Fruit, Veg, Flowers and Slugs

I will admit it, I have become a little obsessed with my Pink Brandywine beefsteak tomatoes; there I have said it!   I have mentioned them more than once on this site but they really have impressed me this being the first time I have grown them; and it should be remembered they were a replacement sowing sown late to replace the failed  Limoncito  and  Black Cherry  seedlings that wilted and died on me in the first week of May. When you consider they were sown weeks after I would normally sow tomatoes and grown outdoors on the Veg Patch rather than in the Greenhouse the results have been amazing.  This particular American heirloom variety, apparently dates back to 1900, will be grown again by me in 2023 provided I can get the seeds. The marketing blurb suggests t his type of tomato plant is not a big producer but I have several fruit on each plant (see below). Another bonus for me is it will give you fruits long after many other types have stopped producing, I will certainly be getting

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

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 of black pepper Little oil (of your choice) fo

I am currently enjoying a bit of a glut on the Tomato front, no bad thing, and find myself experimenting with a number of recipes; that said an oven baked Beefsteak Tomato is still one of my favourite guilty pleasures. The   Buffalo Steak Tomatoes  from the Greenhouse have been a roaring success, baked, fried, in a salad, on a burger or in a sandwich I have used them in multiple ways for breakfast, lunch and dinner recently and these will definitely be grown again in the future - absolutely brilliant. The  Gigantomo  variety are also cropping strongly with a number of large fruits on the plants I have allowed them to grow on. I have a couple of very large fruits on one plant I deliberately left only a few tomatoes on but no world record breaker.  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 of course the  Yellow Pear  and  Pink  Brandywine   and these are going well I am happy t

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

It is that lovely time of the year, the first Garden Peas of the summer are being picked!  I know, it's not huge news in the grand scheme of things and with all that is going on in this crazy world right now but it is a reason to be cheerful and should be celebrated. This year I am growing  Pea Bingo  which is  a  dwarf  e arly  m aincrop  variety  growing no higher than about two-and-a-half feet; I have them in some large ornamental stone pots. I sowed the first batch in fibre pots back in March and they were brought on indoors until planted out in late April. A second batch was direct sown at that time, they are coming along nicely finding their way up the pea sticks , and the third batch, that was planned to be sown in May, will be sown this week; a little later than planned but it will prolong the harvest nicely. I have hopefully timed the sowings right and probably will have only a few excess Peas to store. Freezing your Garden  Peas couldn't be simpler .  Pop your Peas in

The Garden and Vegetable Patch will really be coming to life by now and over the next few weeks and months there will be plenty of jobs to do but also plenty of enjoyment to be had.  The display from your spring bulbs such a Daffodils will almost certainly be over by now. I grow a lot of  my bulbs  in pots to allow me to place them where I want in the garden, though I also have a few throughout the beds and naturalised under the Cherry Tree. I always give mine one last feed when watering  to encourage a good display next year before moving those in pots into a corner of the garden, out of sight, to allow the foliage to die back naturally which also helps feed the bulb for next year.  High on my list of priorities at this time of year is checking the Lilies for Lily Beetle and their larvae as they can strip your plants of foliage almost overnight! I had a problem earlier in the spring with a Squirrel nibbling the top off of three of the emerging bulbs so they now won’t grow and flower t