We are rapidly heading towards the end of August already; before we know it Autumn will be in full swing. I finally took up the beetroot, a bit late for some of them as they were overly large. Nevertheless, there were plenty of decent sized roots to be boiled up and pickled.
I buy in pre-spiced pickling vinegar in a litre jar, just right for a nice batch of beetroot. I'll leave this pickle away well into the Autumn, making sure I have some left over for Christmas. Pickled beetroot is my favourite and has the added bonus of keeping for months and months.
As we've had a few days of warm, dry weather I've taken up the last of the early potatoes. They aren't really 'earlies', i.e small salad potatoes now, they are decent sized spuds that need to be peeled. I've the best part of a sack full which should last the next six weeks.
By the time these are finished the main crop Sarpo Miro potatoes should be ready. I've noticed blight on my neighbour's main crop spuds and the leaves are rapidly collapsing. The Sarpo Mira are proving, yet again, they are worth the extra cost as they are still green and growing. Yes, they are looking a little ragged this time of year having been in the ground since April but, the leaves are still green so hopefully the tubers continue to grow. I'm hoping that they'll have at least another four weeks in the ground as I didn't dig them up until the start of October last year.
My two halves of the plot are a complete contrast at the moment. On plot 10 all the beds are still full with spuds, brassicas, leeks, parsnips and Winter squash; plot 11 is basically cleared now with the only remaining crops being runner beans and sweet corn. I've picked all the broad beans, salad crops, onions, early potatoes and the bits and pieces I had there. Of course, next season I will only be growing on one half so things won't look so bare! (Pic - above plot 10 - below plot 11).
That's it for this end of August update. Bye for now.
No comments:
Post a Comment