Harvest

This year was the first year for a crab apple harvest. The tree is only a few years old and yielded 1.5kgs of fruit, exactly the amount I needed for an apple and herb jelly recipe that I wanted to try. The recipe can be found in Pam Corbins Preserve book.

These lovely blush crab apples made this gorgeous pink apple and thyme jelly and it was surprisingly easy. It made four jars in total for use over winter. I have since made another jelly using bramley apples and mint but that only made two jars even though I followed the same recipe.

A quick look at the vegetable patch which has performed fantastically this year. Digging all that chicken manure into it has obviously worked a treat.

I mix calendulas, nasturtiums and marigolds in with the veg to encourage the pollinating insects to visit. I also like to pick the calendulas to put in the house as they are so beautiful.

I grew Cleomes from seed this year for the first time and they have performed wonderfully, a definite must have for next year. They also make fantastic cut flowers for the house but they can be a bit spikey. 

Back to sewing my cushion together, more on that next time.