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| 29 August |
We haven't spent as much time harvesting this week as we had a sort of weekend break in Norfolk. I say sort of as our weekend was Friday and Saturday. When you are retired you can move your weekend to wherever you like.
We (royal we i.e. Martyn) dug more potatoes) There is now one more bed to lift. The potatoes were growing in the rough ground that had been last year's strawberry bed. It's the first year that we have grown Vales Sovereign and we were impressed by the crop. Some potatoes had wireworm damage but not enough to make them unusable. Wireworm are the larvae of the click beetle and shouldn't be confused with the thin orange centipede that is the gardeners' friend. Possibly our grass paths make us more prone to wirewom damage but we like our grass paths.
Looking closer into the box you can see the entire greengage crop. We love greengages but this has been a rest year for the trees. The Victoria plums continue to need scrutinising for plum moth grubs. If anyone decides to help themselves to a snack they could end up with more than they bargained for!
There were plenty more runner beans but we just picked enough to satisfy our immediate needs.
We pulled the first of out beetroot. This lot were pickled.
The sweet peas are continuing to produce lots of flowers. At this stage the flowers are usually being produced on much shorter stems but this year the stems are continuing to be of a good length. Is this connected to the weather or the variety?
The cosmos in particular are doing well in the cut flower patch. I'm experimenting with annual flower growing at the moment which I will post about later.
As we were going away for a couple of days we only picked the things that had to be picked or that we wanted to use before we left.
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| 1 September |
The two Bramley apples had fallen from the tree and so were picked before any thing got to them before we did. These will pair nicely with the blackberries
The tree is only about a metre (just over three feet) high and has produced some good fruits this year.
The smaller sized tomatoes are now fruiting well. Sungold as expected being the most prolific. This lot came from both plot and garden greenhouses and outside on the plot.
We pick the grapes from the vine in the garden greenhouse and eat them straight away so I have kept forgetting to mention them so here is a photo of a bunch picked this week.
Today I am linking to Harvest Monday over at Dave's blog Our Happy Acres
Alongside the grapes are Crimson Crush tomatoes.
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I have a two-year-old Bramley tree, which has yet to produce any fruit, but I hope it will do so eventually, because this is an exceptionally useful fruit to have. Fortunately I have a friend who usually gives me loads of Bramleys at about this time of year. How old is yours?
ReplyDeleteWe planted the tree in 2008, Mark. We know that we harvested fruit from eight 2011 but have no notes of any fruit being picked before that. This year it has produced the best and largest fruit that we have had. Does your apple tree have any blossom? A Bramley apple is supposed to need two other types of apple or crab apples to pollinate it so could pollination be an issue or maybe it will produce fruit next year?
DeleteA very nice harvest. We usually get given some home grown Bramley apples each year, I always look forward to the puddings I make with them.
ReplyDeleteYou can't beat a good Bramley apple for cooking can you, Jo?
DeleteGreat harvest. As you know, my plum tree is having a rest this year. This year is instead a pear year, plenty of fruit on both trees. I'm glad they're alternating rather than both having the same year off! I always have a problem with short sweet pea stems after the first few pickings, and I've noticed the same on other plots too, including one that grows flowers very professionally. I hope you had a good weekend in Norfolk.
ReplyDeleteSome of the sweet pea flowers are beginning to get shorter stems, CJ. I am getting a good amount of long stemmed flowers too which I don't usually have at this time of year. What are the stems of yours like this year?
DeleteOne of our small pear trees it's fruiting better than it ever has before too.
Sue, well done! I love your crop of beetroots and tomatoes, you could have pretty borscht. It's interesting sweet peas're blooming till now.
ReplyDeleteI've never had borscht, Nadezda. Am I correct in thinking it is served cold?
DeleteI'm guessing that the sweet peas won't last much longer. We do plant them fairly late.
Those are some big apples for a fairly small tree! Since I retired I like to say every day is a holiday, but truthfully some days it feels like I am still working.
ReplyDeleteI know exactly what you mean, Dave! Where does the time go?
DeleteLovely harvests, especially those big buckets of potatoes! I'm looking forward to my potato harvest, which won't be for another couple of weeks - hopefully the voles didn't do too much snacking in that bed.
ReplyDeleteI hope your potatoes are vole damage free, Margaret. More of a problem than our bit of wireworm damage.
DeleteWhat a beautiful and delicious harvest Sue! It is a feast for the eyes.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Janneke
DeleteThat's a great harvest even if you didn't pick much. We have no plums left but there is a tree Laden with them on the allotment so I am going to seen if I can have a few more to make some fruit leathers. My Apple trees haven't produced very well this year.
ReplyDeleteRemember to cut the plums in half before eating, Tanya. You never know what may be lurking inside. :-)
DeleteYour sweet peas are amazing! The wild ones around here are definitely on their last leg.
ReplyDeleteGreat harvests. I'm really wishing I had some blackberries right now!
Hello sweet pea won't last much longer now, Sue.
DeleteThat's wonderful harvest! The tomatoes look so juicy! I guess you need to do a lot of fruit jar canning after this! Happy holiday!
ReplyDeleteWe tend to freeze excess fruit and vegetables, Malar, rather than canning any.
DeleteLovely harvest as always. We've picked our cooking apples now and have been given a load too x
ReplyDeleteSo I guess lots of pies and crumbles are on the agenda, Jo.
DeleteI've been looking into runner bean varieties that do well in the heat after seeing all your beautiful beans. It's really lovely that you grow all those flowers, I never think to start them.
ReplyDeleteI hope you find a bean to suit, Phuong. I am already planning next year's flower bed!
DeleteLovely harvest, Sue! Your grapes and berries make me so jealous
ReplyDeleteThank you Endah
DeleteI'm in awe....as always! What a super harvest! BTW...meant to say on your last post, congratulations on ten years, like Jessica, I've learnt a lot here too!xxx
ReplyDeleteThanks, Dina
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