Autumn Bounty This Late?

Yes indeed I do love this time of year. I was wondering to myself the other day which season was my favourite and whilst I love the others too, Autumn tops my list.

There are wonderful days like today where the temperature was still 24C in the sun, the colours reflected the warm day, the children played happily in some fallen leaves and the birds chirped in the trees that were still well-clothed. The day didn't get too hot like it does in the Summer; the pace is slowing down so there aren't hundreds of other jobs to do in a race against time like in the Spring; and there's still warmth in the soil to offer a start to newly planted things unlike in the Winter. The ground was easy to work as I planted a seasonal and edible hedge of Jerusalem Artichokes on the south and west side of our potager in order to offer a little shade for some of the vegetables next summer.

I collected in the butternut squash and some more beetroot, celeriac and salad leaves. And we're still harvesting what seem to me to be Summer crops - today we had tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet peppers, chillis, courgettes and fresh basil. Tonight will be Hugh Fearnley-Wittingstall's recipe for Beetroot Tart Tatin with a fresh salad and maybe lemony cougettes. Oh yummy.