I missed Harvest Monday last week...although I'd done a few harvest-related bits and pieces, for some reason I hadn't taken any pics. Anyway, here's some of what I've been up to this week.....
I still have lots of fruit in the freezer...on the plot I have strawberries, blackcurrant bushes (three), red currant (one large bush), gooseberry (several), blackberry (all along one boundary), three young blueberries and a Saskatoon, aswell as a plum tree (that didn't set any fruit last year) and 4 dwarf apple trees. This week I've made a late start weeding the couch grass from around the fruit bushes and between the roots (my least favourite job) and will then mulch with leafmould or compost. The problem with leafmould is that we keep getting these strong winds, so it all just blows away! Maybe I'll try and fork it in a bit or weigh it down with sticks. The weather's turned for the worse today though, so it may be a while before I get this done.
So, I regularly cook up a batch of frozen fruit to go on our breakfasts. I have a bad technique for freezing the fruit after I've picked it.....give it a wash, drain it in the colander then stick in a plastic bag....inevitably they end up as a big lump when you go to use them, like this......
Ideally the fruit should be properly dried and / or frozen flat (eg on a tray) and then put into a bag, so they don't all stick together....but I get so much fruit there's not enough freezer space to do them on a tray first, plus I'm usually in a bit of a rush, hence them being bunged away like this. But they defrost out ok eventually so I'm not too bothered....it all tastes the same when they're cooked. I usually add some old home-made preserve as a sweetener aswell - this batch had quince jelly. I also found another couple of tubs of strawberries behind some bags of blackberries in the freezer so am looking forward to eating them up soon, yummy.
We're still growing cress and sprouting beans on the windowsill - they make a salad a bit more exciting at this time of year. I made some fermented grated beetroot too, but not from my own beets.
We're out of greens at the moment, so I had another forage around the garden, picking nettle tops, garlic mustard and red-veined sorrel. It was very chilly, bbbr.
I softened some onion, then added a stock cube, hot water and some haricot beans I'd previously cooked in the slow cooker. Then I added the nettles (more than in the pic below), cooked that all for a few mins then turned off the heat, whizzed it up then added the chopped garlic-mustard and sorrel. I didn't get a pic of the finished soup but it was good! (Swirled in a bit of goat's yogurt too).
Yesterday we used up the last of the potatoes from storage...they'd kept pretty well considering the mild winter. At the allotment the early variety have just started peeping up out of the soil. I've just seen the forecast for tonight....possibly snow...I should've popped down and earthed them up, doh.
Seedling update
Out in my lean-to (greenhouse attached to back of house) there's a small forest (of tomatoes) forming. The small plant in the round pot is a plum seedling.... I was emptying out last year's compost from the lean-to pots into bags to take to the allotment and spotted it emerging from an old plum kernel in the compost...could be exciting.
The squashes have just started erupting. I love it when you see a mound of compost getting pushed out the way before the seedlings appear, especially with big seeds.
Cucumbers in the foreground, with sweetcorn in the loo rolls (and some more toms behind). I had them all covered with bubble wrap but as soon as one of a type of veg has germinated I take it off all of that type of veg as the others are usually not far behind.
Brassicas are looking ok
Lettuces
Peppers and aubergines. They're growing a lot slower than the toms but I think that usually happens
And finally, we had a nice sunny evening the other day so had a wander along the river and past the cathedral, lovely.
Thanks for reading this week. As usual I'm linking in with Harvest Monday hosted by Dave at Our Happy Acres
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How wonderful to have so many berries! For field berries, I tend to cook them up first then freeze them in 250 ml mason jars (mostly raspberries on their own or strawberries with some balsamic vinegar).
ReplyDeleteYour seedlings look wonderful - how soon will you be planting outside? Your tomatoes are definitely ahead of mine but I still have about 5-6 weeks before anything goes out. And yes, my experience is that peppers always take a lot longer than tomatoes. Pretty neat finding that plum seedling!
