Major Toms

Things were going so well.  July was hot, I was watering the tomatoes every other day or so.  August started in the same way but then we went on holiday around the 20th of August to the South of France.  While we were sunning ourselves, going our own version of red, back in the UK, the tomatoes were putting the blight in blighty!

Scarcely even a thought for the poor tomatoes here!

Allotments, French style

Partly cloudy, French style

Needless to say, I have been harvesting a lot of green tomatoes this year.  I am trying all sorts of ripening methods: brown paper bag with banana in it, kitchen window seal, and just leaving them on the vine to fend for themselves.  I have found that if they even have a hint of orange in them then the window seal will bring them to a nice shade of red.  I will have to report back about the banana as I am not convinced that the tomatoes would have ripened just as well without it.  Life on the vine is brutal and if there are positive signs of blight, then it is not advisable as it does move very quickly.

All has not been lost however, I have harvested a lot of juicy red tomatoes (about 50 percent of what I should have had!) and have once again made one of my favourite preserves, passata.  It is a great recipe from the River Cottage series.  It is great for pastas, pizzas, curries, and I could almost eat it as a thick soup if that didn't feel so wrong, due to the fact that I am trying to extend the harvest into winter!

A collection of San Marzano and Roma Tomatoes

Passata Ingredients in a roasting Tray

A few jars of passata for winter!

We Jammin

I thought I would see absolutely tons of strawberries this year.  Actually I did see tons, but unfortunately they all came in about a 10 day period.  Perhaps if I watered them a bit more I would have seen more fruits but the whole patch seemed to stop producing simultaneously, as if there was some fruit plant workers strike! Actually, the plants might be getting a bit tired as this is their 4th or 5th year but I still managed to squeeze a batch of strawberry jam out of them.  I found a very simple but tasty recipe on the BBC web site. The recipe is by Sophie Grigson and I highly recommend it for small batches of jam that will be consumed within the next 6 months or so.

Next stop Blackberries, Loganberries and Raspberries.

Here is the link for the Jam and a few pictures my evening Jammin session!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/get_cooking/recipes/071.shtml