Newsletter
August 10th 2010
The last week has been one of weeding, planting and resowing. Flea beetle blown in fron neighbouring fields of harvested rape seed have devastated the plantings of winter brassicas even though they have been covered with environmesh. Fortunatly, the Brussels sprouts, calabrese and some varieties of kale have shown some resistance. All the winter cabbages are gonners so despite the late date, we have resown. At best we will have small cabbages, at worst, nothing. We shall see. What we really need is cool wet weather to kill the blighters off.
Despite the gloom, because of the continuing warm dry weather, the field is looking pretty smart for a change. It looks as though we are in for bumper crops of tomatose, beans and courgettes. We have grown an outdoor tomato for the first time in years, to test it's supposedly blight resistance. The foliage is still robust, but the fruit is smaller than a cherry tomato, so really not worth the hassle of picking.
There is a lovely crop of heritage tomatoes in the new polytunnel. Yellow. pink and purple cherry tomatoes and yellow and purple beefsteak types. The taste is suberb, but generally, there skins are very thin and they split easily. Not great keepers, but too tasty to hang around long!
This weeks recipe is for courgette cake: in a mixing bowl put: 2 cups sugar, 3 cups flour, 1 cup oil, 2 cups grated courgette, 3 eggs, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp bicarb, 1 tsp baking powder, 2 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp allspice, 1 cup raisins, 1 cup chopped walnuts (or/and a chopped bar of plain chocolate). mix until well combined and pour into a lined cake tin and bake for 45 to 50 mins at 325F