What have you done today in the Garden?

An early walk, and a sniff around the zucchini patch that is hanging by a thread, proved a wonderful surpise for dinner tonight. After the freeze last night I will be surprised if anymore surprises arrive. A couple plants on the inside have green still and a flower or two.







Two layers of quilts went onto the squash in the greenhouse last night, and the last of ripening hardy strawberries were covered. As soon as it warms up I will uncover and see how everyone fared. The onions live inside now.

 

Nothing much today just some watering.

 

My goodness Mel, the things you have to do.
Nice-looking courgette though.

 

Cut s small tree down .c lipped all the hedges in front snd along the driveway..

 

Tied up this wisteria to get it closer to the fence.





If I didn't, to get to the tea-house I'd be walking on the grass and not the path.






The "heave" in the little wall and path wasn't caused by the wisteria, but by the roots of a huge cherry tree in next door's garden that died twenty-five years ago and was replaced by some silver birches.

They are a real pain. Although they had 10ft taken off the tops earlier this year, they want to grow towards the sun which means over our garden. I'll have the leaves to vac up later in the year.










Once they are all down I'll get at the branches my side with my long Fiskars lopper.

 

That wisteria is looking smart now. I can see how its roots are pushing up the border stones.

 

Finished helping hubby to clear the pyracantha hedge trimmings, now i can do what i want.

 

Late this morning i started on cutting out the used blackberry canes then it started to rain, i carried on for a while but it got worse so i went in. Hopefully i'll be able to do it tomorrow, but it wasn't supposed to rain.

 

These are lovely looking apples L May I ask, you are going to cook them and then freeze them? The variety I have is Norgold, they do go quite soft, kind of like a MacIntosh apple. I usually peel and slice, freeze them on trays and then bag them. It's not ideal, but all I've known. I'd be curious what you do with yours.

 

Thank you Sjoerd. I cooked it my favourite way - cut in cubes, quick stir fry with some fresh herbs, and then a quick toss with some feta cheese. I lovely final farewell until next year.


Today is processing the last of the red toms into concentrate ( where has this process been all of my life!). I have some more green ones ripening. My daughter is encouraging me to make tomato soup for the freezer with the remaining green ones that are ripening. She roasts her tomatoes and has some other magic she will share. I may give that a bash soon. @Logan - the trick you told me with the apple/banana in a sealed container with the green tomatoes works amazingly well and quickly. Thanks for that.

Everyone has moved indoors now to hang out. The squash have taken over the ever faithful kiddie wagon until I get them situated up in the art room for winter.

 

@Melody Mc. good that the banana trick worked for your green tomatoes.

My apples i peel them, quarter and slice them. Then i use honey to sweeten, just drizzle a bit on the apple,I find it's better than sugar. I cook one apple at a time in the microwave, depends on size so i do a minute at a time until they become translucent but not mushy. Some varieties go mushy, mine is ok and they don't need a lot of honey. Mine doesn't need a lot of sweetening, then i let it all cool and bag it to put in freezer. The variety is called Lord Derby, i hope that helps.

Great what you do with your tomatoes, i only grow a few plants for tomatoes just to have with our salad once a week.

 

Nice posting, Mel. My toms are catching up to your stage now. One by one things are finishing-up here.

Loggie, your work just keeps going on, doesn’t it.

 

Thanks Sjoerd, yes i keep finding things to do but that's how i like it, in the winter not much but i do have some plans.

 

Tied in the new blackberry canes and pulled up a lot of ivy.

 

Harvesting lots of veggies. I pulled my first sweet potatoes to see, and wow!