“Yesterday is History, Tomorrow a Mystery, Today is a Gift, That’s why it’s called the Present”
That phrase sums up today’s sunny afternoon in the garden….
I picked 200g of Autumn Raspberries which went straight into some jam which we’ll enjoy with some scones this evening, I’ve still got a tub or so in the freezer and there’s loads more fruit to come.
I found a rather large loganberry plant on special offer at the garden centre. It needed to be planted straight away – so I did just that!
A couple of hours in the sunshine allowed me to plant the rest of the leek seedlings, sow some cauliflowers for early spring, and check on all the winter squashes; we’ve got five varieties fruiting and that doesn’t include the courgettes! I just can’t bear to snap off some of the baby butternuts (I know you should to allow a couple to grow really big), I’m just hoping and watering….
Never can say goodbye…
Yep, the tomatoes have all gone. We told you about all the green ones back in September and really did our best to get them ripe and red. Unfortunately, we just took too many chances and blight slipped in…
We’ve made loads of Green Tomato chutney, which will be lovely at Christmas, and today we said farewell as we saw the very last ones out in style with a Roasted Tomato Sauce. A sweet, warm side dish that we had with pasta this afternoon but there was enough left for a jar full to keep in the fridge. The kids were skeptical until I explained that it was ‘un-pureed ketchup’… then it was spooned up!
Celebrate the first!
Earlier on in the summer I was quite concerned that I hadn’t seen any nasturtiums, probably because it was so dry from May – July, but the ‘second spring’ that we’ve seemed to have had in the last couple of months have brought on a whole load of surprises. Fortunately, one of those is the nasturtiums. A couple of years ago we thought they were just pretty weeds until we discovered a recipe in the River Cottage Handbook – Preserves. Wow! it’s Britain best kept secret… so we got busy making our own version of Nasturtium Pesto this afternoon. I did make enough for a large jar, thinking it would last a couple of weeks in the fridge… but you guessed it, we ate the lot! Please, please try this if you have nasturtiums to hand – it’s so good!
Well, I best get on with making those scones… the jam is cooling and I want to settle in front of the woodburner stove…
See you soon!
