Harvest Monday - more squashes!

Last week I had a mammoth squash harvest, bringing back the biggest butternuts from the allotment. I still had some small ones that I wanted to leave a little bit longer to ripen a bit more. It's been sunny on and off so they've come on well.

Earlier this week. Some beans from the back garden and a teeny patty pan squash too.

I decided to use one of the butternuts as it had a bit of damage that looked like it would start to go soft and mouldy, potentially ruining a major part of the fruit if left to spread.

I got two trayfuls from the one fruit and roasted them with rosemary from the front garden, Mmm.

The roasted squash went into a few portions of soup, and a made-up tomatoey quinoa dish, which also had some extra portions for the freezer as well as lunch the next day. A lotta squash.

On Thursday I went out with my friend Liz to her elderly mum's place in the countryside. I'd been growing some squash plants in her garden as a bit of an experiment but hadn't been to see them for a while. There wasn't much to see when I went back! On the allotment, the squash plants had got huge so I was expecting something similar here but they'd pretty much died off already. It seems that the garden is just too shady - a tall hedge on one side and mature trees all round.

Out of the eight plants, only 4 had harvestable fruits

Not too bad really though for the cost and effort involved - I'd have bought the seeds anyway for the allotment, plus just used a bit of compost for sowing and some chicken poo pellets I added at planting time. I gave away some spare plants which is always nice to do. It was lovely to have an excuse to go out into the countryside anyway. I gave Liz one of the green squashes (muscade de Provence) as a thanks for taking me out there and each time we went I took some cake for us all as a treat as well.

 

There are two amazing apple trees in the garden - an eater and a cooker. How many apples??!

And look at the quinces!

Lucky me, I got to help myself

And back in Norwich I harvested two more muscades from the allotment. You can see the size difference here - for comparison, the small one in the photo is the biggest one from Liz's mum's! The biggest one was just under 9lbs, like the butternut from last week, yikes!

At the allotment I also picked my first carrots of the year, wooh. That reminds me, I haven't tried one yet.

Yesterday on the allotment I had some surprises. Two large white scallop / patty pans had been hiding away under a leaf. There were also a fair few dwarf beans (the runners are from the back garden). I brought back another small muscade and a butternut as well as some greens.

And a few more blackberries!

Some toms from the lean-to at home. It's looking quite bare in there as I've cleared away most of the tom plants now.

I've also continued to sprout beans, yummy

And used up one of the large muscades. The big ones aren't as well cured as the smaller ones so I'll use these up first. Also it was a bit of a shame, a really huge one on the allot had loads of slug damage and was all soft, so it ended upon the compost heap. This one was ok though. Not many seeds?

Mmm, roast

And a curry from the same batch of roast squash, enough for a couple of days. Squashes are certainly good for bulking up meals!

So I still have a couple of little butternuts that need to ripen / cure. The nights are cold now but there's still warmth during the day if we're lucky. I could've done with leaving some of them a bit longer out on the plot but was a bit worried some might go walkies. It does happen sometimes unfortunately.

This upcoming week I might have a go at making apple cider vinegar, I just saw a recipe which uses apple peel, core and honey. Sounds easy!

Linking in with Harvest Monday on Dave's Our Happy Acres

 

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Harvest Monday - a touch of colour

So, after a good start to the week, there was a bit of a lull.....but things have picked up again. We could really do with some rain, it seems to be missing us, so I'll probably end up having to water in a couple of days...I can't actually remember the last time it rained.

 

Here's my harvests for the week

The blackberries are starting to come thick n fast, which is great as the rasps have pretty much finished. Though I am still picking a few, they just don't make it home...tasty treat.

I thought the toms were going to get properly going too but most of the week they just ripened a few at a time.

Nice in sandwiches and with salads though.

I'd been keeping an eye on this little squash. I find that sometimes a little one ripens first before getting a bigger one or two later. So it seemed like a good time to pick it! I figure that if I left it on it might prevent another one forming (like if you leave beans or peas) because the plant thinks it's reproduced when the seeds inside the fruit ripen.

An added bonus is that at this time of year the skins are still quite soft so it's easy to cut through. Anyhoo, I added it to a mild curry, also with my own courgettes, chard etc, with quinoa.

A nice surprise on Saturday morning were my first runner beans (back garden). I hadn't realised they'd got so big around the back of the wigwam, I'd been looking at the smaller ones round front, hurray. I did make the mistake of putting them down on the recently cut grass, so they got covered in grass clippings, which are surprisingly hard to brush off!

 

I've used the beans quite simply, with courgettes and tomatoes in a sort of ratatouille, which we've had a few times - I soften them in some butter and then add the toms.

Friday night we had homemade oven chip/ wedge things plus homemade curry sauce (onion, garlic, curry powder, cornflour and a splash of cider vinegar)

And with squashage rolls one night, plus pies tonight (not pictured). These squashage rolls got even more squashed on the way home from town.

