A post from the garden rather than the plot this month. There are still quite a few flowers blooming in this glorious sunshine we've been having. In fact I might need to water all the pots, they're looking really dry. The bees are still busy everywhere, especially on the cosmos. I think I'll always have cosmos in the garden from now on, they really earn their keep. Flowers for weeks and weeks, and always attracting bees.
There are masses of figs, but I'm going to take them off because they're not fully grown yet, so there's no chance they'll ripen. It'll be a job for rubber gloves, fig sap is quite irritating to the skin. Ask me how I know.
I grew some late sugar snap peas (intentionally) and late runner beans (not intentionally - they just didn't get going for ages). So now I have both to pick, which is lovely so late in the season. I must remember to plant late sugar snaps next year too. I shall try harder to have some available all summer, we can easily eat as many as I can grow, they're a real treat.
I grew carrots! It turns out they love the dry powdery soil in the garden. And they've been almost completely blemish free, by some miracle. Maybe the carrot flies can't get into the garden over our fences. I've heard they can't get up high. So maybe they're all behind the fence trying to work out how to get in. Anyway, the carrots have been a triumph. One of them has flowered, but the rest are just doing the normal thing.
The herbs are doing nicely, and there are still tomatoes, although some of them are splitting, and they are getting to the end of the line. I'll probably take the plants out at the weekend. I have a few pots of tomato sauce in the freezer - tomatoes, onions, garlic, herbs and red pepper - simple, but oh so delicious, especially in the depths of winter. The discovery of the year was the tomato Orkado (pictured), which did brilliantly for me. All my tomatoes are grown outside, most of them in the soil which they seem to like a lot more than pots. I'll definitely be growing it again next year.
Things will no doubt be looking quite different by the end of next month. Once the frosts hit, the cucumbers and courgettes and flowers at the plot will be finished. But for the time being, I'm so enjoying this late sunshine, and I hope you are too if you're lucky enough to have it.
... well your September garden has done well.
ReplyDeleteThat tomato, although split, does look tasty.
Certainly the last few days in the UK have been lovely.
All the best Jan
Your garden looks wonderful, CJ. I'm so envious of people who can grow good food in their own garden. It's so difficult for me. I'm not good at it and the climate doesn't help one bit. I love that you're so dedicated to your plot as well as your home garden, you certainly seem to have a knack and I can tell that it makes you happy.
ReplyDeleteWe're having a sunny time here.. we went out on a drive today to "leaf peep". I'll post some photos tomorrow. I'm glad to see how well you've done with growing your own edibles. ((hugs)), Teresa :-)
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of the carrot fly all lined up behind your fence! Your garden is looking lovely and very productive and I envy you being able to grow carrots - they don't seem to like our clay soil. Happy gardening. xx
ReplyDeleteThis late summer has been glorious and enabled me to sort the garden before the onslaught of frosts and never ending rain. I did really well with tomatoes this year too, tumbling toms in hanging baskets, I picked the last of them yesterday. They are a little small but have a beautiful taste. I have got some late carrots in and am really hoping the carrot fly will remain lined up at the fence, time will tell.
ReplyDeleteLate bounty is always even more appreciated than the earlier stuff I think simply because it can't be much longer before it is all over. You've done well with all your produce our tomatoes always seem to succumb to blight what's your tip? Cosmos are lovely aren't they and really do earn their keep (not that they ask for much). Enjoy the last days of summer in your bountiful garden.
ReplyDeleteI think I've just been lucky. I do grow Ferline which reportedly has some immunity, and Sungold which don't seem to succumb either, and is an early variety, so even if it did get blight later on, hopefully there would be a small harvest first. CJ xx
DeleteI have a mental image of gangs of carrot flies gathered together behind your fence staring up at it muttering angrily and shaking their fists. It all looks and sounds wonderful. Our toms are in baskets And although they grew this year they weren't as good as last. Xx
ReplyDeleteThe first vegetable I grew in my garden was carrots. I have a photo of my then one-year old daughter sitting in the border and eating one having just pulled it out of the ground. Oops! She didn't die. Peck of dirt and all that. I do recall that home-grown carrots were always fly-free, unlike the allotment ones which are always riddled by this stage. Isn't this weather wonderful. I do enjoy a bit of clearing and weeding in the sunshine.
ReplyDeleteLots of yummy things still to eat then! I heard that carrot flies only fly about 18 inches from the ground, so I guess if you have a higher than that fence all the way around it will keep them off! Seems to have worked well for you! xx
ReplyDeleteYour September garden looks lovely. Like you I planted runner beans really late, simply because I just didn't get my act together; it was touch-and-go as to whether they would do anything, but they did and we're enjoying tender runners in abundance. I saw in one of your earlier posts that you grow borlotti beans. I've grown some for the first time this year and we have some lovely speckled pods but wondered how big you let the beans inside get before you pick? Enjoy the rest of your week. Jane xx
ReplyDeleteI let them get full grown, so that I can feel a good-sized bean in the pod, before I pick them. Some are white with red splashes, but the younger ones are still green. Either is fine. If there are smaller ones in a pod I still use them exactly the same. No doubt if you pick them when they are smaller and more tender they cook quite quickly. CJ xx
DeleteThank you CJ, can't wait to try them. Jxx
DeleteIt's wonderful to have late harvests, I do try to sow a second batch of beans just so they're still coming in to autumn. I didn't manage it this year but it didn't really matter because like yours, they took a while to get going so I'm still picking them. Well done on the carrots, for such a basic vegetable they do seem so tricky to grow. I've had my best year yet, but I've used a raised bed.
