Monday 29 June 2015

Harvest Monday - courgette (just)

It's been a bit of a funny old week, we were meant to be on our hols but as Jan's still unwell we couldn't go away. So I decided to take a couple of extra days off work anyway and take us out on the bus, (we've borrowed a wheelchair from the British Red Cross as she gets v tired easily and can't walk v far...stupid thyroid gland). We went to the excellent Time and Tide museum in Yarmouth and the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts up at the university, plus we've got a cool dragon Sculpture trail around the city at the moment ( I might do a separate post on this ). The weather's been confusing again, freezing one day, scorching the next.
Anyway, on to the harvests,
More rocket and basil, here's a bit of the basil with some tasty goats cheese sarnies,
I've been using up the broad beans still, and thought I should really do something other than the new fave broad bean stew, as we've had it 5 or more times in the last couple of weeks! So I made a simple noodle soup with some greens from the allotment and garlic too
The last of the bean plants on the plot were looking a bit yellowy and sad so I picked off the remaining pods, and cut the plants just above the soil, to leave the roots in place and add nutrients as they decompose. I was going to use the cut bits as mulch but there were lots of black fly on them, so I just added them to the compost instead. Has anyone noticed a lack of ladybirds? I've on,y seen one recently, though have spotted (ho ho) a couple of ladybird larvae this week...they are cool looking mini beasts. Hopefully they'll get to munching the black fly soon. I've had a go at my spring broad bean plants with soapy water spray but there's still loads of flies.
Anyway, Tonight I made an alternative turmeric broad bean stew, adding in odds n ends including leftover cooked potatoes, garlic and greens
The strawbs are still cropping, this was the best picking in one go and since then they've started slowing down, in fact tonight there was only just over one tub ( I usually pick them every other day ). A nice total so far of 17kg!
Of course we had to have warm strawb on toast with cheese again,
Yum yum yum! This time with museli bread (from Norwich Providore on the market. Yes I did get us squashage rolls again too, that we had with rocket one day. They are too good)
Tonight I picked a bit of rhubarb because the huge leaves were in the way. Not sure what to do with it yet.
More potatoes harvested by rooting around in the soil rather than pulling up the plant. The soil was bone dry under the grass mulch though, so I gave them a good water to encourage more potatoes to form and swell.
And here's the first courgettes of the year! There's two here chopped up, very tiny but I didn't want to risk them rotting off, as some had already done ( and seems to happen with the first fruit each plant produces, for me anyway). Here with some onion tops from the garden.
That went with scrambled egg, another quick and easy dish (there's a bit of a theme in my cooking!). Abit of mint garnish too from the front yard.
 

So, nothing majorly exciting this week, I've spent quite a bit of time taking us out and about for a change of scenery. I'll be getting bigger arm muscles after all this wheelchair pushing that'll be handy working the plot though!

Linking in with Harvest Monday on Daphne's Dandelions

 

18 comments:

  1. Wow that's a lot of strawberries, I've only had one so far!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks SH Susie, I have a couple of beds of strawbs and more dotted around the plot, so quite a few plants. I'm sure yours was delicious! And hopefully you'll have more to come.

      Delete
  2. My mouth is watering just looking at all the goodies! The top photos look incredibly delicious.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks daisy, hmm it's making me hungry too, especially for strawb on toast again!

      Delete
  3. Wow look at all those strawberries. Yum. Strawberries have got to be one of my favorites fruits. They seem a lot more work than most fruits, but oh so worth it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Daphne, they've done well this year, my best so far for strawbs, mainly thanks to the donation of spare runners from an allotment friend. They do take a long time to pick, all I seem to do at the plot at the moment is pick strawbs and squash slugs (where do they all come from urgh). But I shouldn't complain, about the strawbs anyway.

