Home Grown - A Project by Carl

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Carl
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For me, photography is one of those hobbies that comes and goes repeatedly over time. One month I'll shoot a dozen rolls of film and spend a lot of time doing photography stuff, and the next month my cameras will sit gathering dust and I won't even have the appetite to take a single photo. The last three or four months has been one of the latter periods, and I can count on one hand the number of times I've even touched a camera.

I think the main reason is because I'm currently trying to simplify my life and become more self sufficient (well, as much as I can in a medium sized garden in the town centre), and as a result I spend a lot more time pottering about in the vegetable patch in the garden, or just sitting outside and generally enjoying the space with a book and a cider. I have also been trying to make my garden more wildlife friendly to attract more birds, hedgehogs and insets etc.

In an effort to get back into photography more, I've recently purchased a set of extension tubes for the Hasselblad, and am going to set myself a little project (thanks to @Lindsay56 for the idea :) ). Over the remainder of the year, I'm going to focus (lol) on creating photos in the garden. It'll be a mixture of vegetables, insects, flowers and whatever else takes my fancy. I appreciate seeing these photos isn't going to interest everyone, but posting here is going to be a way to keep me on track.

I aim to post a couple of photos a week if I can, although some weeks it might be 6 or zero, depending on how it goes!
 
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So, the first photos!

I grew two bags of potatoes and harvested them a few weeks ago (before I bought the ext tubes). They didn't last long as they were frigging delicious. So easy to do as well, going to grow millions of these bad boys next year for sure! This was one of two growing bags.


Arran Pilot
by Carl Hall, on Flickr

I have sixteen tomato plants, with six varieties in total. I love tomatos in meals so I plan to grow as many as I can, make and jar sauces (pizza sauce, lasagne sauce etc), and then eat over winter or until I run out. These are a small bush variety called Mountain Magic, which haven't given me very many toms so far!


Mountain Magic
by Carl Hall, on Flickr

One of my favourite things to BBQ is sweetcorn. I would take BBQ corn over a burger any day of the week! I've got 5 corn plants growing and they're currently about 5' high. This is the pollen producing tassle from the top of the plant.


Corn
by Carl Hall, on Flickr
 
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Sue produces a reasonable amount of veg from the garden - potatoes, peas, carrots, lettuce and (insects permitting) cabbages, sprouts, peppers etc. Possibly you can talk about gardening in Scotland :). Our fruit trees are still keeping us in apple sauce (good apples - they make wonderful apple sauce and can also be eaten!)) plums and (as I type) pears in stewed form are sitting in front of me. So your thread has some interest even non-photographically.

On the other hand, Edward Weston could make art out of peppers, cabbages and artichokes, so I'm sure you can do something amazing with your produce before eating it.
 
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Great project idea.

Home grown spuds are the best! Esp if you can get 2 lots in. Earlies and Lates. And good luck with the toms. I gave up with mine after 2 years of effort. Had better luck with other things.

The spud photo is fab and the contrast between the rich looking soil and the white tubers is really nice. Agree with Stephen about the Weston influence. His work was fab.
More plz!
 
I have been growing for years now.
I have 12 gardeners delight tomato plants and 2 called Shirley. Been getting ripe toms for a couple of weeks now because I grow early varieties and start them early.
Gardeners delight are also very nice to eat and reliable, even outdoors in a good summer.
Also have many chilli plants including Dorset Naga the former record holder back ten years ago.
Have grown several potato varieties and can highly recommend the very early variety called Rockets even though people say they are tasteless I found them superb and even sold bags of them like hot cakes.
Too much stuff to list but used to have an allotment so was lucky to have room.
 
Possibly practising for that August topic in FPoty? ;)
 
I have 12 gardeners delight tomato plants and 2 called Shirley. Been getting ripe toms for a couple of weeks now because I grow early varieties and start them early.
Gardeners delight are also very nice to eat and reliable, even outdoors in a good summer.

