The strawberries are producing so thick and fast we can't keep up with them. We still had some of yesterdays in the fridge in spite of the fact that I have stoically been eating them for breakfast as well as for puddings! The solution was a batch of jam to preserve the flavour of mid-summer for later in the year.
The courgettes on the allotment are starting to produce little fruits now. Another few days should see us adding these to the diet.
Tonight we'll eat the first batch of Crimson Flowered broad beans. They only yield 3 or 4 beans to the pod but they are the most fabulous jade green and taste delicious.
These are my Alderman peas. They are tall growing and so sweet. We've only had a couple of pods to try fresh - they really need another couple of days to swell to reach the best condition. You can see a few flowers from the Kent Blue just behind - but they haven't turned blue yet.
Eating the mistakes! This bowl of peas is the Also Ran selection from the purple mangetout project. I have tied a bit of knitting wool around the plants that I want seed from for next year. The rest are fair game! They will not be as sweet as the Alderman but they make a good dish with some gravy!
This is the wonderful gooseberry bush I inherited with the allotment. You can see that the branches are laden with fruits to the extent of being bent down with the weight. I understand it yielded just over 20 lb of fruit last year. I can well believe it. In this picture I have already picked over 5 lb. Today I picked another 3.5 lb and you can still hardly see where I've been. they are in the freezer and when life slows down a bit (I'm one of the chefs for the Village Meal tomorrow - we have one every 2 months in the village hall - and it's the Cake Club on Thursday) I might get around to a batch of gooseberry jam.
I sat in the garden room watching the chickens having a good forage as I topped and tailed them(the gooseberries, not the chickens!)
11 comments:
I made strawberry jam at the weekend too - good, this time of year, innit?
I was impressed (and a tad envious) of your last post. This one just has me dribbling - all those goosegogs! The strawberry glut is good news seeing as I am growing the offspring of your plants.
Am very glad you didn't top & tail the Rock Chicks, I'm sure they are releived too {{ggg}}
Looks like a great haul, and it's only just starting! Gooseberry chutney is good too, I've got a recipe on my blog if you're interested.
I fibbed, I can't find the recipe on my blog, but I definitely have one if you're interested, let me know and I'll email it to you!
I love it when everything starts producing and the hard work is paying off. It looks like a huge gooseberry crop, and once the courgettes start there'll be no end to them.
Wouldn't mind the gooseberry chutney recipe Ali. Village show coming up and there's a section for chutney. I usally enter damson but I hate being typecast!
Strawberry jam! Yummy!
What a wonderful time of the year for produce. I am on the brink of making a Summer pudding.
i didnt get enough strawberries this year to make jam, but i managed a cheesecake and some curd (both delicious!). you have to try this recipe for gooseberry and greenpeppercorn chutney. it is SO tasty, and can be eaten right away, as well as left to mature. http://allotment-antics.blogspot.com/2010/06/gooseberry-green-peppercorn-chutney.html
Oh the happy days of summer harvests! The gooseberries look delicious and the plant is a great gift to have inherited with the allotment.
Wow! looking good!
Go on, make that Goosebery jam!
Celia
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