The weather here is definitely on the turn and thoughts are turning to getting ready for Winter. I was rather pleased that I successfully grew some outdoor tomatoes this year. Sadly, not that many ripened before the vines succumbed to wind and disease. So I have loads of green ones. According to Pinterest they can be sliced and frozen for fried green tomatoes (dip them in cornmeal while still frozen then fried as normal) so I'm giving them a go. I also made some pickled green tomatoes. These will be stored in the fridge for a month before eating with cheese. I'm looking forward to trying them! And I still have plenty of tomatoes left for some chutney.
I also did some poached pears in white wine and stewed apples in vanilla and cinnamon. My Lovely Mum grew them but the pears would not ripen. She also gave me some plums that she'd already halved, stoned and froze for me. So I have a few fruits preserved for Winter in jars and in the freezer.
I decided to reinstate the polytunnel in my back garden by buying a new cover. Unfortunately the frame was an unusual size so I had to buy one that was 50cm too long!
I've pulled it down at the back and weighted down the excess with some heavy pots. It survived last night's high winds so I'm confident(ish) it will last the Winter. I'm hoping to add some hanging baskets to overwinter my strawberry plants without them getting eaten by the slugs!!
I had to pull out all the rasps and currant bushes to put the cover back on. They really didn't do well at all this year. Some have been relocated but most are done. As I've been rather poorly this week (again!!) I hadn't got round to chopping them up for the compost bin. The chickens have loved pecking at them so I don't feel too bad. That's on this week's to do list.
I have some more Winter plug plants arriving this week for the allotment. My plan is to put some in the polytunnel too so I can compare yields. I've been watching some Youtube videos on using a polytunnel throughout Winter so I hope to keep producing edibles for the next few months.
I think I'm getting my mojo back at long last 😊
Last year I had too many green tomatoes, I popped them into paperbags with one red tomato, left they will all turn red, not all at the same time. I managed to use all mine. It is cooler, but we do have a good week here in South East.
ReplyDeleteI've tried ripening some but they're going squishy before they go red! Well done on using all of yours. The chickens got a load of yucky ones and they loved them!!
DeleteI made some green tomato chutney today (see my blog) to use up some of my crop. It was very easy and I will keep doing a jar at a time until the first frost. I am still picking a few red tomatoes, just enough for lunches and snacking, but the peppers and eggplant are done and dug up. Still got lots of potatoes but they will keep in the ground for another month at least.
ReplyDeleteThe Green Zebra ones look pretty!! My potatoes at the allotment are not quite ready yet so they'll stay in the ground for now. But I'm really looking forward to harvesting them :-)
DeleteI have been preserving too. I used some of my larger tomatoes that had developed a thick skin to make roasted tomato sauce. I've used a water canner for the first time too so I hope they keep ok! I also bottled some apple and cinnamon for apple crumbles. Usually I freeze them but I decided to try putting them in a jar and water bathing them. So far so good. I've still got loads of apples to pick and the shame is they are delicious and sweet but there are always way too many for us to eat (and my family and neighbours always get a bag full too) so I end up stewing them and freezing them for winter. I'll be freezing some too, just in case the bottled ones don't pan out! I'd be useless at winter gardening, I don't do winter in the garden, it's too bleak! I hope you get some good crops though. Good luck with the poly tunnel. x
ReplyDeleteI'm regularly tempted by water bathing but haven't got round to it yet. I'll be interested to see how you get on.
DeleteI don't usually do much Winter gardening beyond leeks and kale but Steve's Seaside Allotment on Youtube seems be really successful in the North of England so I thought why not give it a go!