Rich pickings from the plot
The blue skies and sunshine of the last week or so have been lovely but the resulting cold nights are much less welcome. Parts of the country experienced their first frost last night and, although it is the middle of September, it just feels too early to be having frost. I’m just not prepared for the colder weather yet, no logs for the wood burner, no pallets chopped for kindling. We were fortunate to escape the very low temperatures last night but the prospect of it spurred me on to go up to the plot this morning to harvest some of the produce. The French beans, courgettes and fennel will all suffer if the nights continue to get colder and it would be a shame to lose them, so I thought I’d better start harvesting.
It has been such a short growing season, with a lot of these plants only getting into their stride in mid-August coupled with the threat of frost putting the kibosh on ideas of an Indian summer. Still, looking at my basket of produce I’m pretty happy with what I’ve managed to produce.
I’m particularly chuffed with my celeriac and Florence fennel. Carrying them back from the plot this lunchtime felt like I’d been given a trophy. It was slightly tempting to raise them aloft as I walked past one of my fellow plot holders in a triumphant gesture to show I can grow veg and not just flowers.
I’ve never tried celeriac before and had read that it could be a bit difficult but it has been really easy to grow. I started off the seeds very early in mid-February and planted them out in May and other than pulling away any leaves that have fallen down around the sides I haven’t had to do anything. I think I have been helped somewhat by the wet summer. By all accounts, they don’t like to dry out but there wasn’t much danger of that this year. Today was the first harvest. A vegetable that wouldn’t win any beauty awards it has an unusual flavour, similar to celery but milder. It is something I had never even eaten until about 2 years ago when I saw Sophie Dahl use it in a recipe on TV, for a bubble and squeak type dish. The recipe looked so good I thought I’d give it a try and I wasn’t disappointed. Half of it will be used to make that recipe tomorrow night but, for tonight, I think a bit of celeriac remoulade is in the offing. It sounds really quite fancy, celeriac remoulade, but it’s only small batons of celeriac mixed with mayonnaise, lemon juice and I use a little dijon mustard. A very tasty accompaniment to all sorts of meals.
And, I’ve finally cracked growing Florence fennel. I’ve tried in the past but they’ve never got beyond seedling stage always devoured by slugs. This year, I managed to get 5 to a big enough stage to plant out at the plot and they have all swollen to very respectable sizes. OK, 5 fennel bulbs isn’t exactly self-sufficiently but I’m so pleased I’ve managed to grow them that I’m encouraged to attempt more sowings of them next year. My favourite way to eat the bulbs is to slice them into chunks and roast them in rapeseed oil. They are lovely mixed with other roast vegetables such as peppers and courgettes and go particularly well with fish and pork.
I’m picking so many raspberries at the moment. Pretty much a large bag-full every day, it’s a good job they freeze well.
The borlotti beans have been a real success. The opposite of the celeriac, these are real beauties. The pods start off green with the faintest mottling of red but as they develop the green turns to cream and they end up looking as if they’ve been splattered with a paint gun, as the red increasingly becomes more dominant. I have been picking them at this stage and then podding them and using them in casseroles and soups. The beans inside are stunning, creamy white or eau-de-nil, often with streaks of red on them, too; disappointingly this colour disappears once cooked. Their lovely creamy texture when cooked, a little like butter beans, more than makes up for this, though. Today’s harvest are destined for a minestrone soup at the end of the week. So not such a bad harvest after all.
You make it all sound most tempting, I really must be more adventurous in what I grow, hopefully next year will see a change!
It’s best to grow what you like and eat. I tried a plant called Namenia this year. You can pick the baby leaves or use the larger ones in stir-frys. Well neither of us have liked it. Quite hairy leaves which aren’t very pleasant as a small leaf and we don’t do enough stir-frys. So I pulled it out yesterday and put it all on the compost heap.
A great harvest, I have to admit that my fennel is a little thin (it maybe needed more water, or maybe I was a little late planting it, but if you plant to early it bolts. You can dry the barlotti beans too so they needed take up freezer space. Christina
Fennel is a bit awkward. My bulbs have only really started to swell in the last couple of weeks. I thought they were going to be really weedy looking things. Apparently they really benefit from the morning dew at this time of the year for that added moisture. Thanks for the tip with drying the borlotti beans. I’m a bit rubbish with dried beans because I always forget to soak them overnight and then I come to make the meal the next day and the pulses aren’t ready. I tend to rely on tinned pulses instead.
delightful and it all sounds quite exotic. a lovely read as usual.. I’m sure that most of us will escape frosts for at least another month and these beautiful harvests will continue.
with shared happiness
Thanks guys. Fingers crossed there’ll be no frosts yet. I’m not ready for the cold.
