The carrots are still being pulled, there's a selection of the three different varieties I've grown here, Tendersnax, Chantenay and Nantes. The WoodBlocX raised bed really has worked wonders. I haven't pulled many this time, just enough for a meal but there's still plenty more to come.
Only six pounds of tomatoes this time. I say 'only', my tomato plants have kept my own family, my mum and dad, two neighbours and a friend's family supplied throughout summer. I haven't preserved any at all this year as I have done in the past, I do so much prefer eating them fresh.
I keep saying this but there's still more tomatoes to come and they're still ripening on the vine. I wonder how long they'll go on for.
I can almost smell the freshness x
ReplyDeleteThere's nothing quite like it, is there?
DeleteAnother great harvest from your plot! I hope that you enjoy eating all of your beetroot, they will be delicious with goats cheese. xx
ReplyDeleteBeetroot and goats cheese are flavours which really compliment each other. I'm looking forward to my lunch this week.
DeleteWonderful harvest! I love beetroot especially in salad, I roast it first and let it cool, yum!
ReplyDeleteI usually have pickled beetroot in a salad unless I've grown it myself. I love the stuff.
DeleteThree of my favorite things, I eat beetroot most days.
ReplyDeleteMine too. I must admit that I only eat beetroot when I've grown it myself, unless it's pickled.
DeleteWow to those tomatoes at the beginning of October and your carrots look wonderful - mine still need a bit of fattening up. We are getting another round of warmer weather in the coming week and hopefully that will help. I really wish I liked beets - there are so many lovely varieties out there - but that's the one veg that I likely will never grow unless someone in my family requests them.
ReplyDeleteThe tomatoes are still doing so well. Warmer weather will certainly help everything grow a bit bigger. I love beetroot but I'm the only one in our house who does, it's still worth growing though as I can eat plenty of it.
DeleteFor some strange reason we didn't plant beetroot this year, I love it boiled then peeled and eaten whist still warm, I find the smell of freshly cooked beetroot irresistible. Our tomatoes also seem to be going on and on, and the Physalis has been very good hopefully they will all ripen.
ReplyDeleteI love warm beetroot too. I've only grown physalis once and they didn't do very well so I never bothered again, yours look fantastic though.
DeleteSounds as if the WoodBlocX worked wonderfully well.
ReplyDeleteDo like the idea of beetroot and goats cheese, a great mix of flavours.
Hope your weekend went / is going well.
All the best Jan
I can definitely recommend growing roots in raised beds, the depth seems to work really well. I do love beetroot with goats cheese, the flavours really compliment each other.
DeleteThe last week of sunshine must have helped the tomatoes. Now the weather is changing I'm thinking I will be bringing the rest inside to ripen soon. It's getting chilly at night too... I need the greenhouse space for stashing things safely over winter!
ReplyDeleteI think it must have done, though I can't really understand why I've had such a good year with them, probably the best ever, when we've hardly had any summer to speak of. I'm hoping that they'll continue to ripen outdoors for a while longer.
DeleteI grow beetroot most years but not that fussed about eating it.
ReplyDeleteAs for your carrots and tomatoes....! Flighty xx
I've stopped growing things we're not that bothered about. I wouldn't bother with beetroot as the rest of the family don't eat it but I absolutely love it. The carrots and tomatoes are delicious too.
DeleteA great season for your tomatoes Jo....how wonderful that you have fed so many people on them.
ReplyDeleteI love roasted beetroot.....and yes with goats cheese, delicious.
I have a box full of produce in the shed from my friend. He has an allotment, so I receive regular supplies.
I have lots of beetroot.....and like you I am the only one who eats it.
I'm thrilled by how my tomatoes have done this year and everybody has enjoyed them so much. How lovely that your friend shares her produce from her allotment with you, that's one thing I love about growing my own, being able to share lots of things with others.
DeleteLovely looking beetroot Jo, try making cake...bet your family wouldn't even realize it was in there!!
ReplyDeleteI have a load of tomatoes to dehydrate, I found this a great way to preserve them and easy to store!!
I've never made cake with beetroot, I definitely should. I bet your dehydrator is great at this time of year, as you say, it will make food easy to store too.
DeleteI've had a massive beetroot glut here as well, they're been brilliant. And I've had carrots for the first time as well, Chantenay Red Cored and Autumn King, they've been a real treat. Well done on your tomatoes. I took almost all of mine out this morning, I just have a few fruits ripening on the kitchen windowsill now. CJ xx
ReplyDeleteI don't mind having gluts at all, anything we can't eat ourselves gets passed on to others and they're always glad of fresh veg. I hate it when the tomato plants come out, it signals the end of the growing year, though I don't suppose it's that long until we start sowing seeds and starting all over again.
DeleteOh- beetroot, live to see them - I also dig out mine today :)
ReplyDeleteI think beetroot has a taste all of its own. I shall be enjoying lots of it this week, I hope you enjoy yours too.
DeleteLovely harvest!
ReplyDeleteIt's all very welcome, we do love our fresh veg.
