A Week of Firsts - Summer Harvesting



The first carrots from my bottomless buckets - success.  Definitely doing more of these next year.

Container carrots


The first Sungold tomato to ripen and the first Summer Patty Pan Squash.  Contrary to everything written in my books about the squash family not producing very well in containers - mine are starting to produce and look really healthy.  Needless to say, the container they are growing in is huge.

Sungold tomato and Summer Squash

I am very disappointed with my tomatoes this year - the trusses are sparce with not many tomatoes per truss, even the bush tomatoes, although full of flower, just aren't turning into tomatoes.  Not sure what has gone wrong.  I have loads of tomato plants, more than I have ever planted before, looks like its a good job I planted so many - the harvest is going to be pitiful.

The first of the Runner Beans - success.  Many more to follow I hope.  If I only had space for one vegetable this would be it.  We had these for Sunday lunch with roast chicken - together with shredded cabbage, baby carrots and courgettes sauteed with butter and garlic, and of course, some of my lovely Charlotte potatoes - it's a good feeling when everything on your plate is home-grown.

Runner Beans

The Summer Pudding Garden

Now that the Blackcurrants have finally ripened it may be time to think of Summer Pudding.  I have been freezing punnets of Redcurrants, Raspberries and Strawberries - so my garden has yielded all the ingredients that I need (except for the bread of course).  I would quite like to add a Whitecurrant bush to the mix as I have heard that the fruit is a little sweeter and if I wait for a few weeks I could add Blackberries, but then it would be Autumn Pudding rather than Summer.

I have spent the last two days picking Redcurrants which look glorious shining from the bushes in the sun - it's a messy job but someone has to do it.  A few pots of Redcurrant Jelly a few pots of Blackcurrant Jam and one or two with all the berries mixed together, and if there are any berries left over, maybe a bottle or two of cordial.

This year I have an overabundance of small fruits, last year, except for gooseberries, I had nothing - so I am determined to make the most of natures' bounty with foods to remember this hot summer by in the depths of winter.

Have you grown all the fruits needed for a Summer Pudding this year - as long as it isn't too tart and there is plenty of fresh cream to go with it, what could be nicer on a hot summers' day.

pinterest

Soft Fruit Season and July Harvest

 

I always say that I won’t bother planting summer cabbage as there are plenty of other things to eat, but in between the broc being harvested and waiting for the beans, I have a row of summer cabbage that have matured just at the right time.  We had the first of these on Sunday for lunch – just the right size for the two of us – slathered in butter and very succulent – I’m glad that I decided to plant some.

 

The courgettes are just starting to produce – this has to be the biggest flower on the container courgette that I have ever seen.  I am picking the courgettes whilst they are finger-sized – if I let them all grow to full size they overwhelm me and I have to start finding ways to use them all, whereas when they are picked fairly small I can use them up no problem.

July is the month for great harvests – early each morning I spend an hour watering and harvesting whatever veg is ready – potatoes, peas, courgettes

and on checking the row of beetroot found quite a few at tennis ball size, so I pulled half a dozen

But it is the soft fruits that are the stars of the month

 

Strawberries – which are almost at an end and Redcurrants

 

I have been picking a punnetful of raspberries every morning, the plants are looking a bit tired and dried out but they are still fruiting their socks off.

And finally the gooseberries, masses of them, some I will leave to get larger and riper, I love to eat these raw as they are so so sweet and juicy, I’m not too keen on the tartness of the smaller ones, but they make good gooseberry crumble.

The blackcurrants are almost ready too – it looks like I am going to have a busy time over the next few days.  The freezer needs sorting out now so I can squeeze everything in – it is too hot at the moment to stand over a boiling pan making jam – so what doesn’t get eaten straight away, will be frozen until the weather cools off a bit.

 

How are you coping with everything coming all at once

do you freeze, bottle or make jam

or just try and eat everything fresh as and when you harvest

 

This is the first post I have published using the Windows Live Writer as I have been having so many problems with Blogger – it takes a while getting used to a new system so I hope it has turned out all right.

Am I A Terrible Gardener?

When I see the state of my veg plot - I think I probably am.  I cannot seem to keep on top of everything.  If I were to show you pictures of my plot as it is right now - you would cover your eyes and run away screaming.  For all you 'neatists' out there - those of you who expect nothing less than perfection - you would be horrified at the state it is in.

First broad beans of the season

During this hot weather my time has been taken up with watering and harvesting with no time left for weeding.  The plot went bananas whilst we were away on holiday, the sun and rain being perfect conditions for everything to run riot.

Six cucumbers developed quickly - all at the
same time and all the same size

Yet, even though the plot is semi-wild I am still getting good harvests.  Last Sunday I picked five heads of broccoli - it never ceases to thrill me when I see something ready to pick that I hadn't spotted the day before - one day no broc, the next it is ready for picking.

We had this with cheese sauce and roast gammon, freshly
picked that morning - so tender and tasty

surplus strawberries in sugar ready for making into conserve

runner beans in large pot

Would the harvest have been better 'sans' weeds - maybe, who can say.  I won't be posting any pictures just yet though until I get it a bit more under control.  I will show you my jumble of a container garden which is going great guns too.

purple tee pee french beans



Tomatillo

Curly kale

Romesco cauliflower in raised bed edged with Echium

container courgette plant - courgettes just starting to form 



Outdoor tomatoes

I am doing the best that I can, but with it being so hot my gardening time has been restricted to early morning and late evening - although I love this summer weather I tend to wilt like a lettuce in the heat.   It has been a little cooler today so I have been making up for lost time.  Can't stop, just off to get everything watered.

Hope you are all enjoying this lovely weather

after all we have been waiting for it

for a long, long time.

Are you managing to keep on top of all the weeding and watering?

The Humble Spud

"The flowers of the potato, delicate petals whose stamens bunch together to form a point, are amongst the most charming in the vegetable garden.  Marie Antionette wore them in her hair.  Summer rain and even cloud makes their flowers close and droop like a swan in repose.  As dusk falls, they gently close."  Nigel Slater

I have potatoes growing in florists buckets, sacks and in the ground.  Those in the ground are flowering and look much healthier than they did last year.  I emptied one of the florists buckets to see how things were progressing.

These are Charlotte and I was pleased with the result.  We had some for dinner this evening with fresh peas and a fillet of Sea Bass.  Delicious.

Have you tasted the first potatoes of the season yet?  If not, you have a treat in store.

The First Strawberries of the Season . Fresh Peas and a Tiny Tomato

I know some of you are already eating home-grown strawberries but mine grown in the greenhouse are only just ripening.  When I open up the greenhouse first thing in the morning the smell of strawberries is really strong and they taste wonderful.  I had a few shop bought ones last week that were sour.  It just goes to prove that supermarkets grow for appearance rather than taste - how can a strawberry be sour! 

The bottom two pictures are those growing in hanging baskets outside - they still have a way to go.  I do have an unruly strawberry patch at the plot where  I allow the plants to do their own thing - I don't cut the runners off and just let them roam where they will - as you can imagine they patch is quite large now and I will have to have a bit of a sort out once they have fruited.

Some of the peas are now ready for picking.  These are growing in a trough  - the ones in the ground are catching up fast though - I just hope they don't come to fruition whilst we are away on holiday next week.

Hurrah - I have my first tiny tomato on the Sungold plant outside in a container.  This plant was a survivor from the February sowing - the rest got hit by frost.

These are the second batch of french beans ready to be planted out - alas, a greenhouse snail has already been having a go at them, one has been completely sliced off.  Grrr.

There are a few flowers forming on the container squash - it doesn't look like they are fruit-bearing though - still plenty of time for that, she says hopefully.

The Cavolo Nero are ready to plant out but I haven't got any room left - so I have potted them on till I can find somewhere to put them - probably when something has been harvested.

And finally my pear tree has managed to hang on to seven pears.  This may not sound much to you but it is the first time in all the years I have had this tree that pears have been formed and stayed put.  Let's hope no disasters befall them.

I won't be posting next week as I shall be sunning myself on the Norfolk Riviera - ha ha - that'll be a first!

Hope you have a good week

and may all your harvests be plentiful.

Check out what I've been up to at my other blog
Ramblings from Rosebank

winners and losers in the cool weather stakes

Where I live in the East Midlands the weather is definitely on the cool side.  The odd afternoon has been sunny but still with a chill wind - certain plants are thriving but others are suffering from lack of warmth.



The raised beds and container garden

 As you can see from this picture, everything appears to be doing well, but all is not as it seems.  Certain veg plants have hardly made any growth since they were planted - others are romping away.  And it is all down to the unspringlike weather we have been experiencing in our corner of the country.

I have only one tomato plant with flowers on so far, this one is outside.  But the greenhouse plants are way behind, barely reaching a foot in height.

Cucumber . Tomato. Tomatillo . Cucamelon

The ones I put out at the plot haven't grown at all.  As you can see - the Cucumbers are making slow progress, the Tomatillo plants look healthy enough - but the Cucamelon looks very sad.  I don't really know what they are meant to look like as I haven't grown them before, but they have been planted out for weeks and are still pathetic little plants.

Raddichio and Red Cos (Pandero)

On the other hand all the salad leaves and lettuce are thriving in the cooler weather - as are the potatoes.

container potatoes and courgette (Cocozelle)

But the courgettes and squashes need a bit more warmth and are hardly making any progress at all.

In this bed I have beetroot, chard and cauliflowers  which aren't growing very fast, but the containers with parsnips, carrots and beetroot seem to be doing okay.

container parsnips

container carrots (a couple of lettuce
seem to have got in there) - possibly
seed in my home-made compost

container beetroot

And despite everything, the runner beans in the container are gradually starting to climb

container runner beans

So I'm not sure really who the winners and losers are in this cool weather competition.  Progress is definitely slow for some plants, but maybe I am just being impatient and have forgotten what has happened in other years.  I just wish the weather would settle down.  On the news this morning farmers were saying that their yields are down again this year, so I know it's not just me - in fact knowing that prices will inevitably go up again - it is even more essential that we try and grow as much of our own food as we can.  Onwards and upwards!