This point in the year feels a bit like June. In June the Spring crops are slowing down out and the Summer veg just revving up, there’s a lot of variety, but everything is in slightly unhelpful quantities! At the moment the Summer crops are slowing down, French beans are petering out and yes, the tomatoes aren’t growing with quite the same gusto! Deciding which Autumn veg to start picking is really dictated by what has to be picked or it will bolt/be eaten by something, and what can stand outside and wait. The recent wild fluctuations in temperatures are ideal leek bolting conditions so this week I’ll be picking leeks. Better a small leek than a bolted leek! I’m going to pick a few sprouts and some red cabbage too.
I think this week will be one of the last outside salad leaf pickings, I’m hoping indoor salad will take over again in the next few weeks. Leafy veg doesn’t like being undercover in July and August, too much daylight and too hot. They do really from September though, the chard is looking lovely again in the greenhouse and I’ve got kale in there for next Spring which is big enough to eat now.
The “Lazy Housewife” beans that I wrote about several months ago, finally have some beans on them. They were described as a late variety, this seems very late though. The problem with any veg taking such a long time to reach maturity is there are just too many months for some creature to damage the plants. In this case, something, I’m not sure what, bit through the stems of about two thirds of the plant. The plants that survived have short, flat pods on them. The actual beans start developing fairly quickly but the whole thing, pod and immature bean can just be chopped up and eaten.
I did two markets last week, I’ve another next week then a sort of rest until November and various Christmas markets! I think the combination of veg subscribers and craft markets works really well, we just need to build up a lot more stock this Winter. Of course I’ll have nowhere to put it…what I really need is a large, insulated, heated shed!
This week’s Croft Shares have the following:
Small – Leeks, broccoli, peppers, tomatoes and a red cabbage.
Medium – Leeks, purple sprouting broccoli, peppers, courgettes/Summer squash, French beans, spinach and salad leaves.
Large – Leeks, broccoli, peppers, courgettes/Summer squash, tomatoes, mustard greens, sprouts, salad leaves, chard and something else, not sure what yet!
The Summer squash are the snakey looking ones, just chop off the head and discard (this is where the seeds are,) then slice the rest and use like courgette. It makes a good creamed courgette soup.