Autumn Harvest in the Kitchen Garden

Autumn is a wonderful time of year in the kitchen garden as so much is waiting to be harvested. There are grapes and pears
and .......????
Any idea what those are? Tatties! Yep, that's right those are potatoes but not ordinary ones as they are small and purple too, something you cannot see yet as they've just been harvested and the fat clay is still sticking to them. I'll leave them outside to dry for a few days so most of the earth will fall off, before I bring them into my kitchen.
There are still yummy strawberries waiting to be eaten. I've been picking them since May this year, almost non stop. And that's not the only crop I've been picking since early May;
I'm also very happy with the lovely flowers my garden has provided me with for months on end now. One of the things I'd like to do most in the garden, is pick a nice bunch of flowers and then arrange them in a sweet little bouquet. I always put in some scented flowers as it is nice to please your nose as well as your eyes. It's a pity really that you can so rarely buy a bouquet of scented flowers in the shops. Why is it that shop bought roses don't have a scent?

The last of the blackberries are ready to be turned into jam in my bread baking machine. I've made quite a few pots of jam already. They will be a nice reminder of summer during wintertime when we'll be eating the blackberry jam.
The last of the tomatoes are waiting to be picked and eaten. I shall miss my lovely tomatoes come winter and wish I could grow them all year long. The shop bought tomatoes don't taste half as good as the ones you grow yourself.

But it's not only fruit, flowers and potatoes we're harvesting at Bliss, there are lots of veggies ready for harvest too. There are leeks,
and red cabbages,
and sweet black peppers,
and the quintessential autumn harvest of pumpkins too of course. What would autumn be without them? I'm already looking forward to eating a nice hot bowl of pumpkin soup with some home baked bread. And I'll be baking the odd pumpkin pie or two in the coming months as well.

But at Bliss we always have a surprise or two up our sleeve and here they are:
oranges
and limes. And no, the Netherlands doesn't have a tropical climate, far from it I'd say. No, these little trees live in my conservatory during the cold months (from October to May) and outside in the garden when the danger of frost has passed. There's a lemon tree and a kumquat as well. I'm very proud of my little tropical forest; it gives me so much pleasure all year round with the lovely scented flowers and all the fruit it bears. Simply wonderful! And really not that difficult to grow. Contrary to what people may think I do not really have green thumbs but so far I've managed not to kill any of my tropical fruit trees and some have been living with me for over 5 years now. So, if I can do it, you can do it too even when, like me, you're not living in some tropical paradise or other.

As I was working in my kitchen garden today, as it was an unexpected glorious autumn day full of sunshine, I suddenly noticed some sweet peas still in flower. Such a lovely surprise from my garden! Of course I had to pick them and bring them in for maximum enjoyment. I also found another little surprise, a climbing nasturtium still had a few flowers as well. The little cow that is carrying this mini bouquet on her back is drooling with pleasure. I know how she feels! ;-)


My garden is the place to be
Peace to dream
Plant or read
Potter leisurely.
Glen Philips, 'My Garden'