Well, took the kids this morning to have a pick. The weeds are as high as the veggies - going on holiday in August isn't such a great idea, especially when the weather is wet and mild, everything has grown at 100 miles per hour! Beautiful blackcurrants. I will freeze these as there are still masses to pick. Once the whole harvest is in, I will bottle some and make some jam. Borlotti beans. Only a few as I really want to leave the beans to mature for the dried beans. This is the best year for carrots ever for me! These are only the thinnings and they are so big. Well chuffed. Round courgettes, far to big. I might stuff these later in the week with savoury mincemeat. Cucumbers, 2 different varieties. One is marketmore...don't know the other! French beans! Eeek. These were the climbers. I didn't even look at the dwarf beans. I will gather them at the weekend. Minipop baby corn, a favourite of my daughter. Popular in oriental cookery also. Patty pan squash, like courgettes/zucchini. These are lovely drizzled with olive oil and roasted, then served with pine nuts and basil. Yumsky! Peas, a sprinkling. These are the last really - mange tout are in flower now for the next legume feast. Purple french beans. These are coming toooo quickly! I was hoping these wouldn't be ready for another 2 or 3 weeks. Runner beans, my fave! Only a few at the moment but the plants are smothered in flowers and young beans. This is a good year for beans on Emma's allotment! Sweetcorn/maize, grown just for my son as he doesn't eat much in the way of veg, just carrots and brocolli, and sweetcorn. This variety is called swift. I have some multi coloured ones almost ready. And the bad news. Mother nature gives bounty with one hand, and takes it away with the other. My toms have been struck down with blight. I might get a trug or 2 full but not the lovely ripe harvest I would usually get. My own fault, I should have sprayed before we went away, but I hate spraying and try to never use chemicals unless it is a real last resort. However, I do like fried green toms, and I do have a couple of great preserving recipes for green toms, and we like green tom ketchup as much as red so it isn't a total disaster. Hope you enjoyed all of the shots. You are all welcome to supper, on Thursday I think, when I stuff those giant courgettes! You just bring the tomatoes!
Everything looks scrumcious EJ, sorry about the toms but looks like you've got so many other things to make up for them. The ones you do have look very good. You can count me in for supper...I love to eat!
Oh, jummy! All of it. Sorry about your tomatoes. Stuffed courgettes sounds like just the ticket. May I bring my husband? He wants to have a go at stuffing champignons and making garlic bread. Could serve as a nice starter if he's successful.
what a wonderful harvest EJ! i am fascinated by the Borlotti beans. very pretty! will have to try growing some. and the patty pans, i never thought of roasting them! thanks for sharing!
That hahvest looks mahvelous, dahling.... It is very sad about the toms...but the rest is just a feast for the eyes. No wonder you are well chuffed! WOW! I just love seeing big, varied harvests--it gets my taste buds tingling. What a trug-full of French climbers. Are those the Rakkers? They look supurb. It's a wonder the handle didn't snap. hee hee hee. The corns lookes great. I have never seen the yellow patti-pans. Is the taste the same as the white ones? The runners look good too. Which ones are those? They look long from here, like the Wisley Magic's. Well young lady, all in all a very nice harvest all round. I hope that there will be more pics later on too.
Great harvest EJ, making me hungry. Dinner on Thursday is good for me, the toms will have to be store bought...but they have determined that toms weren't the source of the salmonella outbreak here
I think your harvest looks wonderful.. very nice variety! Thursday works fine for me,,i can be there anytime for dinner. Besides i need a vacation soon! There is as good a place as anywhere i can think of! I can bring the wine!!! From last summer that is.
Oh my!! Nothing looks or tastes quite as good as home grown. What a great harvest you're having EJ. What a pity the tomatoes were hit by blight though. Still you've plenty there to be going on with I'm sure. :-D
Hehehe, party on Thursday then. Fingers crossed I will get some Toms, just have to keep an eye on things. The Frenchies aren't Rakkars but they are a French variety, a climber, but I can't remember the name! The runners are called Enorma, and they are very long and slender. The sweetcorn was devine, the three of us scoffed them in seconds with lashings of butter. Both kids agreed they prefered them to shop brought ones, because of course, they were as sweet as sugar. The mini corns were also a hit with daughter who scoffed several with her tea. The patty pans are just like courgettes really and I do think they all taste similar, altho I find these slightly nuttier and firmer fleshed. Mark had morrocan lamb shanks for his supper and I put one chopped in that, and even after 4 hours of cooking the squash was recognisable, not moosh.
Oh EJ! Everything looks fabulous! I find that the purple beans grow quicker and produce more beans than any of the other varieties I have grown. I just can't wait for some fresh corn on the cob! It should be ready any day now.
