Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: aubergine, blackberries, blueberries, borlotti, raspberries, sweetcorn, tomato
…wash and quarter. Put in a pan and boil until they are reduced by 25%. Put through a food mill and store: freeze, can or bottle.
Preserving has commenced. So far I’ve managed: Strawberry Jam, Sage Elixir, Damson Gin and now passata. The large tomatoes, and I mean large, larger than cooking apples are now ready to be mushed and frozen. There will be more before the end of September, as long as there are enough sunny days to ripen the remaining fruit.
The smaller tomatoes are also plentiful and ripen easily even on the marginal days we’ve been having of late. There are also still raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, sweetcorn and aubergines. One of the tomato plants fell over under its own weight so I’ll turn the green tomatoes into chutney.
There’s also still lots growing: pumpkin and squashes, brassicas, carrots, beetroot, borlotti beans, all hanging in there. I’m hoping that the white dust on the squash leaves won’t harm the squashes…
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: beetroot, blueberries, carrot, harvest, parsnips, raspberries, squash, sweetcorn
The trips to the allotment have been a bit sporadic of late. A combination of weekends away and rain in the weekday evenings have conspired against me. I was pleased to see that everything is still flourishing and the beetles are keeping their forays to a minimum.
There isn’t much to do except pull weeds and harvest. This week we have: aubergines, tomatoes, sweetcorn, potatoes, raspberries and blueberries. I’ve also harvested elderberries to try making something called Pontack; a preserve for use with pork and game.
The borlotti beans are persevering despite being in the worst spot in the allotment, too dry and too shaded. The squashes will be ready in about a month. I thought I’d planted butternut but they aren’t the right shape some are beautifully round, getting larger as you watch, the others are flat like flying saucers. The carrots, beetroot and parsnips are a little behind – I’m hoping now for an October harvest. My neighbour has taken pity on my shoddy carrot growing and we left clutching 12 beautiful carrots.
Squashes
Plot 36 