Harvest Monday - 22 Sept 2014

By Mwillis
Since we were away from home for much of this last week, gardening has not been my top priority. Nevertheless...

This basketful was collected soon after we got home on Thursday. It includes more lettuce, Runner beans and French beans, one cucumber and one head of Radicchio.

Actually, before we went away I had picked four other cucumbers, which I stored in a Stayfresh bag in the fridge. I put them together with the more recent one for this photo:

The skins of these late-season cucumbers can be a bit tough, so I usually peel them before eating. The ones seen here are of the variety "Iznik F1", which I have successfully grown for the past 3 (or is it 4?) years. However, on a recent visit to my local Garden Centre the other day I saw some packets of cucumber "Diva" at 99p if you purchased them with any two other packs from the same supplier. How could I resist? Since Iznik is an F1 variety, it is expensive to buy (£3.95 for only 5 seeds, if I remember rightly), so these Diva ones represent better value. From the picture on the packet, they look very similar. Anyway, I'll be trying them next year.
On Saturday I lifted one more pot from my rapidly-dwindling supply of potatoes.

This one yielded 861 grams of lovely clean "Pink Fir Apple". I think that's a good result.

At the same time I dug up two more leeks. Two seems to be just the right amount for a 2-person serving.

I have also picked more of the Autumn Bliss raspberries. I've given up photographing them, because every batch looks just like the others! I have been getting two or three batches each week, each one of about 100 or 150 grams.
The best harvest for me this week though was chillis - about which I shall write more soon...