Monday 19 September 2016

Après summer garden catch up

autumn bounty: secret garden club


This is the list I sent Zia Mays just now, an update on the garden.

Rose arch gone mad.
Bramble tentacles everywhere.
I need to mow lawn but missed dry weather window.
Planting for winter.
Clearing up for winter.
fennel seeds

The tomatoes have been wonderful: dark beefy tomatoes and droopy plum pomodoros
Good amount of jalapeños, froze some, ate some, smoked some. 
 A few padrons, that I've fried in olive oil and sprinkled Maldon salt on.
Not many tomatillos.
No gooseberries.
1 mature fig so progress. Lots of baby fig buds, but there isn't enough season left to ripen them.
Lots of cobnuts but I picked them before fully mature, they were creamy and milky and then- they were all gone. Squirrels?
Tons of grapes, best to pick when not too ripe as they become hollowed out by snails.
Not many blueberries. They hide in undergrowth and are dry by the time I find them.
Saw one red currant? down near fig but wasn’t sure if it was a poison berry.
No artichokes at all. Not a one.
A few wild potatoes.
I’m doing something with the rosehips this year. Update: rosehip and chipotle jam.
Not much fennel. I've picked off the seeds.
Just picked the physalis, quite a few, but ripened late. Ate all of them in one fell swoop. 
No olives again. After cheery potential of flowers but no fruit.

one fig: secret garden club