Tuesday, October 18, 2005


I harvested most of the squash today as wet weather is forecast and I thought I might as well get them out of the wet. I left a couple to see if they ripen better/rot sooner etc. Despite the banner opposite I do use pumpkins for halloween lanterns but only bought ones as they aren't nearly as rich in flavour as the varuieties I grow myself. One fallow year for squashes wwe bought some from the marvellous display in Slindon, Hants run by Mr & Mrs Upton. It is justly famous and people visit from far and wide but (predictably) I didn't feel the squash had quite the depth of flavour of those from the allotment. Posted by Picasa

4 Comments:

Blogger KT121 said...

They look beautiful.
Never thought of carving my delicious pumpkins for halloween either!

Wednesday, 19 October, 2005  
Blogger Unknown said...

Nice to see you back, missed your posts. I adore Vide Verdi seeds too especially the Hokkaido pumpkins. And I to eat almost every bit of it, and am trying to convert all my friends and relatives cooking it when they visit. Everyone thinks you can only make pumpkin pie or halloween faces and say 'Yuk' if you mention eating them. Your photos are just stunning - well better than that I don't have the words to decribe them What camera do you use. (I know it takes a lot of skill, as I am just a snapper, but I was just curious as to what make and model as I am thinking of changing my digital).
Best wishes
Allotment lady at
http://kooringa.blogspot.com/

Thursday, 20 October, 2005  
Blogger Mike said...

Thanks for your comment. I was delighted to go and have a quick look at your blog. I lived in Suffolk for a couple of years in the early 80's and am rather nostalgic for the wide open (flat) spaces. I will definately be back for a closer look! Glad to hear someone else waxing lyrical about squashes.

It was great to see your recipes - I had just been thinking about doing a bit more on this side of things and you have convinced me. I do include photos of the vegetables on the plate sometimes as this is what it is all about in the end. (Although I sometimes think the vegetables are just a handy by-product of the pleasure of having an allotment!)

My camera (well it's my daughter's actually but I seem to use it a lot more than she does)is a Pentax Optio 30 - a very reasonably priced model. It "only" has 3.2 megapixels but this is more than enough for viewing on-screen. I was very keen on the 3x optical zoom when I bought it but as it turns out on the allotment pictures I hardly ever use it - I edit and crop the photos in Picasa which is a free program from Google. (Although first I try and get as good a composition as possible by moving the camera closer and further away until it looks right.) With the camera at a high setting you can crop quite a lot without noticeable loss of quality.

In Picasa I usually crop the photos so they are wider and narrower than usual as this fits the screen better, adjust the shadows and highlights and often sharpen the photos as well. If you haven't used it I think you will like it. It is very easy to try things out and undo the changes you have made if it isn't an improvement.

I also upload ther photos directly from Picasa to my blog. I am guessing that this is what you do as well as you have a blogger address.

All the best Mike

Thursday, 20 October, 2005  
Blogger Unknown said...

Eureka, it only took me 40 minutes to add your link. Doh. Silver surfer and all that. The problem was that the others I have added had www so I copied that, but yours is not one. Still all sorted. Will try and add more comment.

Friday, 21 October, 2005  

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