Squashes, Beans and babies

Just realised, this post is going to take a while (I got about halfway through, and have just come back up here to warn you).

Well, with the sun shining and the temperature outside being very decent it seemed only right to get our backsides down to the plot once we'd made ourselves decent and fed our faces.

So - we packed a bag into the car (with the view of bringing back produce) and off we went.

I remembered to take the camera with me so that I could hopefully solve the bean identity conundrum.

As we arrived on the plot I noticed that my neighbour had cleared a load of the foliage from his pumpkins, and the fruits that were now in full show were fantastic, which convinced me, I have to grow them from next year on. They looked fantastic, and would make great lanterns for Halloween when Bean gets older.



Given that we're quite late in the season I'd pretty much given up hope on getting any more fruits from my courgettes (having had maybe three or four - two of which were 2kg whoppers), and given up hope of getting any at all from the "exotic" varieties that I'd tried. However, I saw peeking through from behind the leaves, that my Lebanese had a couple of fruits on it - not sure if it's over grown, or if this is how it's supposed to look. Don't think I'll grow them again next year regardless, but you live and learn.



One thing I will be growing again however - Chestnut Squash. On the same patch of ground they seem to have flourished, I'm properly pleased and can't wait to try them.



Oh, and I finally remembered to take a snap of my prize Chicago Warted Hubbard, which I'll save the seeds from and grow again next year. Apparently the flesh is a bright orange. Can't wait to cut it open and have some roasted. It's got tan lines at the moment so I moved it a bit for that "all over" tan.



Picked a couple of cobs from the standard sweetcorn which we should have had for dinner tonight, but will have to be tomorrow instead, and noticed that the baby corn had a load of cobs on with reddich tassles on. I'd also given up host on these, but I'm hopeful that they'll have some decent cobs on, but will do a bit of research to see if the reddish colour indicates that they're ready.



Whilst up by the sweetcorn I noticed that the raspberries are a little "unkempt", so I will have to get busy with the secateurs pretty darned soon I guess...



Whilst up at the "top end" I thought I'd take a quick snap of the plot in general, and I have to say (modesty aside), I'm pretty pleased with how things are looking. Thankfully the weeds have slowed down this time of year, so keeping it tidy is a little easier.



I left LadyWayne and Bean sat on the bench next to the carrots, and shouted over that they shoudl help themselves as we were having them for lunch when my folks came over later. I took a quick sneaky peek of them sat there:



Then closed in to see that Bean was indeed helping himself and tucking in like a good boy!





The carrots, were smaller than I'd hoped, so my theory on prize winning using the grown in tubes method, may be misguided.



In some investigative work that would rival Columbo himself, I finally managed to work out which beans where which. I simply took the camera, snapped the label at the bottom of each plant, and then took a photo of the pods growing on that plant. Genius I know!

Anyway, the mystery unravelled...





and...





also...





finally (I think these are right)....





By the end of it all, it was all a little tiring for our very own Bean.



Phew - it's been a busy weekend. I'm going to get some shuteye now (well after Waking the Dead).

Tata.

It's harvest time

In a rare break in the weather that coincided with me being able to have time to get to the plot, myself, LadyWayne and Bean drove down to the plot this afternoon to harvest some veg for dinners this week.

We set Bean down on his favourite quilt - next to the beans so that LadyWayne could keep an eye on him whilst picking beans.

As you can see - he was quite happily sat playing with his toys and enjoying the outside air.



and of course, LadyWayne was loving the bean picking.



By the time she'd finished, LadyWayne was carrying a carrier bag (ironic that) bursting to the seams with a variety of runner beans, climbing French beans and dwarf French beans. Her words to me were "we're gonna need some help with these". I fear she's not wrong - our previous attempts at freezing runners (and any other type of bean) have been less than successful. Beans often going mushy, or a dark colour and tasting - lets say "funky".

I've grown 4-5 different types of beans this year, and I have yet to find the labels in amongst the foliage and mass of vines/leaves/beans that the plants have thankfully produced. I do love beans - so forgiving to grow, and most satisfying.

There are some bog standard runners, some "patterned" pods (seen below) and some that produce beans that look like they're made of porcelain (see below below).





LadyWayne has just bought my dinner through (which I cooked earlier - chilli), and it's accompanied by a damned fine looking cob of corn which I harvested earlier today. Last year I opened up the cobs to find sporadic corn on the cob. This year however - as you can see the cobs (thus far) are completely "corned". I'm confident that they'll taste just as good as they look - perhaps better.





.....sorry, I had to break for dinner, and I'm pleased to report the sweetcorn was exactly that, sweet and oh so tasty! Boiled for just under 10 minutes and then coated with butter.

Next on the menu is a pie - not just any old pie either.

A couple of weeks ago I took the remaining apples from the tree (those that I could reach) and they've been in the fridge since then until we had the time and inclination to do something with them (having used the previous harvests with some of the rhubarb in a crumble).

Today I decided to pick a load of elderberries with the intention of making an elderberry and blackberry jam from a recipe that I'd seen online. However, having picked and de-stemmed 500g (the recipe calles for 1kg!!) elderberries I discovered that the blackberries were not so abundant - well, not in the back garden anyway. So I decided to make an apple and blackberry pie.

Having bling baked the base, I then filled the case with the cooked apples (with plenty of sugar and a good dose of cinnamon. Pastry for the lid was a little short on supply, so I had to be a little artistic.

Anyway - here's a before and after for posterity.





Lasty, I dug up another pound or so of spuds and we'll have them with our dinners during the week.

Now, what to do with those elderberries....

Oh, and I forgot - I pulled up some more beetroot. Just baby ones for roasting!