DeleteOur beetroot did well this year, I didn't do any carrots as our ground is very stony but have a raised bed system for them next year your look yummy :-)
ReplyDeleteIt's the first time I've used a raised bed and it's worked so well for my carrots. It's so much easier to keep the soil stone free which of course, carrots much prefer.
DeleteI'll have to pull our beetroot and get it cooked. We didn't grow very much of it this year - I don't like it so it's only for my husband and dad. We're still getting plenty of tomatoes but finally starting to slow down.
ReplyDeleteI always end up growing more than I need of most things but there's plenty of people who will take fresh veg off my hands. I don't think the tomatoes will enjoy the weather that's blown in today, perhaps they will start slowing down now.
DeleteI have had a similar experience with my root crops. Getting the Woodblocx raised bed convinced me that my existing beds were too shallow. This year I converted two to a new, much deeper design, and the crops in them have done very well, especially the carrots. I'm looking forward to lifting my Parsnips now!
ReplyDeleteI think it's so much easier to control what you're growing in with raised beds. When I first got my allotment I was going to go with raised beds and then decided against it, now I realise how good they are. Perhaps they're not needed for every crop but roots definitely seem to do better in them in my experience. We're having parsnips today with a roast chicken dinner, unfortunately not home grown.
DeleteFree, delicious tomatoes all summer. You can't beat that! They all look delicious.
ReplyDeleteThey are delicious. I rarely buy them from the supermarket as they're tasteless in comparison. There's something to be said for eating in season.
DeleteA good harvest Jo ! It is such a lovely feeling to see everything laid out like that. I agree about eating tomatoes fresh, picking them warmed by the sun and eating them straight away is priceless. My greenhouse toms have been fantastic this year and outdoors 'Romeo' have been early and heavy croppers.
ReplyDeleteI'm pleased to hear that you've had a good year with your tomatoes too. I always seem to grow more than I need, sometimes they don't do as well but I still have enough for my needs and if they do particularly well, then I'm able to share my bounty.
DeleteBeetroot is also good used in a similar way to when you braised red cabbage. It goes well with ingredients such as Apple, raisins, onion etc I have a recipe of how I've cooked it which can be found from the recipe link at the top of my blog if you are interested.
ReplyDeleteI'll definitely take a look, though I have to say that I tend to cook things the simplest way possible when there's only myself eating it. I'd go to more trouble finding new recipes if it were something the whole family enjoyed.
DeleteWe love beetroot.. I make a lot of beetroot chutney with mine.. yummy :o) Our veg has grown better in our raised beds this year.
ReplyDeleteBeetroot chutney sounds good, I may have a go at that. I definitely think raised beds are the way to go, my carrots and beetroot have done so much better in mine than they've ever done in the ground.
DeleteLOVE LOVE beetroot! Like Julie, I make beetroot chutney in glut years - which means I haven't managed to make any since 2006, when I thought I might be on the verge of setting up a beetroot chutney business.
ReplyDeleteIt's been a disappointing year for beetroot here. I think a pheasant had a dust bath in the middle of the beetroot patch just after sowing and I failed to notice at the time.
Interesting what you say about raised beds. Do all your veggies grow better in them - or just the roots?
I'm definitely going to look in to beetroot chutney, that's a good way of using up any surplus. Such a shame that you've had a bad year with it, especially when you like it so much. Isn't that usually the case? The things we're not so bothered about grow like weeds but the things we love tend to be harder to grow. I've only grown my carrots and beetroot in the raised bed so far so can't comment on how other crops grow in it, but it's so much easier controlling what medium you're sowing in to with raised beds so I can only see that as beneficial.
DeleteWe had our first frost which means our tomatoes are finished - much earlier than last year. Your carrots really do look great - no carrot fly? Is that thanks to growing them in the raised beds, you think? I grew 'Resistafly' this year and it has very little damage, but still some.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it will be long before we get a frost, the nights are much cooler now. I used enviromesh to cover the carrots with this year, it's expensive but it really does work.
DeleteThank you for visiting my blog . . . I have been going through many of your past posts and although we do not have the same weather conditions, I know that I can learn a lot from you. I am new at gardening, but have grown two summer vegetable gardens that were amazing. I had so many vegetables that I put boxes out by the road with FREE written on them. It was a great way to meet my new neighbors :) I'm a suburb girl transplanted to the country and loving it. I am your newest follower and hope that you will revisit and follow me back. Making new friends with common interests is one of the biggest joys of blogging.
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful day.
Connie:)
One of the things I enjoy the most about growing my own vegetables is being able to share the produce with other people. I can imagine how pleased your neighbours will have been to have some fresh veggies and as you say, that's a great way to make some new friends. I agree about blogging being a great way to make new friends too.
DeleteYou have exceeded yourself this year with those tomatoes! Wonderful to have supplied them to so many people too! I enjoy beetroot, mine haven't done very well this year though! Your carrots look good too!xxx
ReplyDeleteI've really enjoyed sharing my tomatoes with friends and family this year, there's been plenty to go round. Shame about your beetroot, you can never tell what going to come good and what isn't from one year to the next. I think it'll be your year next year.
Delete