End of July overview

Just a quick note on proceedings. I built some "cages" for the raspberries so they don't flop over so much (just some bamboo canes tied together). Harvested another bowl of blackberries and more beans. Other than that, everything is growing well and taking shape. The sunny weather also helps!

Jamming!

About a third of the greengages got turned into jam, another third was given away and the rest is waiting to be chopped and frozen (for pies and perhaps more jam). I think I cooked it for a bit too long so it may be a bit more set than I prefer but it should taste ok. Yay jam!


Today I picked the rest of them from the tree (lost about half to roving snails eating them on the branches!). Very good harvest. Also picked blackberries which grow along the fence. And a handful of beans.


The blackberries along with some gooseberries I still had lingering in the fridge are now bubbling away on the stove for more jam. Raspberries should be next in line for harvesting and maybe I'll make more jam, but I think I may try my hand at raspberry vodka (basically just a lot of raspberries covered in vodka - easy!). Considering it takes me quite a while to get through a jar of jam, I may not need to buy any for at least six months (never mind vodka which has been in my freezer for at least a year).

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?

A day of sunshine and thundery showers

For Sharon.

first real harvest of sorts

I realise I have been spoilt in Portland: everything grows so much faster there. Nevertheless, my first harvest in London today, apart from picking the occasional mange touts and raspberry.


I pulled up some white beetroot which I intend to roast tonight alongside other vegetables and use the leaves as treats for the guinea pigs and as an ingredient for an omelette. Also a handful of mange touts, a little bit of escarole and a few raspberries.



The potatoes I was growing in a pot had all their leaves chewed off so I decided to lift what was there. Delightful little ones (which I expected with "Mimi") which I think will go very nicely roasted with the beets. Looking forward to the ones that grow in the soil and have escaped snail and slug attacks... Also found a few ripe brambles as I was poking around the garden which is an added bonus.

Speaking of snail and slug attacks, the zucchini haven't been doing so great, especially the far one. I was wondering why that should be -- they get enough water, sun, etc. -- when I noticed that the lower part of the stem -- the bit resting on the ground -- was basically missing. London gastropods are bloody vicious.


Other than that the garden is doing quite nicely: it's warm but also rains a lot, evidence of fruit setting, the promise of more to harvest.

PS. Defensive bamboo sticks successful. So successful that I poked myself tending to the cucumbers.