The Harvest

Despite the late start, the vegetable garden has been and still is a remarkable success.

We have been eating salad leaves, coriander, marrows, courgettes, radish and sweedes amongst others.

The first bulk harvest to be taken was the potatoes. A Main Crop variety called Laila. Now, these were not in the ground before mid June, but all the same, due to the long days (and perhaps copious amounts of cow manure) grew at an incredible rate. In fact, they grew at such a rate that I was sure that there was going to be all stem and no tuber. They flowered in early August, not more than 7-8 weeks after planting. They were duly dug up about 3 weeks ago and as you can see, despite the late planting and the relatively small area of ground, the harvest was very satisfactory. To use, Laila is a very tasty Potato, holds it shape well when boiled without going floury. The smaller tubers were excellent in Jamie Olivers Potato and Avacado Salad. (From The Return of the Naked Chef).

The other achievement of note is the sweetcorn, the first to cobs of which were devoured last night. Unknown variety, but looks like we will get a good harvest assuming the earwigs, which seem to have taken an interest, don't manage to find their way down into the main part of the cobs. Straight of the plant and into boiling water for a few mins. Serve with a knob of butter. Lovely....