We're producing....

Yesterday evening's haul....

Courgettes Iceball, Rond de Nice and Précoce Maraichère, squash Gold Nugget and yellow crookneck

And ready to harvest / just harvested ...

• Cucumbers La Diva and Marketmore
• Tomatoes Nectar, Sungold, Bleue Fruit
• Chard Fordhook Giant and Bright Lights
• Onions Stuttgart Giant, Sturon and Centurion (500 gm of sets of the latter yielded 16kg of onions)
• Shallots Jermor and Red Sun
• Runner beans Moonlight
• Lettuce Rosedale and the tail end of Gourmet Blend, new Gourmet blend just planted
• Cabbage Tête de Pierre
• Carrots Nantes 3 improved 
• Beetroot Cylindra
• Kale Red Russian (the furthest on among the kales)
• Chilli peppers Pili Pili and Cayenne (green as yet)
• Potatoes Red Duke of York and Charlotte, more to come
• Plum Reine Claude Dorée
• Mirabelle de Nancy / Myrobalan - 1 fruit

Meanwhile, in the orchard, the apple trees have lost most of their fruit to brown rot, possibly linked to hail damage. The pears were better protected due to their close habit of growth. The old Reinette Blanche should more than cover our apple requirements. The birds have had all my early redcurrants, but there's one ray of sunshine - they don't understand white currants. To a bird, a ripe fruit is red. Or yellow, in the case of our Reine Claudes. Or purple, like our quetsches. Not pearly white. So they left them alone. Result: 1.3kg of whitecurrants are ready for sorbet, icecream, cake decoration...

White currant, variety "Blanka"

Choice strigs of white currants. Have I got some matching ones to go in the show?

We used to enter white currants in the "any other fruit" category at the Burley Model Allotments show, held annually at the beginning of September. Here in France, the growing period is compressed and everything comes at once. Our single redcurrant bush of a late variety is covered by netting to keep out the little perishers. The 23 other redcurrant bushes may have 50g of currants hidden away beneath the leaves, but as far as I'm concerned they're for the birds.

The bad news is that three tomato plants appeared to have been affected by blight (already) and we have cut them down and binned them.

Even worse news is that my little Fuji Finepix camera has died (the captor, I think) and these photos are taken using my Iphone, so I've had to learn how to do that pdq. 

Yellow soup

This soup can be made with conventional red tomatoes and zucchini-style courgettes, in which case it will be Tomato and Courgette Soup. The source is Elaine Borish's excellent "What shall I do with all those courgettes?" and for pictures see here.

Ingredients

4 medium crookneck squash, chopped (remove seeds if very ripe and use more squash)
2 medium onions, chopped
2 tablespoons sunflower or olive oil
2 large "Lemon Boy" tomatoes, skinned and chopped
1 litre chicken stock or vegetable stock
1 teaspoon salt
Fresh herbs e.g parsley, basil, chives, chopped

Heat the oil in a large pan. Cook the onions and squash on low heat for 10 minutes, covered,stirring occasionally. Add the boiling stock and cook for a further 20 minutes. Tip in the tomatoes and hit the pan with your whizzy stick until smooth (or allow to cool slightly and run the mixture in a food processor / blender). Add the rest of the ingredients and cook for a further 5 minutes. Serve with a garnish of your choice or allow to cool completely and serve chilled. Serves 6.