potatoes, sweetcorn, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash and pumpkins - Autumn Harvests

Using Our Harvests

I think I have been muttering about it now for a week – at least! But, it struck me very forcefully this morning as I was leaving my allotment and took a last look around at my favourite place…. how very autumnal it has become and it is still only the middle of August. Is it my imagination that autumn is arriving earlier each year or, do I say this every year?

Already the leaves on some of the trees are turning yellow; my Jack Edwards and Borlotto Beans are already starting to dry on the vines and the leaves are beginning to yellow and fall; coriander seeds are ripening and drying quicker than I am picking them; some of my Brambly Apples [always a late crop] are ready to pick; squashes and pumpkins are ripening especially, my Turk’s Turbans.

I have grown winter squashes and pumpkins over several years and have shared my over-abundance of fruits with family and friends. Last year, I had some difficulty with ensuring I had enough plants, I ended up having far too many.  And, I have always found germination a bit tricky,

This year, I introduced a few new varieties and sowed a few of my own saved seeds. I now find I have about 14 different plants, many of which are Turk’s Turban. I haven’t grown these before nor, I think, have I eaten them. They are however, being particularly prolific and a few are almost ready to harvest. They are very pretty though a bit larger than the varieties I usually choose. It is recommended that we stop the plants when they have set and established 3 – 4 fruits. I haven’t done this and haven’t ever yet, I find, especially for my chosen small varieties that, the plants will happily grow 5 or 6 fruits - and support up to maturity.

I discovered a few years ago, an excellent small pumpkin – Baby Bear. Since then I have struggled to find the same variety again [it seems the main seed houses introduce new ‘improved’ varieties each year – ‘Jack be Little’ and ‘Hooligan’ are other examples but, for me, neither has been so good]. I did find the seeds again and saved some seeds from my own plants but, as the plants are very promiscuous you really don’t know what you are likely to get from saved seeds, especially when you are growing many varieties or are on an allotment where your neighbours are growing different varieties. An allotment friend suggested that, from the saved seed we might well get plants which are most suited to our ground and conditions. I will see in a few weeks how my crops turn out.

I have now started to harvest my first Sweet-corn – ‘Lark’ planted outdoors from a sowing in my propagator in early March. They are bearing amazingly large and ‘full’ cobs though each plant is giving one or, at most, two cobs. I hope my later sowing of Tasty Gold F1 will give as good or a better crop.

Some of my tomatoes this year have been disappointing. Stupidly, I bought a packet of ‘Mixed Heritage’ varieties but, they were not individually named. Germination was good but as I chose to plant the strongest plants in my poly-tunnel, I find I have an over abundance of yellow/orange tomatoes and beefsteak varieties – not my favourites. Fortunately I had saved the seeds of a couple of my favourites. Sultana, an oval shaped salad tomato is now providing me with a daily harvest of very tasty little tomatoes – I will definitely grow them again. Broad Ripple Yellow Currant – a heritage variety was given to be by a neighbour and bears small, salad type yellow tomatoes that are sooo sweet. I have enthused about this tomato before – it will grow indoors or outside [indoors it will take over!]. Although it can be affected by blight like all other varieties, it seems to shake it off and continue growing and producing. This year, I have given lots of the plants away to neighbours [the germination rate was amazing] and I planted a couple of these bush tomatoes outdoors. Already they are covered in trusses of the littler fruits and I watch daily for them to ripen.

Well, I must use my beefsteak and orange tomatoes for something which will be enjoyed, especially as they are promising to produce a heavy crop. My family loves my Homemade Tomato Chutney. Try this:

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 medium heat)

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.

I made my first batch yesterday.

I am not a big fan of cucumbers but my family and I do love all sorts of pickles and chutneys and even cucumbers make a tasty relish or chutney. We enjoy them enough for me to continue to grow this plant. This year, I have grown a small cucumber variety – Green Fingers and for interest in something different – Crystal Apple – a small round yellow variety. I have grown them in a corner of my poly-tunnel but, although I’m getting a harvest, the plants have been attacked by red-spider mite. I am spraying every few days with water, Py solution [organic] and SB plant Invigorator [organic plant food which seems to help the plants to fight off insect attacks. Interestingly, I set up a cane structure to support the plants and put a plastic bottle on top of each cane [to avoid poking myself in the eye with the end of a cane – and I have done this, very dangerous!], I have found that the red spider mites have established huge ‘cities’ inside the up-turned plastic bottles – amazing! I now remember to spray thoroughly inside each bottle when I am treating the plants.

