Mamma G

Dinner last night was lovely. Mamma G was over as I said and we had champ and sausages - comfort food. I was so sleepy the rest of the evening.

Mamma told me that that radish, the purple one, was gorgeous, sweet rather than peppery. A new breed of radish?! Could that have made me my fortune? Darn it. Lost forever.....

We also discussed the idea of her own little 'allotment' out the back were the patio is. A pottage/kitchen garden of 4 small raised squares. We all think it's a great idea; she has done all this allotment-y stuff before and has green fingers, so why not? Keep you posted on that, Andrew and I will be organising it for her - more lovely digging!!! In return I'm hoping we get a ready supply of apple tarts from her own apple trees, okay Mamma? Oh and I changed my profile pic for you, hope you think this one is nicer.

Well, the sky is bright blue at the moment and I am determined wee Maggie should get a quick walk, if it kills me. So better go quick, Mother Nature really has had it in for me recently, there's probably a large grey cloud waiting for me over the house.

31st September (I make the rules here)

I was very brave and a little while ago, I gave in and relented to the fact that it is... October. I turned the page on the calendar before my nerves give way and just felt thankful that it wasn't November, not yet. This year seems to be going in way too fast and soon it will be winter and generally that does not cheer me in any way.

Thanks go out to Paul and Caro for arranging to have their wedding this month and thus a trip to Belgium is on the cards in less than a fortnight.

Even so, while I can, I would like to talk about September for a little longer.

We visited the lottie last night, for food for dinner, last nights dinner and tonight. I forgot to even look at the caterpillar chrysalis, so 'Chrysalis Watch' has gotten off to a terrible start, sorry.

We had a good harvest look. Yes, spinach, carrots, potatoes and 2 new additions to the repertoire - Scallions and Chillies (Hungarian Hot Wax). I had the spinach for my lunch there and it tasted great, with the usual addition of prunes, yummy. The Chillies were used last night in a Veggie Curry (made by Andrew), they weren't hot but they are only just turning yellow/orange but they did taste nice. The plant looks very healthy and there are, goodness, around 20+ on it growing away merrily under their own little greenhouse. The Jalapeno also has lots of flowers and a couple of baby chillies.

The Scallions are for this evening, Champ with Pork and Apple Sausages. Mamma G is coming over for dinner, and that reminds me - must tidy up a bit!! I think this is the 1st time we've had anyone over to share in a Lottie meal with us. We generally just give produce away, like these Radishes last night, which went to the afore mentioned Mamma; a good home for a radish to go and fulfil it's destiny. A couple were split a little and one of them was purple, it always was since it was a baby - odd, maybe just a different variety in the packet of seeds, even it's foliage was richer in colour.

Now I have a lesson to share with you, about Runner Beans and what not to do with them. Take note, if you ever grow these fine and tasty beans, never ever put them in the freezer without blanching them first. They will turn to floppy, squishy messes that even their own Mother would despair over. Blanching is the key, I hope anyway cos that's what we have done with the rest. Hopefully they will be better and can be cooked just from frozen.

Here are the floppy beans (sad) and here are the last batch of lottie runner beans, blanched and ready to go into the freezer.

Well, the sun is out, though it is very cold. I really ought to take Maggie for a quick walk before all the noisy kids get released from their schools and explode onto the streets. Haha, it's just started to absoultely pour down, no going out for us - Maggie HATES rain. It's so changable.

New Harvests

Here's a wee run down of what is growing away at the plot for the future (don't forget we are still eating potatoes, carrots, beetroot, lettuce, runner beans, spinach and sweetcorn at the moment).
In this bed alone we have Pak Choi, more carrots, more mixed lettuce, scallions and more turnips (they were a surprise for me, I'd been complaining that we'd finished them all). I thinned them out on Sunday and everything is very healthy. I have high hopes for the Pak Choi, fingers crossed.


Elsewhere we have leeks fattening up nicely, parsnips, beetroots and spring cabbages. Oh and a great turn out for the books - our own chillies, loads of them. We have 2 different types (under a mini greenhouse we bought in Woolworths for next to nothing) both flowering and producing fruit, one is a Jalapeno, but this one is miles ahead and it's the one with no label! Andrew ate a big bit out of one of these, but it wasn't hot - not ripe yet. I thought he was mad when I saw him crunching away.

We also have radishes but we're not interested in them - they're for Mamma G and Anne to eat. But look how cute they are; I managed to get this photo just mins before Mamma G ate it up straight from the bed; the beautiful redness shining at her was too tempting.

There's nothing wrong with them, I just don't think we'll bother again. They are a little fiery, peppery but mainly (and I mean this for all radishes I 've had) watery. It's not exactly wasabai is it!