading throughout the UK...

Its sap can cause some really nasty burns especially if you end up hitting it with a bush cutter or strimmer and get the sap on your skin.
2_giant-hogweed-burns.jpg
If your roughing it, Your doing it wrong ;)

Lack of planning on your part doesn't make it an emergency on mine
jennyjj01
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Re: Advice for a hopeless gardener

Post by jennyjj01 »

Note to self and anyone growing courgettes....

The man on t'internet recommends selecting the best of a few courgette seedlings and discarding the rest. I really should have listened, but I couldn't bring myself to murder them! I guess the same ruthless eugenics need applying to other plants. Two of my myriad tomato plants are now huge. No tomatoes in sight yet.

There are 3 courgette plants in my raised bed and ONE of them is so dominant that it has completely crowded out the others. Leaves the size of dinner plates The big healthy one is yielding about two or three big fruits per week*, while the smaller ones have barely grown a couple of small fruits between them.

*They were fun to grow, but I'm struggling to eat them quick enough !

Meanwhile, in the blink of an eye, my peas are bearing fruit and I got 4 baby strawberries today :) Critters got the 5th one,
Graceful Degradation! Prepping's objective summed up in two words. Turning Disaster into Mild Inconvenience by the power of fore-thought

Not Feeling Optimistic. Let me be wrong
GillyBee
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Re: Advice for a hopeless gardener

Post by GillyBee »

Jenny; You could dehydrate your courgettes to make crisps? They will also freeze sliced or grated to use in pasta, stews, courgette cake (like carrot cake) etc.
Mine are a few days away from the first baby so I am feeling jealous and busily collecting my courgette recipes together.
jennyjj01
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Re: Advice for a hopeless gardener

Post by jennyjj01 »

GillyBee wrote: Tue Jun 21, 2022 11:50 am Jenny; You could dehydrate your courgettes to make crisps? They will also freeze sliced or grated to use in pasta, stews, courgette cake (like carrot cake) etc.
Mine are a few days away from the first baby so I am feeling jealous and busily collecting my courgette recipes together.
Felt a real murderer harvesting each time. But they say we should. Might let one fruit grow and grow to see what happens.
I've made cucumber crisps last year, so may try that. Wasn't sure if they'd freeze, but I'm going to have to find a solution. Any day now, I'll be harvesting beetroot, so I might try pickling courgettes while I do the beetroots.
GreedyGourmet wrote:At the beginning of the season you eagerly pick them as soon as possible but towards the end of the season you can’t stand the sight of these vegetables and it feels like you have them morning, noon and night as a starter, main course and dessert.
https://www.greedygourmet.com/recipes-b ... te-pickle/
How very true.
Graceful Degradation! Prepping's objective summed up in two words. Turning Disaster into Mild Inconvenience by the power of fore-thought

Not Feeling Optimistic. Let me be wrong
GillyBee
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Re: Advice for a hopeless gardener

Post by GillyBee »

I have frozen grated courgette to use in courgette cake and as part of a pasta sauce. I advise against letting any get too big just yet They quickly reach a foot long an are even harder to eat up. Any longer and they turn into marrows and the plant stops bothering to do anything else. You may be better to pick them even smaller if you have loads.
My first plant flowered today so I am on the countdown to "Whatever can I do with all these courgettes?" which is apparently the name of a book!
jennyjj01
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Joined: Sun Jun 04, 2017 11:09 pm

Re: Advice for a hopeless gardener

Post by jennyjj01 »

GillyBee wrote: Tue Jun 21, 2022 8:50 pm I have frozen grated courgette to use in courgette cake and as part of a pasta sauce. I advise against letting any get too big just yet They quickly reach a foot long an are even harder to eat up. Any longer and they turn into marrows and the plant stops bothering to do anything else. You may be better to pick them even smaller if you have loads.
My first plant flowered today so I am on the countdown to "Whatever can I do with all these courgettes?" which is apparently the name of a book!
A FOOT LONG!!!???
I;ve been letting them get to 5 inches. Considering I inspect these things at least twice a day, i don;t know how they sneak up on me. Today I spotted a fruit and a flower formed on a sideshoot. It had gone unnoticed till it was two inches long. I had to chop off a couple of huge leaves, because they were shading my beans.
Speaking of which...... My peas have exploded into a frenzy of pod growing.
Graceful Degradation! Prepping's objective summed up in two words. Turning Disaster into Mild Inconvenience by the power of fore-thought

Not Feeling Optimistic. Let me be wrong
jennyjj01
Posts: 3429
Joined: Sun Jun 04, 2017 11:09 pm

Re: Advice for a hopeless gardener

Post by jennyjj01 »

GillyBee wrote: Tue Jun 21, 2022 8:50 pm I have frozen grated courgette to use in courgette cake and as part of a pasta sauce. I advise against letting any get too big just yet They quickly reach a foot long an are even harder to eat up. Any longer and they turn into marrows and the plant stops bothering to do anything else. You may be better to pick them even smaller if you have loads.
My first plant flowered today so I am on the countdown to "Whatever can I do with all these courgettes?" which is apparently the name of a book!
A FOOT LONG!!!???
I;ve been letting them get to 5 inches. Considering I inspect these things at least twice a day, i don;t know how they sneak up on me. Today I spotted a fruit and a flower formed on a sideshoot. It had gone unnoticed till it was two inches long. I had to chop off a couple of huge leaves, because they were shading my beans.
Speaking of which...... My peas have exploded into a frenzy of pod growing.
Graceful Degradation! Prepping's objective summed up in two words. Turning Disaster into Mild Inconvenience by the power of fore-thought

Not Feeling Optimistic. Let me be wrong