Bumper harvest of tomatoes

I had a bumper harvest of tomatoes yesterday. I picked about 2 kg of tomatoes, and that was just the very ripe ones and the ones that fell off when I was picking the very ripe ones. I made tomato sauce with pasta with a kilo of them, gave some to a neighbour and need to find more neighbours to give the rest to. There are still plenty of ripe ones left on the plants.
Based on their size, I think the majority of the tomatoes that have ripened so far for me are Gardener's Delight. This leaves me in a bit of a quandary, as based on a taste test, I think I prefer Moneymaker, which are sweeter and less sharp. I don't think I've had many of those yet this season though. I think about 95% of my harvest has been Gardener's Delight, which seems to produce more and ripen quicker. Either that or I'm wrongly attributing variety based on size and rough location in the plot. Either way, it leaves me wondering what it's best to plant next year.
Tomatoes have been my most successful crop this year and I have discovered that you neither need to stake them nor cut away leaves to expose the tomatoes to the sun to get a good crop. Many of mine are hidden behind leaves - possibly also protecting them from pests - although the fact this has been possible may be due to their prime sun position in the garden. The down side of this approach is that the tomato patch looks like a mess.

It's hard to tell from a distance, but even after that mega-harvest, it's still full of ripe tomatoes.

Mind you, they are in the sunniest part of the garden, in the bed that last year produced my most bountiful crop. Last year it was squashes, and I'm doing pretty well on squashes this year, but I don't think they'll rival my tomatoes for sheer volume.

In less good news, my corn ripened earlier this year than it did last year, so I again left harvesting it too late and only managed to eat two cobs at correct ripeness. They're now busy drying out on the plant, and if they manage to dry nicely I hope to be able to use them for popcorn or maybe in stews or other recipes I find on the Internet for dried corn.

I am, however, regularly harvesting runner beans and am still getting a pretty decent crop.

Pork, cider and apple casserole

This one hardly has anything from the garden in it, just onions, as my apples are neither ripe nor the right sort for this recipe, but it's delicious, so here's the recipe anyway. It takes about 1.5 - 2 hours to cook in total and feeds 6-8, depending on appetite.

Ingredients
2-3 tbsp olive oil
2 large onions
3 cloves of garlic (I used 3 tsp of frozen garlic)
500g stewing pork cut into large chunks
1 can of cider (mine was 440 ml)
3 tbsp Dijon mustard
3 tbsp plain flour
1 tsp dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste
4 apples - Golden Delicious or Jonagold
4 heaped tbsp full fat natural Greek yogurt

1. Peel the onions and chop them very small.
2. Put the olive oil in a large pan or casserole dish and heat.
3. Add the onions and fry until tender, stirring occasionally.
4. Peel garlic and finely chop, then add to pan and stir.
5. After a couple of minutes, add the stewing pork. Fry until white.
6. Pour over the cider.
7. Turn up the heat until gently boiling, then put the lid on, turn the heat right down and allow to simmer for 1 hour (don't worry about it going frothy, this isn't a problem).
8.  Peel and core the apples and cut into segments (about 12 per apple).
9. Add the apple to the pan and continue to simmer for 10 more minutes.
10. Mix the Dijon mustard, flour, thyme and salt and pepper. Add mixture to pan and stir Cook for 5 more minutes.
11. Add yogurt, stir and heat through until warm.
I served mine with mashed potato and peas.

Butter chicken with courgette and runner beans recipe + vegetarian and vegan versions

I decided to make butter chicken, but I didn't have enough chicken, whereas I did have ripe courgette and runner beans. So I decided to make up my own recipe. It turned out pretty good, so here it is, followed by a recipe for a vegetarian and a vegan version:

Ingredients
2-3 tbsp butter
1 onion
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp crushed garlic (I used frozen)
2 tsp crushed ginger (I used frozen)
1/2 tsp turmeric
1-2 tsp ground chili (I used mild chili)
3 tsp ground coriander
340 g chicken thigh or breast, cut into large chunks
100 g ground almonds
400g tin of tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 medium or 1 large courgette (I used about 200 g)
150 g runner beans
2 tbsp of full fat plain Greek yogurt

1. Cut onions into thin slices.
2. Heat large pan or casserole dish. Add butter and melt until frothy.
3. Add onions and cinnamon and fry lightly.
4. When the onions are soft, stir in the garlic and the ginger.
5. Add turmeric, chili and ground coriander. Cook over a medium heat for 5 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, cut the chicken into large, bite-size chunks.
7. Once the spices have cooked for five minutes, add the chicken to the pan and fry until white.
8. Add ground almonds, tomatoes and tomato paste.
9. Stir, then cover and cook on a low heat while you chop the courgettes and runner beans.
10. Chop the courgette into bite-sized chunks about 1 cm cubed (don't peel the courgette) and diagonally slice the runner beans.

