Friday, September 25, 2015

Feasting off natures abundence.

Tonight's veg.
This year despite the weather has been a good year for most of the vegetables, and they keep on coming. All the brassicas have done very well,
Lots of Purple Sprouting Broccoli, with plenty more to come. 
even if the purple spouting broccoli has produced rather earlier than we had hoped, maybe we planted it out too early or maybe it is an autumn variety, it's a shame that it has began producing so early when there is still so much else to eat, however it hasn't gone to waste.
Our new toy, should keep the veg nice and fresh.
A few weeks back we bought a vacuum sealer specifically for freezing fruit and veg in airtight bags, unfortunately we didn't have it in time for all the soft fruit,
Beans and tomatoes keep on coming.
but it is coming in very handy for the P.S.B, the glut of French beans
                                                     and a lot of cauliflowers.
 It seems to make no difference how well you stagger your plantings, they all are ready for harvesting at the same time.
Last of the rhubarb, it's done very well.
We have now had the last picking of rhubarb until March, but it has done very well this year. We should have a few more strawberries in a couple of weeks
Physalis (cape gooseberry) are now ripening.
and now the Physalis plants are giving a good supply of fruits, these plants are now in their fourth year and have produced each year. I was surprised when friends came over in the week to find they had never tasted Cape Gooseberries before and had never grown them. They are now on a promise of plants for their tunnels as they both found that they loved them. Cape gooseberries are easy to grow from seed and the plants can be cut back in early spring to start all over again, the fruits are higher in vitamin C than oranges, they also can be stored for a few weeks providing the paper husks are intact.
Our apples harvest was zilch, just one small apple and one crab apple but we have been given a large box of apples from a friend 'down country,' they didn't suffer the late frosts that we had.
One of our favourite's, spiced Dorset apple cake.
So it's back to making spiced Dorset Apple cake, apple crumbles and pies. I won't bottle or freeze any as we are almost out of space in the freezer and out of storage for bottled stuff, but they will all get used one way or another.
The garden peas are now over, we have saved some pods for next years seed, and the curly kale has been planted in the bed that the peas have vacated.
 We don't normally grow spring onions, instead we use young shallots, however for the coming year we are giving the spring onions a shot, now is the time to get them started so we will hopefully pick up some seed tomorrow, we both like spring onions and lots of recipes call for them, I think we just got so used to growing the shallots which are so much quicker to crop.
Better late than never.
The seasons seem to be well muddled this year, we have seen Elderflower still in bloom,
Love the colour of this one.
                                     and our Dahlias have only just started to flower,
Soapwort, two months late.
likewise the soapwort which would normally be in flower in July.
We are supposed to be in for a mild winter according to Ken Ring the New Zealand weather forecaster, he was certainly right about May being very wet, it was the wettest one in five years, only time will tell if his prediction is right for the winter, here's hoping.
This weeks flowers, the sweet peas keep on coming.

 

12 comments:

  1. What a wonderful harvest, I long for the days when we can est our home grown.
    The vacuum sealer is a very good idea, I might have to look into that, will save space in the freezer. Your vase of flowers look lovely, x

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    1. Our vacuum sealer came from Lidl, we had waited all summer for them to come in, they certainly reduce the amount of space that stuff takes up in the freezer besides being completely sealed.
      I like to have flowers in the house as well as the garden, but our two youngest cats have taken to trying to rearrange them.

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  2. I didn't realise you could grow physalis here, will have to give them a go. You have done really well with your harvest and I like the idea of the vacuum sealer.

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    1. Hi Chickpea, I think you might be able to grow them outside in Cornwall, you start them off the same as tomatoes, end of Jan beginning of Feb, mine got planted out at about 5 inch high, they crop later than tomatoes beginning of Sept, this was the same in Spain. I leave the plants to stand over winter then in Feb, I cut them back to about 5 inches, dig them up and move them into another bed. These plants are now on their fourth year.
      I wish we had bought a vacuum sealer years ago, still, better late than never.

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  3. At the risk of being a copy cat, the arrangement is lovely (as they all are), your harvest abundant and the vac sealer an absolute must for a preserver of your magnitude. Spring is in the air at the moment here in Oz and ill be putting plenty in once ive sorted out my bird problem. Everything i put in last week that was accessible was eaten. Grrrrrr

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    1. Thanks Lynda, we are having to use netting on all our newly planted veg, even the kale that Simon planted out today has had netting over it, the pesky birds had removed over half of the leeks that he planted a couple of weeks ago and had eaten half a row of young spinach.

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  4. It's great when there's so much veg to choose from for dinner, and the vacuum sealer is a great idea, that should keep your surplus veg in great shape. It's a real treat having home grown veg right the way through winter.

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    1. Yes, I agree Jo, I would hate to have to buy our veg. The vacuum sealer works well but it's not too keen on stuff that hold too much moisture such a PSB. Beans and caulis. it works with no problems.

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  5. Wow, what a productive garden and glad you have something to help you with storage now too. Physalis is very popular in Peru and always sold on the streets there. We sold chocolate with it in but were told to call it "golden berry" in english. Not many travellers or tourists knew what is was.x

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    1. They originated in Peru, in fact the correct name is Physalis peruviana, in the UK and Ireland they are normally sold as Physalis unless you buy a packet of dried one's then they are called 'Golden Berries' I had never heard them called that until this year. I suspect it might be an American name for them. Unfortunately they normally only get used as a garnish with a desert, we love them have not tried them with chocolate but I don't do chocolate anyway so it would be a waste for me.
      Shouldn't have to buy any veg again this year, thankfully.

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  6. Well impressed by the vacuum bagger!

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  7. The vacuum sealer is a real boon, we had thought about getting one last year, but didn't, the only thing so far that it hasn't liked is the broccoli, too damp after blanching.

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