Had to do a bit of re-arranging in the Wendy house. It’ positively heaving with chillies and bells. Some of which are small and bushy, others are getting quite tall. Early Jalepeno and it’s friend have been shifted outside and placed under improvised cover. There is one single solitary, long red Marconi. As of yet, it’s still green. A few more frauzauber and Nigel have been harvested. As well as couple of purple rainbow chillies.
Have observed about a dozen small sweet bell peppers. Wonder if they will get any bigger.
We also had another marrow. The second in a week. In a week, we have harvested 8 different courgettes. Still have a patty pan, with which we need to so something.
Mama H curried the marrow, with striato di Napoli and summer ball courgettes. Making a 3 squash curry.
Looking ahead to the winter, today some winter brassicas were planted out. Ma got very excited yesterday when they arrived, and they have to be planted out ASAP. I had a vague idea where to plant them and how. In the one bed, that hasn’t done very well or very much. Also this area, has in past flooded quite a bit too. Of course, many will tell you about having to net them. Well, these are part netted, part fleeced. I do have veggie mesh on the other cabbages.
Stupidly, have left gaps in those and so flutterbies have got in. As well as that, slugs! I swear they are psychic. Only just planted things, collared them, added pellets. Whoosh. Big fat thing was there as though it had ESP. Was promptly lobbed. It was not pleasant.
Anyway, the cabbages, caulis and broccoli have been sunk. As to whether they last, well that’s another thing.
Having collected a handful of purple rainbow chillies, I wanted to do something with them. Whilst a single solitary one, made it into a courgette chutney ( http://www.rivercottage.net/users/Pam%20the%20Jam/blog/1281015134-courgette-aid-and-jam-fest/ ). I wanted to make further use of the rest. The chillies are small, berry like. And quite full of seeds. There are additional chillies in the wendy. I have been impatient, and harvested a few non green Nigels, as well as some green frauzauber, These are a lovely lime colour. I have yet to ascertain, whether this is a sweet or a spicy chilli. it went in regardless.
chilli harvest: frauzaber, a nigel, and unidentified one
There was some nervousness about this recipe. In particular, with the quantities. I didn’t want make too much of it, and how would I know if it had boiled properly to then set. The home grown chillies, were padded out with two large red chillies, and one and a half sweet red peppers. I did panic abit, with the boiling, and the mixture was boiling for 15, rather than 10 minutes. Wobbled beautifully, whilst cooling. There was the flecking floating too, of the chopped up chillies. Definitely in the wobble and the flecking.
The verdict. It tastes lovely! Consistency wasn’t bad. Depending on how much you have, it either wobbles like jelly, or splodges like jam. The flavour is a lot like a sweet chilli sauce, just with a different texture. Goes lovely with the dipping crisps, we know that for a fact. It is also wonderfully more-ish.
Is it a plane, is it a bird, no it’s a funny shaped courgette!
To most people, a courgette is a courgette. A nondescript vegetable, shiny, straight and available from your local supermarket. Alas, they have clearly never grown their own veg. I must admit, that I too started off with a straight, relatively typical courgette. The courgette Astia, simple, straight forward and green. Then, I moved onto yellow ones, rounds ones, stripy ones, as you are aware of. Only recently, was I aware of another creature. Yellow Scallop and patty pan. You can argue that these are the one and the same. They may well be, I’m covering my bases here, with synonyms and semantics.
There have been daily explorations of the Esther Bucklee bed. Trying to find down these curiously shaped creatures. These are housed, between the Incredible Sweetcorn, all eight plants of them. I have three of these, I think, and a sweet dumpling, in the confines of a raised bed. This bed is one metre squared, and foray into two out of three sisters. The bed is heaving, you’d think I was growing triffids. This is exactly, what it looks like. A mass of green leaves, the size of dinner plates. Vines making an escaping, with eight long, willow corn plants, standing above a parapet. When the wind blows, the bed appears to be dancing and shaking it’s thing.
As you can see, the courgette is tiny. I almost missed it, but espied the small alien saucer like shape; and had to inspect it further. Not quite sure what I will do with them. As it stands, there are two courgettes in the kitchen. Despite having chutneyed two yesterday.
In other news, have harvested some curly kale and nero di toscano for dinner.
I love my spicy little triffid monsters. These leafy, flowered beauties have taken up the kitchen window sill for some time now. Little berry sized chillies have formed; today I harvested those of a reasonable size. I felt compelled to as there are a lot of flowers but also a number of these self abort and fall off.
The vague plan with these, is to possibly make an experimental batch of chilli jam.
And with the jam making. I tried to make a courgette chutney.
The recipe is from pam the jam at river cottage. And is tenuously Bollywood. It now sits in the fridge. Ready for consumption.
horticultural 'obbit 