Full-on harvesting

Lots of veg still to be harvested - I haven't really touched the beetroot or carrots, and there is some strange squash that self-seeded itself. In the meantime beans, raspberries, cucumbers and tomatoes are providing lots of tasty treats. I am thinking of making proper, fresh tomato soup which is the best thing on earth. The "conjoined" patty pan I harvested last is now mercifully nearly used up - there is a limit to how much even I can eat of it.

As I was checking over the Turk's Turban squash it came off the vine so I take that as a sign that it is ready :) Looks very pretty and I bet it will be delicious roasted. There is another, bigger one still growing in the garden which I will leave alone for a while longer.

Just realised that I haven't bought any veg other than peppers and potatoes for the last few weeks so that means I am pretty much self-sustaining at the moment. How cool is that?!?

Conjoined harvests

In my recent haste of harvesting I actually forgot to post a picture of the first fully ripened tomato. Well, here it is - the subtle stripes are barely noticeable but in real life it looked very pretty. It also shows off the patty pan squash and beans which I have been munching my way through.


But look what I took from the garden today!!! A whole bowl of lemon cucumbers, more tomatoes, a bucketload of green beans and the most weirdly-shaped squash I've ever seen! It seems I have a conjoined patty pan - anyone know how that happens?


Lunch today was much nicer than usual, making use of lots of the things I grew myself (mainly it was nicer because I was working from home, the staring at data didn't help though). Green beans cooked with tomatoes, cucumbers in creme fraiche, and tomatoes and goat cheese in puff pastry - ok, I bought the puff pastry, creme fraiche and the goat cheese but give me time ;)

Red-y? Steady? Go!

A ripening tomato. In early August. In my garden! Usually I have to wait till beginning of September. The Tigerella appear to have the head start on this, the others ones are coming along but nothing happening yet that even borders on red.


Have started in earnest on harvesting the beans, although I am competing with some voracious snails that have climbed up the poles. Also on the menu are more lemon cucumbers and a nice patty pan squash.

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?

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.

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...

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.