ReplyDeleteHello, thank you for your comment on my blog.
ReplyDeleteI love your garden pictures, and I'm jealous of your carrots! It took three attempts at sowing them to get any to germinate, and the harvest wasn't that exciting.
Such lovely photos! and what a great bounty! I absolutely adore cosmos, such happy flowers.
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Your garden is looking lovely. Good news on the carrots! I grew some successfully for the first time this year too. It must be an auspicious year for carrot growing!
ReplyDeleteA most enjoyable post and lovely pictures. As you know cosmos are one of my favourite flowers so grow them every year. Shame about the figs. Lucky you with the carrots and tomatoes.
ReplyDeleteLike you I've been enjoying, and making the most of, the good weather. Happy gardening. Flighty xx
Cosmos is one lovely flower isn't it.. just keeps giving and giving.. ours are covered in bees as well. We have lots of figs that'll have to be removed too. Can just picture the carrot flies behind your fence trying to work out how to get through..haha! :o) xx
ReplyDeleteYour photo of the light through cosmos petals is very beautiful indeed. Well done on successful carrot growing. I'm sure there's nothing quite like a freshly pulled carrot. I might try some next year. And I'm going to look out for Orkado tomatoes. We grew Gardener's Delight and Sungold this year, both of which were lovely but I'd like to branch out. Fingers crossed this glorious weather sticks around for a bit longer.
ReplyDeleteYou make me miss my mother's garden. I loved pinching peas when she wasn't looking, haha!
ReplyDeleteI haven't had any cosmos in my garden this year and I've really missed it. Must remember to plant some next year..................
ReplyDeleteIt looks like your garden is keeping your kitchen well stocked. Good job on the carrots. Since we have a rabbit, we should have tried growing them, but our soil is almost pure clay and our raised beds aren't very deep.
ReplyDeleteYour garden looks lovely CJ and so productive too. Ours is looking very bare at the moment! x
ReplyDeleteLovely, all lovely. Your garden is looking so alive and lush, like it's really thriving right now. I want to make my own tomato sauce now and freeze it and eat it in the depths of winter. Do you think it counts if I use shop bought tomatoes...? x
ReplyDeleteSugar snap peas are a real treat to me, too, CJ. I like to eat them raw. Do you cook yours, and if so, how? When I was a child it was fun to pick the peas from my parents' garden and then sit on the back step and shell them into a bowl ready for them to be quickly heated and served...sometimes with milk, butter, salt and pepper, but I liked them raw as well...just not the pods. It is amazing to me that sugar snap peas can be eaten...peas and pods! Your successful gardening encourages me to try to grow sugar snap peas here in Boring, Oregon, USA [Boring is the proper name of our town believe it or not :)]
ReplyDeleteGlad you mentioned gloves when removing figs that aren't going to ripen as we've got some to remove too. I certainly wouldn't have bothered with gloves.
ReplyDeleteFed up of foggy mornings now even if we do manage a couple of hours of sunshine in the late afternoon.
Your garden looks lovely, as ever. You must be so busy with it. Enjoy those last few weeks of harvesting! x
ReplyDeleteHey CJ,
ReplyDeleteI'm enjoying my late summer garden too. I wish I'd grown more veggies outside my back door. I still have tomatoes, but everything else has finished. I have swathes of Cosmos. They are fabulous aren't they?
Leanne xx
Everything in your garden are so beautiful and vibrant. In here it looks very much like Autumn. Cold winds and lower temperatures are in to stay. I am glad you can freeze lots of good vegetables from your garden. The flowers are beautiful!
ReplyDeleteLovely photos of your September garden. Alas, the lovely autumn weather we've been enjoying in our part of the world is coming to an end, as the temperatures are going down to freezing and there's talk of some of the white stuff too. I should have gone out this afternoon into my garden to say thank you to all my wonderful flowers for giving us so much pleasure again.
ReplyDeleteWishing you a beautiful weekend...
Brenda
Your garden looks beautiful my friend, I am in love with sugar snap peas, I eat them all the time as a snack in my car while driving for work. Have a lovely weekend,
ReplyDeleteMeredith
Fabulous captures of your garden, I'm envious. I used to grow a lot of my own vegetables at my old house, but don't have the time these days.
ReplyDeletestretch out those summer veg for as logn as possible! it's always a sad day when you have to remove the zucchinis and tomatoes. sigh... but good having them stocked away in your freezer.
ReplyDeletePS love the cosmos. such a simple but pretty flower.
Those are fantasti images from your garden especially the autumn light on the cosmos! I am jealous of your magnificent crop of carrots. Our fig tree has figs that are too small to ripen. We had some bigger figs a while ago but the insects got to them before we did! Sarah x
ReplyDeleteWow, it looks as if the sunny September was great for your garden. I can picture the carrot flies behind the fence! xx
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