The pumpkin

It is a very, very nice pumpkin. Pleasing colour. Interesting shape (underneath it looks like the one harvested a while ago). Taste uncertain as of yet. Yep, I'm very proud of this one.


Ok, technically it is a winter squash, not a pumpkin (see footnote). I am also eating summer squash (patty pan) at the moment, and waiting for another unidentified squash to ripen. This means it's officially autumn!

Footnote: Try and find out the difference between winter squashes and pumpkins. Come on, I dare you. And when you find it, send me the answer ;) At the moment I like this definition the best: "Pumpkins are something you carve, winter squashes are something you eat, and gourds are something you look at."

Beetroot harvest

I never think of having beetroot during the summer. Something about it spells autumn for me - the earthy taste perhaps. My summer exception is a Turkish beetroot salad but I never make that for myself. Today I finally decided to pull up half of the white beetroots I have in my garden. Marvellous stuff - they don't bleed and you can eat the leaves too.


The beetroots are now roasting in the oven, sliced along with the carrots from last week and a rough-chopped patty pan squash in olive oil, balsamic vinegar and some herbs (sage, thyme and oregano). The leaves are throroughly cleaned, one by one (I don't fancy eating tiny snails), chopped, and now I have two bags of them in the freezer. Autumn is going to be full of delicious produce!

Summer is over

August was really not great shakes in terms of weather but now it's starting to get noticeably colder and darker. Still harvesting a lot of stuff but I can tell it's slowing down.

I have patty pan (summer) squash and Turk's Turban (winter) squash that I planted but something squash-like self-seeded itself, probably from last year. The problem is that I have no clue what it is. My best guess is an acorn squash which I tried out but never took off. I harvested a small one - a bigger one is still ripening - just to make sure it's not a round zucchini. It isn't.


I found some carrots I forgot about. They're not the prettiest of things but they look edible. I can't really expect too much on my kind of soil. Seems September is full of mystery and surprises...