Third harvest

A bit earlier than the traditional Samhain (or Halloween) third harvest, I gathered the last produce from the garden for this season.


Jerusalem artichokes (one tub's worth - 2 tubers planted) and the last butternut squash. I had one fruit each on the 2 butternut squash vines, so I'm not sure growing them is really worth the garden space - especially compared to the long-seasoned courgettes which are from the same family. Having said that, at least the butternuts can make a full meal... The single patty-pan squash plant produced a few fruits, but as they're so tiny I could only add them to stews with other vegetables.

Here's a recipe for a yummy butternut squash and apple soup. Don't be afraid, the apple tartness adds to the flavour and lifts this soup from the realm of ordinary autumn fare to the sublime!

Fry a few slices of streaky bacon or pancetta in a pot. When crispy, remove the bacon and add about a pint of boiling water to the grease in the pot, chunks of butternut squash (peeled, seeds removed), a peeled and cored cooking apple (acidic, rather than sweet, but any old apple will do, really), and salt and pepper. When the squash has softened, remove from heat and blend smooth. Check for seasoning, and serve with crumbled crispy bacon on top. Yum!

Oh, on the subject of (f)artichokes (very tasty parboiled then roasted with a pork loin) - my lips are sealed. ;)

Autumn, shed

That is shed as in a garden storage structure, not as in the verb. Actually, we don't even have a shed, it's a garage. But it doesn't house the car. It's a 45% DIY workshop and a 20% garden shed. The remaining space is filled with rubbish we still haven't managed to take to the skip. But that is steadily reducing...

Some time ago, we spent half an hour clearing one side of the garage, and my wonderful SO built me a storage shelf in that space. He neatly sorted all the gardening tools and equipment that used to live in an old laundry basket and piled up on top of other things. Now, this is what my organised gardening storage looks like:


In the red box are all the hand trowels, shears and pruners (those really add up!), and in the white drawer is my collection of seed packets (and gathered/gifted seeds too). You may notice some herbage in the top right corner - that is where I've hung up bunches of herbs to dry, having recently harvested them before the cold weather kills them.

Regarding herbs, I was picking them all summer to use in cooking as and when required. As long as you don't remove more than 30% of the plant at any one time, you can harvest regularly. It's great to use the freshest herbs in your food! Some of my favourites were:
- parsley and mint in cucumber salad (with Greek yogurt)
- pot marjoram leaves in tomato salad
- rosemary, thyme and bay leaf* in any stew-type dish
- sage and thyme in meatballs, burgers and stuffing
- mints and lemon balm added to green/white tea

* Bay leaf actually has a stronger aroma after drying, so I was really using week-to-month old leaves in cooking

However, once the cold weather sets in, annual and soft (non-shrubby) perennial herbs will be destroyed. The perennials, like mint and lemon balm, will return in spring; but to enjoy them over winter we need to dry them. And that is what I've done with those herbs (including pineapple sage, which is really more like a type of mint). I've also trimmed the thyme and sage plants, and those trimmings are now in spice jars. Same with the fennel seedheads, though I have left some (together with lavender) to feed the birds in winter. I've finally let the parsley flower, just because I wanted to see if there are any bees still around; otherwise, I would have harvested the leaves, chopped them up finely and frozen them in an ice cube tray.

And this is what we came back to:

Beautiful cherry tomatoes! I'd say we harvested about 50 from 3 plants of Gardener's Delight, and there's still maybe a dozen that I've left on, in hope of more clement weather. There is definitely a real sweet-acidic tomato taste (and scent), especially in those fruits that have at least started to go orange on the vine. I've picked a couple of green ones yesterday and left them to ripen on the window sill, as an experiment - I have a strong suspicion that all supermarket tomatoes are harvested when green and ripened indoors, maybe already in plastic packaging. No wonder there's hardly any taste to them!


The buddleja still has some wonderful honey-scented flowers. I'm not sure whether I'm supposed to deadhead the spent blooms, but I have a feeling there is no need for that. It's really a tough hedgerow shrub, not needing much mollycodling.


Also, more clematis flowers. This one, Ville de Lyon, has now had 3 flowering flushes (the first one being rather minimalistic, very soon after planting). I'm afraid that the other clematis, Multi Blue, has not survived being placed in front of a north-facing garage wall. Although, spring can bring surprises, so I won't be that quick to plant something else in that space yet.

Courgettes

Here is a picture of the two latest courgette fruits. We usually categorise it as a vegetable, but, just like tomatoes, peppers, aubergines, cucumbers and avocados, the courgettes that we eat are the fruit of the plant. Meaning, a fleshy cover protecting the seeds - the same as apples, peaches or figs.

For size comparison I've placed a large lemon (from the supermarket, unfortunately - I wish we had enough space for a small orchard and enough sun for a lemon tree) and a salt grinder in the composition. The larger courgette is probably the largest size it should be harvested before it turns into a squash...



This may be a good place to mention garden productivity. Some crops have finished, others have been squeezed out due to space limitations, and some are still to come (tomatoes). Here is the tally, as far as I remember it:

* radishes - 25ish; could have more, but the tray is now on a shelf, with little light

* strawberries - 2 handfuls, not a very rich harvest but that's common in the first year

* salad leaves, including spinach, pea shoots and rocket - about 12 salads; same fate as the radishes

* courgettes - 10 (including the uneaten ones above), with plenty still to ripen, but also more flowers to be set

* patty pan squash - 2

* butternut squash - nothing ripe yet, several growing

* tomatoes - not ripe yet

I have also harvested herbs aplenty - rosemary, mint, parsley, marjoram, thyme, sage and bay leaf; what's missing this year is basil.