Cherry and Pear Tomatoes
The tomato harvest has been excellent this year (see last weeks harvest basket above). We have had 3 staggered crops of tomatoes and are going for the fourth! We have just planted more seedling tomatoes to get us through autumn. We've planted the smaller fruiting 'Tumbling Tom', 'Sweetbite' and 'Yellow Pear' - seedlings will 10 weeks to fruit and will fruit throughout autumn until the cold sets in. They have small sweet fruit & are great for salads - being cherry sized they don't get any pests or diseases. 'Tumbling Tom' &"sweetbite' are good varieties for hanging baskets and pots. Fertilise them as they grow with liquid feed.

Winter Tomatoes

You could try varieties like 'Siberian', 'Giant Tree Tomato' and 'Russian Red' to grow through the autumn and winter months. Results could be variable in the cooler regions  but should be fine if plants are in a frost free position. Seeds can be sown now, treat as you would summer tomatoes.

Basil
This is the herb of summer, growing like crazy under our tomatoes we pinch the tasty growing tips every few days. The heat and the rain just spur them on, you can still plant basil throughout feb. And remember to collect the seed for next year!

Squash and Zucchini
These crops just keep going, some zucchini plants throughout the summer have produced up to 30 fruit! We are have zucchini chargrilled, steamed, soups, and fritters. The squash are smaller than you buy in shops, but are tasty and sweet, we just half them and roast them in the oven for 15 minutes. The only problem with zucchini are their prickly leaves, I wear long gloves to harvest the fruit each night.

New Season Potatoes
Potatoes are ready for digging up when the entire plant has died down . Don't worry if you miss them, just dig them up as you need them. Those you miss will grow again during autumn for harvest late winter-early spring. We put in 10 rows last winter and have just harvested about 40 small new potatoes, which were delicious roasted with olive oil, salt and rosemary. We'll plant more next winter.

Cucumbers
These have been good for us this year, although we are experiencing a lot of powdery mildew on the leaves. We planted the white 'Apple' cucumbers, Bush Bonanza & Lebanese cucumbers, some on trellis and other hanging over retaining walls on the edge of the garden beds, they're still growing and we are harvesting every few days.

Carrots and Beetroot

Keep eating and keep sowing. Beetroot are tastier when golfball sized, try the golden beetroot 'Burbees Golden' and striped 'Chioogia' for something new. We've had good success this summer with multicoloured heirloom carrots varieties. Soak beetroot seeds for a few hours before sowing.

Finished Crops
As crops finish such as beans, tomatoes, squash, cut them off at ground level, and put them in the compost. Add new compost to the soil in preparation for autumn planting of cool seasons crops.

Recipe: Linnie's Summer Salad
Bean, Tuna, Squash Nicoise Salad with Potato, Basil and Eggs
Quickly steam home grown beans, squash and boil the potatoes. Chop up handfuls of basil and spring onions and mix them into a few tablespoons of Soy mayonaise. Put all the ingredients into a large salad bowl, mix through with a can of tuna. Cook up a couple of hard boiled eggs, thanks chooks, half them and place on top. Squeeze a lemon over and voila.

Recipe: Linnie's stuffed Zucchini flowers
Pick the flowers the day you make this dish as zucchini flowers do not last long in the fridge. There are two types of zucchini flowers, male and female. The female is the flower that is attached to the fruit. I like to use female flowers with the fruit attached for this recipe. Open up the petals, take out the female stigma. Mix up ricotta cheese, feta cheese, lemon thyme, lemon zest, chopped basil and chopped chilli (if you're game). Put a tablespoon of this cheese filling into the flower and twist the petals together. Drizzle with olive oil, roast for 20 minutes and serve with salad.