Wednesday 15 September 2010

Vegetable Garden Update

All pictures of vegetables in the garden were taken on Tuesday 14 September.  Although the nights are cooling down, the warm days are still keeping everything growing well.  The beans have slowed up, but I am still picking more that I can eat each day.
The hazel nuts  are all picked  now (I think), and at this stage they weigh in at 6.5kg (14.4 lbs) . Quite impressive, I think, for one tree!!
There are a few pumpkins still left in the garden and several butternut squash; good eating over winter in the UK!! There are three different varieties of pumpkin.
An overgrown yellow courgette (squash) which will also double up as a pumpkin now it has reached this size!!
This is pretty much what the courgette looks like at the stage I normally pick them.
Yep, they are as hot as they look :-)
The green pepper here is as big as it looks  - about 180mm in length (7 inches).
This squash, there are two of them one slightly smaller, is now ready for picking.
Today's picking of tomatoes. Plenty still to go!!
The topinambour, (Jerusalem artichoke) is just coming into flower. It seems a shame to cut these pretty daisies off, but the edible part of the plant is the root. Therefore, the green upper growth will come off, as I want the energy to go down, rather than up!! Never mind, they do open well in a vase, so I get to appreciate them.

I will update the flowers and fruit around the garden in my next post.

48 comments:

  1. you have a fantastic garden and the pics are great.

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  2. Thanks Leon, I have to say I am very pleased with my garden this year! Diane

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  3. How amazing to grow your own hazelnuts... your garden bounty is just too much! I have never grown jerusalem artichokes so did not know about cutting off the flowers... it does make sense, doesn't it. Plants are so smart, waste not want not! I love jerusalem artichoke soup!

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  4. longpastremembered, the hazel nuts are wonderful and we really enjoy them over the Chritmas period. I also love Jerusalem artichoke soup, but butternut soup is still the best. I will put my recipes on the web when it gets a bit colder:-) Diane

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  5. Diane, I buy hazelnut butter at Whole Foods; almost $9 a small jar but it is so good with whole wheat bread and some jam on top.
    Beautiful pictures of the vegetables.

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  6. Nadege, perhaps I should go into business making hazel nut butter:-)
    Thanks for the comment. Diane

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  7. Such lovely gems from your garden, and they'll fuel you over the UK winter!

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  8. That is a nice lot of hazel nuts Diane. They are one of my favorites and never buy a candy bar without them in. LOL!!

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  9. Michelle I may not be looking forward to returning to the UK other than to be with Nigel, but I am quite looking forward to eating all the produce, including jams, pickles and not forgetting the cherries in vodka!! Yum Yum. Love to Zebby cat and of course yourself. Diane

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  10. I am still amazed by the variety of vegetables that you have in your garden - you have a little farm. Do you have much trouble with insect pests?
    Your pictures look lke a fall calandar.

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  11. Looking good! You'll be eating good this winter.

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  12. I am amazed at how prolific your garden has been this year. Truth be told, I'm also a bit envious :-). We've had poor growing conditions and cold nights have assured that only squash and cold hearty vegetables will continue to thrive. Ah, well! There's always next year. I hope you are having a great day. Blessings...Mary

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  13. wow Diane, your garden must keep you quite bust during summer - do you have many pests? ...

    I'm not familiar with Hazel nuts ... how do you use them? ... and, do squirrels fancy them? ... :)

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  14. Of course, I'd forgotten that you'll need to take the produce back to the UK, but what a lovely reminder it will all be!

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  15. Joan, we also love hazel nuts and to really make you jealous the figs are just fantastic at the moment:-) Diane

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  16. Mya some years are worse than others, other than a bit of green fly this year we have had few pests. Even the fruit has been bug free other than the odd hazel nut with a worm. Easy to throw them out thought as they leave a neat little hole in the shell! Diane

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  17. You are right Gaelyn, food wise we will be OK for winter. Diane

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  18. Mary, sorry you have not had a good year, but I think I have done better than most over here as it has been so dry. I am lucky that the garden has shade during the hottest part of the day thanks to a large oak tree and I am sure this helps. Have a good day. Diane

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  19. My, what a wonderful harvest! I can see you will keep busy preparing the food for winter consumption. So great to have all this bounty.

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  20. Jan the car is going to be full this year on my return in mid October. Vegetables, freezer boxes and French wine:-) Diane

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  21. Joyful I am really happy with this years crop. I forgot to add that there is also about 30 kg of potatoes and three ropes of onions standing by to go back to the UK!! Diane

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  22. Graham the garden does keep me busy, but the results are worth all the effort I put into it. I enjoy the work which helps. My freezer is also full. This has been a particularly pest free year, not sure why but it has made life easy. Some years it is not so simple. I did get a few greenfly this year but not enough to be a problem. I also had a few asparagus beetles, but I managed to clear them out with soap and water and manually removing them to a sticky end!

