Kitchen Garden Forum

Today I'll be picking my first two ripe yellow tumbling outdoor tomatoes for ceremonial consumption.
Few of my outdoor cordon tomatoes even have flowers yet. It has reminded me how useful these bush/tumbling varieties can be with their earlier fruits, especially in weather like this year when I'm worried that blight might be a problem again.
Apart from this, my only crops reaped so far have been the wonderful lettuces I've been gathering from the £1 Lidl Living Lettuce punnets I planted out and some strawberries.

Oh, lucky you, Primrose! We have had rhubarb (lots!), cabbage, rhubarb chard, lettuce, kohlrabi and summer purple broccoli. Peas and broad beans are on the menu for this weekend. The rain the last few days has really brought things on and the forecast warmth should help, too.

But the tomatoes and sweet peppers in the greenhouse are only just starting to set.

Must confess I have no sign of Tomato ripening; growing far too many, 10 in the greenhouse that was heated earlier, 18 in the cold greenhouse (mainly beefsteaks), 20 in the tunnel and 10 outside that I didn't have to heart to throw away when I failed to give them away. Not that much difference between them either so a sudden glut is looming.
Dangerous to say so but I think it is looking like an excellent season. Eaten lots from the tunnel and greenhouse already and now outside is taking over. The 10 roots of Rocket Potatoes in the tunnel gave us over 30 lbs that we haven't finished and flowers are dying on the ones outside so presumably they are ready when needed. Having eaten the Cauliflowers, Cabbages and Calabrese out of the greenhouse we have now started on the same outside. Greenhouse Carrots are doing well. Mangetout and Feltham First Peas in the tunnel are just finishing with outside ones ready to follow. The maincrop Peas, Alderman and Greenshaft, are looking as good as I have seen them for a few years.

We have cleared Spinach and Turnips from the tunnel but still eating Chard with again outside about ready to follow. The Onions and Shallots from seed are bulbing up nicely and we are using Japanese Onions from last year's sowing. The outside Brassicas of all sorts are growing like mad, not had good Cabbage for a few years so having raised sturdy plants I may have planted them too close.

With never ending salads and Coriander, using the first Chillis, Sweet Peppers at about 1", Courgettes ready inside and out and even the Squashes and Pumpkins putting in some effort it all looks too good to be true.

Fantastic looking crops Geoff. I'm green with envy. All those lovely peas !

My peas are looking like yours Geoff, hope to pick this weekend but I haven't got quite as many as you

If you have a glut of toms have you thought of cooking down and bottling? Really easy to do and makes great addition to pasta sauces etc for the winter without using precious freezer room.

Wash your toms, remove stalks and chuck in a big pan, gently cook down, they will burst and go wonderfully juicy. When cooled a bit push through a sieve (easy now cooked) put into jars and tighten down lids. In a big pan put an old folded teatowel in the bottom place your jars in and fill with cold water to about an inch below the top of the jars. Bring to the boil and simmer gently for about an hour. I let them cool in the water. Check the lids are still tight and store. I've kept them for about a year. They may go longer but I've never had enough to try this out! They always get eaten by then.

MW

We purree down our surplus tomatoes for the freezer, chopping them and frying with onions and garlic until soft, then whizzing with a stick blender. They can then be reconstituted for soup or used in soups, meat sauces and casseroles. Just as long as the deadly blight doesn't, destroy the crop!

I almost ate the first two cherry tomatoes to start turning colour, but decided to wait another day or two for them to get properly red. Such willpower!

Been grazing on the first strawberries instead.

We are quite a bit behind all of you, but tonight we enjoyed a vegetable casserole with all our own fresh vegetables: broad beans, peas, mangetout peas, chard, kohlrabi, carrots, potatoes, shallot, garlic and lots off herbs. and savoured every biteful!