Monday 27 July 2015

Harvest Monday - where'd the summer go?

So it seems autumn has decided to pay us a visit in the middle of summer, cold and wet. I'm pleased with the rain though, the allotment was so dry....but it's a tad strange having to wear a scarf, warm jumper and hoody!

The wet weather has brought out all the slugs n snails, so I've been sweeping through each time I've been down, and dealing with them before they do too much damage. I just cannot believe the size of some of these slugs though, absolutely massive. I shall not put you off your dinner with photos.

And on to the harvests...

The toms are still coming along but have slowed down since the gloomy weather started. This was earlier in the week before summer decided to go away
A day or so later these ripened together, he hee I thought they were cute
And a couple of stubby cukes from the allotment. Ah, I can feel funny faces coming along again soon
The courgettes went into scrambled egg. I think I added a couple of toms too (plus onion / garlic etc)
I like taking cukes as lunchtime snacks, here with the infamous squashage roll from the Norwich Providore market stall, mmmm. The lettuce wasn't mine unfortunately (I have absolutely no lettuce!) but there's a sneaky tomato or two in there as well.
I've picked a load more basil and rocket
Which Jan made into a Walnut pesto,
It's great in sarnies (She puts more cheese in than me!)
Friday was when the weather really started to get autumny so we needed comfort food. Queue fried egg with potato, courgette and chard. A home grown meal except the egg (no chickens yet, but one day...) There was enough to go with tea the next day too, an added bonus
There's been more berries to pick - here gooseberries and raspberries
This is one way I like to have them, on my breakfast, Mmm (it doesn't look quite so nice once you've added the yogurt and milk, especially as I leave them all to soak up for 10 or 20 mins into a big mush!)
Sunday was my best pick in one day. It wasn't raining when I first went down but then it started drizzling and settled in, but I thought, sod it and just stayed out. It's always easier to stay out once it's started rather than go out into the rain for some reason. I should've changed into my wellies though, as I ended up with soggy two-tone jeans from the ground upwards. Very fashionable I gather.
Some more comfort food yesterday - grated courgette soup with potato, Garlic, chard, basil and blue cheese. We both demolished two bowlfuls! You cook the potato then add into the same pan the grated courgette and any other vegetables to cook for a bit longer. I loosely based it on a recipe from The Readers Digest Allotment Gardeners Cookbook. It's nice and easy and uses one pan.Ooh, apart from the cheese this was all homegrown too. I'm a bit of a way off making my own cheese but another thing to aspire to.
And tonight, some more warming food was needed
I made a not-to-spicy curry with quinoa, using my usual onion, garlic, curry powder, tinned toms, coconut block plus veggies. And yes, leftovers for tomorrow's lunch, hurrah.
After tea, it was a bit drizzly but we fancied a little walk so wandered down to the plot (jan's been feeling a bit better the last few days and managing to walk more). And, lo! After dealing with a hoard of slugs and snails intent on eating my veggies, I spied another courgette that needed picking and a cucumber that I'm sure was nowhere to be seen yesterday...it must've been hiding.
I wanted to end on something nice but I've run out of photos, so instead here's a slightly damp shot of the back garden from the weekend, I've tidied it up a little bit. Looking forward to the red flowers turning into beans, that's if there's any left on after all the winds! Facebook showed me a photo from this time last year when I'd picked two big tubs of blackberries plus loads of dwarf beans from the allotment. No chance this year, it'll be a while longer yet.

Oh hey if anyone's on Instagram, let me know - jan's set me up on it though not sure how much I'll use it yet.

 

19 comments:

  1. What wonderful harvests! Your weather sound like us last year - July & August were both several degrees below seasonal and wet, wet, wet - and, of course, the slugs just went crazy.

    I really love all of your meals - they look so simple, yet hearty and delicious. I'll definitely be using them as inspiration!

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    1. Thanks Margaret, it's a funny old summer so far, just hope the veggies don't sulk too much, though they'll like the rain for sure, especially as I don't water at the allotment very often.
      Ah thanks, I should also have mentioned that the soup and curry had a tin of beans in each aswell. I'd like to start using dried beans as they're cheaper and no chance of nasty chemicals leaching from tin liners but I need to get a bit more organised for that to soak and cook in advance. Hmmm, we actually have a seldom-used slow cooker, might have to think about that.