Do try this recipe, a favourite of my family:

Hot Sweet Cucumber Relish

Like so many other vegetables in late summer, we wonder what to do with the glut. It doesn’t take too many cucumber plants to have too many cucumbers. Try this recipe as a way of using and preserving them.

Ingredients

1 kg cucumbers ( 2 lb) – don’t let them get too big or they will be full of seeds

1 kg onions ( 2 lb)

1 cooking apple

600ml white vinegar (1 pint)

3–4 red chillies(I have used Joe’s Long, use a medium hot chilli, but take care if for children)

500gm sugar ( 1 lb) – I used white sugar, but soft brown sugar will ‘warm’ the colour of the relish

2 tsp salt                                                          1 tsp allspice

½ tsp ground cloves                                        1 tsp turmeric

¼ tsp mustard powder                                                ¼ tsp ground mixed peppers( black, green, red)

Method

1.      Top and tail the cucumbers and remove the skin – cut into small cubes - ¼ cm- ish. If necessary, remove the seeds – if the seeds are still soft, you can leave them in.

2.      Peel the onions and chop finely – similar size to the cucumber.

3.      Peel and core the cooking apple and cut into fine slices.

4.      Cut the red chillies into small pieces – if you don’t want the relish to be too hot, leave the seeds out, or leave some of the seeds out. For a hotter relish add more chillies.

5.      Put the chopped cucumbers, onions, apples and chillies into a large pan or preserving pan with the vinegar and gently simmer until all the vegetables are cooked through – approx. 30 mins.

6.      Prepare the jars/ bottles – wash well and sterilise – put in a warm oven - 100ºC for 15mins.

7.      Add the sugar and stir until dissolved.

8.      Add the spices and salt to taste, add more salt if necessary.

9.      Simmer gently until the relish thickens – remember, when cool it will be thicker. Stir occasionally.

10.  Pour into the hot sterilised jars and seal immediately. Label.

This year, potatoes have been so much better, especially my Mayan Gold which I just love. In my efforts to encourage a similar love for them in my neighbours, I have given away far too many and I now find that my crop has finished. Last year - cold and wet - was a disaster for many varieties of potato but, particularly Mayan Gold and my crop was non-existent. This year they have been excellent. They are an early maincrop and can’t be boiled [they will fall apart] but, they are amazing steamed, as mash [from steamed potatoes], as chips, and as roast potatoes. The only downside is that they don’t keep.

I am always trying out new varieties of vegetables and fruit. Not all of them are successful but, I was most interested to try Purple Majesty potatoes – purple all the way through and will stay purple as boiled potatoes, mash, roast or chips. I first tried these from the supermarket and was not impressed. However, my home-grown ones have been delicious. They are very dark when dug and it can be difficult to spot them when digging up [no doubt, resulting in many being left behind when harvesting]. I have offered these to neighbours who have not been enthralled with the results – perhaps because of the colour!

That colour indicates that they are a healthy vegetable, high in anti oxidants. I do recommend them, find them very tasty and will continue to grow them. I think it would be a severe loss if they were withdrawn as a seed potato.

salad Crops

Growing Salad Crops

For many growers – on allotments , in back gardens, on patios or on small balconies – this is, apart from growing herbs, the most inspiring and often the most disappointing crop we can grow.

For starters, the seedlings and the growing on, of plants will need good quality compost with lots of appropriate fertiliser – don’t be fooled by the 3 for the price of 2 bags of fertiliser or the 3 for £10 deals. The result is the same, whether you plan to grow salads, herbs, tomatoes, chillies, cucumbers, etc, in your back yard, window-box, patio or terrace the result will be the same. The cheapie deals will be short of fertiliser to keep your plants growing and harvesting throughout the season.

