At the beginning of last week I lifted all our onions and shallots. We always struggle to find somewhere to dry them. This year we constructed some makeshift drying tables using wire mesh and boxes which were positioned under our greengage trees. Of course it then decided to rain but at least the bulbs won't be sitting on damp soil and the trees will have afforded some protection.
Our rhubarb struggled in the prolonged, dry conditions so we gave it a good soak which revived it and its now on its second wind.
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| 7 August |
The thornless blackberry - Loch Ness is producing large juicy berries. I'm really happy that this replaced a previous thorny variety which fought back with venom when I tried to pick the fruits.
The blueberries are keeping up a steady supply. The fruit on our third bush is now ripening. The berries are plentiful and a good size so it is a pity that I don't know the variety.
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| 12 August |
All three varieties of runner beans - Celebration, Lady Di and Firestorm are producing well. Two of the climbing French beans - Cobra and Cosse Violette are also providing a harvest. The yellow Coronna d' Oro is so far beanless although it is flowering. Cosse Violette is just starting to come into production but Cobra was the first of our beans to 'fruit' and is still going strong. We had a freezing session after picking a box full of beans.
I am continuing to pick peas on every visit to the plot. Our second and third sown rows are now in production. So far none of the pods have harboured any unwelcome guests.
Some fruits have harvested themselves. Shortly after photographing the fig below, it fell from the tree and shortly after that it was on our plates. We shared it of course.
A couple of peaches fell off the tree in the greenhouse. Fortunately they didn't spoil so we enjoyed them too. The taste indicated that we should maybe start harvesting from the tree.
The tomatoes in our garden greenhouse have started to ripen. Last week we picked some Gardeners' Delight ...
... and Sungold.
The Sungold fruits tend to split but it doesn't stop us enjoying the taste.
We picked the first of the apples from our apple hedge. We think that the variety is Discovery and the ones peeping from behind are likely to be Golden Delicious.
A few berries were added to our fruit salads - the first few all Gold raspberries and probably the last of the Malwina strawberries with a few alpine strawberries thrown in to the mix
Martyn has started digging up the potatoes. The ones shown below are Casablanca. We haven't watered any of our potatoes all season so they have had to cope with very dry conditions. Despite this Casablanca produced a good crop of damage free potatoes.
In the photo below the top box of potatoes are Amour which also produced a damage free crop. The lower box Orla did have some nibbling slug damage but still produced a reasonable crop of usable potatoes
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| 13 August |
We have moved on from the Oullins Gage plums and are now harvesting Victoria. So far no wasp activity - could my waspinators be working?
Next to the plums in the photo, taken on 13 August, is a punnet of Mannings greengages. Greengage's colouring belie their true nature. We usually associate green fruit with sharpness or a sour taste but greengages are very sweet and delicious.
The sweet peas are now in mass production mode. The batch below was just the flowers picked on Saturday. I am pleased that the stems are still very long as I've found that normally the stems shorten after the first few pickings.
The perennial and annual flower beds are also providing a plentiful supply of cut flowers. It's like being a kid in a sweet shop.
To complete our Harvest Monday roundup, Martyn put together a video showing the digging of the Casablance potatoes. Excuse the heavy breathing, he isn't worn out, the microphone was just rather keen.
The video is about 7 minutes long.
The video is about 7 minutes long.
Posts
Coooo! And I thought we'd picked a lot this weekend!
ReplyDeleteI meant to add a comment to my harvest photo "this looks like one of Sue Garratt's" but I would have been lying, now I see yours! Fabulous!
Your harvests are great =, Belinda. remember we have more space to grow things than you do.
DeleteI'm amazed - I always fork one potato! Glad the dry weather has not affected the yield. BTW I have now got half my onions lifted and drying under cover. The other half is still rooted and has to wait until I can find room for drying it. There have been some pretty heavy rainfall (again) in Edinburgh.
ReplyDeleteMartyn did spear one potato, Mal and there is time for others to fall victim to his fork.
DeleteWhat an incredible harvest, Sue - so much variety! Especially envious of all those wonderful fruits - I was so looking forward to nectarines this year but no such luck. A couple of fruits set, but they either fell off or something stole them - still have to figure out which.
ReplyDeleteWe have decided to pick the peaches off our tree now, Margaret as they are starting to fall off and in danger of bruising.
DeleteThat is a good looking haul of onions! And a lovely variety of veggies and fruit. Your sweet peas are beautiful too. We have them growing wild across the road but they are nowhere as big as yours.
ReplyDeleteThe wild perennial sweet peas are a different species I think, Dave. The ones that grow here have small flowers with no perfume and are very vigorous.
DeleteYour harvests are quite enviable! Everything looks so good and what a bounty. Fabulous.
ReplyDeleteThank you Michelle.
DeleteSue-
ReplyDeletewhat a truly bountiful harvest you had! The size of your potato harvest is just amazing. And I envy our sweet pea harvest. We hit 102 degrees last week for a few days and that was the end of mine. They are one of my favorite flowers. I can almost smell yours through the computer screen!
No such heat here, Lexa. We still have quite a lot of potatoes to dig up and the sweet peas do fill the car with perfume as we drive home with them.
DeleteOh isn't it a wonderful time of year Sue when you are rewarded for all that hard work earlier in the year :) Those golden raspberries must add a lovely touch of colour to the plate - they look almost too good to eat.
ReplyDeleteIt is the time of year that we work up to, Anna a sort of crescendo.
DeleteAmazing harvest, such a variety. That's a lot of runner beans. Very jealous of the peas..
ReplyDeleteWe do like our peas, Dicky
DeleteOh my, most of my favorite things! Peas, potatoes, sweetpeas, raspberries.... perhaps I should come live with you! We had a little rain then hot and dry again, with a lot of things getting crispy again....
ReplyDeleteNo crispy weather here , Mary. When will you be arriving? ;-)
DeleteSue-your garden is always providing such beautiful harvests!! Gorgeous photos as well. I've missed seeing what's been going on in your gardens. Enjoy the bounty
ReplyDelete:)
We will, Sue
DeleteSue, what a peach! Sure it's very juicy. Your Loch Ness amazed me such large berries.
ReplyDeleteHappy crop!
We have been pleased with how the peach tree has performed this year, Nadezda.
DeleteGoodness gracious me! You could feed an army on all that - well done. I'm allergic to onions but I'm still jealous of how many beautiful ones you grew. Enjoy! x
ReplyDeleteIt's now a case of how well they dry off, Carrie
DeleteGoodness, you have been busy, haven't you? It is so satisfying to be able to take such huge and varied harvests home, and even more satisfying to be able to enjoy eating it! Well done to you
ReplyDeleteIt certainly is satisfying, Kathy.
DeleteWow! That's a lot of harvest! :)
ReplyDeleteHow you handle them? DO you freeze them? or sell them?
We do freeze lots, Malar but we don't sell although we do give things away.
DeleteHow prolific you are! Such a magnificent harvest, your blog should be called The Good Life, you'd give them a run for their money!xxx
ReplyDeleteThat title is already taken, Dina and I could only ever keep a pig as a pet!
DeleteVery envious/impressed with your runner beans. I had such hopes of putting some in the freezer to enjoy during winter but this was not the year for it :(
ReplyDeleteShame Jayne, If you lived nearer we could supply some.
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