These are an experiment for this year, and they have done very well. Very easy to grow and quite prolific (although obviously very small), they taste like tangy cucumbers, but with fairly thick, crunchy skins, especially when allowed to grow longer than an inch, the small ones are much more tender.
However I would be fibbing if I said that they had gone down a storm in our house. I haven't found many ways of using them, and there are still a few languishing in the fridge. I think I will do them again next year, but I will pick them all while still quite small, and pickle them.
A whole month since my last blog, and no wonder, since going back to work three weeks ago my feet have barely touched the ground. I am doing an extra 8 hours per week at work (24 in total) which means a lot less time during the week for allotmenting, especially as the days are getting so much shorter. On top of that, these last few weeks have been the busiest of the year in terms of keeping up with the harvest. We have been up to our ears in beans, courgettes, potatoes and raspberries. I made some raspberry jam yesterday, and the beans have been distributed amongst friends, family and anyone else who comes to the house. In addition we have been doing up our kitchen, which has not only taken up quite a bit of time, but meant that the kitchen was out of action at the peak of vegetable production. It's also a busy time for the allotment committee, I have been printing, stuffing in envelopes and delivering the autumn newsletter, now I need to produce 100 or so rent letters, and the AGM is coming up at the beginning of November.
It's all go. Will be back soon for an end of season review.
