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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Wow! You had quite a lovely harvest this week. I have wild blackberries growing all along the back of my property, but they are very thorny. The berries were too small when they ripened a few months ago, so it was not worth the pain to gather them. I've never seen a blackberry cake before. Please take a picture! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Audrey, we have all sorts of different blackberries here, I was lucky as the ones on my allotment are really tasty, though even across the plot they vary. They had taken over most of the plot when I got it but I've cleared them back over the years and left a long bramble hedge along two boundaries, lots of berries! Yes I will def take a picture though I'm now thinking of doing a blackberry flapjack rather than cake.
DeleteIt is wild blackberry time in Oregon. I need to get picking. I also enjoyed all of your pictures of the dishes you made with your harvest. Very inspiring. We need to rain too! Happy harvest week -
ReplyDeleteBlackberries are great aren't they Lexa,....free food! Though even armed with long sleeves, a beer crate to stand on and a rake to pull the briars nearer I still get scratched-up. Definitely worth it though. Thank you, I hope people aren't bored with the same dishes all the time. I'm not very imaginitive!
DeleteYour harvests are looking pretty wonderful with lots of summery vegetables. Looks like your courgettes are going strong. Plus you're getting potatoes and winter squash. Amazing.
ReplyDeleteBlackberry season is so wonderful, they were everywhere when we lived in Oregon. They grow wild in Kentucky too but the ticks here are fierce and tiny, so not many people brave the woods to go picking.
Thanks phoung, I have a few courgette plants but as things are a bit slow I'm getting a steady crop but not a big glut.
DeleteEesh, we do get ticks here but mainly in the countryside in long grass or bracken. Luckily for me as my allotment is in the city we don't get ticks, as far as I know anyway.
Fantastic blackberries, you'll be glad of them in the winter. My tomatoes are at about the same stage, just odd dribs and drabs. I'm not sure I'll have a huge harvest, not for want of trying! I love the look of the potato wedges and curry sauce, I think I'll give that a go this week. CJ xx
ReplyDeleteThanks CJ, yep the freezer is getting pretty full already with lots of fruit. I'm waiting for apples so I can make stewed mixed fruit, my fave. I've had a bit of blossom end rot on my toms so have lost a few unfortunately but hopefully most will be ok.
DeleteMmm, potato wedges always go down well, I usually use a splash of sunflower and olive oil (or rapeseed oil if I have it.) and just mix the potatoes up in it til they're covered thinly.
You are mirroring us. We too have missed the rain and have reluctant tomatoes. We are also harvesting similarly, Round courgettes are good for stuffing,
ReplyDeleteWe had a few spots of rain tonight sue but it barely wetted the ground, I'll have to get busy with the watering can tomorrow. Hmm, stuffed courgettes sound good.
DeleteThose blackberries look so good. I wish I could pick them here. I see some places where they grow, but the fruit always mold before they get ripe. Or the animals take them early.
ReplyDeleteThanks Daphne, our blackberries are usually ok unless there's been a lot of rain, which makes them go mushy quickly. And as we haven't had any rain for ages they're not having that problem at the moment! I've spotted a few which look like they've been pecked but there's so many it doesn't matter.
DeleteSuch wonderful harvests - and all those blackberries! Hopefully I'll be showing a few in my harvest posts next year. My tomatoes are as reluctant as yours this year - just dribs and drabs so far.
ReplyDeleteThanks Margaret, the blackberries are def the star at the moment! And good thing is they don't need much looking after either, I just prune them back in winter (or spring by the time I've got round to it) and prune out any new long briars that grow over the summer (if I left them they'd get in the way of berry picking and block the paths). I'm using the trimmings this year to pile up against my short bit of boundary chain link fence as a 'dead hedge' to screen off the allotment from the adjacent lane and put people off hopping over the fence. (No one has ever got over there but I've been clearing that end of overgrowth recently and it looks more inviting to just jump over the fence. ) hope your toms pick up soon,though it's quite good not having to deal with gluts yet. If the blackberries carry on I won't have any freezer space anyway!
DeleteI'm pretty sure we don't have blackberries growing wild around here, but maybe you are right and I just haven't noticed. I do however have wild raspberry bushes absolutely everywhere on my property but they don't grow big enough and/or the critters get them first. I love berries so I'm quite envious of your haul there. That squash is such a beautiful orange.
ReplyDeleteThanks Susie. Yep, you might not have any blackberries there. We get them all over the place in nooks and crannies, woodland edges and glades, hedgerows. Even in the wider city we have lots, along fence lines, pockets of green space, parks etc. I'll go foraging for elderberries soon in the same sorts of places (but not any near busy roads cause of the possible pollution). Shame you can't pick the wild raspberries. Is there something else you could plant and then just let it grow wild or would the critters always get them first without protection?
DeleteEverything looks fantastic. I must look closely at my bean poles as I may have some beans growing. And I def. have some chard, but I have not picked any yet. I am hoping to go blackberry foraging next week, a place me and my hubbies stumbled upon a couple of years back when we were house hunting. Your right, people don't see the fruit heaving in their areas, I#ve spotted a few places lately inc a place for apples!
ReplyDeleteThanks shaheen, yeh those beans can creep up on you! Hope you got chance to pick blackberries, there's something very therapeutic about it. Oh yes, and apples too. There's an amazing tree in a fenced-off old yard near here that I would love to get in and harvest!
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