BeetrootandSpuds

 About 6 weeks ago we began clearing the "reserve" plants we had prepared to be ready of take the place others that, for whatever reason, succumbed.   These included tomatoes, courgettes, squash and marrows; but, unfortunately, in several cases their labels came adrift.  Tomatoes are simple enough to recognize, but the other 3 could easily be mistaken for each other.  Nevertheless, we had a spare greenhouse (Plot B now comes into play) with space in it, so as an exercise in curiosity we planted a couple in the far corners. And they have flourished ! And fruited, so I now know that they are butternut squash: Finally, it may be worth mentioning that the yellow cosmos I planted outside the greenhouse a couple of months ago are now flowering and proving a great attraction for bees and other insects.  Perhaps less attracted are a few of my acquaintances who assured me that I was muddled and that they were nothing more than common or garden marigolds.  Right...

  This little beauty (it is, after all, only about an inch from head to foot) is a new product for us, a cucamelon.  Slow to germinate, and even slower to fruit, I had begun to despair by the time it first appeared, but before long it was followed by a couple of dozen.  In fact we have a small number of cucamelons on both our plots, and they have performed about equally.  They like bright sunshine, plenty of water and something to climb over. That apart, they are easy enough - though seedlings have, in the past, proved vulnerable to slugs. So there they are. Now, what can you do with them ?  Well, as the name suggests, cucamelons, which hail from Mexico,  are a cross between a cucumber and a melon, so as the name suggests they can be eaten raw (they have a citrus tang), put into salads, or pickled      

    As I mentioned a few posts ago, blight has struck in our polytunnel. But although that does not mean that we have lost the entire crop of tomatoes, as I feared, it does mean that we have had to salvage what we can before they are attacked, and let them ripen off the bush.  Or not. One way of using a lot of unripe tomatoes is to make Green Tomato Chutney  

    It is my pleasure to introduce Arthur, so called because he "ain't 'arf a biggun." As readers can see, Arthur weighs in at just over 1/2 a kilo. Splendid as he is, Arthur's days (hours as a matter of fact) are numbered.  He will shortly be joining his siblings in a pot or two of Tomato Chilli Jam .    

As keen reader will know, our former partner, Spuds, caught blight earlier this year and departed, leaving us to cope s best we can.  And with the harvest at full tilt, we've got our hands full.  Tomatoes, pumpkins, butternut squash and cucumbers are all at their most productive.  And don't forget the sweet peas:  Thank goodness Cloudberry is keeping his head, and remaining calm.      

  We don't get many visitors to our plot(s), but I am pleased to say we had one recently.  And there she is, inspecting the purple beans on Plot B in the above picture, and her name... Aubergine  

  Yesterday we welcomed a visitor to our plot, and to celebrate, we dug out the first of our French black radishes, or mooli.  More to follow...