Mmm balsamic strawberries sound good Susie. I like to mix my fruit up a bit when I cook it but if I get a lot of strawbs at once I do heat them through a bit in a saucepan so they start to break down slightly - they fit in a tub better that way for me.
DeleteThanks, the toms will stay inside the whole time but I guess the others in maybe a month (including hardening off period). It depends how big they get and what the weather's doing. I don't really want to have to pot everything on too many times (too time consuming and uses too much compost). I will direct sow some beans outside in May sometime too. Yeah, the plum has grown a new leaf now!
Your seedlings in the greenhouse are so very impressive. And I am with you. I do love watching the squash and pumpkins erupt out of the soil with such a bang! In just a few weeks you are going to be quite busy setting out all of those wonderful plants. And thanks for the lovely closing picture of the Cathedral.
ReplyDeleteThanks Lexa, it helps having the lean-to greenhouse attached to the back of the house, which gives it extra protection on one side.
DeleteYes I'm hoping most of them survive through until planting out. I have a lot of weeding etc to do first (plus we did get snow this week, yikes!) But it's so nice after they've been hardened off and you can just pop them in the ground.
I should have said that Jan took the pic of the cathedral, she thought it wasn't very good but I think it captured a lovely time of the evening and very pretty part of Norwich. We're lucky we can stroll there in a short time :)
Our frozen fruit looks a bit similar to unless we freeze it as a compote
ReplyDeleteThe cold weather plus all the little seedlings is a bit worrying isn't it?
Lucky all my seedlings are still indoors sue! ( apart from some direct-sown ones which should be able to look after themselves). My potatoes were ok in the end, despite some overnight snow, and I earthed them up on Tuesday inbetween dodging hail showers, brr. I've seen pics from other allotment sites in Norwich where tom plants are suffering a bit, but they're probably more exposed than my back garden lean-to, plus I still have some bubble-wrap up at the windows to help protect them from very cold glass over night.
DeleteYour seedlings are coming along so well - those tomatoes look great!! Looks like we are getting the same weather as you are - VERY chilly with a few nights at or below freezing. Had to get the winter jackets back out...ugh!
ReplyDeleteHi Margaret, it's a funny old spring eh?
DeleteI think I will plant my toms out into their final pots in the next two or three weeks (I can't be bothered to give them intermediate pots....takes too long and takes up too much space and compost). But the lean- to still needs finishing cleaning out first (i have been doing a bit of clearing here and there so it won't be too big a job)
You are so good about using your preserved harvests, and those tomato plants look huge! Mine barely have their first true leaves.
ReplyDeleteThanks phoung, it's nice to be able to dip into the freezer for homegrown bits and pieces. It'll need defrosting in the next couple of months before filling back up over the summer.
DeleteI'm lucky with the toms as they don't ever get planted outside, so I can start earlier than some people. (I did grow a few outside once but they got blight).
I think it's great to have homegrown fruit in the freezer whether it's in a blob or not. We usually put ours on a tray to freeze before putting in a container but it sometimes winds up in a blob anyway. It's all good I think! I'm looking forward to more currants and gooseberries as the bushes get bigger.
ReplyDeleteYou have an entirely different group of edible greens growing around you than we do here. Right now chickweed is about the only thing I could find. Later on we always have lambs quarters but the deer usually eat it first before I can do something with it. There are some dandelion green around but I'm not really a fan of them.
Hehe, thanks Dave, most of my fruit ends up as a blob. When I was just getting a few rasps at a time I froze them on a tray first, which worked really well for preventing sticking together but now I don't have space. If I get time this year I will at least try and dry the fruit a bit more before freezing it though, which should help.
DeleteWell, I had a couple of edible green fails this week which I'll tell you about tomorrow! With the dandelions have you tried covering them with a bucket or similar? It's meant to make them less bitter (I don't particularly like them either)