November flowers

 It's NO-vember - damp, grey and dark by 4 o'clock -

but there are still some flowers out there bringing a bit of colour to the scene.

Fuschias still glorious in there pots outside the conservatory.
They'll need to come indoors when it gets frosty.

Don't know the name for these. Their colourful flower spikes bloom from mid-summer onwards through the autumn.

A hellebore! They normally start to flower in january or February. Crazy seasons!

Cyclamens and sedum still flowering, though not covered in bees as they were in October.

Tomato & Chilli Chutney

At this time of year the greenhouse tomatoes are coming fast and furious in the lengthening sunshine and the chilli plants have given their all, so a wonderful way to create a reminder of summer during the winter days is this delicious chutney.

Ingredients:

• 4 lbs tomatoes 
• 1 lb 6 oz onions 
• 4 cloves garlic 
• 5 small fresh chillis 
• 1lb 6 oz sugar 
• 5/8 pint vinegar 
• 6 oz sultanas 
• 2 ins piece of root ginger  or 2 tsp ground ginger 
• 2 tsp of dried marjoram or a bunch of fresh 
• 1 tsp salt 
• Couple of twists of black pepper 
• 2 tsp black mustard seed (optional)

 Method:

• Put clean jars and lids in oven at around 120C for half an hour
  
  
• Chop onions into small pieces 
• Chop garlic into tiny pieces or use a garlic press 
• Wash tomatoes, remove stalk and any hard centre
• Chop the tomatoes inc skin and pips 
• Chop chillies finely, similarly the root ginger
  
  
• Put all the ingredients into a heavy pan, preferably stainless steel. Cook on medium until the onions and tomato skins are soft then cook gently until it thickens up a bit. This may take an hour. Keep stirring so it doesn’t burn. It makes a fairly soft chutney.

• Put hot into the warm jars filling them up to the top and put lids on right away. (I use lids with the button that goes down when the chutney cools and stays down so you know the seal hasn’t been broken.)
  
  
• Label and store. Ready to enjoy in 2-3 weeks.

  I made a batch with 3lbs tomatoes – everything else pro-rata - and made 5 and a half 300g jars.

  Download pdf of Tomato & Chilli Chutney recipe >>

  (from my other website!)
  

   

Evening sun on the walnut trees