For most of the past week I have been commuting to and from London. Early starts, late returns, and with the clocks having gone back, returning home after dark every day. This means I haven't seen much of the garden. It's a good thing that not much needs doing at present.
I decided that my "Garnet" Sweet Peppers were unlikely to ripen properly outdoors, so I have picked the lot and brought them indoors. There were a couple to throw away, having been attacked by some bug or other, but the majority of them were fine. It was a total of 590 grams.
As you can see in that photo, I also picked more chillis of various sorts. The yellow "Ai Limon" is a particularly attractive chilli - good-looking, quite hot, and with a distinct lemony flavour.
The "Sungold" tomato plant has yielded another few fruits. I'm glad of this, because I really wanted to be able to say that I was still picking tomatoes in November!
Most of the indoor-ripened ones have gone now. Some of them were beginning to go a bit wrinkly, so I made them into one last batch of tomato sauce:
Saturday was a "Garden Milestone" day for me, in that I harvested the first Parsnips of the year - always an exciting moment because you really don't have much idea what they will be like till you dig them up. The size of the foliage is not necessarily a good guide to the size of the root, nor is the diameter of the shoulders of the root a good guide to its length. I think my photo demonstrates this quite well. I only wanted enough Parsnips for one meal for the two of us, so I only dug up three roots, but just look how different they were!
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| Parsnips: "Gladiator" (left and right); "Panache" (centre) |
The one on the right of the photo was the first one I dug up. Scraping back the soil to around it, I saw that its shoulders were pretty broad, but when the root came up it proved to be very disappointing. A round bit about the size of an apple and not much else. The smallest of the three is probably the best one; certainly the most regular. What about the three-legged one? An interesting shape, yes, but not the best when it comes to using it in the kitchen. Someone commented on my blog recently that my veg is always "so perfect". I think not! Anyway, the other Parsnips in my row may be completely different...
At present I have a lot of very nice Parsley in the garden (which is unusual for me), so I am consciously trying to make the most of it:
That's my harvests for the week. To see what other people have harvested, pop over to Harvest Monday on Daphne's Dandelions.
Peppers and tomatoes in November. How wonderful for you! The parsnips are very typical of what I pull up. It's knind of an eenie meenie minie moe game.
ReplyDeleteVery impressive harvest!
ReplyDeleteIt must be the year - my parsley is flourishing too and it usually gets bedraggled and eaten so I'm pleased for a change. I messed up with the tomatoes though. I stopped watering, thinking everything was over yet they carried on regardless despite neglect. I could have had a bigger crop/bigger tomatoes if I'd taken more care. I thought I'd picked all the green ones but noticed another little cluster this morning.
ReplyDeleteWow, tomatoes and peppers in November! I can't imagine! I have the similar odd mix of shapes with my parsnips as well.
ReplyDeleteThose yellow peppers look gorgeous. It sounds like it would make a wonderful pepper sauce. But then when I could eat them, pepper sauces were one of my favorites.
ReplyDeleteI was just thinking today how tomatoes can just about last until October, so I'm amazed to see November tomatoes. I was wishing I had a few Sungolds left for packed lunches as well. The chillies look fantastic, I love seeing all the different varieties. So many to choose from. The lemon ones are intriguing.
ReplyDeleteWe still have to dig our parsnips but no doubt we will have strange shapes too.
ReplyDeleteI've dug the first of my parsnips too, they're looking good so far. I hope your peppers ripen well for you. I did the same with mine, brought them all indoors and they ripened in no time, there's a huge bag of sliced peppers in my freezer now. Amazing that you're still getting ripe tomatoes on the vine this late in the year. I brought the last of mine in from the conservatory windowsill at the weekend. They've all ripened and I managed to supply my mum and dad with another batch too, but that's it now, all gone for another year.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful!
ReplyDeleteWell, maybe not the parsnips! But I'm sure they were great to eat.
Happy Gardening!
Lea
Yes the flat leaf parsley that I sowed earlier in the year is still doing well too.I left it to it's own devices half hidden alongside the bountiful chard.
ReplyDeleteLast year I sowed parsnips on a hilled wide row to grow them in looser soil and to try to stop them from getting waterlogged.Some were huge which I put down to all the nutrients on the new plot.
At the moment I'm harvesting the earliest sowings from a flat row and getting all shapes and sizes. The others are in better prepared hilled beds at the bottom of the plot and I'm hopeful of decent results but as others have said it seems to be a lottery.
Must try some peppers next year!
I like the sound of the Ai Limon chillies - hot and yellow - nice combination. Funny that we are both picking parsnips at the moment, and misshapen ones at that. I had a 3 legged one yesterday too.
ReplyDeleteI love the look of those 'Limon' chillies, fantastic colour. I like your parsnips too and their different 'legs'. Lucky you to be able to pick tomatoes this late in the year.
ReplyDelete