Things are starting to come to an end on the allotment. The season seems to whizz by. It doesn't seem like that long ago that I was planting out young plants, or sowing seeds in anticipation of something lovely to eat for supper. All that is left on the plot now are carrots, parsnips, beetroots, greens like cabbage and kale, leeks, lettuce, spring onions, and a few oriental greens like pak choi and mizuna. The tomato plants are all still standing and there is still masses of fruit, but I don't know how much will ripen now the days are shorter and mornings and nights are so much colder. I will leave them in the ground for another couple of weeks, but once a week passes and no fruit has ripened, I shall pick whats left and make some green tom chutney and have some fried green toms for supper. There are also some spuds in, but fingers crossed, the last of those will be dug out tomorrow. ( photo / image / picture from EJ's Garden ) We have had an AMAZING year for toms. I have never had such a great year. Dare I say, I am almost sick of them!! Some will be reserved and put in the fridge, some are going to be made into roast tomato soup, and the rest will be cooked down into sauce and frozen. ( photo / image / picture from EJ's Garden ) This little mixture are the last courgettes, only finger thin, the last aubergine, a dinky one, some watermelon cucumbers and a few stray strawberries. There are lots of unripe fruit on the strawb plants, so if we get plenty of sun, hopefully we will get another bowl full. Of course, they only lasted about 3 seconds once Jessica saw them. ( photo / image / picture from EJ's Garden ) ( photo / image / picture from EJ's Garden ) These are cobnuts which I actually picked from someone elses garden. One of my customers has a lovely little cobnut tree, and I remembered last year I saw some nuts, but the squirrels had beaten me to them. I have kept an eye on them this year, and as the customer didn't want them, I picked all I could reach. They are delicious. ( photo / image / picture from EJ's Garden ) ( photo / image / picture from EJ's Garden ) Hope you enjoyed seeing my harvest.
Autumn Harvest :-D EJ, I am nearly envious. I haven't heard of the Cobnut. Is it like any nut we have in the USA? I never put tomatoes in the refridge. We use the riper ones quickly, keep the less ripe on the counter, the green ones are wrapped and placed in a brown paper bag to ripen slowly. I too like fried green tomatoes. I mix flour and cornmeal, dust the thick slices of tomato liberally and place in hot oil with a dab of butter added. Brown slowly on each side. They are scrumptious. P.S. Your photography is excellent moderator's note: removed BOLD lettering see point 3.2 of usage rules
You've really had a good cropping year EJ by the looks of al those lovlies. I grew aubergines for the first time this year and got three large ones (about 10" long) from the one and only plant I had. They made great moussaka!! I've just picked the last of my tomatoes and will be taking the remaining peppers off the plants over the next few days. I can't compare the amounts I had to what you have grown though. Your fruit and veggies are certainly worth all the effort you put into growing them. Well done!!
Great-looking harvest, EJ. You can really be proud of that. Those toms just keep coming, don't they? Thinga are winding-down here too. In-between the harvesting, we are beginning the "fall clean-up". Say, those cobnuts of yours--are they the same as hazelnuts? They look similar in your foto. Nice bunch of beetroots and carrots, too. Well done, maid!
Thanks all. Cobnuts are very similar to hazelnuts, more pointed though. They are lovely and sweet and some people like to dunk them in salt as they are still quite fresh rather than dry. I will keep them in a bowl, eating a few now and then, but saving plenty for my mum as she loves them. I love the fried green tom recipe Growingpains, I do love them. I am now off to find a salsa recipe which I can make with the toms, but I need one that will store well.
great pics and produce ej! everything looks scrumptious! those cobnuts look a lot like our filberts, which, i think are like hazelnuts. here's a salsa recipe that i use all the time...you can tweak it to your own tastes... ANNIE'S ORIGINAL SALSA 8 cups tomatoes, peeled, chopped and drained 2 ½ cups chopped onion 1 ½ cups chopped green pepper 3 - 5 chopped jalapenos 6 cloves minced garlic 2 tsp cumin 2 tsp pepper 1/8 cup canning salt ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro 1/3 cup sugar 1/3 cup vinegar 16 oz. tomato sauce 16 oz tomato paste Mix all ingredients, bring to a boil, boil 10 minutes. Pour into hot jars, process at 10 lbs of pressure for 30 minutes for pints. Makes 6 pints Annie has made a couple changes to her original recipe. 1/4 cup sugar(1/3 in original recipe) 2/3 cup vinegar if BWB / 1/3 cup if pressure canned 8 oz tomato paste instead of 16
What a lovely sight your harvest is, EJ. We're planning a hazelnut harvesting expedition next week, or this week-end, whenever we get a dryish day to go into the woods and enjoy. And maybe we'll stumble upon some funnel chanterelles too.
What a lovely harvest. It's a wonder you could beat the squirrel to the nuts. The squirrels here start harvesting while the nuts are green. :-? Great harvest for the tomatoes. My hubby makes the best fresh salsa. I understand about having a lot of tomatoes. I have been really bad and not harvested the last of the cherry and roma tomatoes. This is the second year tomatoes have been prolific here. Your watermelon cukes are something I will have to try. Everything looks soooo good.
Everything looks great, bet it tasted wonderful too. I really have to find seeds for the watermelon cukes, those might make some interesting pickles.
Wow those tomatoes look wonderful.Tomatoes around here didn't do well this year not much of anything did as it was way to dry.What a harvest you had EJ.
I'm working on an indoor gardening with few herbs and vegetable. It's still growing but you can see the difference from it compared to the natural way of growing plants outdoors. But I like it the organic way because it far more better and healthier. I took some of the brilliant ideas on how to do it the right way.
Ooh, I almost missed this posting EJ. glad herbgarden brought it back up. What a great looking bunch of photos of yummy stuff. I do like beets. Watermelon cukes look interesting -- do they have a different flavor than regular cukes? Bunkie, thanks for the salsa recipe. it went into my favorites. Think I will try some this weekend. Alas, I don't have any more fresh toms from my garden though.
