It's the start of September and there's already a definite feeling of the season winding down. The onions and garlic are drying in the shed; the last of the early potatoes are dwindling; there are yellow leaves on the runner beans; the lettuce have been eaten or have gone to seed; the Summer cabbages look worse for wear and, there are big gaps on the plot that have been cleared and dug over.
There are a few things still to look forward to though. The sweet corn looks pretty good and I think I'll pick a few cobs this week. Also, the Winter squash look wonderful, multi-coloured and bright in the sunlight as their vines quickly wither. We tried our first Crown Prince squash on the weekend and it was rather tasty too. We were a bit worried as it had a water-melon smell when raw but this disappeared into a a lovely buttery squash taste when roasted. (Pic - Crown Prince squash).
I finally picked the plums that had been slowly been dropping off the tree to provide the chickens with an unintentional tasty treat. I took 12lb of good plums and have turned them into three gallons of plum wine which is currently bubbling away in demi-johns.This will ferment out over the next week and will be racked off and cleared. I'll be bottling this lot and keeping it for a few months. I've also been out picking blackberries and elderberries to make a few bottles of red - the fruit is in the freezer at the moment until I've collected enough for a gallon or two. (Pic - plums being prepared for fermentation).
Autumn is a great time to make some wine, traditionally I use it to stock up on a few bottles for the new year. You can make a decent little wine just by using supermarket raisins though plums, apples, blackberries and elderberries and plentiful this time of year. I've written more about making wine here.
That's it for a quick update. I'm off up the plot to have a bit of a tidy-up now as the season is swiftly marching on. Bye for now.
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