Berries and squashes

It's well and truly autumn here. The range is on most days. The hens are going to bed noticeably earlier, long before our bedtime. More and more pumpkins and squashes are appearing in the house every day. So far we've sampled Golden Nuggets, Bon Bon (a new favourite), Olympus, Forest Nut and Pink Fairy. All of which have been delicious and since they were the first to ripen they are on the list for next year. Now I'm trying to remember when I picked each squash - we are waiting two weeks to eat them after picking to give them a chance to cure and sweeten.

Bon Bon squash

Marina di Chioggia, Olympus and Pink Fairy

Sdobnaya and Christmas cactus

Other than eating lots of squash, we've also been eating lots of berries. Mainly raspberries, but we've also got our first cranberries this year. And the first flower has appeared on the Goji berries so maybe next year we'll have some of them, too. Both cranberries and Gojis should be wonderful dried, as a raisin alternative.

Early Black cranberry

The first Goji berry flower

We decided to make a third strawberry bed so that we can dig up and replace the plants on the three-year-old bed every year after letting them fruit a final time (the yield is not so good on the older plants). I'd been potting up runners in July and August and they were ready to go to a new home. All three beds are roughly the same size and the plants are one year apart so there should always be one at its peak, one just starting out and one fizzling out.

The new strawberry bed

 

There's still plenty of colour in the garden. One of the most spectacular plants at the moment is the grain amaranth. I'm not sure it's going to be ripe before winter, but it's fun to look at and touch.

Funky grain amaranth

The winter salad greens (lettuces Density, Valdor, Merveille de Quatre Saisons, tatsoi) have germinated. They'll be planted out into the polytunnel once the tomatoes have finished cropping. The greenhouse has been emptied of strawberry plants and replaced with 36 cranberry cuttings. We could be talking a lot of savings here, if even 10% of them make it!

I say tomatoes

Medley of tomatoes: Dattelwein, Black Cherry and Orkado

I didn't think there was such a thing as too many tomatoes. I was wrong. Carried away by the new space in the polytunnel (and the interesting tomato seeds I got sent), I plumbed for 40 plants this year: 30 in the polytunnel and 10 in the greenhouse. I had lofty ambitions of making enough tomato sauce to last the winter.

Batch of tomato sauce in the making

But I have to admit that it's hard to find the time to process all these tomatoes. Maybe when we don't have so many other jobs that need attending... Like painting the garage (including the roof). After half a day on the garage roof inhaling bitumen paint I just don't feel like peeling several kilos of tomatoes, simmering them for a few hours and then canning them.

Only one more coat on the roof to go

I'm already thinking about how much to grow next year. 25 tomato plants is more realistic. Less tomatoes, more cucumbers. No more achocha (they make nice table ornaments but unfortunately aren't very tasty) and okra (too little yield to make them worthwhile, sadly). More peas and potatoes. Less cabbage but more different kale varieties. The experimental new crop will be scorzonera.

The autumn raspberry season has started and our first ever pears are hanging on the two pear trees. Unfortunately it will be a while before our first grapes, but the vine has expanded quite a bit.

Autumn Bliss

First ever pears! A Glou Morceau

Grapevine in the polytunnel

The new crops are doing well. The first of the oca is beginning to die back. It will be time to earth them up soon. The grains are appearing on the amaranth and the quinoa looks laden. It will be interesting to see what the yield is.

Grain amaranth

Quinoa seed heads

We went on an excellent mushroom foraging walk with Mark Williams of Galloway Wild Foods. We learnt lots and brought home our first ever dinner of Galloway chanterelles. Quite a lot of tasty mushrooms around these parts and hopefully they will increasingly be on the menu.

Mushrooms found on our foraging walk

I do love the crisp sunny days at this time of year, with just a hint of coolness in the air. Obviously the sunflowers enjoyed the recent rays as well. The four survivors are just about to open up.

Almost there

Colourful times

Cooking is so easy at this time of year. You take some of these (which are replenished daily):

Medley of tomatoes, chillies and lemon cucumbers

Add a few of those:

Sliced Latino courgettes

And maybe some Purple Sun carrots and you're most of the way there.

Pretty carrots

The onion harvest was rather small this year. Not enough rain in May, I guess. But it should still last a few months at least. I will try to grow more onions from seed rather than sets since the August-sown onions did very well this spring.

Of the new crops, I've harvested the first Savoy cabbage. The first three achocha hedgehogs have appeared and the quinoa is growing despite getting buffeted by the wind.

First of the Savoy cabbages

Rather cute achocha

Quinoa

The herb bed is filling in. The perennial herbs are really spreading out.

Anise hyssop and Vietnamese coriander

In the veg garden, the squashes are on a rampage. The Pink Fairy has already left the veg garden through the fence and is expanding into the bottom paddock. I'm growing rather an insane number of squashes this year (30) to find the absolutely best varieties (and the ones which do best here) so friends and family can look forward to gifts of squash later this autumn.

Golden Nuggets: at what stage do you harvest these?

The sweetcorn is looking promising in its sheltered position behind the polytunnel. At least there are plenty of tassels.

Early Bird, I think

We managed to cover all the areas to sort out next year and will now forget about these until March.

Herb/flower bed to be, plus protective hedging for it

On the ornamental front, the honeysuckle is giving out heavenly scent and the wildflower border has a different mix from last year.

The ultimate cottage garden plant?

Wildflower meadow strip

But we are still waiting for the summer weather to return!

Great expectations

Best garlic ever

So far we've had several harvests exceeding our expectations this year: strawberries, gooseberries and garlic. This has meant a lot of fruit processing, but I've become better at the jam-making game and, with the steam juicer, it is very easy to make jellies and fruit wines. Just add your fruit, no need to top and tail or remove bits, steam for 90 minutes or so and drain the juice into a large bucket.

