Eating from the garden, Aug 2021

A bit weedy, July 2021

We are self isolating in our household until the end of this week, which means no shopping trips or going to the allotment.  Thankfully at this time of year there is fresh veg in the garden to supplement our food storage (currently at a good level: about a month's worth of meals).  We even have fresh fruit, and we also have some of last year's harvest still in the pantry.

 Mainly our veg out back is the multitude of chard!  It makes a nice salad green and cooks well too, whether on its own as a side dish, or in a stew or the like.  I've also started pulling up some of the carrots.  There are only two short rows;  enough for eating fresh about weekly.  There is an even shorter row of kohl rabi, one of which we have eaten so far.  And fresh herbs to liven things up;  the basil and rosemary are particularly welcome.

We have the garlic from the allotment earlier this summer;  but I'm hoping to save the broad beans in the freezer until winter.  I'd picked a couple of zucchinis and some French beans from the allotment too, which are in the fridge for today (two of the zucs are in the dehydrator for later use).

One by one figs ripen, July 2021

Our figs have finally started ripening and have been fantastic in smoothies with frozen strawberries, but are also good eating as is.  The rogue blackberries are also coming into their own;  I did not plant them, nor do I want them!  However, the daughter really enjoys stuffing them into her mouth;  they're a bit sour and seedy for my taste but she just loves them.  

We even had a couple of slightly underripe Sparta apples which fell off as I was inspecting a branch.  Sparta is a red apple but these were in shade and completely green.  I staked up the branch and the remaining green apples now have a red blush on them, just a few days later.  However, I don't anticipate eating the remainder till the end of this month at the earliest;  we still have some applesauce and a jar or two of apple halves in the cupboard from last year so we're not completely bereft of apples.