Every year I used to have carrier bags full of tomatoes, but am now plagued with bottom end rot ... as after the first few great bunches every tomato and the plant dies...it must be coming from the rain as the ones in the greenhouse are not affected and it starts happening around sept.
Anyway taking shots of your vegetables is another reason to get the camera out:-
Growing carrots in stoney soil can give funny shapes
NqMM7xR.jpg


Plum tomatoes Viv 75-150mm
rbSjNDO.jpg
 
Every year I used to have carrier bags full of tomatoes, but am now plagued with bottom end rot ... as after the first few great bunches every tomato and the plant dies...it must be coming from the rain as the ones in the greenhouse are not affected and it starts happening around sept.

September is too late to be cropping toms outdoors in the UK really.
You should start an early variety that does ok outdoors in the UK like gardeners delight.
I have had red toms outdoors since about two weeks ago and will have had my fill of them before the UK`s crappy autumn spoils things.
 
Sue produces a reasonable amount of veg from the garden - potatoes, peas, carrots, lettuce and (insects permitting) cabbages, sprouts, peppers etc. Possibly you can talk about gardening in Scotland :). Our friut trees are still keeping us in apple sauce (good apples - they make wonderful apple sauce and can also be eaten!)) plums and (as I type) pears in stewed form are sitting in front of me. SO your thread has some interest even non-photographically.

On the other hand, Edward Weston could make art out of peppers, cabbages and artichokes, so I'm sure you can do something amazing with your produce before eating it.

Ahh great, I'll pick her brains when we meet in October then :) I'm growing bell peppers, cayenne peppers, jalapenos, crown prince squash, french beans, sweetcorn, tomatoes, onions, garlic, carrots, peas, patty pan squash, butternut squash and potatoes. Not huge quantities of each, but it's my first year growing more than chillies so I often wonder if I've bitten off more than I can chew!

Great project idea.

Home grown spuds are the best! Esp if you can get 2 lots in. Earlies and Lates. And good luck with the toms. I gave up with mine after 2 years of effort. Had better luck with other things.

The spud photo is fab and the contrast between the rich looking soil and the white tubers is really nice. Agree with Stephen about the Weston influence. His work was fab.
More plz!

I did plan to do two lots of potatoes, but I foolishly thought I could plant the second lot after I'd pulled the first in late June, and by then I think it was getting a bit too late. Shame as I really wanted some nice home grown roast potatoes in the autumn and winter I'll have a look at Edward Weston as I'm not sure I've seen his work before.

I have been growing for years now.
I have 12 gardeners delight tomato plants and 2 called Shirley. Been getting ripe toms for a couple of weeks now because I grow early varieties and start them early.
Gardeners delight are also very nice to eat and reliable, even outdoors in a good summer.
Also have many chilli plants including Dorset Naga the former record holder back ten years ago.
Have grown several potato varieties and can highly recommend the very early variety called Rockets even though people say they are tasteless I found them superb and even sold bags of them like hot cakes.
Too much stuff to list but used to have an allotment so was lucky to have room.

We have an average sized garden but my other half would murder me if used the whole space to grow veg. I've just got two 6x4' raised beds, and a couple odd pots and bags. Each bed is divided up with string into square feet, and vegetables are grown in each square. Carrots are 16 per square, garlic and onions are 9, chillies and tomatoes are 1 etc.

I've got some Gardeners Delight tomatoes (5 out of 16 plants) and they're currently quite a deep green. Hopefully it won't be long before I can eat them

Possibly practising for that August topic in FPoty? ;)

Oh man, I didn't even think about this! This opens up a whole new world of possibilities :D
 
We've only grown potatoes, garlic & strawberries this year. I want a couple of raised beds....and a greenhouse....and a bigger garden!! :D
 
We've only grown potatoes, garlic & strawberries this year. I want a couple of raised beds....and a greenhouse....and a bigger garden!! :D

Patience my dear, raised beds are forthcoming....ish.:)
 
Patience my dear, raised beds are forthcoming....ish.:)

If you`re lucky enough to be near someone selling them, pallet collars for about £5 each make excellent raised beds, no construction is required and can be folded and stored when not in use.
 
