So weather-wise we've had a bit of a mix again. This weekend has been really hot and sunny, a bit foggy and finally today we have had much-needed rain, though it's only really got going tonight.
Here's my round up for the week :
Some not v impressive peppers (I picked these first, there are some better ones). Anyone know what causes these brown bits? They were ok when these bits were cut out.
Contemplative crystal lemon cukes.
I brought a few onions back from the shed. I've grown Sturon from sets the last couple of years. I did autumn onions a few times but they never worked out that well so am sticking with spring planting.
Apples! A good crop this year. This doesn't include the ones we've eaten :) also I spotted a large gherkin peeking out. Unfortunately I wasted several gherkins as I found them at the back of the fridge all soft and mushy. Yuk. I'd run out of jars and forgotten about them. Oops.
Rubbish sweet corn from the back garden, tasted ok though. I only had three plants and they obviously didn't pollinate v well! The ones on the allot were better.
Last of the ripe toms from the lean to in the back garden plus a chilli. Got more chilis but still green so thout I'd take this one off to encourage the others to ripen.
The rest of me toms, removed to ripen-up. I've now taken out all the tom plants too, it really must be autumn.
A few more strawbs :) they were super-sweet, yummy. Last ridge cucumber.
These nuts are from an allotment friend's plot. His hazels are much bigger than mine! See previous post for a comparison. I helped him pick his and we shared the results.
Yesterday we decided to eat another one of the butter nut squashes.
It had a really tiny seed cavity like the last one! Not good if you want to save seeds but good for the tasty flesh. It's Sprinter
We roasted it and made some of
Shaheen's quinoa and carrot meat balls / burgers, they were really tasty. We did change the recipe a bit (by accident). Jan got a bit carried away with the grating, and grated the carrot instead of steaming and mashing, so we added an egg to bind it all together. The photo doesnt do them justice :)
Tonight I dropped in to my allotment friends (Andrew) to give him half the nuts and he kindly gave me a bag of quinces and some of his apples. The apples are small but v sweet.
Tonight I also thought it'd better sort my potatoes out after they've been sat around for a while. I've tried to keep them out of the light as much as possible.
Minxie liked the cardboard box but not the potatoes.
And here's the mess! Top is the long term keepers, then clockwise....the mankiest (you can't see how bad they are, some even had living creatures inside, most will go in the compost), anyas (which have started sprouting), Colleen 2 bags (earlies. These have started sprouting too), and the medium term keepers.
This is one of my least favourite jobs, so I'm glad it's nearly over! I still have to put them in bags tonight though.
I didn't get any harvests today as I had to leave work late and it was dark by the time I got home (after I'd popped in to Andrew's) but think I might have some beans in the back garden ready to be picked...not too many left now though. I had wanted to check out my carrots on the plot but maybe I'll get time tomorow (and if it's not raining)
I went to a great open day at Norwich Farmshare on Saturday, which I'll report on soon...
Linking in to Harvest Monday over at Daphne's Dandleions
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That's quite a haul of potatoes! And the butternut looks great ... as you said, not great for seed saving but what a great amount to eat. I have the same thing happen to some of my peppers. I'll leave it for the more experienced gardeners to say what it is (and I'll check back for the answer). :)
ReplyDeleteHa ha, thanks Susie, we got 4 meals out of that squash, yum. Pepper was probably something to do with my erratic watering and extreme temps I expect.
DeleteThat is a mighty impressive end of summer haul! We are well into autumn here as well, but Mother Nature has given us a couple of really lovely weeks lately - probably to make up for the lousy summer we had ;)
ReplyDeleteThanks Margaret, yes we've had some really hot days recently too. Driest and hottest sept for a long time apparently. Shame I've had to be in the office most of the time. But I did get down the plot after work today for a lovely evening. Tomorrow at work should be a bit calmer so I might try and get over at lunch too :)
DeleteHmm quinoa and carrot burgers sound yummy. I'm going to have to try that some time. Nice harvests.
ReplyDeleteYeah, these are good burgers Daphne. Someone at work was admiring them too as I munched them for lunch the next day as well.
DeleteWoaw look at those gorgeous tomatoes! Really really impressed. I want to get my hands on some quinces. I would love to see what you do with them. Thank you so much for the link and mention, so pleased you like the carrot quinoa burgers, you can sub the veg with parsnip and beetroot too, or any other veg in fact, I've also done butternut squash and sweet potatoes. Loving the cat snapped in the pictures too, I miss my Moggy.
ReplyDeleteThanks Shaheen, I will probably make a jelly. I made one a few years ago when someone at work brought in a load of quinces. They were quite different to these though, much bigger and pear-shaped. Only needed 3 to make several jars of jelly. These ones from Andrew are probably an ornamental variety - he grew it from seed. The bush is quite small but had loads of fruit (but small fruit). They smell really nice too.
DeleteMmm, yeah they were yummy, def make again. Good use of quinoa too for some protein which I think we're bad at making sure we get enough of.
Minxie is a cutie except when she jumps on you in the middle of the night. I read about your Moggy a few months ago, it's v sad but it sounds like you had some good times together, which is a little consolation. Our minxie is 14 now, eep!
A massive haul here when are you opening the greengrocery?
ReplyDeleteI wonder if your pepper had damp spots that developed in the cold overnight temperature and then sun through the glass scorched it? Just a guess.
Ha ha thanks sue. Well I can't take all the credit, the quinces, bag of apples and tub of nuts were from Andrew's plot. I'm half way through making quince jelly tonight and will continue tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteHmm, could've been damp spots on the peppers. I try and just water the compost but there's bound to be splashing plus condensation. Something to watch out for.