Mid October and still harvesting -pumpkins/squashes, tomatoes, peppers, chillies, potatoes and peas

Mid October and still harvesting

There are all sorts of jobs to be done at this time of year – usually!

·         Preparing for winter – cutting back artichokes and covering with straw in preparation for the winter frosts;

·         Pruning fruit bushes and canes – well, I have started pruning my red-currant and blackcurrant bushes though, this is difficult as the weather continues mild and wet and many of the bushes are slow to go into hibernation though, I do see that my year-old rooted red-currant cuttings have lost all their leaves and could now be potted-on. The raspberry canes are still producing fruit, albeit only a little;

·         Harvesting pumpkins and squashes – I’ve had to harvest some of these too early as slugs and snails were demolishing some varieties. Now, however, most of the plants are dying back and I can harvest a few at a time and take them home for drying. I am setting them out on my patio until they have hardened off. I would really like to use some of the seed again. While I acknowledge that these plants are very promiscuous, I would like to use some of the seed from my Baby Bears. My preference is for smallish fruit which will keep well over winter and next spring I will be exploring different seed suppliers for varieties which will, I hope give me a greater variety.

Do try some of these sites for interesting varieties:

www.nickys-nursery.co.uk

www.vegetableseeds.net

www.realseeds.co.uk

·         Digging potatoes – any other year I would have put ‘digging and storing’ potatoes. However, while I am still harvesting my poor crop, I am only digging up what I need from the sodden ground and many of the tubers have been decimated by slugs. My last variety for harvesting – Sarpo Mira – while it might be resistant to all sorts of pests and potato blight, it has, nonetheless, succumbed to an immense army of slugs and snails. Those potatoes which I am able to rescue are excellent but I can understand that, even in years where blight was not a problem, poor weather conditions would have threatened those communities, in the past, that depended on the potato crop for their winter food – And I am not living in the poor conditions of the West of Ireland.

·         Peas and Beans – I can see that a few of our plot holders are still harvesting a few runner and French beans for eating fresh [mine have long finished]. This has been a late year though, beans for drying have been quite good, especially the pole or climbing varieties. I did plant a late crop of peas in mid July, after I had harvested and frozen all my other crops. I had been advised that late sowing of peas were more inclined to be attacked by pea moths and be full of maggots. However, I am now harvesting and, while I don’t have a crop heavy enough to justify freezing, I can enjoy eating fresh peas every other day [and no maggots!]. This is good as I didn’t eat too many fresh with the earlier crops. It is almost time to start sowing broad beans again. I will sow now..ish! and again in the spring. For the last couple of years I have chitted the bean seed then planted in pots in my poly-tunnel to be transplanted in November. [this method has worked well for me, giving me an early crop which has had little problem from black fly]. But, my poly-tunnel is not yet cleared, nor even close. So, I have decided I will sow directly into the ground this autumn. I had stopped doing this because of poor germination [ or perhaps predators were eating my seeds], this year I will sow directly, cover with a coarse net and lay slug pellets. I will report back in the spring about the success or failure of this method.

·         Well! tomatoes, peppers and chillies – while the ripening and harvesting has slowed down, the ripening process has not yet stopped. I had expected to be looking at recipes for green tomatoes and green peppers and I am certainly working on that. However, these vegetables are still ripening.

·         I still have too many tomatoes to eat but, not enough to consider making another round of roasted pepper and tomato relish or another lot of tomato ketchup – each of these takes quite a lot of tomatoes and many of my ‘now ripening’ tomatoes are the small salad varieties [I guess I could just manage a final tomato ketchup!]. The chillies, three plants are Joe’s Long, are, as always very prolific and are ripening nicely, despite the lack of sunshine. I have one plant, given to me by my daughter, I have not identified – pale green through the ripening stage and now turning orange then red – was hot even at the green stage. It has been quite prolific so, I might give most of the fruits back to my daughter. The other chilli plant she gave to me has been slow to flower and fruit but the growth type, she tells me, is likely to be Bird’s Eye – she realises now that she had given me her only plant!. I think Bird’s Eye will be much too hot for me – even at the green stage – so I will allow them to ripen as far as possible and give them back to her [I’m really not into pain when I’m eating!]. I have harvested bags full of not-quite-ripe peppers. The plants have been so heavily laden that the fruits are sitting on the ground and are prone to attack by all sorts. I have grown Capsicum F1 Denver sown in March in my propagator and Corno di Toro Rosso, sown in April in my propagator [both lots of seeds from Dobies]. The germination rate was excellent and the young plants grew on well. Although I gave lots of them away, I still planted far too many in my poly tunnel, planting 3 x 6 across an area  1.5 x 3 metres. Yes, I know I planted them too close for them to ripen properly but, each plant has produced abundantly and, although I have given many away and I will still harvest a few which will ripen, I am still left with several pounds/kilos of peppers which will never reach the fully red stage. [ but, they might have in a hot sunny year] In a few weeks I will blog on suitable recipes for using green peppers and green tomatoes.

