Monday, October 17

A small but welcome surprise.

11 October
Having returned from our break in Somerset we were keen to visit the plot to gather more of the must pick crops.

In the plastic bag are the last few late sown peas.

We were pleased to find a cauliflower just ready for harvesting,

Many of our carrots have been spoiled due to splitting. I reckon this is down to the weather this year and so has really been out of our control. If the pests don't wreak havoc the weather will.

I picked the remaining Invincible pears which have now been set out to finish ripening in a spare room.
 As you can see they ranged in size from huge down to "shall I bother picking?" The first lot of pears are now ripe and are juicy and delicious.

One of our other pear trees - Delsanne - wasn't as productive but I picked the few pears on offer.
These pears are not the traditional pear shape and could be mistaken for a russet apple. If you go back to the group harvest photo you may spot the pears nestling on top of the bucket of apples.

On the subject of apples, whilst I picked pears, Martyn picked more apples from out apple hedge. He filled a bucket with the remaining Laxtons Superb type apples and filled a box with apples of another variety.
We are pretty sure that these are Golden Delicious.
We decided that it was time to bring in the Crown Prince squashes. The vines hadn't been as productive as usual but there were plenty of fruits to keep us happy and these have now joined the apples in the summerhouse.
There was a sprinkling of autumn raspberries but these are now being spoiled by the weather.

As well as the alpine strawberries did you notice a surprise addition.
Fenella has had a second wind. I cut back the old leaves a while ago and the plants regrew and have produced lots of flowers that surprised me by setting fruit.
I didn't expect any to ripen and I'm guessing the birds didn't either as although the nets have been removed the above ripe specimen survived in perfect condition. My question is will this second coming weaken the plants? Should I removed the flowers and fruits or should I wait and see whether I end up with more nice surprises?

On the subject of surprises, Did you notice the small posy of sweet peas. I wasn't expecting that either.

We are still picking a few small ripe tomatoes from the garden greenhouse and we are gathering salad leaves and a few spring onions from the Woodblocx raised bed in the garden. Below are just a couple of sample photos as we don't always remember to take a photo before we have eaten our little harvest.
14 October
15 October
Today I am linking to Harvest Monday over at Dave's blog  Our Happy Acres


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

26 comments:

  1. The mild Autumn is certainly extending the growing-season this year. What do you do with all those apples & pears? Pears have a habit of ripening suddenly and all at once, so I suspect you have some recipes for using them in bulk. (I am very fond of pickled pears).

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    1. To be honest, Mark e are pretty boring. We eat lots just as fresh fruit and stew lots to freeze and use later. We use the fruit on porridge but no doubt some will end up,in some recipe or other.

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  2. Lovely harvest, and in tip top condition. I'm still picking immaculate salad leaves - sorrel, rocket, mustards and lettuce - none of them have been too battered by the weather so far. The Beurre Hardy pears are still clinging on to the tree as well. Quite amazing as they're so round and heavy. I've pretty much reached the end of the Doyenne du Comice though. They've been absolutely delicious this year.

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    1. It does seem to have been a good year for apples and pears, CJ.

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  3. What a great bounty to come home to!
    And there is no such thing as a pear "not worth picking"--think of the little ones as "gourmet"---haha. They always put quite a price on those in the market!
    :)

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  4. A beautiful and bountiful harvest, that sure is a perfect head of cauliflower. Next year I am going to try your method of cutting back the old leaves of my strawberry plants and hope they will regrow, flower and set fruits, thanks for the idea.

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    1. I always cut the old leaves of strawberries after fruiting to allow the new leaves to grow, Norma but this is the first year they have fruited again,

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  5. You certainly do grow some lovely cauliflower! And what a nice surprise with the strawberries. All our fruits are through bearing for the year, so we are relying on frozen ones now. We did pick up a nice bunch of apples at a local orchard though.

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    1. We are running out of space for storing apples, Dave.

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  6. I'm amazed at the productivity of your apple hedge. The apples are so beautiful. And such a perfect head of cauliflower, how nice that it was just ready for harvesting when you got there.

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    1. It's been the best apple year I can remember, Michelle.

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  7. I loved your surprise strawberry, and all that fruit! You have me yearning for a little of that cauliflower, it does look perfect. My carrots were awful this year!xxx

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    1. I don't think it has been a good year for carrots, Dina.

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  8. That is one beautiful cauliflower! I love the white winter squashes too. And that is quite a bounty of apples and pears. What are your plans for all of them?

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    1. Lots have been stewed and frozen and the best are providing fresh fruit desserts, Julie

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  9. Beautiful harvests - you've had a lot of surprises this week and thankfully, they are of the good sort :) I'm especially envious of all those apples and that cauliflower is perfection!

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    1. I'm hoping for more nice surprises, Margaret.

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  10. A beautiful cauliflower (and not just because I'm absolutely incapable of growing any myself) - just a lovely creamy white. And strawberries wow, that's new for me this time of year.

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    1. Alpine strawberries are not unusual for this time of year, Susie as we usually can be picking them up until November. It is unusual for us to have one of the larger strawberries. I'm not optimistic that the green ones on the plant will ripen.

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  11. The cauliflower look so white and fresh! I did roll up to see the harvest photos! It really look like apple!
    You have nice harvest of pears!

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    1. The pears have done well this year, Malar

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  12. What a beautiful harvest to come home to! I am a little envious of that cauliflower as we haven't grown any this year and now I wish I had!
    Kathy

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    1. We always enjoy the cauliflowers, Kathy

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  13. You always have a beautiful harvest Sue....all are good, healthy in wonderful colors..

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