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| Runner Beans "Streamline" |
My Spring Onions yielded another picking, used this time in a Chinese-style stir-fry meal:
I have enough of them left in the ground for perhaps one more meal's-worth. I need to use them soon as the plants are beginning to divide (see photo above).
I have also picked more chillis. I pick the fruits individually, when I think they are perfectly ripe, and keep them in a plastic bag in the fridge, so that they are close at hand when needed (we put them in lots of different types of meal).
Do you remember that I wrote a few days ago about waiting a bit longer before picking my "Winter Banana" apples? Well, the day after I wrote that, someone or perhaps something (I suspect the former) "harvested" the first one for me. It just disappeared without trace! And it was the best specimen amongst my mere 8 fruits too. In view of this, I thought it best to start picking the apples myself, even if they were not 100% ripe.
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| Apple "Winter Banana", flushed pink on the sunny side |
Initially, I just picked two - one each for Jane and me - to see how they were.
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| Apple "Winter Banana", pale yellow/green on the shaded side |
We decided to share the first one between us. This was a wise decision for two reasons. First, they are huge apples, and very dense, so much more filling than a normal-sized apple. Second, I don't think the one we tried was completely ripe. It was certainly not as sweet as I had hoped / expected. That's not to say it was not nice; it was; but I think it would have been better if it had been allowed to mature a little more.
However, in view of the situation, I decided it would be prudent to pick the rest of my apples, along with both (!) of the fruits from my pear tree.
Yep, my "Concorde" pear tree only produced two fruits this year. I really must get another tree, to improve pollination rates!
These are all going to be left for a while to ripen fully. Presumably this will not take long in the warmth of the house.
Well, that's my harvests for another week. Why not drop by Our Happy Acres now, and see some other Harvest Monday contributions?
Some lovely Monday harvests there.
ReplyDeleteI brought in another huge bunch of runner beans yesterday and they are now in the freezer, and then I found a nice little picking of Blueberries still on the bush in the net tunnel so they are about to be added to some mixed berry jam.
Beautiful chilies, all perfectly ripe. Yeah, it's hard to tell when an apple is ripe. You can let them sit a few days inside and they will at least soften if not sweeten. This is apple picking/leaf peeping season at the orchards here and the roads are clogged on the weekends.
ReplyDeleteThose runner beans do look pretty. I got some nice late season beans here too. It's too bad about the apple bandit though.
ReplyDeleteYou are doing well with your apples. Birds have destroyed most of my apples. They knock them off the tree then take a few pecks and leave them. The apples still on the tree have been invaded by wasps. Grrrr.
ReplyDeleteYour runner beans are the straightest runner beans I've ever set eyes on. I grew some this year, but enough for maybe 6 meals, hoping next year to be more 'on top of gardening and growing veg'
ReplyDeleteDidn't get very much from my garden this year, it was to wet seemed like every thing molded. Your harvest looks grand for this time of year. The apples look good too.
ReplyDeleteYour apples look a lovely colour.
ReplyDeleteWhen apples are ripe they usually have brown pips and also apples come off the tree without any effort no twisting etc
Yes, mine now meet both those criteria!
DeleteI love your photo of the runner beans, the light and shadows are very pretty, and the beans are too! You've got a lovely array of shapes and colors for chillis. How frustrating to have your prime apple disappear, the rest of the bunch are beauties.
ReplyDeleteOh, I can't believe that someone would take an apple from your tree - isn't it in your backyard?? What nerve! I gravitate towards tart apples (my favourite is Granny Smith), so I likely would have loved that under-ripe apple.
ReplyDeleteYes, the apple tree is in my back garden, which is totally enclosed and out of sight. The Prime Suspect (I know this is probably unfair, because I only have circumstantial evidence)is the window-cleaner who came in to do his thing while we were out shopping! On the other hand, the apple may have been stolen by a very ambitious squirrel (it was a huge apple).
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