    Hazel nuts are just very nice nuts:-) One single kernel usually to each nut though occasionally twins occur, We mostly just break the shells and eat, but they can be used in a number of recipes like puddings, cakes or as above Nadege says she loves hazel nut butter. Yes Squirrels would be a huge problem, but thankfully so far we have been squirrel free. We do though have a bushy tailed dormouse who loves them and he leaves his trail of broken shells behind him :-)

    As I have just said to Joyful, I forgot to add that there is also about 30 kg of potatoes and three ropes of onions standing by to go back to the UK!! Diane

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  23. Great stuff and mouth watering, Diane!!
    We harvested our hazel nuts a fortnight ago already, so nice to eat them so fresh!
    I was glad to collect them before the squirrels, although I left a few for them!!
    Enjoy your day, we are having a bit of rain which is good!
    Cheers!!

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  24. Noushka, we do not have any squirrels here (yet), but the dormouse does pinch a few:-) We had a spattering of rain last night but very little. Have a good day. Diane

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  25. This is just great. It seems you have everything there! :-) Wonderful and very colourful shots.

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  26. Thanks JM, I hope with the potatoes, onions and frozen foods we are pretty much set up for quite a while over winter. Diane

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  27. I am always interested in your garden and how it is doing. Did you find the hazelnuts very sticky to harvest, we did!

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  28. What a bounty! You are a lucky woman to have such a plentiful garden.

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  29. Lindy I am not sure what you mean by sticky. My nuts just fall out of the husks as they ripen and so long as the weather is dry I just pick up the dry nuts off the ground. The occasional one that comes down with its husk just pops out. That is so long as it has no worm in it. I find the ones with worms don't fall out of the husk and I just turf them out. Diane

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  30. Pam there is quite a lot of hard work that goes into my garden but it is very rewarding. Diane

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  31. ooohhhh...i wish i lived closer too...those hazelnuts and pumpkins....love all of it...your garden is wonderful

    happy to find you today and am happy to follow..always nice to meet a new friend

    kary
    xxx

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  32. Kary so glad you have come to visit and I am also happy to have a new friend.

    Just a bit too far to send you some bits and pieces from the garden:-( Diane xx

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  33. What a great harvest. Picking, bottling, jamming and freezing is hard work but such a labour of love, worth every moment. Great photos.

    I made blackberry jam last weekend - for the first time ever in my life. I couldn't believe how easy it was, although it did turn out a bit stiff !! I will get some more blackberries from the hedgerows this weekend and have another go. I also have 2 kilos in the freezer to keep is in blackberry and apple crumbles all winter. Yum, yum !!

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  34. Bravo Dianepour ces belles récolyes! Vous êtes une excellente jardinière ! Jolies photos de ces beaux légumes si appétissants! Je n'avais jamais vu de fleurs de topinembours!
    Bonnes recettes et régalez-vous!

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  35. Hi Jean I have just put a comment on your blog re making jam so will not repeat it here. I love blackberries but sadly they don't like me! All the berry fruits give me a stomach ache and a serious one as well!!

    I have done a lot of pickling this year as well which is very quick and easy to do. Diane

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  36. lejardindelucie Merci tellement de votre commentaire. La fleur de Topinambour est comme un petit tournesol. Diane

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  37. What an absolutely fantastic harvest. Gardening has become a real passion of mine. Especially this yhear since taking over for my grandmother who is unable to do it anymore. I long for the day I, too, will have a garden as vast and gorgeous as yours.

    Thank you for sharing, Diane. =)

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  38. What a wonderful garden. Good enough to eat! Thanks for sharing with us..:)

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  39. I wish i can stay near to your house, so I can get some of these fresh homegrown veggie, you are just amazing!

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  40. Ree as you are probably discovering it is hard work but it is really worth the results and the food tastes so much better than bought. Diane

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  41. L'Aussie, thanks for the visit, Yes it really is good enough to eat. Diane

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  42. Sonia, sorry it is just a bit too far to send vegetables over to you LOL Diane

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  43. I"m completely jealous of your garden!! It looks awesome and I so want some of those peppers, thanks!

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  44. Not all our hazelnuts were harvested after dropping from the tree and we found the leaves/husks that protect the nuts sticky to the touch :)

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  45. I love your photos and continue to be impressed by your gardening skills! Well done you xxx

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  46. That may be the answer then Lindy. I allowed all mine to drop before harvesting. Diane

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  47. Thanks Roz, have a good weekend. Diane

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  48. Debbie they are so easy to grow with just a little time spent looking after them. Diane

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