Last but not least?

Grown from seed, more in hope than expectation - cucumbers have come good!

And here's another exotic: coriander. Yes it's looking wild and wooly and there's no sign of any leaves suitable for a curry, but there are...

...seeds.

It's that time of year when the familiar sound of a skeen of geese entertains you as you work on your plot.

  

Time to look up from digging up the maincrop (Rooster).

(The green manure is coming on nicely, don't you think?)

Season of Mellow Fruitfulness

Been busy away from the allotment coping with the opportunities autumn presents. This year we planned to make elderberry flower champagne, but in the blink of an eye (or 40 blinks at any rate) the opportunity passed. One result was more Elderberries! So when I saw the berries were ripening I was determined to catch that wave. Here's the result which are currently fermenting away in a polytub with the satisfying (and reassuring) accompaniment of the glug glug as the gas vents through the water trap on the top. There could be some good drinking - in about a years time!


























Plums is another seasonal bounty. We've had at least 10 kilos so far and there's more to come. Last year we tried two recipes. One quick and fresh tasting and the other boiling fo 3 hours. The first was good but the second brilliant! We ate all we made well before Christmas. So this year its all recipe 2. There's a video whic is enjoyable in itself on youtube. Search for "Under the Tuscan Gun Plum Jam" and you'll find it. The only amendment I make is to add the skinned kernals from inside half a dozen stones. Although they contain a toxic substance when raw this is dissipated in the cooking and I attribute the depth of flavour to this, along with the long cooking.















































Tomatoes come good.













After





Before














Here's a hunter at work while I'm gathering the Elderberries.

50 Ways To Grow Your Supper

This is the 50th post this year and altogether my 100th post.


The view from one end



















..and the other




















Winter stalwarts artechokes and leeks, with rhubarb which is the earliest to crop but still going strong nearly six months later!


















Beans:

This year I’ve grown: French beans and runners for eating in the pod, and Barlotti and Canadian Wonder for drying. Amongst the “dwarf” beans there was an interloper. One plant started spreading vigorously and scrambling up the cane supports. After a few attempts to nip out the growing point I rather left it and its more subdued neighbours to get on with it, figuring that it would do more harm than good to attempt to disentangle and uproot the marauding intruder. At first I thought that I’d mixed up one of my climbers with the dwarf beans. But now that the pods have appeared I can rule this out – because the pods are purple. I haven’t grown any purple podded beans for over 15 years. So the question is this a mutation a cross or a cuckoo in the nest?



















Barlotti
























Red Kidney Beans






























??? Any suggestions ???























Tomatoes

My first tomatoes are ripening - Sungold.





















The Ailsa Craig, Moneymaker and Gardeners Delight have got some way to go yet. It's driving me bananas!!!


















Raspberries

First year and already settling in nicely.



















Kale

Couldn't resist this.


















Parsley

I was determined to grow what we eat, and as a good tabouleh requires acres of parsley. (This was more successful than my attempts to grow coriander without it running to seed)

















Carrots and Parsnip
After my earlier frustrations the later sown carrots have come good under their nets when i finally plucked up the courage to lift them. I can build on the experience. The parsnips look lush and green on top. It bodes well.








































Potatoes

























Swede

Autumn -- Noooooo

In fact the weather has been nice but the nights cold. Looks like green tomato chutney this year!

Keep On Running - and Plumming

You may recall I was saving six satellites from each of three strawberry plants this year? Well they just wouldn't stop running. When I cleared the surplus brassicas seedlings I found the strwbs had been making a bid for freedom.



So I potted up the extra rooted runners and here's the result for my late season "Florence". That's 18 seedlings from one plant! How vigorous is that? The "Judibell" and "Cambridge Favourite" produced a dozen each as well. They get planted out at the plot in a few weeks time.



The other surprise is that our 1 plum tree looks like producing a bumber crop for the second year in a row. This proves my drastic pruning last winter has been positively beneficial.



The only worry is whether they ripen before the end of summer. (The same problem as with the tomatoes) It's been a horrible week for sun and temperature. The beans have noticed and the courgettes have just about been stopped in their tracks. Still, from this one there is hope...

All choked up

They're about 6 feet tall and ready for a fall. I got half a dozen jerusalem artichokes from the greengrocers and slung them in the ground at the end of the plot. (I'd left rather too much space when I transplanted the rhubarb). Then I forgot about them. I think I lost a couple but the rest will provide gallons of soup this autumn. I'll chop them back at some point as the wind will blow them over, but I can't pluck up the courage to do it yet. Probably they'll blow down before I do. So, tell you what, I'll chop every second one down to 3 ft this weekend and see how they get on.



Here's the stack of climbing beans now. There's runners at each end and Barlotti beans for drying in the middle.



Here's how they started off:



And yes, Izzy, these are the beans from the experiment!



Glut on the table: