WHAT CROPS HAVE YOU PICKED THIS WEEK?

thanks philomel! I guess there are a lot of fruit out there that I've never heard of and wouldn't have any idea of how to use if I'd run across them in the grocery store :-)

Qunice MMMmmmmm we scrump them on our walks into town, no one seems to pick them!! we cook them in brown sugar or honey and serve with plain yoghurt and our roasted almonds, may have some tonight!!!!

You.ve pinched my recipe lol ;o))

heheheh!! lol!! similar taste buds!!

What lovely recipes, thank you - I can't wait to try them. Vigo sell the juice extractor and steamer mentioned in the link and they are extremely useful. Rather expensive, but should last for years. I've bought one this year and have processed the blackcurrants and elderberries for juice, pasteurised the apple juice and sterilised the bottled tomatoes and plums. It is large enough to get lots in at once and you can do the bottling and juice extraction at the same time saving electricity as the steam from the water in the lower part with the jars goes through the fruit in the top releasing the juice. The booklet doesn't say to do this, but I've been experimenting with my new toy!

Tomorrow's challenge is what to do with the Newton Wonder apples I picked today - 160 lbs from one tree. They do keep quite well, so I'll have a couple of months to use them if I can find somewhere cool to store them all. The poor tree has always leaned quite badly, but has laid down flat under the weight of the crop. The roots haven't come out of the ground though so it should be OK. It just looks a bit strange. It does make it easier to pick.

Wow pat 160 lbs of apples! That would make quite a few apple pies :-)

Mmmmmmm.....Cider!!!!!!!

A hearty Welcome to Biscombe!

Wow 160lbs from one tree Pat? How did you encourage it to do that amount?

Alas it appears my much nurtured young Quince may not be a Quince at all. Still if it's not a quince I'll not need to spend my life searching for the elusive Runcible Spoon ;)

Have you any idea what your 'quince' has mutated to Baa?
I can send you seed from my quince fruit if you'd like to try for another?

Wow Pat - that's some harvest to cope with!
I really must weigh my persimmons, that's a bumper crop this year :)

Pat your juice extractor/stemaer sounds like a good toy to have, fresh or home preserved is so much better. You must be so healthy with all that great produce, I'm wanting to do it too! At the moment I am enjoying the fresh grape juice, so are the 2 queen wasps, they are stripping some of them. They went to escape last night as I part closed the door, although there is a complete pane missing at the back, one got caught in a cobweb in the corner (they go for the glass first!). I rescued it, and got a good look. It had a very deep red-brown head and thorax colouring, quite interesting.

The quinces I remember were large and yellow with smooth skin, there was an old ramshackle house on a property/farm near where I lived and we kids went there for a day having fun, there was a row either side of a stream loaded in fruits. The jelly my grandmother made was deep red and had an acid tang, a flavour which is difficult to describe but I liked it.

The Newton Wonder is only about 5 years old and seems to be biennial bearing - none last year and this huge crop this year. I gave all the fruit trees a top dressing of Growmore in March and mulched with hen hut cleanings. The blackcurrants really like this and also the rhubarb.

Quince paste - How dry is dry enough? I've done it in the oven on a low heat for two or three hours today, but it still seems a bit tacky. I've covered it with a tea towel and put it on top of the central heating boiler until tomorrow.

I've saved a few seeds from my quinces they are Vranja - quite large fruits. I'm very pleased with them.

I've used the first of the hot chilli peppers today Alberto Rotoco from Real Seeds and they are very good, a nice heat but not burning just like they say.

Hey Pat

Nice to know your progress with the Albertos - not too hot ? Maybe you need the really hot climates where they come from to concentrate the heat. Hows the flavour then?

Hi Lizzy, I'm a bit timid with the hot peppers, so I only used half of one. It was hot enough for me, but my son said I should have put the whole one in. The Albertos have a good warm flavour but don't burn your lips. I've been put off in the past by a Macho friend who put far too many in a Chilli con carne and I couldn't taste anything except my burning lips and mouth! We've had a good hot summer, so they should have had time to develop their heat, but as you say not the same as really hot countries.

Real Seeds say they can be treated as perennials so I've trimmed the long shoots back on two of them and will keep them in the conservatory over winer and keep my fingers crossed that they survive.

I have tried to over-winter runner beans and other plants they say are perennial in warmer climates but have had no success. But that is the fun of gardening and it is so much more rewarding when you do actually have a success.

I think you will have more success over-wintering the Albertos Rocoto because it is a highland plant so unlike the tropical chillis it won't mind the cold quite so much. It's more likely to succome to the dampness than the cold per se. I hope you have success!

Pat all of my runner beans in 2005 regrew, the winter before had been mild with only 4 frosts to -5C. I dug them up to find several new shoots growing on each plant, the roots were sound and thick, so I replanted them haphazardly nearby and they did produce, I'm not sure if they were as productive but I did get quite a few beans from them.