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    2. I actually have a tip on that - one blogger (I think it may have been Dave at Our Happy Acres) said that he soaked & cooked the beans in advance and then froze them. I think that's ingenious as you get the best of both worlds - using dried beans and no advanced prep needed, just toss them into the dish. I've haven't done this yet, but I've been keeping it in the back of my mind as I would really prefer to use dried beans rather than canned ones.

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    3. Aha, that is such a good idea Margaret, and they could be frozen in perfect portion sizes too. I need to make a bit more work-top space to have the slow cooker down off the top of a cupboard, though if it was just once in a while it wouldn't matter if it was a bit cluttered (or, more cluttered than usual!)

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  2. Oh I am giddy, what a fab long post. don't know here to start really. Love your red gooseberries and purple basil and rocket herbs, and the chard - our chard is he size of my palm, and our tomatoes are still a little way of ripening. As for your plates of food, yum yum
    PS No kidding about the weather, its been a proper drizzle here

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    1. Thanks Shaheen,the yellow chard popped up by itself in one of my small onion beds so I left it. The normal chard is from plants self-seeded last year that I cropped over winter and spring, then cut right back to a stub from which they've re-grown. I've left other plants to seed again this year so should end up with a regular supply without having to do too much :) sometimes I might move them to a better location though once they've got big enough.
      The toms are slowly ripening in the gloom but today looks a bit brighter, hurrah.

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    2. Oh I forgot Shaheen , I also made your relish raw rasp mousse tart last week http://rainbowchard.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/harvest-monday-berry-bonanza-featuring.html

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  3. Has your lettuce become mollusc fodder? Is it that you just didn't plant any? We are finding that the salad leaves are much more useful than whole lettuces now that we can pick them straight from the garden.

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    1. Hi sue, I didn't have much luck at the sowing stage - several attempts at sowing in trays and pots only got a few seeds which germinated and then all died mainly due to neglect I think! And seeds sown directly in the ground either didn't germinate or were nibbled away when small.
      It's a shame as I've had really good lettuces before at home (the allotment soil is a bit dry for lettuces).
      I might try sowing some more now I don't seem to be rushing around as much, and plant out in the garden. Your salad bar is amazing though :)

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  4. Lovely harvests. I wish we could average our weather. We are going into a dry heat spell that looks like it will last over a week. Ick. I won't get much gardening done except in the really early morning hours.

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    1. Thanks Daphne, you must have to get up really early! The other week it was like that here but it didn't last too long. I prefer a moderate heat too, not much of a sun-lover.

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  5. I love all of the creative uses for your home grown veggies. A beautiful harvest post! I am really looking forward to a little cooler weather. It has been unbearably hot and humid here. The rain is a welcome sight every afternoon.

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    1. Thanks Audrey, my meals can seem a bit repetitive at home sometimes but get more varied as the different veggies come along.
      We always moan about the weather over here but you guys have a lot more extremes to work with!

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  6. I enjoyed seeing the fruits of your labor and the way you've used your produce in cooking. I keep finding more ways to use my garden yield, which make me want to plant more, too.

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    1. Thanks daisy, I try and keep things reasonably simple to save time and resources (cooking gas etc). One-pot meals are a particular favourite!
      Ooh yes, especially seeing what other people are growing makes me want to do more too.

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  7. Great harvests, great looking meals! I go a bit wild with cheese on sandwiches but that looks like a good amount. :) And the zucchini/potato soup? Sounds so delicious - I did something similar but with totally different veggies (you know, kind of just put in whatever you have). Nice cuke smiley face.

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    1. Thanks Susie, ha ha I guess I usually just cut the cheese a bit thinner but it depends on the knife and the type of cheese.
      I'd never done a grated zuke/courg soup before, but will def make this a regular. The recipe in the book just had potatoes and courg, with a few basil or mint leaves added at the end, which seemed a bit sparse in veggie variation. I'm not great at following recipes so didn't measure the quantities and like you I added some more of what was around at the time. I forgot that I added a can of butter beans for a bit of protein too.
      Heehee, I'll be looking out for more veggie-face opportunities.

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  8. Isn't it sad that we seem to have had practically no Summer this year? Yesterday was our first decent day for ages (though it still wasn't hot). Like you, we have been eating the sort of food normally associated with Autumn - hearty casseroles etc. How are we supposed to get tomatoes or chillis to ripen in weather like this???

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    1. Hi Mark, yes it's been an interesting 'summer' so far! We've had a couple of better days now, so I'm going to pop to the plot this morning and hopefully find some courgettes worth picking. The toms are very slowly ripening.....which on the bright side has meant no tomato gluts yet, just enough for sandwiches....I expect the glut will come soon!

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