With threats of storms and downpours a couple of weeks ago we decided to bring in the harvest at the allotment one Sunday afternoon. As the sun warmed our backs we picked 1.5kg of raspberries, 8kg of damsons for jam, chutney and wine making and pot, after pot, after pot of cherry tomatoes.
We lifted the last of the carrots, beetroot, kohl rabi and potaotes (Nicola, Robinta, Red Emma’s and Peruvian Purples)
And remembered fondly the eagerness of our nephew and niece to visit the allotment to dig up vegetable treasures when they came to England in August.
wonderful! sounds like a happy day
Wow! You’ve been busy, and how wonderful to be able to ripen toms outside. We struggle up here to ripen them in our porch, and we’ve only had a handful so far! We’ve got our name down for an allotment, but who knows when or if we’ll get one.
Greg – making the most of the dry weather while it lasts. There’s so much I want to do at the allotment to prepare for autumn but bending down is proving increasingly tricky! I’m going to have to make peace with the weeds!
Lynne – I think it helped only growing cherry toms this year.
All the best with getting an allotment – it’ll change your life! (and just think of all that extra produce you’ll have for George to make wine with)
Yes, it would be great, but if you saw my ‘Nice house in France’ posthow much could we get into 7 acres !!!
What a wonderful harvest. Very impressed with all your ripe tomatoes – we really struggle to get them ripe here, although we have managed to gather a few this week. Both Nicola and Robinta did really well this year – in fact all our potatoes did except the Purple Peruvians. I think their nose has been put out of joint, now we are growing so many different varieties. We did find that the slugs had got into most of them thought, which is very disappointing.
it’s cherry tomatoes all the way from now on! And having experimented with lots of varieties of potato over the last couple of years next year we’ll stick to just Nicola and Robinta to keep it simple. Oddly enough my most failed crop of spuds this year were the Gloucester Black Kidney. They were very weedy looking (albeit not in the best place in the shade of the hazelnut trees) and when I went to dig them up… nothing! Not even the seed potato that had started each plant off. I thought it seemed rather mysterious but perhaps it was slugs here too. Fortunately I had a single potato left over which I planted in the middle of another row so I have a few to save for next year. Yield of Peruvian Purples wasn’t great either – enough to save but none eaten this year (do you need any for next year?)
That is one impressive harvest! I am persisting with a little and often approach, eeking out the mange tout and raspberries, but today I realised I need to clear some more beds if I am going to get the rest of my green manure in.