Anyone for pumpkin pie?

Today we made a final harvest from our pumpkin patch. In total we have 33 pumpkins of 4 different varieties. They range from tennis ball size up to approximately 14 inches in diameter. We will be using some of the larger pumpkins to carve at halloween and the rest will be stored for soups, stews, curries and cakes over the winter. This year the female flowers seemed to appear very late in the season resulting in a reduced growing period for the fruits. Hopefully next year this won't be the same and we can grow a giant pumpkin!


We are ultilizing our new greenhouse to cure the pumpkins, along with drying chillies. Pictured below is a few of the chillies that we have dried. We will be using these to make some chilli jelly over the next few weeks.


In addition to harvesting the pumpkins today, we collected a number of marrows. The winds had done their worst to our giant sunflowers. The tallest plant reached 14ft and didn't fair well in the start of the autumn weather. The sunflower heads are drying in the greenhouse. We are planning to roast the seeds and save some for planting next year.


The final crop of tomatoes are ripening. These shall be used to make passata.


All in all our greenhouse is already in good use. Roll on the spring when the main planting season can start again.

Today at the plot we managed to put in 2 raised beds. More pictures will follow as we dig over plot 4 for winter.