My Bete Noire  [my absolute nono] is Grow bags which are too shallow and too lacking in nutrients to grow anything to the harvesting stage – yet are sold by the millions for growing tomatoes, etc in back-yards – How can they possibly -  argh!

Salad crops can be grown successfully through the growing season although, early sown crops are likely to be so much more successful whether on the allotment, on window boxes or in pots in the back garden.

What is our definition of a salad crop? For most people it is the green [or red]  leaf vegetable, although for others it includes the allium family – onions, chives, garlic, etc. Think also of the curcurbits – cucumbers cut into chunks or in slices. Let’s not ignore the solanum family –peppers, tomatoes and of course herbs – parsley [an old favourite] chives, mint, chervil, coriander and of course basil – an excellent crop for indoors in the UK and is an essential ingredient in most summer salads in the UK. I think, if celery is added and the flavour is wonderful in a salad, it should be cut into small pieces or left in sticks in a glass to be enjoyed as an aside by the diners if they wish.

Let’s not forget about spring onions [-although they don’t like being ignored nor inter-planted with other green vegetables – give them room on their own to develop. Try chives – not quite as good in my opinion and much to bashful although they have the bonus of being perennial. Clumps should be divided now to create new young plants in pots or gardens [preferably at the back door were they can used appropriately and as needed, and herbs.
I'm a great fan of adding fruit to my salads - particularly apple but I will also happily add orange or lemon segments, mango [not the tinned stuff], pears, 

Although later sown salad crops can, in theory, be as successful as earlier sown seeds and germination can be excellent, I have found that later lettuces and leaf vegetables [rocket, etc.] have been disappointing. Perhaps I have not been careful to ensure there is enough fertiliser in the compost. Perhaps I have not protected from predators/slugs carefully enough but, it always seem to me that the later crops are so much more demanding for so much less yield.

An interesting crop I have written about before – watercress [as with all salad crops – best to plant early in the season!] – keep the not-so-good stems from the packet of store bought watercress or, preferably from a packet of watercress from the supermarket, select a few strong stems, place them in a glass jar for a few days until they have rooted then plant them in a large container in a good compost, inside a larger container filled with water. In your back yard or patio you can have a good supply of watercress for some time. As the crop starts to decrease, start the process again.
Potato salad is wonderful as a side dish but I do like mine to have some 'bite' Try this recipe -
 

Potato Salad - Irish Style

As I was growing up, this is what I always understood was potato salad. I loved it and it was the only part of my mother’s version of ‘salad’ which I enjoyed – traditionally, lettuce, tomato, scallions, a boiled egg or perhaps a slice of cooked ham and the dreaded salad cream. I didn’t know that potato salad was boiled waxy potatoes with lots of mayonnaise, and a few herbs and a little seasoning – I prefer my mother’s version.

Ingredients

1 kg(2lb) potatoes – preferably not too waxy as you will need to mash them( leftover boiled                        potatoes are fine)

A bunch of scallions (spring onions)

Or

1 – 2 medium red onions

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

4 – 6 Tblsp vinegar ( a sharp vinegar is better so I use malt vinegar and add to my taste which is for a fairly sharp taste)

Bunch chopped parsley

Method

·         Allow the potatoes to cool or use leftover, cold boiled potatoes.

·         Mash the potatoes well.

·         Add salt and pepper to taste.

·         Chop the scallions or red onion finely and stir into the potatoes.

·         Chop the parsley finely and add to the mixture.

·         Add vinegar to give the level of sharpness you like.

·         Arrange in a suitable serving dish and garnish with herb – chervil, mint, basil.

Note: - although I like parsley in this dish, I also enjoy chopped chervil, mint, coriander or basil. You might also like to try replacing the malt vinegar with balsamic vinegar, lime juice or lemon juice.

