Monday 15 July 2013

Harvest Monday - 15 July 2013

Well, Summer is here with a vengeance. We have had hot sunshine more or less all week, with temperatures in the high 20s and low 30s. The plants love this, as long as they can get enough water, so it means a half-hour with a hosepipe every evening. I usually water the garden after the sun has gone down, to minimise water loss through evaporation.

My harvest this week has included lots more new potatoes:


This is a mixture of varieties, including "Casablanca", "Accent" and "Orla".  The yield this year is not big, which I attribute to erratic watering. I have been away from home a lot in the last couple of months, and I suppose if I had been around all the time I would probably have given them more water. The compost in some of the pots was pretty dry when I tipped them out. The quality is good though.


I wrote yesterday about harvesting the first of my carrots. Here is another photo of them.

The Turnips keep on coming. My mixed row seems to have included very few of the "Atlantic" ones, but "Golden Ball" has done well, as have these "Purple Top Milan" ones, which I made into "glazed turnips" served as an accompaniment to roast duck. They were really lovely done that way!


They look almost as if they have been polished, don't they? They haven't, but I had just washed them and they were still slightly wet when I photographed them.

I have harvested what for me is a respectable quantity of Strawberries - about 250g!  No jam-making for me... However, berries like this are very much at the top end of the Deliciousness range. A bowlful of them with a generous dollop of clotted cream makes the perfect Summer dessert.


I have not included here any pictures of the lettuce I have picked, or the herbs, but suffice it to say we have used plenty. This is probably the best time of year for herbs. We used a lot of them in a simple vegetarian dinner a couple of days ago: pasta with Asparagus and Broad Beans, dressed with olive oil, lemon juice and finely-chopped Mint, Parsley and Spring Onions. Simple, but very delicious.
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Now this is not my harvest; this is my daughter Fiona's harvest. These sleek beauties are from the veg patch that I helped her prepare back in the Spring, which is now in full production. Apparently Fiona's husband Juan Fernando is a convert to the joys of growing veg now. She says that he is constantly pestering her with cries of "Let's go and dig up some more potatoes!"  I sympathise. There is something very exciting about harvesting potatoes, because you can never tell what the harvest is going to be like till you start digging. 



14 comments:

  1. Let me be the first to say your harvest is beautiful and your daughters harvest is equally beautiful.
    This is the joy at the end of all the hard work in gardening.
    Cheers!

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  2. Isn't it great to be picking produce now instead of just planting it?

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  3. Beautiful harvest you have there! I did not do turnips this spring, but will try some for the fall. Hope they come out half as nice as yours!

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  4. Digging up potatoes is like opening a Christmas present. But it's painful when I spear one with the garden fork.

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  5. Beautiful potatoes and turnips! I love digging up potatoes; it's almost like treasure hunting. I know exactly how Juan feels. :-)

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  6. Your potatoes look great!! We love growing our own potatoes but we have some watering issues as well. Some years when I'm really dedicated with watering we have had over 200 pounds, other years in the same amount of space we might get 50!!

    Your garden is really looking fantastic!

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  7. It all looks beautiful Mark! I love how all of the carrots are so uniform! That never happens for me!

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  8. Really!!! Attractive yield you have there! I did not do turnips this jump, but will try some for the drop. Hope they arrive out half as nice as yours!

    Regards,
    Tahitian Noni Juice

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  9. A great harvest. I love this time of year when things are, at last, ready to harvest. The first of my potato containers have been emptied, but I haven't eaten the spuds yet.

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  10. Harvest are going great guns!.. seems like our weather patterns have been rather similar, so the hose-pipe story is familiar. Didn't get any turnips in for the spring, will try for the fall... Really nice potatoes!

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  11. A lovely harvest. Those potatoes look delicious. Great pics.

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  12. Great potatoes. The strawberries look yummy too. Mine are just starting to produce again and they are not quite as tasty as the ones earlier in the season, plus the bugs seem to get to them quicker!

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  13. Great looking potatoes and berries. Looks rather like spring does here. LOL.

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  14. Jealous of your spuds, you did better than me!! Your daughter's husband sounds as enthusiastic as my son - he also wants to keep harvesting more :)

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