The pumpkin

It is a very, very nice pumpkin. Pleasing colour. Interesting shape (underneath it looks like the one harvested a while ago). Taste uncertain as of yet. Yep, I'm very proud of this one.


Ok, technically it is a winter squash, not a pumpkin (see footnote). I am also eating summer squash (patty pan) at the moment, and waiting for another unidentified squash to ripen. This means it's officially autumn!

Footnote: Try and find out the difference between winter squashes and pumpkins. Come on, I dare you. And when you find it, send me the answer ;) At the moment I like this definition the best: "Pumpkins are something you carve, winter squashes are something you eat, and gourds are something you look at."

Beetroot harvest

I never think of having beetroot during the summer. Something about it spells autumn for me - the earthy taste perhaps. My summer exception is a Turkish beetroot salad but I never make that for myself. Today I finally decided to pull up half of the white beetroots I have in my garden. Marvellous stuff - they don't bleed and you can eat the leaves too.


The beetroots are now roasting in the oven, sliced along with the carrots from last week and a rough-chopped patty pan squash in olive oil, balsamic vinegar and some herbs (sage, thyme and oregano). The leaves are throroughly cleaned, one by one (I don't fancy eating tiny snails), chopped, and now I have two bags of them in the freezer. Autumn is going to be full of delicious produce!

Summer is over

August was really not great shakes in terms of weather but now it's starting to get noticeably colder and darker. Still harvesting a lot of stuff but I can tell it's slowing down.

I have patty pan (summer) squash and Turk's Turban (winter) squash that I planted but something squash-like self-seeded itself, probably from last year. The problem is that I have no clue what it is. My best guess is an acorn squash which I tried out but never took off. I harvested a small one - a bigger one is still ripening - just to make sure it's not a round zucchini. It isn't.


I found some carrots I forgot about. They're not the prettiest of things but they look edible. I can't really expect too much on my kind of soil. Seems September is full of mystery and surprises...

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?