Onions seem to be featuring heavily at the moment. We have them at every stage in their life cycle.
At home, sheltering in a cold frame are what are left of the onions planted last autumn.
Drying off at the allotment are the spring planted onions. It has been sunny and warm for a couple of days which is supposed to continue into this week. If the forecast is correct, it would mean that the onions could probably be tidied up and brought home at the end of the week.
Then, last week we planted more onions and garlic which will overwinter and provide a harvest once the onions that will have been stored are either used up or begin to shoot.
To get them off to a good start, the onion and garlic sets were planted in shallow trenches of compost. I planted cloves from some of the garlic that we grew this year. They were then protected under enviromesh to avoid them being pulled up or trampled on by any animal visitors.
The tomato plants have been stripped and removed from the garden greenhouse but we are still picking tomatoes from outside in the garden and on the allotment. I made a large batch of pasta sauce with some of last week’s harvest.
Although the cucumber is shiny, it isn’t wrapped in plastic and is homegrown!
We bought three windowsill chilli plants which have provided us with enough chillies to keep us going. This last batch has been prepared and frozen. I made sure that I used gloves as, in the past, I have suffered from the folly of preparing them with bare hands.
The last lot of peas have been harvested.
We also harvested one bed of sweetcorn, the other bed isn’t yet quite ripe. The kernels have been stripped off and frozen. A video of the harvesting is posted here
We dug our first lot of carrots. It’s always good to find that there is more to them than the feathery tops.
We brought the shallots, that were drying off on the plot, home so we could start using them.
Over at Nostell, the hay in the meadow has been baled. No doubt, when the bales are taken in, the cattle will be moved into this area. It will then become a no go area as cattle and dogs can be a dangerous combination. Ruby would give the cattle a wide berth but I’m not confident that they would do likewise. Warnings on the gates make sure that dog walkers are aware of potential problems and there have been incidences, fairly close to where we live, of cattle attacking people with dogs. One sadly resulted in a fatality.
Some parts of the wooded area are only accessible from the meadow so we won’t be able to walk there either. The leaves on some trees are actually starting to yellow. The sweet chestnuts are loaded with fruits and the rosebay willowherb is just waiting for the wind to cast its numerous fluffy seeds far and wide. Autumn is definitely just around the corner.
The cygnets are looking more and more like swans. Three of them were splashing about in the lake.
Ruby is so patient when we stop to take photographs, although she does occasionally have a sneaky dig if neither of us is watching.
Finally. some of the meals that I made last week using homegrown ingredients..
I made an orzo risotto using some of our Sungold tomatoes and garlic.
I also made a Thai green chicken curry into which went some of our potatoes, garlic, and runner beans.
That’s all for this week. Let’s hope we have a taste of summer in the coming days.
As always stay safe and well.
I am linking to Harvest Monday at Dave’s Our Happy Acres blog.
Full details of our August harvests are posted here.
Loving your onions. Your harvests are amazing. Lovely seeing the swans and Ruby too.xxx
🙂
Garlic and onions going in already. You have stolen a march!
We are earlier than last year, Mal but the garden centre had them in and the bed was ready
How well your onions grew, Sue. I know it’s hard to grow. Do you put fertilizer in your onion crops? I like your tomatoes, are they sweet?
The tomatoes are sweet , Nadezda- much nicer than shop bought ones. We use a feriliser called Growmore on most of our beds.
That is a great looking harvest of onions! Like you, I am careful to wear gloves when handling the chilies.
Thanks, Dave