Potatoes, potatoes, potatoes...

   The days just fly by. Another week gone by. Over the previous week or so the harvest has started to be gathered at an increasing pace. Runner beans, potatoes, haricot vert, sweet corn, sweet peppers, aubergines, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and onions are being picked, dug and pulled! 
   Looks like I am going to get some melons. They are ripening now and should be good to eat in a few days should the weather stay warm or get hotter. The forecast is good so fingers crossed!
   Main crop potatoes Desiree and salad potatoes Franceline have been dug up and put into storage. Ha! Storage my foot. They will be eaten pretty quickly I think! I still have some Rosabelle potatoes in the ground and they will be dug up as soon as I can get to them. winter cabbage and swede are the priority at this time.
   The pumpkins and squash are looking very good. Looks like it is going to be a bumper year. The pumpkins are swelling and I think there will be a few really big ones. This has been one advantage of the wet weather there has been over last winter and this spring and summer. Of course the grass grows and the weeds too. Never stop. Looks as if there maybe a second autumn flush of strawberries. I guess when you have a variety that is half wild strawberry you are likely to get some in the autumn. So, another job! Clear the strawberry patch of weeds. Man, it never ends.
    I have been busy in the kitchen too. From the few tomatoes that I managed to rescue I have made jars of passata. It is a pitiful amount considering that the tomato crop had so much promise.

Buttercup Squash

Hundredweight pumpkin

Butternut squash