21st September

We are now well into squash season now, and all the squash are looking pretty good.

We were a wee bit worried at the start of the year when we planted them, they got of to a very warm start, with temperatures in May every day being 20 degrees and above, which they love, but we had virtually no rain, and with the squash plants getting planted through bio degradable mulch film, to supress the weeds and increase soil temperature, plus covered in fleece, they were extra toastie.

The courgettes, Spaghetti, and Uchiki Kuri, all got a wee watering at the start from one evenings rain, but the Crown prince, we planted after these never seen rain for weeks, and unfortunately we lost most of these, we plant two thousand of each of these varieties, so this year we have lost almost all of the crown prince, which is a wee bit disappointing, as it is one of the nicest and tastiest of them all.

The Pumpkin crop we planted after the Crown prince, and luckily, they did get the rain just after we planted them so they are looking pretty good.

But as with farming each year we do usually have one crop failure, for one reason or another, at least this year we know why.

Last year we lost all of our neep crop, which again wasn’t the best, and we put that down to a wee bug that likes to eat the neep seed, although you can never see this wee bug.

As I am talking about the neeps, we have taken a neep home for our tea, and it looked fantastic, very clean skinned, with no marks what so ever, a perfect neep.

But I peeled it, again perfect then I cut it in half, and to my amazement there was a hole in the centre, like a bug hole, but it wouldn’t be a bug as the outer was perfect.

 I had never seen this before, and seemingly the cause is when they were sown at the beginning of May, again very dry, then we got lots of days with very warm temperatures and thunderstorm rain, this is the cause of the holes in the centre.

So if you do get one like this please let us know, as we can’t see this as the outside looked perfect.  

This week we are harvesting the Spaghetti Squash.

SPAGHETTI SQUASH

You can boil, microwave or steam spaghetti squash but the best way is by roasting, and its very simple.

Just slice the squash half lengthways and scoop out the seeds ( these can be washed and roasted) then place cut side down in a roasting tray for 25-30 minutes, them simply scoop out the insides with a for and hay presto you have your spaghetti.

Or and we use this method the most, prep the Spaghetti as mentioned, but also prepare your spaghetti mix, we usually have Bolognese, we then take out the roasted Spaghetti after around 20 min and fill the centres with the already cooked Bolognese and cover with grated cheese, then back into the oven, and leave until the cheese has melted through, then out it comes and this is your dish ready to eat, it’s fantastic.