Monday 29 June 2009

Vegetables also have 'siamese twins' !

This is a photo of my harvest on Friday and I have been watching with interest the growth of a 'Siamese' courgette. It had two flowers but grew on one stem and never separated, it looks very odd, has anyone else grown a Siamese veg ? I have yet to eat it so hopefully it will taste twice as nice !! speaking of courgettes ! they are coming fast and furious and I have three kinds- round Italian ones, yellow ones and normal green ones and now a Siamese one, quite what I will do with them all I have yet to figure out. We love them roasted, in soups and raw in salads, any other ideas anyone ??

Fridays harvest, Siamese courgette.

It's been far too hot for me to get much done on the lottie, I have gone up and pottered about and of course watered most days, especially the plants in the greenhouse, which are Aubergines, cucumbers, chillies (three types) tomatoes and peppers. It's hard work and a week ago I really had a moment where i felt like moving to an apartment with No garden and giving up the lottie, but the moment passed and thank goodness common sense prevailed and I love it all again.


The problem is we love to visit the grand-children every week and because of the distance it means staying over, so 2 days out of the week we are away and in this weather it's a worry for me about the watering. I now have a dear neighbour who will come over to my garden and water the plants and shrubs in tubs, and in return I gave him strawberries, broad beans and a bunch of sweet-peas, so we were both happy with this arrangement. The allotment is another issue, so I ask whoever is around to water for me and I do the same in return.
I haven't had time to visit all of the blogs I follow or the ones on my blog list, so I apologise to anyone who thinks Ive lost interest in their blog, but I'm sure everyone is so busy this time of year that they are in the same situation what with gardening and veg growing.


Below are a few photo's of the garden taken on Saturday, my lilies have flowered at last, I love them and wait in anticipation for the first flower every year.



Tea for two in the garden


Lemon grass growing bigger at last

I love these colours together

The cutting flower bed.

Lillies at last !!

Double nasturtion 'Darjeeling gold'


Inside the summerhouse.

Seaside mania.

My favourite colour Dahlia, grown from seed.

A very full mixed border.

10 comments:

Mrs Jones said...

Your garden looks lovely! As for courgette recipes, I pinched these off a forum so the comments aren't mine but they look nice (sorry about putting them in the comments!):

These recipes help me to use up many of my surplus courgettes/zuchini

chocolate courgette cake
Preparation Time: 10 mins
Cooking Time: 45 mins
Serves: 6
Ingredients
120g butter (softened)
125ml sunflower oil
100g caster sugar
200g soft brown sugar
3 eggs, beaten
130ml milk
350g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
4 tbsp cocoa
450g courgettes, peeled and grated finely
1 tsp vanilla

Instructions
This recipe is a great way of getting children to eat more vegetables and has been a regular feature on the lunch menu at Landscove Primary School and the children seem to love it.

1. Line a 20 x 35cm baking tray with baking paper and set the oven to 190ºC/350ºF.

2. Mix the butter, oil and both sugars together until light and fluffy. Gradually add the eggs, one at a time and then the milk until mixed thoroughly.

3. Sift the dry ingredients together and fold into the mixture. Stir in grated and peeled courgettes, vanilla and spoon into tin. Bake for 35 -45 minutes.

Cut into squares whilst still warm. Jane Baxter




Carrot and Courgette Cake Recipe

Ingredients: Makes one 23 cm/9 in cake
2 eggs
175 g/6 oz soft brown sugar
100 g/4 oz carrots, grated
50 g/2 oz courgettes (zucchini), grated
75 ml/5 tbsp oil
225 g/8 oz/2 cups self-raising (self-rising) flour
2.5 ml/0.5 tsp baking powder
5 ml/1 tsp ground mixed (apple-pie) spice
Cream Cheese Icing

Method:
Mix together the eggs, sugar, carrots, courgettes and oil. Stir in the flour, baking powder and mixed spice and mix to a smooth batter. Spoon into a greased and lined 23 cm/9 in cake tin (pan) and bake in a preheated oven at 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4 for 30 minutes until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Leave to cool, then spread with cream cheese icing.

