Monday, July 26, 2010

Harvest for dinner

Dinner was a stir-fry and alongside store-bought supplies I also did a quick harvest of veg to go in it - carrots, a patty pan squash, some beans and the tops of the white beetroot (taste like spinach - they were declared "very nice" by a beetroot-hater). Still leaves me with two lemon cucumbers and the beetroot for another day.


Today is drizzly, too wet to stand there and water the garden but yet not enough to quench the thirst of the plants. Hope it'll give it a good drenching overnight.

On another thought, I need to check whether there are any greengages this year (I think the tree is suffering from some kind of insect infestation that makes them drop off before ripening) and figure out what to do with my three (!) gooseberries. I also now have some blackberries coming up. Maybe just a square of puff pastry with an assortment of fruit on it?

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Salvage effort

The tomato plant, alas, was beyond help so I cut it down this evening and made some chutney from the green tomatoes (about half of a jam jar). I think I used a bit too much vinegar so the chutney is quite sharp but with a good piece of cheddar it'll be fine.


The leaves of the potatoes fell victim to slugs and snails so I guessed it was time to harvest them. A good handful of 'Anya' which, considering didn't spend a penny on seed potatoes, is not too bad. Haven't tried them yet but I bet they will be delicious.

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Disaster!

One of the Red Pear tomato plants got a bit too heavy for its cane. I noticed it leaning a little bit last night and couldn't resist trying to fix it. Instead it flopped over and it seems to have almost snapped off at the base. Curses! I propped it up again but today it's looking all wilted already. Green tomato chutney may come earlier than I thought...

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Progress...

The garden is now progressing nicely and plenty of veg are setting fruit.

The squashes are bursting at the seams - the Turks Turban in particular has started to "escape" and is climbing everywhere. I also spotted the first patty pan developing (there had been plenty of male flowers previously). Both are such weird-looking specimens, much more interesting than the uniform things you can buy in the shops.



And finally - a bean! I doubt that this year I end up with a glut, although I may regret saying that.


The tomatoes are doing great - the Red Pear especially has lots of vines. Now hoping for the warm weather to continue so they'll ripen before September.


And soon I should be ready to harvest the first of the Lemon cucumbers. The skin seems a bit hard, so we'll see how they turn out.