fennel and carrot harvest

Finally we get to eat some carrots from the garden The netting seems to have worked as we have no flies, but the shapes are interesting! They tasted lovely too.


The fennel is really tasty and delicious baked with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

What is eating my brassicas?

I have been on regular caterpillar duty all summer and am puzzled by what all the different species we have are. If anybody has any ideas that would be really helpful.

Vegetable harvest

The veg garden's looking good and really delivering now.


Just some of the fruits (roots and tubers) of our labours, and we didn't pick lettuces or beetroot today. We seem to have rather a lot of cucumbers, and unfortunately there's only so much tsatsiki we can eat. At least we could freeze the broccoli and cauliflower!

Roses

Chippendale rose with a gorgeous scent and pretty petals.

The roses are still looking lovely, but they won't last much longer so I'm collecting and drying the petals.

Greenhouse progress

The greenhouse is now ready for the next stage - brick wall and glass. But will it be done before Winter???

The Terrace Trellis

The climbers are beginning to climb on the new trellis. We're looking forward to moving the 'nursery' away once the greenhouse is finished. Then we can train the roses you can see here in pots across the back wall.

Rose garden

The rose garden is looking and smelling delightful. I hope the weather keeps as it is so we can enjoy them a bit longer...

Beetroot Chocolate Fudge Cake

I'm not a big fan of beetroot so when I came home to find Jennifer had planted loads I thought I could try a recipe I found for a beetroot chocolate cake. I'll admit I was sceptical but it was really easy to make and is tasty (you can't really taste the beetroot)! It is very moist and gooey but very sweet. I found this recipe on the channel four food website but I missed out the honey from the topping and might try halving it for the cake. The beetroot was a fantastic colour too.

Cauliflower

It got so big we couldn't cover the curd anymore so it started to go pink. Sadly we had to pick it. It was a mighty 2569g, as big as the courgette we picked last week! Now it is resting in the freezer waiting for a cooler day when we can eat it.

Trellis

We've finished the trellis for the end of the garden, good to know the neighbours like it. Now the Wisteria, Clematis etc can start to take it over.

Greenhouse progress

Nearly finished the frame, hopefully tomorrow we'll be ready for the rubbing down and painting. Pity it's over 30 degrees and no one wants to work!

Tomatoes and Cucumbers

Just hope these ripen nicely...

Vegetable patch

The vegetable patch is looking good - beetroot, lettuce, courgettes carrots, onions and parsnips.

Cauliflowers

We have two lovely Cauliflowers ready to harvest, one is for lunch tomorrow, one is for the freezer once the Broccoli are done!

Broccoli harvest

Today we picked 3 Broccoli heads, can you guess how much they weighed all together?
Good news is the plant we harvested a head from last week is growing 2 new ones. Good job we like Broccoli and have room in the freezer (although I did have to defrost it today).

Cabbages and their enemies

Our lovely cabbages will soon be ready to eat, unless these slugs get them first...

Lovely raspberries

Here are are first raspberries, Aroma Queen. They taste heavenly, and I think the Poppies I deliberately left there (honest) are acting as decoys for the birds as so far they haven't eaten any. Time will tell...

Beautiful Charlotte

Charlotte is the lovely cream coloured rose, and she smells lovely!

Courgettes, Cucumbers and Tomatoes

This appeared last night and opened this morning:

I don't think the cucumbers will be too far behind it...
I can't wait to eat my three tomatoes. Maybe, if I'm very good, I'll get some more to share.

What is this??

He's about 1cm long and is burrowing into the heart of my roses pretending to be a bee. Is he a baddy or a goody?

Gooseberries and blackcurrants, but no apples :(

Gooseberries
Blackcurrants
We have a couple of gooseberries, quite a few blackcurrants, but the cold nights seem to have wrecked the apple blossom and also the Blueberries. Ah well c'est la vie...

Slugs!!

Hungry slugs have been munching our cabbages. Very annoying but hopefully the thrush will get them and we won't have to resort to pellets.

Aren't the roses lovely?

Dark Lady
Heritage
Marie Curie in the Herb Garden
Mary Rose
Winchester Cathedral
They smell so good, I wish we had smelly-blogging. My favourite is still Dark Lady though - the scent is just gorgeous!

The greenhouse arrives!

It's Sunday, the barbeque's on, and what better way to spend it than by cutting up a greenhouse, moving it 5km, and having a good chat over a beer about how to put it back up again. Somehow the need to move the logs etc that are currently where it will be is not getting a mention. Funny that!