I used to grow all sorts of veg when I was young and lived at home with my parents as they had a large garden, half as formal lawns and flowerbeds, and half as a small paddock and veg garden. Aside from the usual stuff, I used to grow kohl rabi, which are nice when around the size of a large cricket ball.. I also liked to grow broad beans, which I sowed outdoors in November and overwintered each year; I found this seemed to make the growing points of the plants tougher and less susceptible to blackfly. Broad beans are delicious served with parsley sauce as an accompaniment to a gammon steak or bacon chop, but don't let them get too old as they can start to taste a little bitter. There you go, gardening and cookery tips in the same post! :D

Oh, onions from sets (never had much success with growing from seed) were another favourite; when ready I'd dry them complete with their tops and then tie them into strings as I found they kept well like that, they also looked the part hanging in the kitchen too!
 
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Well done Carl, a nice way to combine hobbies - glad I prompted you! Now I need to prompt myself into a project!
 
I quite enjoy peppers in my food, and I use quite a lot as Mexican food is my favourite. I've not had a lot of luck with growing bell peppers this year though, as the squash next to it has grown like a monster and covered some nearby plants, so the pepper isn't getting a whole lot of light!


Bell Pepper
by Carl Hall, on Flickr

A tiny spider has made a web in my onions. Was pretty tricky focusing on it but I got a bit lucky and it came out quite well


Spider
by Carl Hall, on Flickr

My crown prince squash plant has vines that will grow rapidly and wrap themselves around anything if they get a chance. So much so that they grew out of one raised bed, across some slabs and into my other bed, then tried to strangle my onions :LOL: I've now made a wire trellis for them to climb up, so that they stay out of trouble


Crown Prince Squash
by Carl Hall, on Flickr

edited because I can never spot typos until after I click submit!
 
A tiny spider has made a web in my onions.

Sounds dangerous, hope it wasn't a biting spider. :D

By the way, I'm very much enjoying this thread and you have inspired us to do something similar next year. (y)
 
Sounds dangerous, hope it wasn't a biting spider. :D

By the way, I'm very much enjoying this thread and you have inspired us to do something similar next year. (y)

Thanks Andy :) I wasn't sure if anyone else would find it very interesting, so I'm pleased to hear you're enjoying it (y) I'm really looking forward to taking photos when I harvest and cook it all :D
 
First season of growing grapes (comparing outside and greenhouse)..stacks of bunches but didn't bother thinning out although I knew that's what you do :rolleyes:, anyway lots of tiny sweet grapes (y)
This week should get the del of raspberries so will see what happens next year. (y)
 
Not my thread but I don't think anyone will mind me posting a few pics to motivate people to grow their own.
The last one is a Dorset Naga, former hottest chilli in the world.

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talkphoto-7.jpg

talkphoto-8.jpg

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This is a great thread, looking forward to seeing what you manage to harvest.
 
Crown Prince Squashes are getting big now! One is sat on the floor and a few more are hanging from the wire trellis. Think I need to make some sort of net hammock for each of them to take the weight and stop them crashing down to earth. Never tried these squash before but looking forward to eating them on a cold winters evening :D


Crown Prince Squash
by Carl Hall, on Flickr


Crown Prince Squash
by Carl Hall, on Flickr

Pulled the garlic and put them on some racks on some shelves to dry out. Here they are at on the decking just after I pulled them up. Going to wait until they're dry and then plait them to hang on the kitchen wall


Garlic
by Carl Hall, on Flickr

I also pulled the onions at the end of last week, and this was taken a few days before. I now have 36 onions ranging from apricots to small apples in size, and they're on the bench top in the shed drying out before I cut the tops off and put them in a sack. Annoyingly now there is a bit of space, next door's damn cat has taken to sleeping in the veg patch under the large leaves of the patty pan squash!