For fruit wine, add sugar to get the right specific gravity (around 1080, hydrometer needed for this), let cool to 22C or thereabouts and add yeast. Then rack into a demi-john with air lock after about a week and leave until it's done its thing. You'll probably have to rack it once more before bottling.

Strawberry punch

Then there are other crops that look very promising this year, particularly raspberries and Jerusalem artichokes.

Raspberry outlook

Very tall Jerusalem artichokes

The new crops of the year - grain amaranth, oca and quinoa - are beginning to look substantial:

Grain amaranth

Oca with flower

And the tomatillos, which didn't do so well last year, are a lot happier this year.

Pretty, zingy tomatillos

Inside the polytunnel it's a jungle of tomatoes. Two of the new varieties this year, Black Cherry and Dattelwein, have a wonderful flavour and will definitely become regulars.

It's a jungle in there

I haven't been quite so lucky with the beans. No problems with the broad beans and runner beans but poor yields of any French beans I've tried so far (Hunter, Cobra and Sultana). I'm still looking for the definitive French bean - any suggestions welcome. I quite fancy a yellow one.

Runner beans

I particularly like how we've got very smooth transitions of crops this year. No real gaps and manageable quantities of everything. Just now we have one more portion of broad beans left, for example, so that they are finished just as the other beans are coming on stream. The only gluts so far have been strawberries and gooseberries, but that's a nice problem to have.

We've been working on the area around the pond, which will get covered with black plastic this month - a project for next year - while we ponder what to do with the space. The soil seems very good.

Astilbes by the pond, area to be covered on the other side

The chicks have been growing at quite the rate. They now get to roam during the day but are quite skittish, particularly when the adult hens pass in the vicinity. Another month maybe until they're going to be catapulted into the hen house at night.

Tippy, our black-combed hen, and Feathers, one of the Christmas cockerels

Bring back summer

It really feels as if someone has switched the months around this year. Here we are in July, with April/May weather: highs of 16C and frequent showers and no end in sight.

Still, it is a good temperature for working in the garden, between showers, and the fruit & veg are growing quite happily. We've got quite a large variety on the menu now: cucumbers, new potatoes, broad beans, mangetout, cabbage, lettuce, courgettes, beetroot, radishes, shallots and, slowly but surely, the first tomatoes and carrots.

Strawberry Symphony

Our main crop at the moment, however, is strawberries. Blackbirds permitting, we are harvesting two litres a day. Strawberry rhubarb jam has already been made and some strawberries frozen. We eat about a litre a day, so yummy in porridge, with ice cream or cream or on top of a sponge cake.

Gooseberry Invicta

The gooseberry bushes are absolutely laden this year. We've had a few already, but most of them should be ripe over the coming fortnight. Same goes for the jostaberries and currants.

New bed, with quinoa in foreground. Note the weeds that
have grown since we removed the black plastic in April!

Jim's still digging the new area, which is very stony. Half of it has already been planted with quinoa.

New herb bed

The new herb bed is really coming along and makes the top of the garden look much prettier. This year it's a bit of a hodgepodge of herbs (summer savoury, dill, coriander, majoram, rosemary, anise hyssop and blue hyssop, borage, camomile and Vietnamese coriander) and other things that needed a sheltered home (sun flowers, grain amaranth, red cabbage).

The mint bed is also filling in. The lemon catmint is proving particularly tasty.

Colourful displays everywhere

Roses, lavender and wild flowers are out in full bloom now and everything is looking colourful. All we need is some balmy sunshine to sit out and enjoy it all.

This is what we want!

Lush surroundings

Freshly cut silage

After three weeks of amazing weather, we are now back to normal with highs of 16C and barrels brimful of rain water. Never mind, I still love this time of year when everything is so lush, the days are long and the garden begins to yield all kinds of goodies. The lettuces are particularly good this year.

Delicious Merveille de Quatre Saisons

Today I harvested the last of last year's chard and the first of this year's. I love a seamless transition! The same goes for the chillies. The last of the frozen ones and the first new one are going into the chard curry tonight.

Because of the good weather everything is early this year, including the strawberries. We've been getting four or five a day for a week - just enough for our morning's porridge. I've started potting up runners for a new strawberry bed (we're going to have three so that we can rotate and replace them after three years).

Thinking of next year's strawberries already

The chicks are growing at a tremendous rate. Looks like we've got quite a few cock birds though!

Spot the cocks

Soruss is no more - he was just too aggressive. He made a delicious soup and now the hens are much happier and everything is much more peaceful. In fact, the hens are acting as if they're on holiday! They don't like being bossed around, it seems.

Our new grain crops - quinoa and amaranth - have been planted out and are doing well inside their pot protectors.

Amaranth

Another new crop, oca, has surfaced and is doing well. The achocha, however, is not. Another one has died and these things are supposed to be vigorous!

Oca

This year has been much better for our nascent hedges and I'm pleased that the sea buckthorn has finally started growing after only putting out a few measly leaves last year. Up in our top corner, the elder is looking like a proper tree.

Our first hedge after 2.5 years

Inside, tomatoes, chillies, peppers and okra are setting and the first cucumbers and melons are swelling up.

First of the cantaloupes

Crystal lemon cucumber

The roses and lavender are in full swing and the wild flower strip has come back to life.

Daisies first, but the poppies are coming

Patio lavender

The summer-flowering heathers are also blooming and there are some interesting ones.

'Stuart' heather

But maybe the most popular with the bees are the parsnip flowers. I left a few parsnips to gather fresh seed this year and they are immensely popular.

Parsnip going to seed

Together with Jim, I've started another, more thematic blog, Reasonably Good Life. Please have a look!