Autumn is definitely strengthening its grip. The leaves are beginning to turn colour, evenings and mornings are darker and there is a definite chill in the air. We have had some rain but nothing like the downpours being experienced in some parts of the country.
We had a surprise when we went to the allotment last week. The garlic that we had planted the previous week had already started to shoot. It wasn’t just one or two early risers but more of a mass awakening. Last year the garlic was so slow that I thought it wasn’t going to germinate so we bought more bulbs and replanted. Soon after the first planting came through as well as the intended replacements. This meant they were too crowded and consequently, the resulting bulbs were tiny. I’m hoping for a better outcome next year.
Sweet Williams are growing strong and look healthy. I weeded the bed. These are also doing better than those planted last year. Last year’s can be seen in the adjacent bed and will be left to grow next year. We tend to leave the sweet Williams for a couple of years after which time the beds become untidy
Martyn cleared one of the beds of carrots.
It produced a good haul and these will be stored in sacks over winter.
28 September: Carrots – Sweet Candle & Flakee
I wanted to grow some mini sweetcorn to use whole in stir-fries. We planted a variety called Minipop. The plants are really tall and each produced several ears.
We waited until the tassels turned brown just as we would for the larger sweetcorn. We harvested a couple last week and the first thing that struck me was that they were larger than I expected so we looked for information on the Internet and read that the size was as expected. To use them in a stir fry, the only way that I could think of was to slice them. I tried this and found the core was really hard. More research informed us that the cobs are harvested before the tassels go brown. The knowledge came too late as all our cobs have brown tassels. I have tried to find a variety of baby corn that grows smaller ears but can’t find anything so are the baby sweetcorn that we can buy just the ends that have been cut off?
We gathered all our squashes together to bring home. The Musquée de Provence should turn an orange colour but remain green so we’re not sure that they are fully ripe. I wonder whether they will continue to ripen at home. The vines had died back and the weather is such that they were hardly likely to ripen further left on the plot. Either way, we have more than enough Crown Prince and we will be likely to donate some to neighbours.
The trees at Nostell are losing their leaves and carpeting the paths.
There were different sniffs for Ruby to investigate which slows down the pace of our walks.
Her National Trust passport now has two stamps. Just four more to go before she receives her pack of treats.
Video of the previous week’s visit to Calke Abbey
The cygnets were chilling out. I think it’s time for us to start taking some food for them.
Finally, I used one of our red onions, carrot, courgette and spring onions in a vegetable orzo dish.
A shallot was used to make turkey burgers which were served with a tomato sauce from the freezer. This had been made from last year’s tomatoes, carrots and onion. It was also accompanied by our potato and carrot.
That’s all for this week so as usual stay safe, well and warm.
I am once again linking to Harvest Monday on Dave’s Our Happy Acres blog.
Very nice harvests all around. Interesting to hear of your experience with baby corn. Wish I was in your ‘hood to experience autumn in Northern UK.
Very nice harvests all around. Interesting to hear of your experience with baby corn. Wish I was in your ‘hood to experience autumn in Northern UK.
Dead jealous of your carrot haul. My Uchiki Kiri squash are a wonderful orange although the Turk’s Turban have stubbornly refused to ripen.
That does look like a good haul of carrots! I had no idea how the mini corn was grown, so that is interesting. Hopefully you will find what you are looking for.
Have you ever stored carrots in a sand clamp?