If you would like to try the Georgia Flame pepper I have plenty of seeds, I grew my own seed from last year and they did very well, they ripen early too, and keep very well. I have kept seed from Hardy Tom and Principe Borghese if you want those too.

It is nice to know that runner beans actually do grow again (sometimes) I'll lift a couple and keep them in the greenhouse over winter and try again.

Thanks for the offer of seeds Janet, I'll do you a swap - Have you tried Cornu des Andes tomatoes?

My new fig has four figs this year and I have had the first two ripe ones this week. It is Bourjasotte Grise, a tender white fig and has the most delectable sweet juicy taste. I didn't think it could be so much better than the Brown Turkey, but it is. I'm still picking a few alpine strawberries and the Cape Gooseberries are still flowering and setting fruits and I got a dish full of raspberries again yesterday. I must admit that most of the fruits don't reach the house.

Picked some Cavallo Nero kale and a head of Romanesco broccoli oh and some huge carrots which were still nice and tender and had a good flavour - another of Real Seeds specials.

My multi coloured cauliflowers from T & M are growing well, but I really don't like the look of the bright orange ones. They are pretty enough but somehow look wrong for eating. The purple ones are a wonderful colour and are more appealing. I'll report on how they all taste later.

My mouth is watering at all that produce Pat! I love broccoli, mycarrtos ar getting bigger too but I still haven't got through the earlies!

I tried the purple cauli once, it got massacred by grubs. Sometimes the cabbage root fly is rampant too so I have almost given up on caulis, but I like home grown ones so much I keep buying the seed and trying some! I did have a few this year (5).

I haven't tried Cornu des Andes tomatoes, can do a swap. I'll dmail you. I'm still getting lots of the Hardy Tom and Principe Borghese, my morning pre-breakfast starter.

I'm wondering when I'll get figs on my trees, I put two in the ground and they are tallish but need to bush a bit yet, they are the ordinary Ficus carica. I gave two away and repotted the last two, really don't know what to do with them. They do need a lot of space, I don't really want to keep them in large pots. I have two olive trees that need large pots!

Do you get any olives from your trees Janet? My little one is two years old now but hasn't had anything you could call an olive - tiny little black things. I might pot it up next year and see what happens. Do you prune the trees, I've cut mine back a bit as all its new shoots were straggly.

Mine are 5 years old now I think, from seed though. They grew tall, branching quite well, one of them died back after last winter but has made new growth from the bottom of the stem. I had left it outside in summer, the other remained in the greenhouse, it probably didn't like the cold summer.

I expect to get olives next year!

Oh my! Look at the size of these babies!!!

Wow - Lizzy those are huge!

Oranges, tons of them!! 70 odd trees, orange juice city here!!!
Our pommi's arent a patch on yours Lizzy, have you tries juicing them??!!

Oh yes with a dashito of gin and a dashito of tonico! Delicioso!!!! Sorry about the spanglish.

You must have a decent sized bit of land down there Rosie!

Mmmm thats a recipe I'll try!! Got 2500m2 with mainly oranges, olives, figs, sharon fruit, lemon,almond, nispero, and my veg plot, feel really lucky :-))

Sounds wonderful!!! You should post some pictures to Where are you in Europe.

Do you have to irrigate those oranges?

You are all making me jealous again! What are nispero? Those are huge pomegranates Lizzy they make the ones in our shops look really puny. Your gin and tonic with pomegranate juice sounds excellent, but obviously much more enjoyable if you've grown your own.

We're on to the cold weather crops now here, leeks, cavalo nero kale, carrots still going strong, and lots of Romanesco broccoli. I'll take a photo of the weird coloured cauliflowers I bought from T & M. There are supposed to be five different coloured ones but not all have developed middles yet. The different colours do taste slightly different and also the textures vary. Although I don't like the look of the orange ones they have a pleasant taste and soft texture, whereas the purple one is coarser and a stronger flavour. I've not tried the lime green one yet.

Here is a photo:

That's an unbelievable purple cauli Pat! Do you have much trouble with cabbage root fly?

I did put in some seed hopefully for an Autumn crop, not sure which variety until I check, they struggled with the summer heat and caterpillars so I had given up on them. Now I see some nice young plants looking like they want to grow, so I will transplant them and see what happens. Some caulis can be sown for any time of year, they could be Alsimeer.

Liz does everything get huge there?

biscombe you are really lucky, how can you use 70 orange trees fruits? Do you sell some? Almonds I love, now you are making me want all these, and the warm weather that goes with it!

Pat Nisperos are Loquats. I have only one tree and it is just beginning to open its flowers. Very scented and the bees go crazy for it - often falling off drunk with nectar. They will be ready for picking around June here. I love them. I think you can buy them at Harvey Nichols LOL. They grow them all over the south of spain under netting which I think is an abomination to look at but hey! Ours do very well without extra protection but then we aren't selling them to Harvey Nicks are we!!!

