Tag Archives: harvest

Tasty fruit – James Grieve apples

James GrieveWe’d been debating when to pick our two apples; the varietal, a ‘James Grieve’, was described as an early season cooker, and a late season dessert apple; with only two apples making it as far as September, we didn’t want to pick too early and be left with sour fruit, or too late and end up with rotten ones!

The wind last weekend made the decision for us, however, blowing one of the massive fruit off its branch – thankfully unbruised – the second apple was duly picked and consumed.

Absolutely delicious. Crisp and sweet, somewhere a sort of Pink Lady type taste (it’s a cross between a Cox and a Pott’s seedling), it was enjoyed by all the family.

One more to go.

The anticipation we’ve had all summer of fruit ripening and being ready for consumption is beginning to diminish now. We’ve still got this year’s Blackberry picking walk to look forward to and there are still ripe blueberries on the bush, but the prospects for the greenhouse and the patch are looking dimmer as more rain falls and the days shorten.

Still, we have more potatoes to uproot, a few ripe tomatoes on the branch, and the pumpkins may last until October if I remember my Charlie Brown comics… and we’re off to a friend’s house for more substantial apple-picking this weekend – huzzah!

Produce update #24601.2

rhubarbReturning after four days away, we found the garden thriving; a few days of sunshine as well as the lateness of summer had sent everything into ripening overload; apples and plums are shifting hue, a few of the blueberries are looking almost edible, the strawberries are plentiful and ready for picking, the tomatoes have started to redden and the courgettes are continuing to come in apace. The late planted squash and pumpkin plants are growing incredibly fast and the carrots are getting bigger every day.

We took a substantial crop off the rhubarb plant and a carrot to taste (want them to have a little more time to grow out), but imagine we will have to harvest more or less weekly now to the end of the year. Apparently the flowering on the Lapland potato plants means that the pots are ready, but I’m willing to let them grow a little more – or is this a bad idea?

Will do a rhubarb taste report when we get a chance…

Managed to make myself weed the plot on Sunday – I need to do that a bit more regularly. Some weird creeping weed had made its way into the carrot plot and finding its source proved impossible. A fruitless task, you might even say (sorry…).

The harvest 1.2

We’ve now had potatoes from the garden (good, but nothing magical – the Lapland potatoes aren’t ready yet and the other ones are fairly ordinary), tiny strawberries from the strawberry pot (sweet and Em loved them), as well as a bunch of courgettes (standard). We’ve tasted a couple of the (baby) carrots but they need a bit longer to get to a better size.

The rhubarb is ready for a crumble and the tomatoes are ripening fast. A small pepper has materialised but the aubergine remains dormant. The yellow courgette isn’t flowering yet, and squash and pumpkin plants are still young.

The rocket has died – bad luck, ants and weeds stifled them we think – but we may have another go.

Next year – fewer potatoes, methinks.

Huge, delicious, fun.