      Delete
  4. We've only just harvested our first Broad Bean. One pod from my daughters Square Foot Garden! We had some dodgy weather just as the wrong time which set us back a long time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aw, at least you've had one pod Rosie! The ones we've been eating were autumn sown, my spring sown ones are just starting to pod-up (and get attacked by black fly)

      Delete
  5. So sorry Jan's still unwell and that you've had to miss your holiday. I do hope she sees an improvement soon. Those strawberries are fantastic, you'll have to tell me the secret, mine are all doing so badly at the moment. I took my broad beans out this morning, (at the allotment at 5.50am!) and now that you mention it I haven't seen many ladybirds around. The potatoes look fantastic, absolutely perfect. CJ xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks CJ, we hope so too, still trying to work out exactly what the problem is (7 months on!).
      Well, my strawb secret is to have a nice allotment friend who has amazing strawbs and gives you his spare runners. When I planted them out I just incorporated some homemade compost and then in the spring I scattered some chicken-poo pellets. This is their second year I think and I gave them chicken poo again in the spring.
      Wow 5.50am! That's amazing. I wish I could function at that time especially with these hot days. I was at the plot til gone 10 tonight though :D beautiful moon and Saturn and Jupiter (I think)

      Delete
  6. Once again, your sandwiches have me salivating. I usually only buy goat cheese when I need it for a recipe - I really must change that, especially as both kids love it. And you "only" brought home one tub of strawberries & you are picking that frequently? I don't think I picked that much in an entire week! A total harvest of 17 kg is more (much much more!) than impressive!

    I hope that Jan starts to feel better soon - she is so fortunate to have someone like you to help her through this tough time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Margaret, we're lucky to have the nice baker's stall on the market that does lovely bread, it helps with the sandwiches :) ha ha, yes when you put it like that, it's a lot of strawbs. The fruits are def starting to lose quality now, much smaller ( same amount of picking time though).
      Thankyou, we thought it would be sorted in a month at the start but nooo, the saga continues. More blood tests today so maybe some positive news soon. That's very kind of you to say so, brought a tear to my eye!

      Delete
  7. Margaret, you should buy goat cheese ALL the time, I use it in so many ways!

    Lou ... so may great goodies! I tried your idea to root around for my own potatoes and found a few marble-sized - will give it another week or two but that's a great approach not to ruin the whole plant. I'm also loving your sandwiches and wishing the best for Jan to feel better soon ...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mmm, yes goat cheese is great Susie ( though a bit more expensive here than cow cheese). The last one I bought was quite like Camembert or Brie and the one before that was soft and spreadable, both good with strawbs on toast. I get goats yogurt aswell, it's really creamy, and sometimes milk too. We do get cows cheese too, usually mature cheddar, it has a great flavour.
      Ah, glad the potato trick worked. You have to be careful not to accidentally pull the small ones off ( which I have done a couple of times already, doh. ) I gave mine a good water after rooting around so if any of the pot roots were damaged or disturbed the water would help them recover, I think, anyway.
      Thank you Susie, hopefully we'll get some improvement soon.
      Right, I'd better get off to bed so I can get up at 5.50 like CJ ( ok, that really isn't going to happen!)

      Delete
  8. Long term illness is so exhausting, I hope Jan is keeping her spirits up.

    You are such a good cook, lots of healthy wholesome food. And your potatoes and strawberries look so amazing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Phoung, we have Jan's folks coming to visit this weekend so will hopefully get out and about again if the weather stays fine.
      It's funny I don't really think of myself as a good cook, just chuck it all in and hope for the best (sometimes it doesn't work of course hehe). I'm looking forward to more fresh veggies over the summer, it makes it even easier to cook simple dishes, though I expect we'll get fed up of courgettes at some point!

      Delete
  9. I've just come across from Marks blog and must say those strawberries look amazing ...

    All the best Jan

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi lowcarb jan, nice to have you over. Thank you, I've been freezing a lot of the strawbs, definitely the most I've ever had. Lucky I got a bigger freezer last autumn, we only used to have two drawers and now have 4. It's looking like a good year for gooseberries, currants and blackberries too.

      Delete