October 2006

1 3 litres courgette mint soup today which clears the courgettes, for the time being!
Started the veg garden tidy-up by emptying courgette pots C6 & C7, removing outdoor cherry tomatoes in positions 5 & 8 and clearing some tomato plants out of the greenhouse.
I also potted up my 3 new current bushes.
2 Still suffering from a tomato glut - 2 litres of brandywines frozen this evening.  Most of my spare time has been on the table-top rally as it ends on Wednesday.
3 Card making first, then finishing the table-top rally and walking with Sandra consumed most of my day.  Nice surprise from Sandra - a late birthday present - a pretty and very practical kneeling pad for the garden.
Harvest 031006
Just time for a mammoth harvest of:
2.5 lb runner beans, 1 lb of cherry tomatoes (with 1 orange banana tom), 7 courgettes (over 3 lb), 3lb 9 oz of cherry plums, 3 green outdoor peppers (28 oz), 1 giant red greenhouse pepper (15 oz), 2 beetroot, 2 turnip, 30 oz of rhubarb, 13 oz of blackberries (looks like the last of these), 4 brandywines (40 oz) and 8 gherkins.
4 stoatSpent the morning catching up on emails and other computer stuff.
Began the potting shed tidy-up by removing 2 physalis plants and the gherkin pot, plus more tomato tidying in the greenhouse & outdoors.
Harvest: 3 outdoor green peppers, 1 red pepper, 4 brandywines, lemon balm for freezing and mint for drying, swiss chard, red tomatoes, physalis, 14 bolivian chillis and 8 gherkins.
Whilst I was snipping the lemon balm, two young stoats were playing in the front garden.  They didn't seem at all bothered by my presence - one of them even came and playing peek-a-boo with me in the next bush.
5 Had a trip up near Thetford to visit a friend whose recently been in hospital.  He has a big family so we took a box of garden produce and a loaf and cake which I baked yesterday.  Spoiled ourselves in the evening by trying a local restaurant, The Prince of Wales at Inworth.
6 Harvest: courgette & carrots from the paddock, 4 pears, 4 cooking apples, 1 strawberry (?!?) and 2 raspberries.
Also brewed 3 jars of Pickled Sweet Peppers.
7 For the freezer: 2 cartons of cooked pear & apple.
8 The provisional results for the table top rally show me in 3rd position.  I'm quite pleased with that.
Harvest: 1 brandywine, 6 red tomatoes, 1 red pepper, 1 green pepper, 14 chilli peppers.
Kitchen: 6 jars of mixed veg chutney - I invented a recipe to use up some excess tomatoes, courgette and runner beans.
9 So I'm mad - you knew that already didn't you?  Want some more proof?  A friend offered me apples and pears from their garden as they can't use them all.  Did you really expect me to refuse, especially when I've already got a pear and apple chutney recipe waiting in the wings?
My harvest today was just half a dozen red tomatoes and 4 more brandywines.
No time for chutney but I did manage 7 jars of apple & pear jam.
10 5 jars (about 6.5 lbs) of pear & apple chutney this morning.  Quite a different recipe from my usual ones with very different herbs to bring out the pear/apple flavour, I guess.
It's unseasonably warm this week (I'm not complaining) but the weather has thrown one of my strawberry plants and the two outdoor bolivian peppers into confusion.   I picked a ripe strawberry from this plant a couple of days ago and now it has flowers and more fruit trying to ripen.  The peppers have also started to re-flower.
Harvest: 1 red pepper, 1 brandywine, runner beans, 8 courgettes (3 large & 5 baby ones!) and for tonight's cheesy/veg pasta, dwarf beans, 7 carrots (from pot C2) and 3 beetroot.
11 Another 5 jars of pear & apple chutney after a visit to mum-in-law's and a 4.25 mile walk.  My two outdoor basket cherry tomatoes are still doing very well and I picked 14 beauties today.
12 My veg garden tidy-up continues with removal of all brandywines (3 litres of ripe ones frozen and some green ones for ripening or chutney), haricot beans, saladisi pot, radishes, polycress, my giant chick courgette and courgette pot C8.  Also removed golden berry plants from the potting shed.
Harvest: 1 red pepper, 1 green pepper, 2 celeriac, 2 courgettes from the paddock, my one & only kohl rabi from the paddock, four autumn king carrots, last two orange banana tomatoes, last 4 white tomatoes and a handful of red cherry tomatoes.
