Weekend chores

The weekend was sunny at times after a light frost and ver calm but on both afternoons it rained so there was only time for a bit of tidying up.

The brussel sprouts are looking better now - although some have been eaten by slugs and are stumpy and bare. I hoed around them but didn't have time to stake them up. Our neighbour at the top of the hill has a large plot with all his brussel sprouts standing like soldiers each with a nice stick holding them up. Earlier his onions were beautiful - all big and uniform and no sign of the deadly allium leaf miner that has ruined our onions and leeks last year and shallots this year.

I cleared out the Cuore D'albengo tomatoes in the grenhouse which didn't do as well as those in the conservatory and tidied up some space ready for big pots of potatoes. The potato yield this year wasn't good so we're going to need some extra ones to get through till next year. We usually grow some in pots or bags from February but thought we'd give it a go right away. They'll be protected from weather and pests in the greenhouse.

Tomato Soup

This morning I looked at the growing number of punnets and bowls of tomatoes in the fridge and thought SOUP! The Big Boy and Cuore d'albengo tomatoes are easy to peel encouraged just a little bit by a bowl of hot water. They also don't have many seeds so the yield is very good. So to make yummy tomato soup:

• Destalk and peel the tomatoes and remove most of the pips
• Keep as much juice as possible
• Add a little salt and black pepper (according to how you like it)
• Whizz in batches in the liquidizer

That's it - no cooking, no stock - just tomatoes.

Serve warm or cold with a swirl of cream.

You can freeze it in plastic tubs to cheer you up in the winter.

Cuore d'albengo tomatoes 

Autumn flowers

It's really Autumn now - cold nights (2-3 degrees C) and bright sun over the weekend, but today is grey and misty. The leaves on the trees and shrubs are beginning to turn and some are even falling. The plum trees are completely bare of leaves. There are still a few bright spots with these late bloomers:

Miniature Cyclamen

Japanese Anenomes

Michaelmas Daisies

Rose flower, bud and bright red rose-hips