Your cauli's look adorable. I could almost eat them off the screen!

Rosie we will have to get ourselves down to andalucia - I can see that!!!! Don't forget to give us pictures OK.

Pat - those are some very nicely colored broccoli! Like the purple one :-)

I'll get some pics posted soon! Got a rotten cold with tonsilitus at the moment! Oh well saved me from the dentist, was going to have a wisdom tooth pulled today!!!! ;-)) Back to bed with me!!!! all those oranges didnt save me from this cold!!!!
PS Lizzy It would be great to meet up with you!!

Get well soon. With all that rain we've been getting - it's probably the best thing for you!!!

Yeah, on tuesday Malaga where I work was on red alert, in some places the rain reached car number plates!!!! dying down now but still drizzle!!

OMG - scary weather!!! The first year we were here - we were flooded out as we had a gota fria which came down the mountain and the water filled our courtyard. With nowhere for it to go it got into our garages where we still had boxes of stuff not yet unpacked. Nightmare!! oh yeah and then the lights all went out and we had to rescue our stuff by torch light, wading through the water. It goes from the sublime to the rediculous. Anyway it caught us completely off guard!

Feet up Rosie!

Sorry you're feeling ill Rosie, hope you are much better today. Your weather seems worse than here in Britain, although it has turned cold wet and windy this afternoon. My poor hens went to bed at 3.30 today - they had had enough.

I grew two loquats from a couple of seeds I brought back from a taverna up mount Etna in Sicily about 25 years ago and they have been in pots outside ever since. Now I've worked out how long they have been there I think it is about time I re-potted them!!!! No wonder they have never flowered or produced fruit. My new challenge will be to give them some T.L.C and see if they respond. I think I will need to keep them much warmer during the winter though.

I've been checking through the potatoes today and selecting a few for seed potatoes for next year. I got some decent sized potatoes from the five varieties of micro-propogated plants I bought this year but haven't eaten any as I want to build up the numbers a bit.

The varieties are Shetland Black, Aura, Orion, Fortyfold and Arran Comrade they are a good mixture of colours and cooking types, so I'm looking forward to actually eating some next year. I've also saved some Charlotte, Red Duke of York, Record, Marfona, Desiree and Yukon Gold. I think I may get some Kestrel again next year as they are such a good all-rounder and also look beautiful.

The garden is still quite productive. I've picked the last luscious fig today and a cape gooseberry. Also 1lb of semi ripe tomatoes, the last of the Cornu des Andes and some Sungold. There are a few peppers left which will have to be brought into the house to ripen it isn't warm enough in the unheated greenhouse.

The leeks are wonderful. I'm still using the early Yellow leeks, but some of them are splitting a bit now. The Cheltenham green top beetroot never seems to get usable roots, so I always use its tops like spinach and it is very good and still producing loads. We've lots of Cavalo nero kale and also Red Russian which is tender and a good flavour.

The five coloured cauliflowers I got from T.& M. are still producing. The orange one was the most tender and earliest. It also had a very pleasant flavour. The purple one was stronger tasting and a little more robust, but did get a little frost damage. The lime green followed on and is untouched by frost. The white ones are just getting to harvesting size and the most interesting is the Romanesco type which has lovely shaped good sized heads and is proving to be frost hardy so far. This contrasts with the normal Romanesco I grow which is more prone to frost damage and has tall stems. It may be that the almost stemless variety is protected by being close to the ground. It is definately worth growing again. I'll see if I can get a photo - if the sun stays out.

I cooked a squash for dinner yesterday which was a very good flavour, but I'm not sure which kind it was as it is rugby ball shaped with green and white stripes and I'm sure I didn't plant anything like that, also I think the plant also produced some round ones with the same pattern, so it is a bit of a puzzle.

This is the short stemmed Romanesco type cauli it is called Gitano. It is not as tender as other tall types I have grown but has a good flavour and as I said before is more frost hardy, so quite useful.

Gorgeous photo Pat!

Just remembered where I sowed a couple of rows of oriental mixed salad and they are lovely. Had a great salad just picking odd leaves of each plant. I think there were three different mustard greens including Red Russian and also some Komatzuna and Mizuna. There is also a small row of Pak choi, but they are very small. I don't know if they will keep on growing.

The Sun Gold tomatoes I brought in the other day have ripened and also one of the last Cornu des Andes. The flavour isn't as good as summer sun ripened ones, but it is still superior to supermarket ones.

I also found some very good beetroot from a late sowing I had also forgotten about, so they are in the pressure cooker now. I love beetroot sandwiches with a nice sharp cheese and some black pepper.

I picked oranges this week, but, they are boring. Soon I will be picking tomato. I miss having a good ripe fruit in our too long summers.