Fruit, Veg, Flowers and Slugs

  As I write this article in early September, I am sitting in the garden in thirty-degree heat ; what a crazy summer of weather we have had this year. Most of my time of late has been taken up with the harvest o n the vegetable patch. At least twice a week I am blanching and freezing Runner Beans and the bottom tr a y of my freezer is already full. They are a great vegetable to have on your patch and I would encourage everyone to grow them as they will supply you with bean s throughout the summer and into autumn with plenty over to freeze ready for roast dinner s through the winter months. The Tomatoes have been cropping like crazy and when not dealing with the beans I have been bus y making Tomato Ketchup and BBQ Sauce. The Buffalo Steak tomato plants r emain ladened and t he re’ll be a few more hours spent making sauce before the season is over .    My recipe for Tomato Ketchup is pretty standard though I have tweaked it a little down the years; if you are in...

With such a glut of Tomatoes coming from the Greenhouse at the moment and the  Buffalo Steak  variety fruits averaging just shy of a pound in weight each, the biggest so far just over the pound at 530 grams, I have decided it's that time of year again to start making Tomato Ketchup.  I really do need to do something as the outdoor plants haven't begun ripening yet but the  Yellow Pear  plants are ladened with little pear-shaped fruits and the two American Heritage variety Pink  Brandywine   plants both have a number of fruits on as well, see pictures below. It's a nice problem to have! My recipe for Tomato Ketchup is pretty standard but if you are interested it can be found below; Jamie Oliver I aint:  3.5kg tomatoes roughly chopped 1 onion roughly sliced and diced 1 head of garlic peeled and chopped/crushed  110g salt 1kg light brown soft sugar 600ml red wine vinegar 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce 4/5 whole cloves Few turns...