August 2008

1 My first big "brew" of the year, my favourite relish which used up my last 3lb courgettes.
Preserving: 10 jars of sweet zucchini relish
Harvest: another courgette (14oz), first 3 red jalapeno chillies
2 Spent most of the day preparing the house for guests who are staying overnight after a trip to Ipswich to see Australian Pink Floyd.  APF were exceptional, as usual, and a great night was had by all.
3 Household accounts were the order of the day, when our guests departed.  Very boring, but I've neglected them all year and it's time to catch up.  Then I experimented in the kitchen, making a fish pie and my first ever Tzatziki - which used a cucumber and one of my jalapeno peppers (instead of garlic).
Harvest: 2 more cucumbers (8oz), 1 red jalapeno chilli, mint
4 Cloverleaf Rally entries are too slow and we're hanging by a thread regarding whether the sponsor will pull out with a low entry and whether we will have to cancel the event.  A decision must be made very soon as everything has been on hold.  To proceed now will, of course, cause a sudden rush of work.
Harvest:  2 squash (35 oz), 3 courgettes (58 oz)
5 July gym stats published and I'm third in the Most Weight Lifted category for the over 50s with 79403 kg.
Harvest:  Cabbage (55 oz), blueberries (3.4 oz), broad beans (20 oz shelled), 2 cucumber( 7.8 oz), radish (5 oz), 2 squash (27 oz), potatoes (?? lb)
6 I hadn't really realised until today that there isn't any good way to preserve cabbage.  It doesn't freeze and pickled cabbage is usually of the red variety.  If I don't do something very quickly, the remainder of my prize cabbages are going to spoil...
Harvest:  3 cucumber (25 oz), 1 courgette (13 oz), 2 red jalapeno, mint
7 More eBay selling in progress as I took advantage of a half price listing day and offered 20 items up for sale.
Harvest:  Courgette (14.5 oz), 2 cucumber (8 oz), 3 red jalapeno
Preserving: 3 jars of icicle pickles (pickled cucumbers)
8 Finally I've found a recipe for Pickles which uses white cabbage, radishes, cucumber and carrot, preserved in a sweet white vinegar enhanced with chilli and soy sauce.  The only slight drawback is that they have to be kept in the fridge, where it is said they will last for several months.  Anyway, I made 2 x 200g jars.
Harvest:  2 cabbages
9 Soup day - broad bean & cabbage soup - sounds pretty bad but actually tasted good - 650ml left over for the freezer.  Then 3.3 litres of courgette soup also frozen.
Reward - off to a friend's 60.5th birthday party.  Even better reward - when we got there they had seven chicks, just hatched a few days ago.  So, so cute, I could have sat and watched them all evening.
Harvest:  1 cucumber (12.7 oz), 4 courgettes ( 73 oz)
10 Yes!  Our first Olympic Gold in the women's cycling road race.
Harvest:  1 cucumber (6.5oz), 5 green chilli peppers, 1st tomatoes - 3 yellow and 2 red
11 Wow - how marvellous must it feel to be able to swim like Rebecca Adlington?
Tasty zucchini sausage bake for dinner but more harvested, so I'm still fighting a battle to close the fridge full of courgettes and squash.
Harvest:  1 cucumber (6.9oz), 3 courgette (28oz), 2 squash (17.5oz)
12 Mmm - Nigella's courgette cake filled with jam and topped with chocolate means one more courgette bites the dust.  And salad with our pizza took care of my first tomatoes and a small cucumber.
Harvest:  exotic salad leaves - cutting celery, dill, sorrel, summer savory and anise.
13 New strawberry plants - 14 potted up in three troughs, 6 more to go, fruit cage repaired, mole repeller installed.
Harvest:  cabbage, kale, greengages (10 lb!)
14 Just time to make a batch of jam and put the chicks to bed between gym & swimming and a trip into London for dinner with the girls.  We went to a new Turkish restaurant called Haz and the food was excellent.