·         Of course, now is the time for autumn digging. Always, if you can, dig during the autumn. I have found that spring dug ground just does not break up so well until late into the season, after lots of rain. A few weeds may well grow over the area again but, don’t worry about that. Come springtime, this ground will be easily tilled. A few weeks ago, I fell and broke a rib [or two] and was not able to water my poly-tunnel. As this was a job which much needed to be done, I paid someone to do it for me for a couple of weeks. As this man was there for an agreed time, I also asked him to dig over my cleared ground. What a luxury! What would have taken me a couple of weeks, took this man a couple of days. I do still have an area to dig but I just might be able to do that on my own! Yippee!

Preserving with Tomatoes

Tomato Preserves

Well, it is that time of year again when I am spending a lot of very satisfying time making pickles, relishes, chutneys, etc along with other interesting ways of preserving my glut of vegetables for the winter. Of course, this year the crops are ripening late and some are struggling to ripen. Although, we have had a few sunny days among the torrential rain and fortunately some of those were during our Olympics.

I have been picking tomatoes for two or three weeks, I am only now harvesting in sufficient quantities to think of preserving.

I haven't planted any tomatoes outdoors this year but, planted several each of Alicante, F1 Fantasio and Sultana [all from Dobies] as well as my very precious Heritage tomato Broad Ripple Yellow Currant, which was given to me [see a previous Blog]. Sultana is a heavy cropping, tasty, crisp and reliable salad tomato. I grew it last year and loved it. My three plants this year are providing more fruits than I can eat so my neighbours are also getting lots. Alicante and F1 Fantasio are medium to large tomatoes which are excellent for all dishes demanding tomatoes. They freeze well and are excellent for preserves.

This home-made tomato ketchup is a favourite with my family. My first batch this year is perhaps a little hot for children but is very delicious - perhaps it was just my heavy hand with the chillies, they can be a bit unpredictable and the heat can be influenced by the amount of sunshine when ripening [if you are making the ketchup for children leaving the seeds out of the chillies might be a good idea]. I am still using the last of my 2011 dried chillies as this year's are not yet ripe.

Home made Tomato Ketchup

2Kg ripe tomatoes ( 4½ lbs)                            2 – 3 fresh bay leaves – crushed

568ml white vinegar( 1 pt)                              piece of cinnamon bark

190g white granulated sugar ( 6oz)                2 – 3 cloves garlic - crushed

1 Tblsp. salt                                                     2 – 3 red chillies ( dried or fresh)

¼ - ½ tsp ground allspice                                ¼ - ½ tsp ground cloves

Large pinch coarsely ground black pepper                                                                

Method

1.      Wash and roughly cut the tomatoes and put in a preserving pan or large saucepan with the salt, bay leaves, cinnamon bark, crushed garlic cloves and vinegar (be fairly sparing with the salt at this stage – add more in the final stages as necessary).

2.      Add the chopped chillies. Take care with these, especially if the ketchup is for children ( I have used dried  Joe’s Long, grown indoors - which are of medium heat and usually reliable)

3.      Bring to the boil then simmer gently until the tomatoes are thoroughly softened.

4.      In the meantime, sterilise the bottles or jars – keep hot in low oven.

5.    Remove the cinnamon bark and bay leaves then, sieve the tomato mixture through a coarse sieve – preferable nylon. Return the juice and pulp to a clean saucepan.

6.      Add sugar then ground allspice, ground cloves and black pepper gradually, tasting frequently to ensure the flavour is not too strong. Remember, when the ketchup is cold, the flavour will be somewhat milder. You may also want to add more salt if needed.

7.      Simmer the mixture until it starts to thicken. Don’t make it too thick at this stage as it thickens as it cools.

8.      Put the heated sterilised bottles/jars on a wooden surface and fill them with the ketchup while it is still very hot. Seal the jars immediately. This ketchup should keep safely for several months.

If your preference is for relish or chutney I have found my Hot Spicy Roasted Pepper and Tomato Chutney to be particularly popular:

Hot Spicy Roasted Pepper and Tomato Chutney

2 kg ripe tomatoes - peeled

4 large ripe sweet peppers – any shape will be good but use only red or yellow peppers

3 large onions – peeled and finely chopped

4 good sized garlic cloves, finely chopped or crushed

3-4 hot red peppers (remove the seeds if you don’t want your chutney to be too hot)

1 tsp ground cinnamon,        1 tsp ground cloves,       ½ tsp ground black pepper

1 tsp salt

850 ml vinegar (1½pt) – white vinegar is best but malt vinegar will also do

700g (1½lb) sugar

Method

·         Skin the tomatoes and chop – (skinning tomatoes can be done in several ways:

* – on a fork over a gas flame – great for a couple of tomatoes!

