On the Vine

Just picked our first couple of bunches of grapes from the small greenhouse - both bunches and grapes are a little on the small side, but not bad for a first crop. They've ripened nicely as well, but while sweet enough, they are a bit more pip and skin than anything else.  We'll have to see what we get next year, and perhaps try a spot of wine-making in due course.

Courgette Recipes Please!

Our courgette crop this year has been practically non-existent, but luckily Martin's sister has been able to keep us well supplied.  Her courgettes have tended to be a little on the large side mind you - more like marrows - and today's offering has left me feeling rather daunted:

[The egg is for scale - the red thing is our first 'ripe' Scotch Bonnet chilli, which I'm also somewhat apprehensive of despite its small size!]

If anybody has any good courgette recipes, would be glad of suggestions . . .

Update: found a good use for overgrown courgettes on Twitter (thanks Amanda!) - apparently they are just the thing for scaring off your charging black bear - I guess I could try throwing it at a marauding bunny . . .

Little Green Apples

Harvested our first crop of apples this month - 12 eaters and 9 cookers - the eaters (Jonagold) were surprisingly much greener than the cookers (lost the label and can't remember the variety!).  Not sure whether the eaters were quite ready - most were a good size, but they were a bit 'tart' still.


The cookers were bigger and rosier - we stewed up the bruised / bird-pecked examples - and have some set aside for future apple pie!

**Security Camera Motion Detected**

Hmmm . . .

Awst Tywydd *

Well it wasn't the best of months August - the sunny bits were overshadowed by the cloudy and rainy ones for the most part, and it remained quite cool for the time of year:

Hoping for that September 'Indian Summer' . . .

* August Weather in Welsh

Rosebud to Rose

 

I planted a climbing rose on the trellis arch into the garden last year - I can't say it has exactly thrived, as much of its growth has been choked back by the clematis, which has really taken over.  But this year, finally, it put out a rosebud . . . and now we have a perfect rose:

Greenhouse, Green Tomatoes

Faced up to the fact that the tomatoes weren't going anywhere - the majority were rotting on the vine rather than ripening - so we cleared them all out of the big greenhouse this evening.  Left the cucumbers in situ - and the trestle has gone back in for onion drying purposes during the day (unfortunately can't leave them in there overnight as they may well sweat under glass in the cooler night air).

Did manage to 'rescue' a fair number of green tomatoes that hadn't gone over yet - pictured here on the windowsill (next to our newly fitted windows*).  They've all been rinsed, and once they've dried properly, we'll consign them to a box or something to ripen them properly before they make the sauce pot.




*We've just had the rest of the windows done - we had some replaced last year when the porch was fitted - so we've now got a matched set.  The new windows also have much better double-glazing, so hopefully we won't get quite so much condensation in the coming months!