… to match the harvest moon two nights ago.
The harvest is coming in thick and fast. We have another very large courgette. It had become detached from the plant and my Beloved found it making its way across the lawn. I shall be stuffing it with chilli con carne with cheese on top. Yum.
I brought in the last of the tomatoes a couple of weeks ago.
They were all green, though some have turned red now. I shall set some aside to eat now and the rest I shall bottle. We had a better harvest than I expected. On the way to check the tomatoes, I discovered that we have some late strawberries. Sadly, all but one had been eaten by the woodlice. Beloved and I had the good one between us.
We haven’t had much time to take full advantage of the lovely raspberries that are still going strong. However, if the rain will let up for a moment I might dash out and get some.
We’ve had stormy weather here just lately, with quite strong winds. I have been amazed that the apples have still remained on the trees! The yew berries from a tree up the street are thickly over the road, but our apples are making us work to get hold of them! We have SO many apples. We took a large bag each to the local cafes, who were over the moon to receive them. And that’s just the cooking apples. The pippin is also overflowing and we must bring those in next time we have a free moment – and a bit of dry weather.
We also had a few beans. To be honest, the amount is pitiful. We didn’t plant as many as we normally do, but even so our result was very small. Definitely not enough to see us through the winter!! It’s our own fault. We didn’t collect them in when we should. We did eat a lot of them when we had visitors earlier in the year, but then we got caught up in volunteering for a local charity shop and all our good intentions for the garden went out the window. Or something like that.
We have decided to make apple butter with some of the apples, once I get a moment. Beloved may make cider vinegar which he normally makes with the Bramleys and wants to try with the eating apples this year. We thought about making “Jersey black butter” but the recipe we found had such a huge weight of apples that I doubt we have a pan big enough. So ordinary apple butter it will be (though I suspect they are very similar!) because I don’t need to process the whole apple tree at once!
Stuffed courgette: my beloved uses lamb mince plus tomatoes and whatnot. Brilliant!
We harvested our first red pepper of the summer last week! We ate it, or part of it, on a celebratory pizza.
Apples: dreadful disappointment. Worst ever.
Winter tucker: the leeks are planted in the raised bed and the Jerusalem artichoke jungle is flourishing as usual. Broad beans need to go in – into the bed where the toms grew. Tender little broad beans in the Spring are delish.
……
JH: Oh joy, garden of delights.
Oh thank you for reminding me about broad beans! We need to get some into the border my Beloved cleared a few weeks ago (only I think the weeds have taken over again – sigh!)
And I must try the courgette with the lamb mince mixture. It sounds good, and I’m pretty sure I have some lamb mince in the freezer somewhere.
I’m jealous of you having red peppers, or any peppers really. Ours never seem to work out – they grow, form a pepper or two, and then it shrivels. The plant is fine, and strong, but somehow the fruit is a bit reluctant.
Thanks, Dearieme, I really enjoy hearing about your garden.