15 We've been away to Sussex and Portsmouth for three days, during which Crow competed in the last round the the HRCR rally championship.  And YES!!!!! HE DID IT!!!! He's won the national navigator championship.  It's been very close & tense and a lot of hard work so, naturally, we are thrilled!!  
Just got back in daylight to see our chicks and to harvest 4 dozen cherry tomatoes.
16 The harvest keeps on coming:  6 carrots, 2 turnips, 4 beetroots, 4 courgettes, 17 cherry tomatoes and a portion of runner beans.
17 Largely a day in the kitchen using up produce.  I picked all the green tomatoes and made my final batch of chutney (the green tomato kind).  The only tomato plants still in service now are the two in hanging baskets on the car port, as they are in a good warm position and still ripening off nicely.  I cooked the batch of under-ripe golden berries with some apple for tonight's pud and used lots of veg in a turkey casserole.  Still got too many courgettes in the fridge and quite a few cherry tomatoes.
18 What's still growing/available for harvesting in my garden?  Cherry tomatoes, runner beans and courgettes (all three coming to an end soon), turnip, beetroot, carrots, celeriac, swiss chard, leeks, kale, parsnip, potatoes, raspberries and maybe brussel sprouts.
By the way, final results for the table-top rally competition were confirmed today and I did get third place!  That's two thirds and a second place so far this year (pretty consistent) with one round to go.
Miserable rainy day, so didn't fancy getting soaked clearing up in the garden.  Instead, tried some new pickling recipes - Spiced Pickled Pears and Ladies Delight (apple based).  Then some cheese scones and more courgette soup.
19 The greenhouse is now clear of everything except my three potted melon pears which I have moved in there for extra warmth.  A few melon pears have developed but I'm not sure if they're going to reach eating ripeness.  A few courgettes and tomatoes harvested and Crow picked our remaining 40 pears and 14 cooking apples.  I've still got the apples to pick on the new Jonagold.  They don't seem ready to drop yet.
20 Lazy day.....  nice walk in the sun.....  playing with chickens.....  this is the life.....
Oh, nearly forgot - we caught a rat in the rabbit trap!
21 Another 14 cherry tomatoes and some surprise runner beans picked today.
22 CherimoyaLovely fresh turnip, carrots & beetroot picked for our main meal veg.

Then, a new experience for dessert.  Ever tried a Cherimoya?  Well, it's recommended - I found one in Tesco of all places!  It cost 99p for a single fruit, which we shared, but it was nice.  Very hard to describe - Tesco labelled it as sweet flesh with a hint of banana, some call it the custard apple - it certainly was creamy!
23 Bit of a clear-out in the potting shed today, removing all but one tomato and three red pepper plants.  Two bolivian chilli plants hung up to dry in the stable.  Potato pots 8 & 9 earthed up, but 9 looks a bit sickly.
Harvest: 14 tomatoes, 11 peppers, 20 chillies, 2 courgettes and the very last of the rhubarb.
24 Finally cleared the two hanging basket to tomatoes which have been fantastic.  Earthed up potato pots 6 & 7 and sprayed all potatoes with Bordeaux mixture.
My Gardener's World free blueberry plant arrived last Thursday and I potted it up in ericaceous compost.
Harvested another courgette and some dwarf beans and swiss chard for tonight, along with a handful of golden raspberries - delicious with honeyed greek yogurt (low fat, of course) for dessert.  Froze a carton of sweet peppers.
25 Crow's off to do the Lombard Revival Rally and my mum's come to stay.  We'll be eating out for the next three days so I made a soup with my remaining harvested courgettes & sweet peppers.  That just leaves the chillies which I want to chop and pickle - like the jars of "Very Lazy Peppers" that you see in the supermarket.
26 No gardening for the next few days whilst it's retail therapy and general relaxing with my mum.
27 Still knitting and card making though.
28 Part of the retail therapy included buying a Culinare Autochop to help me to chop the chillies without touching them.  It's ok, but I'm a little disappointed with its performance - or rather, lack of it  :-(
29 Dark at 5pm - how awful!  I just hate it when the clocks go back!
Weather is threatening to turn frosty overnight soon, so I harvested my last 5 outdoor green peppers, 3 courgettes from the veg garden and 4 from the paddock and the eight Jonagold apples from the only fruit bearing new tree.
30 Just a little tidying of my lemon balm plants which I have transferred into the greenhouse and potting shed for frost protection.
Still harvesting tomatoes from the last plant in the potting shed along with carrots, beetroot and turnip.
31 Bit worried about my potatoes.  Since I sprayed them with Bordeaux mixture they all look a bit worse for wear - and it was supposed to protect them!