Green Team members Lara & Joe join Lucas to show off the giant Radiator Charlie Mortgage Lifter tomato[Photo courtesy of The Wandsworth Borough News]
It's been a busy week for the Green Team who have also been invited along to a garden tool recycling project run by the Conservation Foundation in conjuction with HMP Wandsworth. The general public have been invited to deposit their worn out and damaged garden tools at recycling centres 
(such as the one near Wandsworth Bridge), and these tools have then been repaired and refurbished by prisoners at Wandsworh prison.
The cold, wet weather of a couple of weeks ago took its toll and blight swept through the tomato plants - we lost more than half of them. Blight is characterised by brown patches that appear on branches and stems and soon reach the fruit which would go brown and rot, given the chance. The disease spreads rapidly from plant to plant. In theory the plants should be burned and tomatoes shouldn't be grown in the same soil for three years to halt the spread of the disease. Nasty.
On a happier note the Cream Sausage tomatoes grew very well and I made a sauce based on an Italian recipe.
You basically heat onions and garlic, add the chopped yellow tomatoes, add a yellow pepper and when cooked, blend to make a sauce which goes well with pasta and fish in particular.
Currently the foxes are driving me mad and we've had to resort to physical barriers to stop them destroying the new crops [right]
The mini Indian summer has helped the surviving to tomatoes to ripen.
The giant Radiator Charlie Mortgage Lifter is no more. I ate it.
Almost all of it.
And it was extremely tasty which you might not expect such a whoppa to be. Up there with the Coeur De Boeuf that we ate in France in August. I added a little seasoning, extra virgin olive oil and a drop of balsamic, and wow, tomato heaven.
Served with grilled Haloumi. Yum. Radiator Charlie's Mortgage Lifter was the success of the year, especially considering the poor weather. I'll be selling seedlings and small plants in the playground next April for sure.
While we're on the subject of sauce, we've made use of the surplus by making lots of tomato sauce, some spicy using chillies from the garden, and these have been sold in the playground for the PTA.
The most recent batch we made was a simple blend of tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil, a little balsamic vinegar and seasoning.
It's been a busy week for the Green Team who have also been invited along to a garden tool recycling project run by the Conservation Foundation in conjuction with HMP Wandsworth. The general public have been invited to deposit their worn out and damaged garden tools at recycling centres 
(such as the one near Wandsworth Bridge), and these tools have then been repaired and refurbished by prisoners at Wandsworh prison.Belleville were donated a full set and it is hoped that these can be used in the construction of the wild garden which is due to be built before the end of the year (email me if you'd like to help with this project).
The cold, wet weather of a couple of weeks ago took its toll and blight swept through the tomato plants - we lost more than half of them. Blight is characterised by brown patches that appear on branches and stems and soon reach the fruit which would go brown and rot, given the chance. The disease spreads rapidly from plant to plant. In theory the plants should be burned and tomatoes shouldn't be grown in the same soil for three years to halt the spread of the disease. Nasty.
On a happier note the Cream Sausage tomatoes grew very well and I made a sauce based on an Italian recipe.
You basically heat onions and garlic, add the chopped yellow tomatoes, add a yellow pepper and when cooked, blend to make a sauce which goes well with pasta and fish in particular.
Currently the foxes are driving me mad and we've had to resort to physical barriers to stop them destroying the new crops [right]
The mini Indian summer has helped the surviving to tomatoes to ripen.The giant Radiator Charlie Mortgage Lifter is no more. I ate it.
Almost all of it.
And it was extremely tasty which you might not expect such a whoppa to be. Up there with the Coeur De Boeuf that we ate in France in August. I added a little seasoning, extra virgin olive oil and a drop of balsamic, and wow, tomato heaven.
Served with grilled Haloumi. Yum. Radiator Charlie's Mortgage Lifter was the success of the year, especially considering the poor weather. I'll be selling seedlings and small plants in the playground next April for sure.
While we're on the subject of sauce, we've made use of the surplus by making lots of tomato sauce, some spicy using chillies from the garden, and these have been sold in the playground for the PTA. The most recent batch we made was a simple blend of tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil, a little balsamic vinegar and seasoning.