11. Add the courgette and runner beans to the pot (if the curry seems too dry, add a bit of water, but not too much, because the yogurt you add at the end will make it runnier).
12. Put the lid on and simmer for about 15 minutes until the beans and courgette are cooked.
13. Add yogurt, stir and heat through.
I serve mine with couscous or naan bread because I'm allergic to rice, but rice would also work well if you don't have allergy issues.

Vegetarian/vegan version: Creamy almond curry
Ingredients
Vegetarian version 2-3 tbsp butter/vegan version 2-3 tbsp olive oil
1 onion
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp crushed garlic (I used frozen)
2 tsp crushed ginger (I used frozen)
1/2 tsp turmeric
1-2 tsp ground chili (I used mild chili)
3 tsp ground coriander
340 g sweet potato, cut into chunks of 2-3 cm cubed
100 g ground almonds
400g tin of tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 medium or 1 large courgette (I used about 200 g)
150 g runner beans
Vegetarian version 2 tbsp of full fat plain Greek yogurt/vegan version 1/2 tin-1 tin coconut milk OR tahini with extra water to taste OR cashew sauce to taste

1. Cut onions into thin slices.
2. Heat large pan or casserole dish. Vegetarian: Add butter and melt until frothy. Vegan: add olive oil.
3. Add onions and cinnamon and fry lightly.
4. When the onions are soft, stir in the garlic and the ginger.
5. Add turmeric, chili and ground coriander. Cook over a medium heat for 5 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, peel the sweet potato and cut into bite-size chunks about 2-3 cm cubed).
7. Once the spices have cooked for five minutes, add the sweet potato to the pan and fry for a couple of minutes.
8. Add ground almonds, tomatoes and tomato paste.
9. Stir, then cover and cook on a low heat for about 10 minute while you chop the courgettes and runner beans.
10. Chop the courgette into bite-sized chunks about 1 cm cubed (don't peel the courgette) and diagonally slice the runner beans.

11. Add the courgette and runner beans to the pot (if the curry seems too dry, add a bit of water, but not too much, because the yogurt you add at the end will make it runnier).
12. Put the lid on and simmer for about 15 minutes until the beans and courgette are cooked.
13. Vegetarian version: add yogurt.  Vegan version: add coconut milk or tahini to taste (plus enough water to make it a nice consistency)  or cashew sauce. Stir and heat through.
Serve with rice or naan bread, or even couscous if you fancy it.

Bee-friendly plants

Bee on coriander

I've noticed that the favourite plants of bees in my garden changes with the weeks. Earlier in the season, the bees were all over my snapdragons. Bees love snapdragons. In my anthropomorphic mind it's because the snapdragon not only gives the bee nectar, but also a hug as it goes in.

Bee about to enter a snapdragon

Bee part way into a snapdragon

Bee completely engulfed in a snapdragon

Now, though, even though the snapdragons are still producing a multitude of blooms, the bees have new favourites and are no longer swarming for antirrhinums. In the front garden that favourite is fennel.

Bee on fennel

Definitely fennel, possibly a bee

Definitely fennel, almost certainly not a bee, but busy pollinating anyhow

And in the back garden it's coriander.

Quite possibly a fly pretending to be bee, but definitely loving my coriander either way

Both are buzzing with bees. Or at least with yellow and black stripy insects. I'm not 100% certain that some of my photos aren't of wasps or other flies mimicking bees. It's probably as well if they are just flies, my other half points out there's a fair chance I'm allergic to bee and wasp stings, and all the stripy insects have probably not been impressed with how closely I've been jamming a camera into their faces to get those shots.

In other news, leaving the courgette for a couple of days really paid off.

It went from this on 30 July

To this on 2 August

It's now sitting in the fridge waiting to be eaten for lunch. Update: it has now been grated, fried and eaten for lunch with tortellini.

And finally, here's a quick overview of the garden: