Okay, so everything is still going well, the tomato plants are starting to go over but there are lots of tomatoes that can still ripen especially in this lovely hot sunny weather we are still experiencing, so I pruned off most of the leaves to allow the sun to get to the little beauties. Really pleased with our crops this year - we have had so many and so many more to come - Beefsteak tomatoes, plum tomatoes, a couple of different cherry tomatoes and the sun-dried Italian variety which we have actually been drying in the dehydrator and they are lovely.
These yellow/orange coloured tomatoes (above with some yummy plum tomatoes) look fantastic - the colour is just so bright (not showing up as great in the picture as it does to the naked eye), I'm not sure what the variety is - I think it came from a mixed beefsteak packet of seeds I had. I was so keen to eat this with a salad the other night as the colour was so rich, unfortunately the taste disappointed a bit. They are nice and tomato-ey but I expected a real hit of flavour but it didn't come through. It may make a good salsa though.
The Bean Teepee is going strong after a bad start and we are picking loads of Beans now, freezing some for the future. I'm glad we made an entrance in this for Imogen to squeeze into to hide/play and pick hard to reach beans! We are also picking french beans still.
Plenty of Chard and Spinach is still coming home with us too, and we shall be planting out more to keep the supply going through the winter, including winter varieties of these and other vegetables.
Swiss Chard bed
More beetroots pulled up too. Some of these have seen the dehydrator too as Beetroot crisps are just so nice.
Picked for eating now and storing for later more apples, pears and blackberries.
Picked more courgettes, and inspected the squash - here is a picture of the Blue Kuri we have grown, we have some other standard pumpkins too but I forgot to take a picture of them this time. All growing nicely and awaiting time for cutting and curing.
blue kuri squash
Wow fantastic.. and oh my, I never thought about pruning the leaves to the sun could get to thetomatoes better! DOH. Mine are slowly starting to ripen - the cherry ones are incredibly tasty :)
ReplyDeleteI'm trying to grow butternut squash but nothing.. lots of flowers but no squashes that I can see. :( So, I'm guessing it's one squash that should have been planted in a green house.
Hi Joxy, I've not tried butternut squash this year, but hope to next year (forgot to plant the seeds). It should grow okay outside, maybe it didn't pollinate to produce fruit.
ReplyDeleteMy Dad grew a couple last year in the Midlands so you should be okay where you are, maybe try next year and take a paintbrush out when you see some flowers to help them pollinate.
I got here looking for info on dehydrating. I have been doing batches and batches of apple crisps, but didn't even think of beet crisps! thanks for the idea. I plan on growing lots of beets next year because I found out just about everyone I know likes pickled beets. I will save some to try crisping as well.
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