Welly Woman, is that a small pumpkin (Golden Nugget etc) I see in your plot pickings? Have you tried growing small pumpkins up a trellis support rather than along the ground? I’m thinking of using a trellis this year, something I haven’t done before.
I don’t have a lot in my veg garden as yet but there’s plenty of carrots, swede, spring onions and celery which is a start.
This post has inspired me to make some vegetable soup – there’s nothing like homemade soup!
Danielle, It’s a uchiki kuri squash but it should be a lot bigger. There is another much bigger one on the plant which should be ready in the next couple of weeks. Watch this space for photos! I’m growing it up some coppiced hazel poles in a teepee and it has worked. They take up much less room and I’m already thinking of different varieties to grow next year. I don’t think I gave them enough manure though which might explain the size of the little one in the photo. It’s a little hard to know this year whether some things have been down to something I’ve done or are a result of the awful summer we’ve had.
Definitely not a bad harvest! I love Florence Fennel and have never tried to grow it, so I’m a bit envious. I think it probably needs more water than it would get here, but maybe I’ll give it a try this summer.
It does have a tendency to bolt so here in the UK the advice is to not sow until the middle of June and that way when the bulbs are swelling the morning dew is thick enough to provide some much needed moisture. There are varieties that are less prone to bolting as well so have a look out for these.
Well done, fantastic crops indeed.
We only grew half a dozen florence fennel bulbs this year, after realising last year just how far they stretched! I dug one up last night and used half in a chicken risotto – very tasty, the flavour is very subtle after long cooking. The rest is thinly sliced and macerating in lemon juice in the fridge, to be thrown into salads (I love it with lentils, goat’s cheese and tomatoes).
Our celeriac still look rather small this year, must try one soon and see how they’ve done. The bubble and squeak variation sounds delicious.
We love the fennel and it seems more tender than the shop bought ones. That could of course just be me being so chuffed with my own little fennel bulbs.
I made up a lentil, fennel, tomato and goats cheese salad last night for our lunch today. A great combination and great minds obviously think alike.
What a great harvest, and you finally managed to harvest a squash. I’ve given up on mine for this year and I’ll try again next year.
I’m pretty happy with what I’ve managed this year. The squash is tiny compared to its bigger brother but I thought I’d better pick it since it had stopped growing. I’m sure next year will be much better for all of us.
Rich pickings indeed! Lovely weather recently but sunny days have meant noticeably cooler nights.
Well done with what I call all the fancy vegetables!
I’ve eaten the few borlotti beans that did grow but really like them so I’ll certainly grow more next year. xx
The cooler nights haven’t been so welcome, I’ll agree. The borlotti beans have been great and if they can cope in a summer like this one I’ll definitely try them again.
Next year… Next year there will be veg in my garden!
(This year, the most veg the garden has seen has been the scraps on the compost heap…)
I’ve done well with the veg this year but the cut flowers have suffered a bit. The challenge next year is to manage both!!
It seems it’s always hard to focus on all aspects of a garden at the same time. In a way it would be easier to be a “specialist gardener” and just focus on either flowers or veg – or even on one particular type of plants. When you want to do everything, it seems inevitable that some things will occasionally be missed out. (Still, personally I DO want everything! I just need to find a way to mix it all together.)
I want everything too and it all to be perfect! I thought I’d only grow flowers at the plot but then the veg bug got me. I’m having to learn it’s not all possible unless I could afford a gardener, cleaner and cook and then that would rather defeat the object. Still I’d rather strive for it all and do pretty well.
Wish I had the room to grow more. Am pleased I managed to get some blueberries from my first attempt. Our raspberries ripened early & the birds got them before we did along with the blackcurrants. Maybe next year if we net them up we might suceeed. Your borlotti beans are delicious in a goats meat stew & the raspberries were to die for.
Maybe you could look at getting an allotment. If you can see unused ones you should get onto the council and see if you can take one on. Glad you liked the borlotti beans and rasps. We’re on goats meat curry tonight. Hope it tastes nice.