an autumn harvest

Things are starting to come to an end on the allotment. The season seems to whizz by. It doesn't seem like that long ago that I was planting out young plants, or sowing seeds in anticipation of something lovely to eat for supper.

All that is left on the plot now are carrots, parsnips, beetroots, greens like cabbage and kale, leeks, lettuce, spring onions, and a few oriental greens like pak choi and mizuna. The tomato plants are all still standing and there is still masses of fruit, but I don't know how much will ripen now the days are shorter and mornings and nights are so much colder. I will leave them in the ground for another couple of weeks, but once a week passes and no fruit has ripened, I shall pick whats left and make some green tom chutney and have some fried green toms for supper. There are also some spuds in, but fingers crossed, the last of those will be dug out tomorrow.

( photo / image / picture from EJ's Garden )
We have had an AMAZING year for toms. I have never had such a great year. Dare I say, I am almost sick of them!! Some will be reserved and put in the fridge, some are going to be made into roast tomato soup, and the rest will be cooked down into sauce and frozen.

( photo / image / picture from EJ's Garden )

This little mixture are the last courgettes, only finger thin, the last aubergine, a dinky one, some watermelon cucumbers and a few stray strawberries. There are lots of unripe fruit on the strawb plants, so if we get plenty of sun, hopefully we will get another bowl full. Of course, they only lasted about 3 seconds once Jessica saw them. Smile

( photo / image / picture from EJ's Garden )

( photo / image / picture from EJ's Garden )

These are cobnuts which I actually picked from someone elses garden. One of my customers has a lovely little cobnut tree, and I remembered last year I saw some nuts, but the squirrels had beaten me to them. I have kept an eye on them this year, and as the customer didn't want them, I picked all I could reach. They are delicious.

( photo / image / picture from EJ's Garden )

( photo / image / picture from EJ's Garden )

Hope you enjoyed seeing my harvest.

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great pics and produce ej! everything looks scrumptious!

those cobnuts look a lot like our filberts, which, i think are like hazelnuts.

here's a salsa recipe that i use all the time...you can tweak it to your own tastes...

ANNIE’S ORIGINAL SALSA

8 cups tomatoes, peeled, chopped and drained
2 ½ cups chopped onion
1 ½ cups chopped green pepper
3 – 5 chopped jalapenos
6 cloves minced garlic
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp pepper
1/8 cup canning salt
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup vinegar
16 oz. tomato sauce
16 oz tomato paste
Mix all ingredients, bring to a boil, boil 10 minutes. Pour into hot jars, process at 10 lbs of pressure for 30 minutes for pints.

Makes 6 pints
Annie has made a couple changes to her original recipe.
1/4 cup sugar(1/3 in original recipe)
2/3 cup vinegar if BWB / 1/3 cup if pressure canned
8 oz tomato paste instead of 16