What a prolific year. Apart from potatoes, which we have just finished (I haven't enough space to grow too many), and onions (my one failure this year - I took them up quite early as they were looking so miserable) we have been, and will continue to be for some time, enjoying all our lovely fresh fruit and vegetables. I'm having to come up with a variety of ways to use the courgettes, as usual. We've sampled a very good courgette and pasta dish twice now, and it's been a big hit. The other evening I grated two courgettes, squeezed the liquid out in a t-towel, added a finely chopped onion and fried it all in a bit of oil, in a heavy frying pan, turning over the crispy bits now and then. If there had been less of the mixture it would have been a bit like rosti, but it turned out to be a big, crunchy courgette/potato cake. Last night, I browned off some minced beef with onion, garlic and chilli (one of our own but still green and rather mild for my taste, so I added some hot paprika), then added some of the above potato and courgette mix before frying in the same way. Even better. The next recipe to try is a cake, which includes courgette. I'll report on the results when I get around to making one. I've had to have a serious re-organisation of the freezer, so that I can include even more fruit and veg. The pantry now has a section for bottled fruit and jam. Ithink we are going to be OK for most of the winter months.
Looking around my plot, there's still plenty more to come. I've hung back from collecting the mini squashes, chard, and cabbages, and there will still be parsnips to come. Hopefully, the winter squashes 'Blue Hubbard' will continue to grow, so that we can enjoy some more delicious soup at Christmas. In the greenhouse the tomatoes are now ripening. It's taken some time, but I came up with an old trick. I found some forgotten and rather ripe bananas in my vegetable rack. They were bound for my compost heap but, instead, I placed them at the base of the tomato plants, where they fill the greenhouse with a rather strong, ripe banana 'perfume' and do attract a few little flies, but it seems to be doing the trick - the toms are suddendly ripening well.
As far as fruit goes, the raspberries in particular are doing very well this year. One of my neighbouring plotholders has kindly allowed me to collect some plums from his heavily laden trees, hence the jam-making and bottling. Other friends have promised apples, when they are ready. I have a small Queen Cox apple on my plot, bearing a few good looking fruits, which I am looking forward to eating.
Looking at my plum tree, last week, with its wonderful, large, deep purple and perfectly formed fruits, it suddenly dawned on me that something was wrong. Call me slow, and despite having a handful of plums from it last year too, I began to ask myself "shouldn't they be golden and not purple?" So, I checked up. Yes, indeed, 'Thames Cross' bears golden fruits. Then I found the original label - 'Thames Cross' it read, and included the code numbers. I sent an email to Dobies regarding the confusion and was pleased to have a reply, by return, apologising for sending me the wrong tree, and offering to refund me. A letter followed, giving details of the refund. Well done Dobies - what excellent service! Unfortunately, despite my description (I forgot to include a photo) they couldn't positively identify my purple fruiting tree, which I'm very happy with. So, here are some photos, in case anyone can help. I suspect it is a new variety. If it helps, the fruit is still very hard and if I can remember from last year, tasted very sweet when it was fully ripe.
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