Catch up

What with a couple of summer weddings, a few days holiday and jetting off to Romania with work for a week (where I am now) we've only had fleeting trips to the plot to pick up dinner and do some watering and quick tending/weeding. But here is a quick progress report on how we're fairing...

This delicious lot (almost a kilo) was promptly made into jam and the remaining 2nd harvest (not quite so much) topped a gorgeous cheesecake. Not as prolific this year but possibly due to my pruning the bushes last year.The winter squashes and pumpkins have settled in and despite a couple of casualties (darn ants farming blackfly!!) they're starting to produce baby fruits. This pic was taken about 10 days ago and since the hot weather has kicked in they've become positively triffid-like in their bid to take over the plots.

The borlottis are coming along nicely and the purple climbing french beans have finally started to flower and produce mini-beans (about time too!!)
We've been just about self-sufficient in veg for about a month and half now (bar the odd punnet of tomatoes and bulb of fennel as ours is not ready yet). It makes such a pretty arrangement, all freshly picked and washed that it almost seems a shame to eat it. Pink and green definitely goes together.

The peas are now finished but gave us a few good meals (note to self: must sow much more next year) and the poor apple tree is visibly sagging with the weight of the ripening apples.

I picked the last of the mixed salad, sowed back at the end of May, but unfortunately the subsequent sowing hasn't appeared. Luckily the land cress, rocket and pak choi are just about ready. The tomatoes are thriving and by looks of the next couple of photos we're in for a bumper crop.
Most of the tomato plants have lost their labels so I'll have to wait until the fruit have ripened to find out which variety they are but I reckon I can guess that the ones above are the San Marzano plum just by the funny shape.

And finally on the purely decorative front the sweet peas at home in pots have been producing regular small posies to scent the house. On the plot the blue echium (bit of an oxymoron as the flowers were white, pink, purple...) has been flowering for the last 2 months and the 'Love-in-a-mist' has started to bloom in the last week or so...lovely! Definitely got the thumbs up from the bees.

Being away with work means I won't be able to get to the plot for another 10 days so I look forward to seeing huge leaps in growth.

Totally addicted to...

... grilled courgettes, sprinkled with basil, sliced garlic, drizzled in olive oil and eaten whilst still warm, mmmm so yummy! No foreseeable shortage for awhile yet...

Pickled!

All was not lost with the under developed onions as I tried my hand at pickling them. Made up the quanity required in the recipe by chucking in a few small shallots.

They look rather pretty don't they? But the proof is in the eating...

Comparison

It's amazing how a bit of horse poo the year before can make your onions grow into decent sized specimens (and shallots and garlic). The picture above are the ones planted where the potatoes were last year and the picture below are those unfortunate not to be... however the fennel and oriental greens seem to be thriving.Not sure whether the pictures shows the comparison well enough...

The silly season starts here...

The courgette plants are poised on the brink of churning out fruit after fruit... I cut 3 small courgettes for my dinner, they're tastier and you get the added bonus of the flower too, and I've decided I'm going to keep a tally this year...(there are at least another 10 baby fruit on the 5 plants).