* - in a bowl with boiling water poured over – great for a handful or so.

* - For a large amount – cut out the core and put in the largest bowl which will fit in the micro wave. Microwave on full for 20 minutes, then, just lift off the skins. Chop roughly.

·         Put the peppers into a roasting tin in a hot oven 200°C or No 6 Gas for 30 mins or so. They should just start to brown or char. Leave them to cool.

·         Remove the skins and the seeds as far as possible then chop roughly.

·         Put the chopped tomatoes, chopped peppers, chopped onions, chopped garlic, vinegar and sugar into a preserving pan with the spices and seasonings.

·         Simmer slowly until the sugar has dissolved and the fruit/vegetables have softened.

·         Bring to the boil and cook, stirring frequently to ensure it does not stick and burn until it starts to turn thick.

·         Pot up in hot, sterilised jars. Cover and label.

Of course, don’t forget about that invaluable method of freezing tomatoes. I find that the tubs of frozen tomato pulp are used in casseroles, pasta dishes, Mexican and Indian dishes and I am always disappointed when my supply has finished and I must buy tins of prepared tomato pulp instead

Freezing Tomatoes

Use normal-sized or large tomatoes.

Wash them and cut out the central cores.

Put them into the largest micro-wave proof bowl you have which will fit into your micro-wave oven.

Microwave on full power for 20 minutes.

Remove, allow to cool slightly and lift off the skins. Pour off the excess juice.

( my friend Philip, who gave me this method does not remove the juice. There is merit to both methods. For his – where the juice is included – the resultant pulp is less strong, is suitable for lots of recipes, including soup.

With my dryer method – it is more concentrated, the flavoursome juice has been lost, it is really too sharp and concentrated for soup but, is excellent for Italian dishes, it takes up less space in the freezer.

Put the skinned tomatoes back into the bowl and microwave on full power for a further 20  minutes.

I

Summertime and the living is seriously disappointing!

It’s early July and the rain is still falling! The forecast is not giving us any hope of the weather improving. I gather, in France, the weather has been fairly similar this ‘summer’ and that this kind of weather is referred to as ‘English weather’ there – gee, I wonder why!

That said, for some crops this cool wet weather has been really good [though not the high winds, which have really been quite damaging] but the rain, while providing excellent conditions for slugs and snails, has also boosted growth in my brassica crops, beetroots, carrots, raspberries, squashes and pumpkins, courgettes and many of my herbs are taking over.

This year the usual clouds of whitefly around my brassicas are conspicuous by their absence and, although I have seen some blackfly on my broad beans, they have not been overwhelming – and I haven’t pinched out the tops as I normally would.

The tomato plants, peppers and chillies in my poly tunnel are lush and are showing potential heavy crops though, I do worry that we might not have enough sunshine to ripen the fruits. Actually, while I’m trying to put a positive spin on the weather – I usually try to promote the idea that any weather will be good for some crops while not so good for others – but, I find that, this summer, I’m struggling to keep my chin up.

Over the weekend, all of my children have been home and have stripped my early pea patch [Little Marvel, sown on 6^th March]. They did harvest a couple of good buckets full which were shared out but, the crop was kind of disappointing. It had been knocked about so much by storms, eaten by pigeons and slugs that, I believe, the crop was probably reduced by a third. However, we have had our plot inspections over the last couple of weeks and I have heard many plot holders complain of really poor pea crops. This makes me feel that mine has not been too bad. I still have three strong rows of Hurst Greenshaft, sown 20^th March to harvest and they still look quite good.

I am considering sowing a late pea crop. The seed providers say that they can be sown up to and including July. I have never tried to sow peas this late before and I’ve been told by one of my more experienced neighbours that late sown peas are more likely to have maggots [not nice!]. My daughter wonders if I have heard of supermarkets which sell already frozen peas ! But, while there may be little difference in the flavour, the pleasure is in being able to fill your freezer with a winter’s supply of peas from your home grown produce. I have the seed, which would happily keep ‘til next season if necessary and if it stops raining for long enough in the next few days, I might just dig over the area and re-sow. Perhaps it is worth the effort just so that I can report back on the results.

I have been harvesting good crops of courgette F1 Orelia – a yellow variety. I was somewhat dismayed, a few weeks ago, that the leaves of all of the plants have turned yellow or a mixture of yellow and green. I worried that this might be the result of a mineral deficiency but it was suggested that this was typical of this golden variety. I love them. This variety of courgettes  with the denser drier flesh, suits my cooking preferences.

