Monday, August 10

Beginnings and endings

Monday harvest
This week's harvest has been comprised of beginnings and endings. Some fruit is coming to the end of its cropping and some is just beginning. Some isn't quite ready for picking - like the apples that we tried which were still slightly too tart.

We picked our last cauliflower which was just beginning to blow but on the other hand we also picked the first of our long awaited climbing French beans - Cobra and runner beans - Desiree.
Tuesday's harvest
We pulled more of the autumn planted onions - it will soon be time to plant this season's sets and also to lift the summer planted onions for storing.

More potatoes were dug which considering our carrot problems were surprisingly free of any damage.

We also cut our first lot of gladioli.
The summer fruiting raspberries have just about finished fruiting but the autumn fruiting varieties - the yellow All Gold and red Joan J - are now coming into their own.

The thornless blackberry Loch Ness is also ripening. There are plenty of berries to be picked painlessly and if we need more I can send Martyn to pick some of the wild ones elsewhere on the plot - only because I am not tall enough to reach the choicest berries of course.

Saturday's harvest



At the weekend we had a few runner beans - Desiree - to add to the French beans. By now we should be inundated with beans.

The courgettes too are producing at a far steadier pace that usual which is good as rather than dealing with a glut we are picking small fruits and using them fresh. It is during seasons such as this that we are reminded why we plant so many plants.




We have a Japanese wineberry that we planted some years ago. This year is the first year that it has grown really well and is producing a reasonable number of berries. The problem is that we are not sure what shade of red they need to be to be properly ripe.










Daily harvests

As well as the main harvests we have a daily supply of salad ingredients for lunch. The raised salad bar bed in the garden is keeping us supplied with fresh leaves - I have recently sown more types of salad leaf which are germinating well.

We have had a handful of ripe tomatoes from the garden greenhouse and outdoors on the plot where blight hasn't yet put in an unwelcome appearance. So far though only the small fruited varieties have produced ripe fruit.
The miniature cucumbers - Mini Munch and Cucina - are also producing a daily supply. These too are close at hand in the garden where they can be eaten within five minutes of being picked. Delicious and juicy!


Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett

29 comments:

  1. Beautiful harvest! I just love your glads. I need to plant some next year---I always forget just how pretty they are.
    Have a wonderful week in the garden.

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    1. These were planted last year and just left in the ground Sue

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  2. Wonderful harvests, Sue. I like the sound of that thornless blackberry as well. What do you do with all your veg? Does it get frozen?

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  3. A plentiful harvest. Those berries are mouthwatering! I must check to see if the wild ones growing near here are ripe. A job for the weekend.

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    1. Ouch - make sure you cover up well Angie, The thornless do seem a bit earlier usually.

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  4. All looking plentiful indeed. The sweet peas are stunning ~ I can smell them from here. Wonder if a cultivated blackberry would do good here? I have wild ones a~plenty, but they come with thorns.

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    1. I don't see why you couldn't grow a cultivated blackberry Debs but make sure that you choose a thornless variety

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  5. What a great looking harvest and lovely flowers too. The red berries look yummy. I did a bit of foraging for bilberries today (wild blueberries).

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    1. I have never picked bilberries Kelli but they do grow uo in the moors fairly nearby, Our greengrocer had some recently

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  6. As always you have the best berries. I only dream of berry harvests like that.

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    1. Berries are so expensive in the shops Daphne and sold in such small amounts that they are well worth growing and keep us supplied all year,

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  7. Another bountiful harvest, the fruit does look lovely. What a LOT of potatoes!xxx

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    1. Plenty more potatoes to come, Dina - we hope

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  8. Great harvests. It's really strange to see how two parts of Europe can have so different harvests. Most of your beginnings are ending in my garden. Blackberries are done and raspberries are now ripening for the second time.

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    1. Are the raspberries fruiting a second time on the same canes Leanan?

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  9. Wonderful harvests! Are your blackberries truly thornless? I planted a "thornless" variety this spring, but it does seem to still have thorns - I have heard how horrible standard varieties are and just assumed that "thornless" meant that the thorns were not as bad as those.

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    1. Ours is completely thornless Margaret totally smooth stems.

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  10. That'e very good harvest of berries! Almost all are in red colour! I wish I could grow berries like you do!

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  11. We haven't harvested any beans yet, we should get the first very soon though. My tomatoes are in full production now, ripening by the day. I think it's going to be a good year for them, the plants are absolutely loaded with fruit. How is your Cucina comparing with Mini Munch? I've grown them once but I only got a few cucumbers from each plant before production ceased.

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    1. We're finding that they are more or less the same, Jo in taste and production, Are your tomatoes outdoors?

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  12. I'm going to try Mini munch next year. I've started harvesting a few beans too but I've only had one courgette. I am probably the only person who has had only one courgette! x

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    1. Ours are producing a steady supply rather than a glut, Jo - be careful what you wish for :)

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    2. Don't know why this published as Anon it was me

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  13. Oh no, blackberries already! The end of summer must be nigh! Woe woe and thrice woe!!
    Your harvest looks fantastic, Sue, what could be better than all that gorgeous fresh fruit and veg.My grandad used to arrange the week's produce in his wheelbarrow, then wheel it all round to the kitchen door to present it to my grandma, to use in the Sunday lunch!
    Shame you have been caught by tomato blight , hopefully there will be new blight resistant varieties to grow soon.

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    1. This variety of blackberry is usually earlier than the wild one, Jane so maybe just twice woe,
      No blight here yet this year which is unusual maybe I misled you sorry

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