The Frantic Gardeners’ Blog

yes, this is our major harvest/glut. we are freezing some so that at some point i can pull out and make jam or smoothies! yes - the 4 of us can’t keep up. the peas are plumping up, by the end of next week we will be harvesting those! i spy baby courgettes as well.

i think this is the most organised this garden has been since we moved here. i must add some piccies into this blog. certainly the investment in mulch and clearing has worked, and i am trying to regularly hoe. i have also been pruning the bay and yews - well, starting anyway.

it is clear that we need to put bed structure in though, so that we don’t compact growing areas.

sadly, a plum minarette appears to be dying. it is dying back from the top and growing brown. no idea why?

oh yes, we have been away for a holiday, but things are moving on!

planted out: runner beans; french beans; courgettes; squash; sweetcorn. actually the beans were planted out by M-I-L, who seems to have planted the squash up the poles too. oh well, i am sure i can transplant!

harvesting: strawberries [yummy]

Need to do: sow some more beans, weed [actually this might be a crisis!], final pot up toms [another crisis!] and sow some salady bits.

[guess what our current glut is!] Actually, it surprised me how very much tomato makes how little dried tomato in oil!! Hopefully will be lovely.

Also still harvesting french and runner beans, peppers and aubergines, with stored onions to use too - very Italian!! Our pears nearly ready…

Oh, and our grapes are ready!!! woohooo

Beans all still going strong. Have been batch freezing both french and runner beans for the winter months. We are also eating them every day.

A smattering of carrots and sweetcorn - mostly to keep the girls happy.

Chris harvested pink fir apples today for tea, so potato crop not as good as we would have liked, but at least still there!

oh, and I harvested 2kg of red toms today - so made red tomato chutney - yummy. The first sweet peppers turning red. goody.

armfuls of french and runnerbeans, carrots and a big bowl of tomatoes. She called me for the aubergines as the plants are prickly.

so for lunch we had onion, carrot, tomato, bean and potato [i harvested those] fritata - so just needed chickens! and for tea we have had bean, pea and sweetcorn curry [and chris and i had an aubergine and paneer curry too]

how fab!!

when I get sorted out with puttingthe back photos that are on flickr on here, i can show off the enormitude of our bean harvest. I am giving them away! must sort out blanching though.

today, for dinner we had potatoes, french and runner beans, sweetcorn and tomato and red onion slald - all from our veg plot, with plenty more where they come from. we did have bought flan - just need chickens and can make our own!

also harvesting first aubergines - very exciting. have harvestedall the onions and they are drying off. apples nearly ready, and pears a bit behind. some damsons there for me to eat, but a bit sharp to harvest for the family.

loads of peppers in greenhouse, though waiting for them to fully ripen, as not a big fan of green ones.

life is good!!

the french and runner beans have loved this wet summer we are having, and are cropping prolifically. yummy! my youngest DD very keen on the blauhilde purpleness.

Oh, and harvested very tasty first onions.
the greenhouse a forest of wonderful growth. aubergines, peppers and toms all looking good.

looks a lot of pears and apples are ripening too.

I like harvest.

And what a rainy while it has been too. The sweetcorn not looking too happy as a bit waterlogged.

beans and peas done really well. we have been harvesting loads of broad beans and strawberries. the french and runner beans are flowering. Soon we will harvest the first potatoes - lovely.

Florence fennel is bulbing up wonderfully, carrot tops looking healthy.

The greenhouse is luxurient too, with flowers on peppers and aubergines, and toms ripening.

Pears and plums and cherries ripening, and loads of grapes on the vine. Our weird red leaved ?wild plum type trees are full of sharp but edible fruit. lots of chutneys to make!

Still sad for the sweetcorn though.

well, harvesting loads of strawberries, mangetout and broad beans - goody! peas get eaten by my 2 little birds!!

lovely bushy potato plants, but as late in, haven’t looked for a crop yet. The toms are happy in their final pots and being tied in as they grow. the odd flower. peppers and aubergines all looking healthy. I think I’ll pot the aubergines into a bigger pot.

Sweetcorn went out too late, and don’t seem to be taking off. the weather has been unsettled, so I won’t loose hope. the popcorn ones have germinated, and although late I’ll give thema try!

finally got all the squashes in. both daughters helped - surprised by the prickliness of the plants. fingers crossed for a good crop, even though late.