Onions
by Carl Hall, on Flickr
 
My grape tests are coming along fine and the winner (so far out of three varieties) is Boskoop Glory because it is not only ripening early in the greenhouse but outside as well.
I have two varieties planted outside the greenhouse and the vines going through side windows into the greenhouse, the third one is planted in a pot against a wall but only receives sunshine half a day..plenty of grapes and hope they ripen before winter.
I've taken piccies but this year can't seem to finish a roll of film up :( and with three cameras loaded up it looks like it will be a while to finishing one film :rolleyes:
 
I grew 'Glory of Boskoop' in my parents' greenhouse years ago and found that it was a good, reliable producer even in the north Cheshire climate. The grapes were on the small side but made nice wine, reminiscent of a Beaujolais Village style, but we always ended up drinking it all before it was much older than 12 months, so I never found out if the character changed over time! The skins used to be a bit on the tough side to be a dessert grape though.

As for squashes, never grew those but used to grow marrows to enter in the local pub marrow contest, which was always a good laugh! We'd end up with loads of them and would run out of people to give them away to, we tried stuffed marrow once but we weren't keen on it... the minced beef stuffing was OK but the marrow was 'meh'. So most of them ended up on the compost heap each autumn!

You'll have to try growing some cantaloupe melons next time Carl, a similar climbing plant to cucumber for the greenhouse, but the melons are delicious and lovely for breakfast in the summer, and when they ripen the whole greenhouse smells of them. Watch out for slugs though, as they make a bee-line for the young plants when they're first planted out into the beds or grow bags and can fell the lot in one night! Oh, and be careful when taking the young plants out of their pots to plant out as they don't cope well with root damage; and scrub the melons well to clean them before cutting and eating them, as apparently the textured skin can harbour salmonella!

As for tender plants ripening, bear in mind this is an exceptional year with no real need for a greenhouse. In one of our usual cold, wet summers even growing tomatoes outdoors can be an impossible task if you want them to ripen before the autumn weather rots them off. This year even the damsons had turned purple by mid July! Still not ripe yet, but they've mostly coloured up. I'm looking forward to the first damson crumble of the year! :)

Rather than cut all the tops off the onions, Carl, why not have a go as stringing them? They look nice hanging up in the kitchen and will probably keep better than in a sack, especially if one of them goes bad! A vid on how to do that here, but I used to leave the tops a little bit longer than that and wind them round another turn so they stayed on well, and I found that the old fashioned hairy string was the best to work with, as it gripped the onion tops better:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vFBaSUVxAA
 
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September is too late to be cropping toms outdoors in the UK really.
You should start an early variety that does ok outdoors in the UK like gardeners delight.
I have had red toms outdoors since about two weeks ago and will have had my fill of them before the UK`s crappy autumn spoils things.

h'mm just noticed the guy is suspended\banned, must be for something else as there is nothing offensive in this post.
 
Out of the vegetables that I've grown so far this year, peas are up there with my favourite. From a two square foot area I've managed to get a few bowl fulls, although a lot of them don't make it back to the kitchen as they taste so good straight out of the pod :D

Unfortunately the peas are over now for the year. They prefer cooler weather so I think they struggled a bit with the recent heat. Once it started cooling down a bit they produced a few more peas, but then fell victim to powdery mildew so I pulled them up. Rather than plant some more for autumn, I've decided to leave the squares empty so the neighbouring carrots can finally get a bit of sunlight.


Peas
by Carl Hall, on Flickr


Peas
by Carl Hall, on Flickr
 
Some really nice images here Carl - with care taken over composition and some really nicely exposed images.

I did something similar with a garden construction project that turned into a really nice 13x19 collage. Are you going to do a "finished printed thing" or is it just for internet?
 
Some really nice images here Carl - with care taken over composition and some really nicely exposed images.

I did something similar with a garden construction project that turned into a really nice 13x19 collage. Are you going to do a "finished printed thing" or is it just for internet?

Thank you Ian :) I'm hoping to get some of them printed at the end of the year, and then put them into a frame on the wall in the kitchen. If I get enough that I like I might even try and get them printed as a small book, but we'll see how it goes first haha
 
I think there was a bit of a 'fall-out' on another thread.

starting arguments over various threads for quite a while, calling people various abusive names, creating a duplicate account to continue the abuse after being given a little time off to cool down, and a few other transgressions... we don't permaban people for no reason - you've pretty much got to be a complete d¦ckhead to qualify...
 
and back to the project, and the photos...

try and get hold of some straw to put under the quashes if they're going to be lying on the ground, just to cushion things a bit - same if you do the "old pair of tights hammock" trick with ones higher up... Squashes and pumpkins really do try and take over the world if you let them run - my grandad used to plant them on the bit of his allotment where the previous year's "muckheap" had been sat - because they grow so fast and rip so much nutrient out of the soil in the process.

