At the end of July I was sowing turnip seeds for planting out and expecting a September harvest. Some of the plants went in under fleece and some in the open air and, as expected, those under the fleece did a little better both in terms of growth and also the leaves were less perforated by flea beetle which can be quite a pest Root production was a little uneven but the best ones are now between the size of a golf ball and a tennis ball and ready for the table. This variety is called Purple Top Milan on account of the lovely purple tinge to the top of the roots.

I’ve mentioned before the disparaging comments made by some cookery writers on the subject of turnips but they are quite versatile – not only can the roots be used but the green tops can be trimmed then quickly blanched in boiling water for about 30 seconds then stir-fried in oil with the addition of some chilli and chopped anchovies to make a nutritious lunch! And with the roots, for those with conventional tastes of course, an Irish stew would be the way to go but last night I cooked up a traditional Kashmiri curry of lamb with turnips – following a recipe by Camellia Panjabi in ‘50 Great Curries of India’. Apparently in the Kashmir, where they are stored in holes dug into the snow, turnips were traditionally one of the few winter vegetables available.

The pears which I took off the tree just before going on holiday sat in the fridge for 10 days to try to slow down the ripening but since my return have been sitting in the cool of the garage where they are now at the point where I have to either eat about 2 dozen pears in the next couple of days; or suffer the disappointment of eating over ripe floury textured pears over the next few weeks or preserve them by bottling so that although not fresh, they will at least be a little taste of late summer over the winter months ahead. Bottling pears involves packing the peeled pears into jars submerged in a sugar syrup. The jars are then heated at simmering point for about 40 minutes then the lids tightened . In true ‘Blue Peter’ style the photo below shows ‘one I made earlier’.

Elsewhere, the courgettes have now slowed down their rate of growth now the nights are much cooler and I have been busy sowing winter lettuce and pak choi which will go both into the greenhouse as the cucumber, pepper and tomato plants come out and also outside under cloches to provide salad leaves through the autumn. So there is still plenty to do on the allotment – the work done in these few remaining weeks of the summer season will determine the availability of produce in the winter months so it’s still all systems go!