Phew, the harvests have started coming in quicker. We've had some really hot days and not too much rain. It would be great if we could just get the occasional shower (never happy us growers, eh). My allotment is very dry but I don't tend to water down there too much (although I did give the courgettes a bit of rainwater today).
Talking of courgettes, they're growing slowly but steadily (not as quickly as if there'd been lots of rain, which is probably a good thing....other wise it would be glut-o'clock.)
I've lifted most of the onions and left them drying across some suspended chickenwire in the shed. A few of them had a bit of rot so I brought them home to use up. I also lifted the rest of my early potatoes so I could plant out leek seedlings in their place (there were a couple of bags like the one below). I've had another custard marrow and the first runner bean, ooh! I have two bean wigwams on the plot which I planted up with beans grown on at home first (sown in loo roll tubes). Both have lots of beans forming, goodie. My beans at home are a bit further behind as I kept having to re-sow due to mollusc munching. Also in the photo is some Rosemary.....I've discovered Rosemary tea which is very tasty (just add hot water for a few minutes).
I decided to freeze the onions so chopped them up and froze in a few small jars. There was actually quite a bit of onion once I'd got rid of the manky parts, so it was worth bringing them home.
After my first runner bean earlier in the week I've collected a few more too, which made a reasonable harvest altogether. I quite like looking out for runner beans on the wigwams...it's a bit like a findy game (unless I'm in a rush, in which case it's 'argh, where are they, have I missed any that are going to get too big').
I can't get down the plot for a few days so today I went through and picked all the bigger courgettes and chard. Tomorrow I think I'll cook them together and freeze them. Oh, you may spot a cucumber on the left aswell, I forgot about that, plus a teeny crystal lemon cuke too.
This week's been great for soft fruit...I haven't taken photos of it all but here's a selection
I took a fruit salad along to a friend's little boy's birthday picnic and made a potato salad too (drizzled with olive oil and Rosemary instead of mayo as it was a scorching hot day and I thought the mayo might go a bit funny). I love the raspberries so much, mmmm.
The other day I noticed that some of the apples on my dwarf trees had codling moth damage..it's the first time I've seen it. I didn't want to just compost the apples as the moths would presumably carry on their lifecycle within the apples and be worse next year, so I had a brainwave, picking them off and freezing them for a few days. I hope it worked to kill them as they're in the compost bin now!
In the back garden my sweet peas have just started to blossom so I brought a few in to the house...they're the perennial unscented variety which means they look rather pretty but don't set off our hayfever.
And I nearly forgot that earlier today I picked a load of basil and made another pesto
Well, I'm just in from a gig by the awesome American band Belly, who have just reformed after about 20 years...they are still incredible..I think I first saw them around 1993...time flies! So anyway, sorry if this is a bit rushed but thanks for reading :)
I'm linking in with Harvest Monday hosted by Dave at Our Happy Acres
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I had my own musical flashback this past weekend - I saw Duran Duran at a festival Saturday night! Oh those eighties ...
ReplyDeleteWhat a great variety in your harvest, and I'm still envious of all those berries! And beautiful sweet pea flowers - I've never been very successful at growing those.
Ooh Duran Duran, brilliant Susie.
DeleteI'd never buy such a variety so the berries are always a highlight. The sweet peas are perennial, so they just grow back in the same spot each year, easier than the annual ones. I don't really look after them much, just tie them in to the fence and pick the flowers regularly, so nice and easy at a time when there's lots of other jobs to be getting on with too.
That is a lovely selection of fruit you have there! I'm curious about the white squash, since I grow them too. How do you usually prepare them? I usually cook them like my mother did, boiled in a little water and with a dab of butter added at the end. I keep thinking I need to do something more elegant with them.
ReplyDeleteThanks Dave. For the squash I usually treat them like a courgette and just chop up and add in the same way, but I like the sound of doing something more elegant - the fruits are so pretty. I especially like flavour of the yellow summer squashes but I think all those plants got slugged.
DeleteWhat a shame that you can't tolerate scented sweet peas. I hope our apples don't suffer from coding moth as we forgot to replenish the lures.
ReplyDeleteSoft fruit has to be the allotment star.
I used sticky bands around my dwarf apple trees one year to prevent the codling moth but I found the tape so horrible to handle (my hands were stickier than the tree) that I haven't bothered since...though this is the first time I've spotted damage. Lures sound a better option but I don't get too many apples (four dwarf trees) so might not be worth the money.
DeleteYes, soft fruit is the best, a great time of year.
The first picking of Runner Beans is very special - something I look forward to every year! With the first batch we treat them as if they were Asparagus: served on their own, plain boiled, with butter, black pepper and a slice of bread. Hope the Codling Moth remedy works.
ReplyDeleteMm, your way of cooking the first runner beans sounds nice Mark. I was in a bit of a rush and needed to use up some other veggies so just chopped everything up into a kind of curry.
DeleteAll that fruit looks delicious! That's a shame about the codling moths, but smart to freeze them before putting in the compost.
ReplyDeleteThanks Julie, yes I will have to remember the freezer trick, it might come in useful for other pests too.
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