Preserving:  8 jars of greengage jam plus 2 small taster/tester jars.
Harvest:  2 cucumbers (8.8oz), 5 red chilli peppers, 1 red jalapeno pepper, 6oz cherry tomatoes
15 Don't you just hate trying to find the best price for insurance?  I've been trawling the net and calling 0800 numbers for house contents & building insurance.  Finally, our best deal was with Halifax by the slim margin that they promise £50 off each year you remain claim free.  Castle Cover gave the same price (within £1), but no enticement of money off next time.  Of course, it could be that Halifax won't remain competitive next time, even with £50 off.  I find I have to check around every year for the best deal.
Harvest:  5oz cherry tomatoes, 2 squash (32oz), 6 golden raspberries
16 Table-top answers are coming in, so it's time for me to start checking and double-checking and preparing marked maps of the solutions.  I tackled one of them today.
Having used 4lb of the greengages for jam, I've saved 1.5lb for tomorrow's dessert and prepared the rest as desserts for freezing, half spiced with red wine.  Ended up with X 2-portion frozen desserts.
Harvest:  6oz cherry tomatoes (6 red, 4 yellow and 2 black)
17 Friends for lunch today.  My menu: home made Hummus and Tzatziki with pitta bread, followed by roast duck breast & turkey steak with potato wedges and salad (courgette, squash, tomatoes, cucumber, beans, basil) followed by almond  & greengage crumble with creme fraiche.
Harvest: 5 cucumbers (26oz)
18 Unusually, I've used one pot to grow something inedible - not like me at all! I've picked two ornamental gourds so far.  I have a big glass fishbowl as a centrepiece on the dining room table and I put "natural" things from the garden in it like feathers, chestnuts, pine cones and now, ornamental gourds.
Harvest: 6oz tomatoes, 1 green chilli, 2 red jalapeno, 4 courgettes (45oz), 10.5lb cooking apples
19 My day was consumed at the computer, checking TT solutions and doing Cloverleaf admin.
Harvest:  4 squash (48oz), a few raspberries, 7.5oz tomatoes, 1 cucumber (3.5oz), 2 chilli, 2 melothrie
20 Still watching the Olympics?  Two things in this life that always make me smile;  those nodding dogs you used to see in the back of cars and synchronised swimming.
Harvest: 1 courgette (9oz), 8,5oz tomatoes, 4 red chilli
21 The TT is hotting up so I'm still ploughing through all of the answers, checking and double-checking the routes against all the competitor comments, making corrections and re-marking.  It takes forever.  Alongside, I've got to finalise arrangements for the Cloverleaf trophies - a little tricky as we still don't know how many (if any) entries are going to appear in the next week.
Harvest:  12oz tomatoes, 1 red chilli, 2 green chilli
22 Phew!  I've just completed the order for the Cloverleaf trophies.  Talk about 'in the nick of time'.  Even so I had to make a selection change, as some silver coasters I'd chosen were out of stock, and our extra Cloverleaf centres are unlikely to be ready in time as two weeks is required and with the Bank Holiday, I haven't left enough time.  Fingers crossed the others will all be delivered as promised.  You never know until it happens.
It's after midnight and I've just finished checking the last TT section.  Tomorrow I have to start marking the correct routes on digital maps and making comments ready to publish the solutions, as the event finishes in five days time.
Harvest:  mizuna, mint, basil, 14oz red & yellow tomatoes, 7 chilli (6 red, 1 green), 3 jalapeno (2 red, 1 green)
23 I don't know why I watch British sport!  I switched on the TV this morning to see Tim Brabants in the 500m canoeing.  He got a bronze, which was slightly disappointing after his gold but still very good.  That was followed by Sarah Stevenson in the Taekwondo where she was duly robbed of a chance to go for gold by four blind, stupid or biased judges.  A clear shot to the head which saw the Chinese competitor rock with the impact went "unseen".  I was left seething only to find great solace later when the British appeal was granted and Sarah got a reprieve, unprecedented in Taekwondo history.  Then what happens, she failed to deliver in her next bout.  I'm gutted and wonder how the athletes cope with the rollercoaster of emotions.
