I put the potato tyre tower together a few days ago, using straw as the growing medium.  Now we wait!

Well, the main crop potatoes are now up - pleased to say we have filled three full sacks (lovely hessian sacks from the Organic Catalogue people that smell like old garden sheds).

We have been a bit remiss with the weeding as we may be moving away, so don’t know if we will be able to keep this plot after Christmas, consequently the plot looks a bit wild. I am determined not to pass it on to the next person in to bad a state though.

The squash and courgettes continue to fill our cupboards, and we now have a steady supply of tomatoes - most of which get roasted and turned into sauce (see Giles’ post below).

I will post up my favorite Madha Jaffrey squash/pumpkin soup recipe later.

Today I went to the local tyre-fitting shop and asked for 5 old tyres to make a tyre tower with.  I’ve dropped them off at the allotment and am going back tomorrow morning to plant my potatoes.  I found these simple instructions for a tyre tower at the Ravenswood Community Garden website.

If you have some old car tyres you can grow some potatoes.
Spread some newspaper on the ground.
Stack two tyres on the newspaper, and fill them with straw or soil.
Bury ten potatoes in the straw or soil and water your tyre tower.

When potato sprouts peep through, add another tyre and fill up with more straw or soil. Keep doing this as your potatoes grow, until you have at least four, five or six tyres in your tower. After the plants flower, take the tower apart and count your potatoes.

Photographs to follow and potatoes for December (I hope).

Here and here.

It seems that to much courgette is a national problem.

We have so many we need to preserve some, so here are two things we’ve been doing with them:

1) Making tomato sauce for freezing, and using in pasta sauces etc. Thanks to Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage Cookbook for this tip. Cut the tomatoes in half and roast them in the oven with a clove or two of garlic and a little bit of olive oil. Then I skin them once roasted and sieve the roasted tomatoes. The pulp goes on the compost heap and the sauce goes in the freezer. It tastes almost as good as…

2) Roast Tomato Soup. From ‘Stones Spells for Magic Feasts’, a veggie cookbook from a cafe in Avebury, Wiltshire - near the stone circle.
Again, halve and roast the tomatoes with garlic and onion, scattered with oregano and basil (we used dried mixed herbs and fresh basil). When skins start to blaken, pulp in the Magimix. Put the puree in a pan with some red wine (we skipped that with no ill-effects), stock and tomato puree. Whisk to combine, reheat gently on the stove and then stir in some cream or fromage frais (we used double cream) when it simmers. Just delicious.

On a more positive note, the F1 Kilaxy cabbages that I planted (in the same bed as those pesky cauliflowers) have grown extremely well and are nearing eating point. ]]> http://www.5rods.co.uk/2006/07/18/singing-the-club-root-blues/feed/ http://www.5rods.co.uk/2006/07/13/cropdesperate-for-successful-courgette-recipes/ http://www.5rods.co.uk/2006/07/13/cropdesperate-for-successful-courgette-recipes/#comments Thu, 13 Jul 2006 20:58:45 +0000 exmonkey General http://www.5rods.co.uk/2006/07/13/cropdesperate-for-successful-courgette-recipes/


crop

The harvest is in full swing now. The courgettes especially, they seem to double in size every night.

My own particular bete-noir (or would that be a legume-noir?) is the courgette. Courgettes are famed for being so productive that even the most ardent ratatouille lovers have been known to stand outside their houses grabbing passers-by and begging them to take the spares off their hands. But not mine. While others are overwhelmed with a glut and are exploring ever more outlandish recipes (chocolate courgette cheesecake, anyone?), I have resolutely fruitless plants. I think in four or five years of courgette planting I must have harvested a total of four or five courgettes - and even my maths tells me that’s a pretty poor number of courgettes per year.

But no more. This could be the year that I break the cycle - look what I’ve got:

That’s at least three (three! Count em!) on the way. I couldn’t be more proud.

The first of the tomatoes. I wanted to see if they will ripen off the vine, so these got an early chop.

The new potatoes are somewhat abundant at the moment, which may become a problem as we cannot eat them fast enough. I think I’m right in thinking that you can’t store first earlies - so any nice potato (vegetarian) recipes will be gladly accepted.