Community Veg Swap

[SueJ]

I have an abundance of lettuces and a small patch where my cucumbers did not take!

If anyone would like to swop some vegetables ready to plant out for lettuces then I will happily start picking!

Please PM me

Sue

[marie22]

does any one have too much fruit or veg on their patch as i would be happy to take some

[Alec John Moore]

This isn't veg, yet, but seeds. I was reading the gardening column in the Guardian magazine last Saturday and read that now is a good time to be planting Florence Fennel seeds. The recommended supplier is The Real Seed Catalogue:

http://www.realseeds.co.uk/

This is also a chance to help save old varieties from extinction, threatened by EU legislation. Vegetables outside the official list cannot be sold to the public but by purchasing from The Real Seed catalogue you can legally buy, sow and grow old varieties, enrich your diet and contribute to biodiversity.

So, my fennel seeds arrived today along with some other autumn/winter harvesting types including carrot and radish. However, there are far too many for my little veg plot.

If anyone would like to swap or just try some then get in touch. Choose from the following:

'Colossale' Fennel

'Feast' White Stem Spring/Salad Onion

'Wiener Runder Kohlschwarzer' Winter Radish

'Giant Red' Carrot

God I love the Guardian.

Alec

[monica]

Hi keen Gardeners and Veg enthusiasts. SNUB may have secured a new site for a community garden, we are in negotiations at the moment. However watch this space, hopefully we will have good news soon. Wish us luck. :)-D

[EastDulwichRose]

I think veg swap and bartering goods is a great idea.

It cuts down on the waste and carbon emissions in growing/transporting food.

I have a row of Runner Beans/Tomatoes/Lettuce/Radish.

[Senor Chevalier]

My beans are coming on nicely but will be a while yet. What I do have in abundance right now though is snails. I round them up occasionally but can't quite bring myself to eat them. A delicious treat for someone a bit less squeamish than me...?

[elloriac]

We collect our snails in the compost bin & when there's a sufficient quantity, 'release' them in the wild section in the cemetery. Someone told me that they will find their way back to us, but I can't imagine that they'd make it across the road safely and besides there's plenty for them to eat there... :-)

[Alec John Moore]

We feed them to our chickens.

[Sue]

Senor Chevalier Wrote:

What I do have in abundance right now though

> is snails. I round them up occasionally but can't

> quite bring myself to eat them. A delicious treat

> for someone a bit less squeamish than me...?

xxxxxxx

I think you'll find the snails in your garden are not the same variety of escargots you would be served in a restaurant :)

[Grotty]

Hmm, i'm a gardening novice after a bit of advice - we have a victoria plum tree, planted 18 months ago - last year didn't do much, this year has burst with branches and leaves but no sign of fruit - if it is going to fruit does anyone know when we should expect to see the first signs of some or is it too late? Thanks

[Peckhampam]

A friend in Hackney (who also has a house in France) says they are fine...very similar to the french "petit gris" I wouldn't know as I am not a snail fan-either of them eating my veg or me eating them although it would be sweet justice. Anyway she puts them in a plastic bag in her freezer until she has enough for a dinner party.

[Sue]

Grotty Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Hmm, i'm a gardening novice after a bit of advice

> - we have a victoria plum tree, planted 18 months

> ago - last year didn't do much, this year has

> burst with branches and leaves but no sign of

> fruit - if it is going to fruit does anyone know

> when we should expect to see the first signs of

> some or is it too late? Thanks

xxxxxxx

Sounds like a very young tree so it is probably establishing itself before producing flowers and fruit.

[pebbles]

Can anyone help? We've literally just had some raised beds made for us to plant vegetables and salad stuff. Are we too late to plant anything this season or is there anything you wise people can recommend that we can plant up now?

Also where's the best place to get vegies?

Thanks so much

[Alec John Moore]

I've just planted more salad leaves and rocket. Both are quick growing. You can plant some things now that will mature in the autumn. See my earlier post. I was going to post a link to the Guardian article that I got this info from but the site keeps crashing. You could also try radishes for a quick return. And East Dulwich Garden Centre is good for bedding plants.

[Tarot]

I think you can still plant potatoes for Christmas, not sure on this so someone will have to confirm.

[ham12343]

Some fast-maturing varieties of peas can still be planted, as well as radishes, Chinese cabbage and lettuce. Also think about planting garlic in autumn.

[sbain]

Turnip and swede is good to plant at this time of year - we've just taken up our early crop of spuds and planted some turnip and swede in their place. So we have a (small) glut of very yummy potatoes (already provided us with 3 dinners for myself, my husband and my son) if anyone would like to swap pm me.

[pebbles]

thank you so much everyone for your advice. i hope to be able to start swapping soon :)

[maria]

Dear veg growers,

If you aren't quite growing enough to meet all your weekly needs then I would like to invite you to participate in a new local veg bag scheme.

Local Greens is a not for profit weekly veg bag scheme set up by four enthusiastic people living in Herne Hill and East Dulwich. We provide the local area with great tasting, seasonal veg from small organic or spray-free farms, which are as close to SE London as we can find. In fact the closest farm is less than 11 miles away.

We are currently piloting our scheme so we aren't widely publicising it at the moment but thought people on this thread might appreciate really good local veg.

Great veg grown with minimum intervention from farms who we work in partnership with

Minimum packaging and transportation so we can pay the farmers a good price for their produce

Collected by you locally - often on the day it was picked

That simple and as sustainable as we can make it.

The small bag is ?7.50 and the standard bag is ?11.82- these prices truly reflect a fair price for our farmers and cover our costs.

For more info and to sign up visit www.localgreens.org.uk

Hope you like our initiative

Maria

[Sue]

Good for you, Maria.

Can you give us some idea of what would be in the bags, eg at this time of year?

[maria]

Hi Sue,

If you go to the website www.localgreens.org.uk then you can see whats in this weeks bag.

But the standard bag includes:

spring onions

new potatoes

rainbow chard

salad bag

cucumber

purple peppers

aubergine

broccoli

here is some feedback this week from one of our happy customers

"I am absolutely delighted with my mixed bag of vegetables each week and think it's very good value for money. The vegetables are so fresh and taste amazing. I feel as though I have just picked them straight from the field!"

As an avid veg grower myself I also agree!

Maria

[Sue]

Thanks, I'll have a look :)

[Alec John Moore]

Help, my courgettes are rapidly turning into mini marrows. I also have lots of lovely French beans. Would anyone like to swap? I have plenty of pots and beetroot but they can stay in the ground until we need them. We've been using the courgettes grated in salads or with pasta. Any other suggestions welcome.

Let me know if you are interested in a swap. We will take any fresh veg. We've eaten all of the first sowing of lettuce.

Alec

07812 150229

[dbboy]

Some ideas of what to do with courgettes

http://www.courgetterecipes.co.uk/

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/search.do?keywords=Courgette&searchType=recipes

[Dulwichmudlark]

jars of honey up for swaps