Wow - some time in the garden, for weeding, general tending and harvesting.  My rhubarb is very late this year but we had a nice pud from it this evening.  I've come to the conclusion that melothrie don't want to be harvested.  They certainly hide away under the leaves of their climbing plant.  Much worse than runner beans which can also tend to "hide" themselves.
Three TT solutions completed and I'm tired, tense from the intricate route marking and my neck hurts - where's Zebedee?
Harvest:  14oz rhubarb, 1st runner beans (6oz), 1st (and probably only) 2 garlic, 18.5oz tomatoes, 1st 21.5oz baby turnips, 1 cucumber (4oz), 4 courgettes (29oz), 1 squash (12oz), 21 chilli (16 red, 5 green), 2oz melothrie
24 Something - a squirrel, I guess - is still getting into my fruit cage and it's eaten all of my new strawberry plants.  Boo, hoo.  I've moved them into the net tunnel, but I'm not sure if there's enough plant left for them to re-grow and recover.
Crow raided the cooking apple tree again, picked our only lonely 5 pears and the season's first blackberries.  What a shame our pear tree isn't performing this year, all of our plum trees (except the greengage which had a much reduced harvest) have failed and our established eating apple tree hasn't borne a single fruit.  If I understood why, there might be something I could do...
And I remember my school days when we used to go blackberry picking in the October half term.  I guess that's climate change for you, it's much warmer now.
Preserving:  cinnamon apple and spicy mulled apple desserts for the freezer
Harvest:  5.5oz tomatoes, 5 pears, 12.5lb cooking apples, 1st 18oz blackberries
25 Our Olympic athletes arrive home today with their haul of 19 gold, 13 silver and 15 bronze medals.  We dropped the fourth place in the overall table but still an excellent performance.  We certainly did well in the water and on the cycling track but athletics, equestrian, tennis and just about  everything else need some work to make us world class.
In my veggie garden, Crow has dug up the remaining potatoes for me.  I've got bare earth now - what can I plant in it?
Harvest:  tomatoes, 12 cucumbers, loadsa potatoes
26 Madly trying to prepare TT solutions...
Preserving:  frozen ratatouille, lazy jalapeno peppers
Harvest: 
27 Well, the TT finished tonight at 22:00 and answers came in right up to the end, the last two timed at 22:00.  It was a tight finish, but the results aren't finalised until the competitors have had a chance to view the solutions and offer any challenges.
Harvest: 
28 Cloverleaf business is going mad just now - last minute entries, waivers to apply for, fees to send off, all of the final logistics to sort out - and it's a fight between the TT and the Cloverleaf to keep all of the balls in the air.
Harvest: 
29 A slight panic over Cloverleaf trophies today, but now I'm assured they'll be delivered next Wednesday, one day before my absolute deadline.  I've finally finished the last TT solution.  Now I've got to squeeze some time out of Crow to get them published on the website.  Tomorrow, maybe, hopefully....
Today is the closing day for Cloverleaf entries and we got our last one on-line at 23:12.
Harvest: 
30 I went into the tunnel to pick a cauliflower and emerged an hour later with a wheelbarrow full of weeds and other foliage from a massive tomato plant tidy-up.  The cauliflower was beautiful and I made one of my favourites with it - salmon cauliflower cheese.  When I've got a spare moment (ha,ha) I'll add the recipe to the others here.
Preserving: 6 jars of apple & blackberry chutney.
31 So now the TT competitors are sending me queries and opinions on correct routes and I'm having to correct answers accordingly.
Preserving:  3 litres of squash & mushroom soup,  ?? litres of ratatouille.
Harvest:  33oz tomatoes