My beetroots this year, are excellent. As I have said in an earlier blog, I sowed in pots in my polytunnel then planted out when at the 2^nd true leaf stage. Although planted into some fairly rough ground, they have come on well and I have harvested and cooked lots. Because they were planted out from the pots no thinning was necessary. My daughters have also headed home with bags of tennis-ball sized beetroots each.

I am already concerned about my tunnel crops. I have been spraying reasonably frequently with SB Plant Invigorator [discussed in full in previous blogs] which seems to have encouraged fairly lush growth in the tomato plants. Already many of the plants have full sized green fruits but, with the cool, sunless weather, these fruits might struggle to ripen. Already, I am finding the large green and brown caterpillars which caused so much damage in the last two years. I wouldn’t mind them too much if they just ate the leaves of the plants but, they also nibble on the fruits. The damage attracts the botrytis spores [grey mould], which are everywhere, and much of the fruit can be destroyed.

The red ants, which have caused so much devastation in my poly tunnel this season are still present, in spite of my attacks on them and the introduction of the baited ant traps. Though, at least they have not caused any more damage to my crops. They seem to have moved to the untilled edges now.

Well, of course, this is a diffucult year. And I do mean it when I say that - whatever the weather, it is good for some crop or some aspect of allotment growing. But, I just hate the thought of going into another winter without having had a summer. I'm sure this strikes a chord with any people. However, we still have July, August and September to hope for something better. Keep your hopes up!

Autumn harvesting

I have just returned from a reasonably long holiday in Andalucia (southern Spain) well! It was long for me anyway, I’m not usually away for more than a couple of days. I returned in the middle of the night to a cat in tears as he had been mauled by (apparently) another cat and was desperately in need of a vet. Although not injured, my other cats were equally upset. They so put the guilt trip on me! Really I hadn’t left them unattended. My cat carer is very competent and kind, just not the person they wanted.

It is autumn. When I visited my plot I was dismayed by how overgrown it was. Grass paths are rampant, weeds have taken over, caulis have overgrown, cucumbers are overripe, runner beans are too mature, tomatoes are too, too many.

I have collected several buckets full of several varieties of tomatoes and have found homes for most of them, not least, several more tubs of frozen tomato pulp for use in the winter. I’ve noticed that the runner-bean poles on the plots of many of my neighbours have fallen over. Mine would have too if I hadn’t propped them up but, in any case, the beans are not worth harvesting – too mature, too stringy, too hard. No worries, I will dismantle the canes and compost the rest of the crop. I have already harvested and dried my Borlotto beans. They are good, though I think I will look for a climbing variety next year – so much easier to dry for winter use. I see that my Yinyang (Orca) beans are almost ready. I worry that the weather might be too damp for successful drying. I have not seen climbing varieties of these beans but, when they lie on the ground in damp weather they are more likely to go mouldy.

There is a load of stuff to deal with now. I have harvested most of my squashes and pumpkins. Really I’m not interested in the huge varieties for competitions, nor the large pretty ones for Hallowe’en lanterns. I am looking for the small fruits which will store easily for use as a winter vegetable. My favourites are butternut squashes. This year the germination rate was not good and from a couple of plants I have ended up with only 4 squashes. If you do have a good crop you mean to store, make sure they are dry and store in a frost free environment out of direct sunlight. Check them regularly for rot and don’t store in direct sunlight, on a wooden or on a carpeted surface. If they do break down they will destroy those surfaces. I intend to store mine in a dark attic room on top of cardboard. I do hope they will last for the winter as they are staple vegetable for winter.

Talking about staples for winter, I have now lifted all my potatoes including my Sarpo Mira and Sarpo Axona which are both late maincrops. When lifting them, separate the damaged ones – slug damaged or by digging implement - and use these immediately as they will not keep and will damage your stored potatoes. Make sure they are dry before you store them in hessian or paper sacks and store in cool, dark frost free conditions. Mine are going into my attic room. Gosh, it is going to be packed when I have finished. Hopefully they will keep well into the new year, unless I have eaten them all first.

For the first time, this year, I have enough carrots to store. Goodness, this has never happened to me before. I do have some damage from carrot root-fly but, I have been harvesting Purple Haze from my raised carrot bed with little damage. Although not huge roots, they have excellent texture and flavour. My Resistafly and Flyaway have been good, although, obviously I hadn’t prepared the bed well enough as the carrots, although excellent flavour and strong roots are really very forked.

My carrots – Creme de Lite (F1 from Dobies) planted straight into a well prepared bed on the flat ground have been excellent. There has been some carrot root fly damage but the carrots have been huge, flavoursome and tender. I do recommend them. I will leave them in the ground as long as I can manage. I’m not yet sure how I will store them. If the winter is going to be as bad as has been predicted then I don’t think that a sand-pit or my shed will suffice. They might also have to go in bags in my attic room.