Fruit, Veg, Flowers and Slugs

The autumn tidy is well underway on my plot with more and more bare soil becoming visible on the vegetable plot as crops are harvested and cleared and less and less blooms appearing across the flower beds. The leaves are beginning to fall from the Cherry tree and with the clocks having gone back a few days ago the nights are, of course, drawing in. The outdoor tomatoes are long since finished and those in the Greenhouse also now cleared away and composted replaced with the Agapanthus in pots that will overwinter under the cover of glass. With the relatively warm weather we had in September, and at times almost monsoon-like bouts of rain, the runner bean plants were still producing into October and I actually ate the last of the fresh picked beans in the first week of November. Those plants have also now been cleared and composted. An entire 'Dalek' bin of compost has been added to that bed. once it was weeded, with some manure to be added yet. The bed will then be left to rest

I have pulled a number of the  Carrot Eskimo  this week and will be blanching and freezing a couple of batches at least as I have far more than required for now. Most are  lovely long thick straight  roots but there are naturally a few slightly wonky ones, one that is three for the price of one and naturally one with a willy, there is always one  with a willy for the annual rude carrot picture on social media see below.  Carrot Eskimo were new to me this year and they have grown and cropped well, and I am happy to report those that I have eaten so far have been very tasty. There are a number of ways you can store Carrots, the most basic being keeping in the ground until needed; as the name suggests this particular  variety apparently resists splitting and retains its flavour throughout the autumn and winter if left in the ground according to the marketing blurb - I will be testing that by leaving a few where they are.  Blan ching and Freezing Carrots  Prepare the carrots by washing the

Harvesting is in full swing now with produce coming off the Vegetable Patch at a rate of knots. I have Blackberries coming out of my ears and Runner Beans and Courgettes galore plus the first of the Carrots, the variety  Carrot Eskimo that I am trying  this year for the first time, have been pulled and they were delicious . The first crop of Peas from the Pea Bingo plants have been picked and eaten with the second sowing due to be ready in a week or two now; a third sowing will be made this week. I have also been able to harvest the first of the Buffalo Steak Tomatoes from the Greenhouse and they went down very well at a BBQ over the weekend. The Gigantomo aren't far behind and the first of those could be harves ted by this weekend. The Tomato varieties I am growing outside on the veg patch following the disaster that was the Limoncito and Black Cherry seedlings failing on me are now  Yellow Pear and  Pink  Brandywine   and these are going well I am happy to report with the fir

The seed order for the year has arrived from Thompson & Morgan. As is often the case I have probably over order and will now spend a few hours mulling over plans of what to sow where . I have also been gifted a ‘sack of seeds’  at Christmas  containing all sorts of wonderful things  that I am now also trying to work out which to grow this year and where, hopefully, I can squeeze them in – in  short,  I need an extra half acre or so to the garden to fi t  it all in!    The vegetable seed order for the coming growing season consists of  Runner Bean  Benchmaster  a real success story in 2021 for me so on the list again ,  Tomato Buffalo  S teak , new to me   and  I am hoping for some nice juicy toms from this variety ,  Tomato  Gigantomo  another I have grown before ,   as the name suggests this plant can grow huge tomatoes of 2lb  - 3lb each  and   Tomato  L i moncito   that fruits lovely yellow  mini plum tomatoes and was   another big su cc ess for me in 2021 so back on the list. I