I think the best salad I ever had was when I was holidaying in Corsica - I fancied the sound of Salade Paysanne on the menu of a beach-side cafe. The usual green vegetables, tomatoes were served in a huge mound on a giant sized plate but added to it were lots of crispy bacon pieces, quartered boiled eggs, wedges of potatoes and triangles of toast. I'd like to kid myself it was a healthy meal - being a salad,of course but, I fear it probably wasn't

Growing carrots - successes and Failures

Growing Carrots – the failures and more importantly, the successes

Well, I’ve been trying to grow carrots for many years, always on totally unsuitable soil and it really isn’t my favourite vegetable! However, I do love a challenge and I can learn to love the vegetable which is a rarity – yes I know I can buy them in the supermarket for a couple of pounds a kilo but, that is not the same as growing them successfully and enjoying the produce from my allotment.

My ground is heavy clay though, the advantage is that there are few stones in this clay. One year, when we had appropriate weather in every month throughout the growing season [yes! it really did happen one year!], I spent hours digging a suitable trench using a small Chillington hoe [like a mattock !] breaking up the ground across my plot and wide enough to sow two rows of carrots – if I remember rightly it was a fairly reliable variety – Autumn King.

My crop was a brilliant success and I enjoyed this flavoursome variety for several weeks with no carrot root fly attacks until I had finished the crop – I was impressed with my success.

The following year – the weather was okay, allowing me to till the ground thoroughly at the right time and I tried again with the same variety as well as a couple of varieties suggested by my daughter who likes to explore new and different varieties [I tried white carrots – Blanc a Colet Vert and purple carrots – Purple Haze]. The maincrop variety – Autumn King was ripped apart by carrot root fly and the crop was totally useless although I had prepared the ground thoroughly to encourage good germination, establishment and growth. The purple carrots had not been attacked so badly and the white carrots – not at all.

The white carrots were able to stay in the ground over several months, into winter and grew to about 25 – 30 cm [10 -12 inches] in length with little carrot fly damage. I found that as the winter progressed the roots became tougher and woodier and in frosty weather were difficult to dig up with some slug damage in the early spring.

The story goes that carrot root fly don’t fly above 30cm [12 inches]. Well, I’m here to tell you that carrot root fly have not read the manual!

A friend – who did love his carrots – built me a ‘carrot box’ on legs, which sits a metre [39 inches] above ground [of course, if we believe what the experts tell us, this will really beat them. The box is 1 metre wide and 1½ metres long. I filled it with new, good quality compost and sowed a couple of varieties of carrots – 5 rows in total. The germination was excellent, I thinned carefully and harvested when the carrots were at their best – but! they were full of carrot root fly larvae! Since then [I use the ‘carrot box’ as a seedbed for brassicas or lettuces].

Over successive years, I have prepared my seedbeds carefully, covered with environmesh, covered with netting [last year the pigeons ate the tops off my emerging crops!], sown fly resistant varieties, protected from slugs but, all

with variable success.

I continue, undaunted! And of course, the carrots become more useful and more delicious as a consequence.

My friend and colleague, Pete, told me he grows his carrots successfully in his poly tunnel [although his poly-tunnel is very much larger than mine – therein lies a problem – crops in greenhouses and poly-tunnels must be watered and on most allotments, that means carrying the water – the larger the greenhouse/poly-tunnel the more watering must be done on a very regular basis].

This year, I have grown a couple of rows of carrots in my poly tunnel – Early Nantes. They have been brilliant, providing me with a crop as I was planting my tomato crops into the same ground as the carrots were harvested and the tomatoes were planted. This worked well [well, this year anyway!] and I was able to harvest thinnings; early carrots; and really chunky but, tender roots while the tomato plants were developing. This was a good system except for the fact that I leave the door of my poly-tunnel open as soon as the risk of frost has passed and carrot root fly has attacked the roots closest to the doorway.

I assume they will now be aware of my poly-tunnel and will attack all crops there.

I have sown white carrots on my plot – Crème de Lite – which have been attacked aggesssively by pests leaving 2mm holes in the roots – is this really a super carrot root fly or something else?

This year, I sowed a couple of large tubs of mixed carrots – Purple Haze and Ideal Red [which is amazingly orange coloured] in my back garden. They have been brilliant – tender, delicious and flavoursome. I could almost be persuaded to think of carrots as my new best vegetable! Perhaps carrot root fly have not yet discovered this part of Bristol!

However, while the ground conditions might not defeat me, it is possible that carrot root fly will succeed. Any and all advice would be really appreciated.