Sunday afternoon...more blackberries. And a round courgette! (I think I prefer the favour of the normal ones though)

And a biggish harvest picked from the plot in my lunch break and back garden /lean to tonight, which'll keep us going a couple of days. Though I could have spent a lot longer picking blackberries, there are so many but they'll have to wait for tomorrow, when I head to the plot after work :)

When I went back to the office after lunch with my stash of blackberries, I asked a couple of people if they'd been blackberrying yet. They said, no, where can they go? How about pretty much everywhere at the moment, I see them all over the place and could spend hours picking them! Sometimes people don't notice what's around them, or they drive everywhere and miss what's on their doorstep. Anyway I think I can feel a blackberry cake coming on this week....and I might just take it into work (to share of course, not just to gloat hehe)

Linking in with Daphne's Dandelions for Harvest Monday

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Harvest Monday - an eclipse?

A mixed week here in Norwich.....for the solar eclipse we were meant to have a clear time but instead it was really cloudy. It got very cold because of the eclipse and on my way in to work that day I could see my breath, brrr. I work flexi-time and was heading in 'after' the eclipse but something caught my eye - The cloud had cleared a bit and I accidentally saw it as the moon was moving off. So that was pretty cool, I thought I wouldn't see it at all (I did look away very quickly to avoid eye damage, though!). No pics of it I'm afraid. Of course, later that morning Norwich was bathing in beautiful sunshine with not a cloud in the sky, hey ho!

And on to the veggies.....

I lifted four more leeks this week, This pic is from two of them. I like the mix of dark and light. The darker parts tend to be a bit tougher so I cook them a bit first before adding the light parts.

And this is some Nero kale side shoots that have grown after picking all the big leaves and nipping off the top of the plants.

My tomatoes have been growing a bit too quickly so I decided to pot them on (I.e. Choose the healthiest looking ones and pot them into something bigger, ditching the rest.

These didn't cut the mustard and ended up in the compost. They were either too small, too tall or too wiggly.

Here's the toms in their new homes for the next few weeks. I still have too many but will probably lose some due to neglect!

I've taken a bit of a gamble and put them out in the lean-to, because I think they would get too leggy if I kept them inside any longer, stretching to get to the light. Being colder outside it should slow them a bit aswell. I'll keep an eye on the overnight temps and if it's looking too cold I'll bring them in. I've surrounded them with bubble wrap around the trays as a bit of extra protection and put some bubble wrap against the window as the glass gets cold. Last night it was meant to be 4 degrees but this morning I saw frost in the cars out the front (North facing). The toms were fine, phew.

 

I've seen a few bees around but no more butterflies. I spotted one bee going into a soil bank that I've left on purpose for them, so it was good to see it being used, bzzzz. A blackbird keeps singing out the back at home at 4am. Such a beautiful song but the ear-plugs need to go in at that time of the morning!

 

Sunday I decided to use up my last squash, as I'd noticed a couple of spots forming.they didn't go very deep fortunately. It was rock hard and difficult to cut through but worth the effort...a really good flavour. But a bit sad there'll be no more for quite a long time.

I made a chickpea and squash curry, enough to last us two days

And picked a few bits of perpetual spinach and chard to add in too

That's me for the week. Oh I put in my early potatoes yesterday (variety Colleen, that always makes me think of Dolly Parton's Jolene). I'll try and get my mains in next weekend.

Linking in with Harvest Monday on Daphne's Dandelions

 

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Harvest Monday - better than expected

Yep. Autumn is here now. Not much chance of getting on the plot after work anymore as its getting cold and dark sooner and we've got lots of busy weekends in a row (and for the past few weekends). It's all fun stuff but means the plot is a bit neglected (and the house is a tip). I did get nearly 3 hours on the plot yesterday and made a start at clearing the bed I'm going to sow broad beans. Of course I got side tracked many times and didn't seem to finish one job off. I had wanted to clear the bed for garlic too but didn't even make a start on that. Never mind!

And on to the pickings this week:

Thanks to the warm daytimes I've still got some courgettes limping along. The chard is doing ok too.

We were doing some baking for a hen weekend and there was some leftover melted chocolate, so I cracked open a few of my hazelnuts, toasted them and coated in the choc, yum!

Also toasted some flaked almonds and added some sultanas (not home grown!). Brandy snaps in the background made by Jan. I also made cheese and courgette muffins (using my courgette) but forgot to take a pic.

Toms ripening in a paper bag in the kitchen, basil from the lean-to and rocket from the garden.

A lonely pepper from the lean-to.

Headed down to the plot yesterday (Sunday) after coming back from the hen-do. These carrots were a nice surprise. And a couple more courgettes, one was a big 'un! Not sure how I missed this one before the weekend. A happy courgette-face too, although one of the little squashes was brown inside so it ended up in the compost

I had some neglected perpetual spinach that had got out of hand, so cut it right back and picked out the best leaves. Discovered a few missed potatoes when weeding the leeks (that I planted out where the pots had been). Brought back a few onions from the allot shed and cut a teeny bit of broccoli. Also found a small butternut squash and brought it home to ripen. I've now taken up all my winter squash plants as they were all looking very sorry for themselves. It's ironic that the courgettes have out-lived the winter squashes!

And finally, a few more toms ripening slowly in the kitchen. These went into a curry with the big courgette, a couple of carrots and the spinach. Very nice :) If I was being clever I'd have picked one of the chillis from the lean-to and added that as well. What can I say, I'm not clever!

Linking in with Harvest Monday on Daphne's dandelions. Also must apologise for not being very social on people's blogs at the moment, October and early November this year are v busy for me, which is quite unusual!

 

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