Peas picture brought back great memories of my grandad again - coming home from school as a pre-teenager, Mam at work, Dad still at the pit on "afters" shift, so back to grandparents - if it wasn't raining it'd be out with grandad either digging up some spuds for tea, or picking some other veg - with my grandad getting me to whistle songs like he did... It was only later (as in my late 20's) that I realised that he wanted me whistling because it meant I wasn't eating the peas straight from the pod...

Definitely go with the Stringing for the onions - I remember there always seemed to be a couple of strings of onions on the go in my grandad's shed - they'd keep pretty much all the way through to the next crop...

Loving the idea of a kitchen display of the images - though I'd also seriously consider the photobook approach.
 
Cool thread Carl.

My boy has a bit of my Dad's allotment he's very proud of it. Never could get into growing myself.
 
Cool thread Carl.

My boy has a bit of my Dad's allotment he's very proud of it. Never could get into growing myself.

You're not supposed to grow yourself Steve.... it's supposed to be vegetables and stuff. :D
 
and back to the project, and the photos...

try and get hold of some straw to put under the quashes if they're going to be lying on the ground, just to cushion things a bit - same if you do the "old pair of tights hammock" trick with ones higher up... Squashes and pumpkins really do try and take over the world if you let them run - my grandad used to plant them on the bit of his allotment where the previous year's "muckheap" had been sat - because they grow so fast and rip so much nutrient out of the soil in the process.

Peas picture brought back great memories of my grandad again - coming home from school as a pre-teenager, Mam at work, Dad still at the pit on "afters" shift, so back to grandparents - if it wasn't raining it'd be out with grandad either digging up some spuds for tea, or picking some other veg - with my grandad getting me to whistle songs like he did... It was only later (as in my late 20's) that I realised that he wanted me whistling because it meant I wasn't eating the peas straight from the pod...

Definitely go with the Stringing for the onions - I remember there always seemed to be a couple of strings of onions on the go in my grandad's shed - they'd keep pretty much all the way through to the next crop...

Loving the idea of a kitchen display of the images - though I'd also seriously consider the photobook approach.

Cheers Mark, I need to get a piece of netting to support the squash that's on the trellis, as the plant has started dying back now and it's a few kilos of weight for a dying vine to support!

The onions are still in the shed at the moment. I'm hoping to string them up this weekend, if I find time between making sloe gin, picking more blackberries, and making a start on the cider! :D
 
I've recently been trying to find a decent bramble bush to collect some blackberries for jam and crumbles. We got a couple hundred grams from a lane outside of town that a friend had told us about, but it wasn't really worth travelling there to pick them. A few days later we were walking to the shop and came across a huge bramble bush in a field, which is basically just an undeveloped area of town, on the side of a hill by a stream. We wen't back later that day and collected as many as we could find, which was about enough to fill up an ice cream tub. We've been back a couple of times since and have collected just under 6 lbs of berries, which we're going to make into jam :D


Blackberries
by Carl Hall, on Flickr


Blackberries
by Carl Hall, on Flickr
 
Mmmmm… blackberry and apple pie! :)

Our stash of berries is slowly growing! We went sloe picking at the weekend and found some more blackberries, so we've almost got enough to make 8 jars of jam and a gallon of blackberry wine. That mixed with the six litres of sloe gin I have steeping at the moment should make for a very merry Christmas this year :beer::LOL:
 
Will any of that sloe gin be ready before the Scotland trip? ;):whistle::wave:

That would be ace, then I could drink gin instead of whisky :D Unfortunately it takes three months to steep in the demijohns before it can be bottled, so it's going to be well into December :( I'll put a bottle or two back for the next meet though :D
 
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