October 2009 - it's getting chilly but those chillies are still coming...

Sunday 10 October 2009

We dug up our remaining potatoes! (Lady Balfour and Desiree). Very exciting! They are drying off on the patio table and then we will store them in some paper bags. We've got some whopping baking potatoes amongst them so they will be perfect for cold Winter nights and now the potato bed is free for some more planting.



We also pulled down the remaining tomato plants in the greenhouse to make space and tidy up. We will leave the tomatoes on the allotment for another week or so or for as long as no frost is forecast.

We made a batch of green tomato chutney (blitzed the tomatoes, added vinegar, fresh ginger, brown sugar, onions, sultanas, apple, cardamom pods and boiled it all up). Fabulous with a nice chunk of cheddar! The chillies are still producing like billy-o - we've had the larger sweeter ones stuffed with smoked haddock, garlic and onion and we have dried a batch in the oven for the spice rack.






We are definitely going to have to get another freezer for next year as we just don't have enough freezer space and next year we will have twice the amount of plot! We are going to sow salad leaves, spinach, kale, cauliflower, broad beans and peas in the greenhouse over the winter and the Maris Peer potatoes for Christmas are already in and growing well! So, although the summer crops are pretty much over, there's still plenty to do.. and that's without all the clearing that is needed on the new plot!

We are still harvesting cavalo nero, butternut squash, lettuce leaves, rocket and the marigolds are still in bloom which makes for a colourful plot at this time of year. I just hope the frost can hold off for a few weeks yet so the salad leaves and the marigolds can keep going outside but the nights are definitely getting much cooler.



We will probably have a bonfire in the next week or so, so we can start to clear the new plot in earnest.