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
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: beans, cucumber, strawberries, sweetcorn, tomato
1 kg strawberries harvested today! Jam making tomorrow night using a recipe from the River Cottage Handbook No.2.
The aphids have caught up with the broad beans. The tips of the beans are now covered in aphids. I’m hoping, like last year, that the ladybirds will come to the rescue but as with the aphids they are also a bit later than last year. I suppose that’s because of the longer, colder winter.
The fruit cage is finished in all its shiny aluminium it doesn’t look very allotment but it will do a great job at keeping the birds away from the fruit.
I’m on the final stretch with the seed planting with cucumber and pickle seeds sown today along with a final row of sweetcorn and some more peas.
The brassicas are just beginning to germinate it’s hard to tell what’s what at the moment so I’m having to be quite careful with my weeding. The carrots and parsnips don’t seem to be doing anything yet but I planted them a few weeks after the brassicas. My potatoes aren’t looking as happy as my neighbours so I’ve feed them with womery liquid and crossed my fingers.
I started off some tomatoes from seed on the windowsill at home a few weeks ago. I should have done this earlier in the year but, with only one south-facing window, there’s a limited amount of space. So, as an experiment, I’m seeing whether these late tomatoes will grow up in time to beat the first frosts. I planted the seedlings out today. If they can survive the next 5 days rain they’ll probably do all right.
Fruitcage
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: aubergine, raspberry, squash, sweetcorn, tomato
There was frost on Wednesday morning and two of the tomato plants have been got hard. I’ll leave them in but I’m not sure whether there’s enough undamaged plant left to survive. It’s such a contrast to last year where we’d already been through a heat-wave.
The broad beans are set and developing nicely and I suspect that the first are about 2-3 weeks away from the plate.
I’ve been hit with a vile cold so was taking it easy. Mainly sitting watching the construction of the new raspberry cage from a sun-trap under the cyprus trees.
Heroically I did manage to plant a row of sweetcorn and a row of mixed squash along with the beefsteak tomatoes and some aubergine plants. I now have my fingers crossed that: 1) the raspberry cage isn’t stolen, 2) this cold patch is finally over and spring will return.
Plot 36 