ZUCCHINE PICKLE

1 kg sm zucchini cut into slices if large scoop out seeds first
250gr white onions sliced, (approx 2)
¼ cup salt
3 cups white vinegar
1 ½ cups white sugar
3 tsps mustard seeds
3 tsps gr. tumeric
1 ½ tsp celery seed
¾ tsp caroway seeds -very important-
½ tsp chilli powder
1 tsp minced garlic
finely chopped root ginger
(optional-1 tsp curry

Combine zucchini, onion and salt, and cover with water and allow to stand overnight. Drain.
Boil remaining ingredients 2 minutes and pour over zucchini and onion mixture. Allow to stand 2 hours. Place mixture into pan and boil 5 minutes. Thicken with a paste of plain flour and water. Bottle and seal when cold. You can seal this when it is hot also. Seal with cellophane then also the screw top lid.

Kella said...

Everything is frying over here as well, my courgettes are just starting to produce fruit and once I can keep the slugs off them I should be eating mine in a week or so.

Glad to see your lemon grass is doing well.

I'm a huge nasturtium fan and love your Double nasturtium 'Darjeeling gold', is it a F1 varitity I wonder if it would grow from seed.

The garden looks lovely as usual.

Jo said...

I've never seen a siamese twin courgette before! My plants are flowering but no sign of any courgettes as yet.
Everything is looking lovely. My first lily opened yesterday. I love lilies too.

Prospero said...

Hi Maureen. Nice bounty! I don't have any "Siamese" courgette. I don't have any courgette. No squash. All a disaster...and it's too hot now. The good news is that I harvested my Minnesota Midget melon. Only four melons, but still, I was excited. And they didn't taste like anything. Still, I was elated.

The Midget melon was what I previously called the watermelon (shows you what I know!). The "real" watermelon is now fruiting. The reason why my cantaloupe was tasteless is that it must be dry 2 weeks before harvest (I think!) We just got 12 inches of rain this month - so there you go. Can you pick the melon weeks before it's ripe? Will it ripen? If so, it would be sweet (don't mind me, these are just idle questions and thoughts).

I know what you mean about a busy life. But hang in there. Everything will be ok.

Maureen said...

MRS JONES, thank you for the comment and the recipe's, they sound great, I am curious about the cakes, I can't believe vegetables can make a tasty cake, so I am going to try it out. I will let you know the outcome.
...........................
KELLA, great to hear from you again, how is your lemongrass doing ? I checked the tag of the 'Darjeeling Gold' and it doesn't say it's an F1 variety, so does that mean it will grow true to plant from seed if it's not F1 ? I am saving you some seeds to try, when they are dried and ready to post I will e-mail for your address (that's if you would like some !)
.........................
JO, thank you for the comment, I hope you get some courgettes soon. Lillies are such lovely plants aren't they. The colour is amazing and they are so graceful, I just love the day lillies which I grow, but this year I have had a lot of buds rot before they even open, don't know why !
.........................
PROSPERO, I am sorry to hear about your courgettes and squashes, if you lived nearer I would share mine with you. I hope you get some amazing fruits from your 'real' watermelon.

Valerie the Pumpkin Patch Quilter said...

Hi there, just found your blog through someone else's - LOVE your header image! Could I swipe that adorable saying and put it on a sign of my own? LOL* SO CUTE!!!

Joanne said...

Maureen a lovely crop of strawberries and I am sure the courgette/s will taste just as good. I have never seen that before.

The plants and garden are looking lovely.

Maureen said...

PUNPKIN PATCH QUILTER, I'm glad you found me, and thanks for the comment. Of course you can copy the sign I'm glad you liked it. I made it last year and it has raised quite a lot of smiles.
.........................
JOANNE, thanks for the comment. I haven't eaten the twin courgette yet, it looks very healthy though, so sure to taste good.

Unseen India Tours said...

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Maureen said...

UNSEEN RAJASTHAN, welcome to my blog and thank you for your kind comments. It's always lovely to get a new visitor, and I certainly will check out your blog.
Have a lovely weekend.